Why Use A Valve Overdrive Pedal? [Tube-y Or Not Tube-y, That Is The Question]

Some overdrive pedals have valves, so they must be better, right? Let’s find out…

Life too short for long YouTube videos? Please see the ‘Interesting bits and go-to sections’ information below.

Welcome to the show! We’re always banging on about how much we love valves in our amps (or ‘tubes’ to our American friends). So how come we’re happy to ‘ruin’ them with nasty solid-state overdrive pedals? Surely it would be better to use boosts and overdrives that use proper vacuum tubes, wouldn’t it?
Erm, maybe. Dan and I have never been huge fans of tube overdrive pedals for reasons we explain briefly… so perhaps it’s time to put some of those to the test and listen to a bunch new options plus one bona-fide classic.
Do you want a valve overdrive pedal? Let’s find out…
Enjoy the show!

And please visit That Pedal Shop! https://www.thatpedalshop.com/

Pedals & stuff used in this video
• TheGigRig Three2One
https://www.thegigrig.com/three2one

• Sonic Research ST-300 Mini Tuner
Australia: http://bit.ly/2mR1s8c

• Keeley D&M Drive
UK & Europe: https://bit.ly/3ESje3L
Australia: http://bit.ly/2pUDUAE
USA That Pedal Shop: https://bit.ly/3ltKAoo

• Kingtone Duellist
https://www.kingtoneguitar.com/product/the-duellist-pedal-board-friendly/

• BK Butler Tube Driver
https://butleraudio.com/

• Vahlbruch Kaluna
http://www.vahlbruch-fx.com/en/

• Blackstar Dept.10 Dual Drive
UK & Europe: https://bit.ly/3lt6dVp
USA That Pedal Shop: https://bit.ly/3wEzJwx

• Gurus DoubleDecker MkII
https://www.foxgeardistribution.com/product/doubledecker-mk-2/

• Stand Alone x Analoguetube Love Bomb
UK & Europe: https://bit.ly/3yU3DzP
https://lovebombpedal.com/

• Source Audio Collider Delay & Reverb
UK & Europe: http://bit.ly/2HwaALt
Australia: http://bit.ly/323SzgS
USA That Pedal Shop: https://bit.ly/3ozRtX3

• TheGigRig G3
https://www.thegigrig.com/g3

Interesting bits and go-to sections…
0:00 Intro and playing
3:38 Today’s amps
4:48 What are we doing today?
6:00 Valve overdrive pedal or preamp?
7:30 Our normal go-to OD pedals
8:15 What does the valve bring?
9:45 BK Butler Tube Driver intro
11:00 Today’s amps sounds
12:12 BK Butler Tube Driver sounds
20:23 Vahlbruch Kaluna intro
21:20 Vahlbruch Kaluna sounds
26:00 Kaluna with humbuckers
28:37 Blackstar Dept10 intro
29:30 Blackstar Dept10 sounds
36:43 Thoughts so far?
37:45 Gurus DoubleDecker MkII intro
38:27 DoubleDecker MkII sounds
42:15 Switch through all the pedals so far
44:30 Thoughts so far, again
45:57 Love Bomb intro
47:00 Love Bomb sounds
50:18 Switch through most of the pedals
53:00 Love Bomb & humbuckers
55:45 Closing thoughts and conclusions

Guitars in this episode:
• 1970 Fender Stratocaster - no video yet
• Gibson Custom True Historic 1957 Les Paul Goldtop Murphy Aged - no video yet
• Fender Custom Shop ’63 Telecaster – Dan’s video here https://youtu.be/rnQ4OIJFTgY


Amps & cabs in this episode:
• 1964 Fender Vibroverb with JBL D130F 15-inch speaker
• Marshall 1987x with Marshall 1960A 412 / Celestion G12M Greenback speakers

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