Hello Gearheads! Today I'd like speak about the use of gain pedals as a Preamp or Preamplifier , which can be a very helpful tool when using particular pedals in a system. Often, in this modern age of ultra quiet stages, guitarists are required to bring the same incredible tones that usually come with cranking an amplifier to get that sweet pushed and distorted or overdriven tone. It's a difficult paradox to exist in and it's the main reason the guitar effect pedal market is completely saturated with boost, overdrive, distortion and fuzz boxes we MUST get those huge and killer tones sometimes at a whisper.
Enter the use of pedals as a Preamp. Anyone familiar with the vernacular of the electric guitar has probably died trying to achieve the perfect Edge Of Breakup or "EOB" tones.
These are tones that are not quite overdriven, not quite clean, but somewhere in the middle of this beautiful mess called rock guitar. Quite simply, it's hard to attain these "EOB" tones in a modern environment where quiet is the new loud and everything is getting smaller.
Another situation where it's helpful to have a Preamp for your system is if you run a clean amp with a lot of headroom. I often fall into this category where I'm using a watt Blankenship Twinplex amplifier it's got a ton of clean headroom, and never distorts or overdrives on it's own. It's simply a loud, clean beast of an amplifier. Using a pedal as a Preamp can make other pedals sound and feel better when the amplifier itself is quite clean. This model is especially noticeable with fuzz pedals.
Finding the perfect pedal to act as a Preamp is simple in nature but does require a bit of time, testing and patience. I'm featuring three specific pedals that work really well for me and others for this purpose, but by all means, you can get the end result with different pedals. It's just about finding what pedals work best with each other. This is not necessarily the ideology of "stacking", where you combine two pedals for more gain and compression. It's actually about thinking of the pedal as a tone enhancer after all your other pedals.
With this in mind, it helps to have pedals that are open in tonal nature, offer a varying amount of gain and EQ, and ultimately don't contain too much compression. This is where the trial, error and success come into play.
David is constantly searching for the best in the world of guitar and system building and I've certainly learned incredible amounts of knowledge from him including this concept itself. Now, on to the pedals! All three pedals featured here are incredible on their own merit, but for the purpose of this Tone Tools post, I'm showcasing the Preamp potential of each pedal.
It's essentially a simulation of a Howard Dumble modified Marshall amplifier. It acts and feels like an amplifier, which makes the Dumbloid ODS a fantastic choice for this purpose. Butler says he made around 6 for Billy Gibbons, who used to give pedals away. There were probably more than 6 made, as I have seen several for sale, and own two myself. Unfortunately, over time the gold oxidizes and becomes spotted and rusted, but they are still a cool collectible.
The first version was marked on top:. A small number of these were made with gold tops. They were marked on top:. The ones made around are marked on top:. The pedals were made with several different pcb's in this period and had different graphics and knobs than the US versions. The country of origin was on the bottom. Some Genz Benz versions have a 9v or 12v power adpator jack on the back rather than an AC power cord.
These are easily identified by a solid yellow rectangle around the footswitch. They are marked on top:. A smoother, lower gain version of the Real Tube. Same pcb as the Real Tube. The primary difference from the circuit are a few different resistor values in the drive section and a smaller Hi pot value. Early production was made in the USA throughout the s and s. A small number of those were made with gold colored tops and blue printing.
After Genz Benz bought Tube Works in the late s a Taiwan made version with different knobs and graphics was produced throughout the s. Blue Tube Users Manual. It use the same pcb as the and According to Butler, the Overlord was copied by DM out of spite after he left his company. It is housed in a nearly identical enclosure, with the same knobs, and similar graphics as the Tube Works original. No BKB Butler markings.
Chandler trademarked and owned the names Tube Driver and Real Tube Overdrive , so after Butler stopped making Tube Drivers for Chandler to market and distribute in , they copied his circuit and made this cheaper, simpler version in the USA.
Butler says this circuit is not his authentic design and includes mistakes. Some owners would disagree, but I think they do not sound very good at all and are EQ'd badly compared to the ones Butler made. Some of these were built with an internal transformer like the original Tube Driver, but most were made with the power transformer on the outside.
It was a plug in "wall wart" style transformer, but it was still hard wired to the Tube Driver by a long power cord. Chandler did this to prevent the hum noise associated with the transformer being inside the enclosure in proximity to the circuit, which is a common complaint among Tube Driver owners.
Tube Driver Users Manual. After Chandler's trademark on the name Tube Driver lapsed in , Butler started making them again under his Tube Works brand. This Tube Driver was a lower cost, entry level version, housed in a smaller enclosure. It had a slightly different voice and a simplified tone stage.
Compared to the 4 knob version, it had less volume on tap, sounded more like a fuzz or distortion pedal at high gain, and sounded a little harsher at low gain.
Rather than the three-knob Fender style tone section of the Real Tube or four-knob Tube Driver, this version had a single Hi-Lo knob that dialed between bass and treble.
At low drive settings it could sound very similar to the 4 knob version through many amplifiers, but obviously the single tone knob limited the possible EQ range so it could be difficult to get a good sound through some amplifiers. It uses a 12Ax7 tube like the It's not exactly the same sound, but very close.
Behringer VT Butler started making the 4 knob Tube Drivers again as a production model under the Tube Works brand around David Gilmour of Pink Floyd was seen using two s Tube Drivers in the studio and on tour in , which may have partly influenced the decision to bring these back to the market. I have seen s dated from The circuit layout and pathways were very similar, but there were several component value changes across the circuit that affect the way it sounds.
These sound more like the 5 knob Real Tube circuit, but with a fixed resitor for the mid range instead of a mids knob. The enclosure was the same width as the original s version, but not as long. Standard Tube Works knobs were used, rather than the yellow-capped knobs used on the original s Tube Drivers. The old Tube Works product numbering was continued, so this model was named , after the Porsche The model number never appeared on the original pedals, but it was marked on the later Genz Benz Taiwan made version, which was also marked Genz Benz on the jack side of the enclosure.
A tiny number of the US made Tube Drivers had a gold anodized finish on the case top. Butler made a run of his Tube Driver car amplifiers with a gold anodized sheet metal enclosure. He had some of the gold stock left over and thought it would look cool to make some gold cased Real Tube and Tube Driver pedals.
They are extremely rare and I have only seen four of them. Unfortunately, the gold oxidizes and becomes spotted and rusted, and it seems to get worse over time. I have never seen one in good condition. The Genz Benz versions were made into the s. Genz Benz then discontinued the Tube Works line and ownership changed a few times. Butler reissued the again in , making them by custom oder. The clean channel is Butler's solid state Mosvalve amp.
It sounds like very much like a tube amp with a Fener-like tone. The built in Tube Driver circuit is similar to the Tube Driver version with a mids knob added. The amp covering was gray carpet cloth. A tweed covered version was also made in the mid s. Built by Tube Works in Denver, Colorado. I believe TW made them from The built in Tube overdrive channel includes the same tone controls as the clean channel. The overdrive circuit is similar to the Tube Driver version with a mids knob added.
Early version had a creat colored faceplate with black text, later version had a black faceplate with yellow text. Came with gray carpet, black tolex, or tweed covering. An unusual Tube Driver variant in the shape of a guitar pick. I'm not sure when these were originally made but I know some were made in the mid s through the s after Genz Benz bought Tube Works. Same pcb as the and Real Tube models, but with some component value changes.
Fitted with a 12AX7 tube. As the name suggests, this a is a smoother, lower gain version of the Real Tube. Nearly the same voice, but half the gain. I have one from The circuit appears to be the same as the Tube Works Blue Tube. After finding that the circuit clearly infringed upon his tube overdrive patent, B. Butler let Hoshino Gakki the Ibanez owner know.
According Mr Butler, Hoshino sent a rep to meet with him in Denver and resolve the issue over lunch. Hoshino was hoping to get permission to use the circuit for free. Instead Butler struck a deal that would allow Tube Works to have exclusive rights to make the pedal for the US market and Ibanez could manufacture and sell their Japanese made version in Europe and Asia. Tube Works made several thousand of these for the US market throughout the s.
It is marked "Patented: BK Butler" on the circuit board and follows Butler's basic Real Tube circuit, but there were some improvements. Unlike the Tube Driver and Real Tube, the Tube King includes an output buffer so it is immune to most capacitance and loading issues that can plague those other pedals. It runs off a standard 9v DC power jack, not an internal transformer, so noise issues associated with the internal transformer in the Tube Driver and Real Tube have been eliminated.
It also had an active EQ instead of the passive EQ in the original Real Tube so it colored the tone a bit differently. I only notice the difference at low drive settings.
At high drive settings it sounds basically identical to the Real Tube or Tube Driver. When it was first released it had no vent slots on the sides of the enclosure, then they were added about a year later.
In the late s the case color changed to silver. There were at least 4 revisions of this circuit. Although it incorporated parts of Butler's patent, it is a very different circuit than the US made model.
There was a version made under each brand - Ibanez model TK and Maxon model ROD - same enclosure and circuit but different graphics. Ibanez later made a TKHT version, but that was a different, high powered tube circuit, rather than Butler's starved plate tube design used in the Real Tube and Tube Driver. A Tube Driver reissue made in on left and a model with the optional bias pot modification added to the back.
The circuit layout and pathways were very similar to the s circuits, but there were several component value changes across the circuit that affect the way it sounds. The sound range is much broader and voiced slightly different than the s circuits.
Overall, the sound and tone range is more like the 5 knob Real Tube circuit, minus the mids knob, but similar tones can be dialed in to match the older s Tube Drivers. These are made by custom order through Butler Audio. The enclosure is identical to the s Tube Works version, which was the same width as the original s version, but not as long. Butler made several of these for David Gilmour and Eric Johnson, among other well known guitarists. The tubes were custom marked with a Real Tube logo.
He stated these were the tubes Eric Johnson and David Gilmour preferred, although it is not clear if either actually used this tube. Butler said these are Golden Dragon brand, low noise, hi-fi audio tubes. They have a shorter plate than the Ei Yugo tubes. In Butler made the tube bias pot a custom option again, adding the knob to the back side of the unit.
This is the same custom option offered since the s. It allows the gain of the tube to be altered by adjusting the voltage on the cathodes of the tube, simulating the effect of using higher or lower gain tubes. The runs off an internal 12v AC transformer. The current draw is approximately 30mA. Those were much less noisy that the original laminated core transformers he used in the past and helped eliminate Hz hum..
I have heard that some people who complained about noise issues sent thier older TDs back to Butler and he replaced the old transformer with toroidal type.
At some point he started using a toroid transformer that runs from VAC for the European version. These Tube Drivers have an eight digit serial number engraved on the bottom.
The first two digits are the year made, next two digits are the month, next two digits are the day, and last two digits are the number in the batch. Article written in Pages from a mid s Tube Works catalog featuring the , and Tube Driver pedals Below are some by no means all of the various versions of the Tube Driver that have been made since A Tube Driver reissue made in on left and a model with the optional bias pot modification added to the back Tube Driver BK Butler reissue - 4 knobs, tan with black graphics, first made in
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