The preamp section of your amp is where the magic happens: it shapes your tone and can add gain or overdrive before sending that polished, finished sound off to the power amp, which adds wattage to speaker-ready levels. To state the obvious, most of us believe that vacuum tube-driven preamps (sometimes called valve amps) are the holy grail of warm tone and overdrive. Guitarists without tube amps often search for pedals that emulate tube sounds, whether digital or analog, but there is no substitute for real, glowing, hot-smelling vacuum tubes.
If you want more than an imitation tube-sounding stompbox, but are not quite ready to run out and buy a Plexi head, fear not! You can buy honest-to-goodness vacuum tube-driven preamps that are in pedal form, plugging them into your solid-state amp’s power section or directly into a mixer or console. The result is real tube sound, at a fraction of the cost and weight of a tube amp. Check out our picks for 5 of the best tube preamp pedals.
Blackbird describes their preamp pedal and its 12AX7 tube as a “Tube Tone Engine” with “bourbon & honey tone, ” giving you beautifully vintage clean and gain sounds in a small pedal. Its clean channel emulates the glassy shimmer of a Fender Blackface, with just a touch of pick-responsive grit. The gain channel ranges from bluesy overdrive to the rich, harmonic overtones of classic rock—you’ll swear you’ve got a wall of classic Dumbles at your command.
Haarguitars And Parts Blackbird Vacuum Tube Preamp
On top of this, independent bass/mid/treble controls for each channel let you fine-tune your tone, and adjustable bias lets you really heat up or cool down the tube. The tube is easily accessible, and Blackbird encourages users to experiment with whatever vintage 12A tubes they wish.
Russian company AMT released a great preamp with the SS-20, based on a single 12AX7 tube. Boasting clean and drive channels, the drive/gain channel also gives you the option of a lower sensitivity “crunch” section, or a more responsive, searing “lead” gain sound. The end result is tube distortion that is particularly suited for high gain, hard-clipped metal sounds.
The SS-20 is equally adept plugged directly into a mixer or recording console via a cab emulator output, or into a power amp/cab combo via its normal output. The effect loop is useful for DI use, too. Just put all your modulation effects into the loop, rather than behind the preamp. The SS-20 is a real gem for the tight crunch of modern metal, and it’s way less money than a Dual Rectifier.
What Are The Best Tubes For My Amp?
Behringer has really been shaking up the industry lately with affordably-priced effects, and it seems like their quality only keeps improving. The VT999 is about one third of the price of its peers listed here, and it’s a great bare-bones preamp with no extra features beyond gain, tone knobs, and a simple noise gate that reduces hiss.
The VT999 is more of an on-demand effects pedal than a comprehensive, always-on micro-head. It does not have separate clean/gain channels. When you switch off its single footswitch, there is no tube-driven clean signal going to your power amp at all. But if you stack it with other fuzz or distortion units into your solid-state amp, you’ll have an overdriven warmth that excels beyond what any Tube Screamer stompbox will ever do. This is by far the most affordable way to get real tube sound.
The X1 attempts to fit all the sounds and features of Carvin’s flagship X100b tube head into a pedal, with two 4-stage 12AX7s in the tube department. With a five-band graphic equalizer in addition to bass/mid/treble knobs, and separate rhythm (clean) and lead (gain) channels, the X1 is a versatile tube preamp.
What Is The Best Affordable Tube Preamp?
But it goes further with features that almost push the X1 in micro-head territory. You can switch the voice emulator from a 2×12 cab sound to a 4×12, there’s a separate effects loop, and you get a Fender-style bright switch. What’s particularly cool here is the fact that the X1 has one watt of power. You can plug it directly into a small speaker cabinet or headphones without any sort of additional power amp. Whether you’re wanting beautiful tube sound for a live show or a little home-practice module, the X1 is excellent.
Like the Blackbird, Kingsley’s Juggler is a versatile multistage preamp with ‘60s vibes, only it uses two 12AX7s. That’s an impressive feat given the stompbox’s small footprint (5.25” x 5”). The clean channel is equally smooth whether playing country twang or jazz thickness, and you can use it as a clean boost into your existing amp. The overdrive channel actually adds two more stages to the clean settings. It doesn’t reach the metal mayhem of the AMT, but it gives you all the classic bluesy gain of a breaking up Fender.
In addition to the basic level controls for each channel and bass/mid/treble controls, the Juggler also has separate 3-way switches for each channel. The clean channel’s switch is a sort of treble boost that also thickens the sound, while the gain channel’s switch adds progressively more presence.
Top Guitar Amp Tubes You Can Buy Right Now
There is simply no substitute for real tube sound, and these pedals give you tons of options with their tubes. But what exactly are you looking for?
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Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.“Tube Tone Engine” is a full-featured vacuum tube preamp, in a pedal. Designed for tone & versatility, the SR-71 will add clean/drive/distortion channels to vintage/boutique guitar amps, or work as a stand-alone direct recording tube preamplifier. The clean channel possesses a beautifully pure, “glassy” character, and the drive channel is tuned to deliver a rich, full-bodied, devastatingly smooth overdrive.
Tube Driven Di/preamp Pedals
“Tube Tone Engine” is an all-tube preamp in a pedal—the genuine article! This versatile tone machine gives guitarists access to a wide palette of rich, burnished guitar sounds. Whether recording direct to computer in the studio, or with a tube amp in a live situation, this pedal delivers—big-time! The tone of the drive channel is like “Bourbon & Honey”—the overdrive is rich, full-bodied and warm. And the clean channel is as smooth as glass, adding a welcome and pleasing lift to the guitar tone.
The gain channel utilises all-tube clipping circuitry, just like a top-of-the-range tube amp. Winding up the gain knob gradually fattens up the sound until it becomes a sweet, bluesy overdrive, full of richness and even harmonic overtones. Additionally, this channel features a second, entirely different voicing (“CREAMY”), where the tubes are “hot” biased. Hot biasing introduces more harmonic content to thicken up the soup. Dig-in with the guitar pick and the
The clean channel is pure, glassy and sweet and lends itself to country and jazz playing. This channel is a replica of the
Friedman Ir X Dual Tube Preamp & Di
“Blackface” tube circuit, and like the Blackface circuit, it responds well to high-output pickups and boost pedals. Give it a push and it will break-up nicely; then push it a little harder, and you have classic 1970s overdrive. The tone and feel of the pedal is beautifully balanced—it doesn’t get any better than this. The clean channel is perfection; the last word in depth and clarity—that polished, classy sound that tubes excel at.
Overdrive response can be altered by adjusting tube bias points and swapping out tubes. This gives guitarists access to a virtually unlimited range of classic and customised amp voicings.
The internal “BIAS” trim-pot affects the biasing of the third tube gain stage in the 4-stage clipping circuitry. Biasing affects the sensitivity, biting point and “feel”of the drive channel. Rotating the trim-pot clockwise increases bias voltage, “hot” biasing the tube stage and rotating anti-clockwise “cold” biases the tube. Note: Bias adjustments only affect “CREAMY” voicing of the
Rackmount Guitar Preamp Options And Suggestions (top Picks)
Swap out tubes to alter the character of the drive channel. Substituting the stock 12AX7 with another B9A type, such as a 5751, 12AY7 or 12AU7, affects the
Is expressly designed to allow easy access to the tubes for this purpose—so feel free to experiment. In the time it takes to change a light bulb a tube can be swapped out for another type, or even a NOS (new old stock) brand.
Special thanks to all these musicians, especially John Verity, Phil Taylor (of Gilmour music) and Paul Stacey, who have helped and advised over the Blackbird’s long two year development period.
The 5 Best Tube Preamp Options To Add Some Warmth To Your Sound
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