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Re: Tubes! They do a ____ good! (was Re: Info on Hughes & KettnerReplex



Mark Sottilaro wrote:
> There are also a bunch of tube distortion pedals I've been looking at as 
> well.

I've gone through a ridiculous amount of distortion pedals (an 
indispensable loop tool.) Of all of the solid-state "overdrives" I've 
used, the Tech21 Tri-OD has one of the best sounds available, though it 
has some harsh mid-range coloration due to the fact that it's actually 
not meant to go into the front-end of an amp. Also, I'm very fond of the 
(discontinued) Morley JD-10. These are the only solid-state "overdrive" 
boxes I've kept, though they now sit in a closet as back-ups and not on 
my pedal board.

The top-of-the-line tube overdrive is the S.I.B. Varidrive. Sweet, 
absolutely transparent, and it can get that just on the edge of breakup 
to a very full lead tone. It equally respects single coils and 
humbuckers. It uses full current as opposed to a 12 or 15 volt power 
supply, and I can really hear the difference. I use two of them: one as 
my mild crunch box, and the other for singing lead tones. $290

Next is the ToneBone Hot British and ToneBone Classic tube drives. These 
give excellent sound and far more eq flexibility than the SIB, but they 
have a mild "paint-on" quality, and the basic tone under the distorition 
is dull and muddy. Still far better than ANY solid state device. $230

I've tried the Soldano Super Charger GTO, but I thought it had too much 
of a mid-range hump. The Hughes & Kettner Tubeman is fine, but the heavy 
drive sounded "buzzy" to me. The Mesa V-Twin distortions basically suck, 
but I actually use its clean setting as my recording pre-amp. Very sweet.


I have NOT tried:
Siegmund Double Drive Tube Overdrive
Budda Phatman
J.T. Valveboy
Hot Chili Tubester

Good luck!