tube driven pre amp pedal, anybody got or had experience of one of these, like the look of it and would not mind a tube driven sound. any help.
Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
Welcome to TalkBass! Want to remove ads? Register an account and login to see fewer ads, and become a Supporting Member to remove almost all ads.
Carl Martin Bass Drive Effects Pedal
- Thread starter Rollin Thunder
- Start date
I had one and liked it. No real complaints, other than the size and power requirements. I sort of miss mine. I had a Two Notes Le Bass for a while after the Bass Drive, and while I appreciated it's features, and two modes, I thought it was more scooped and modern sounding compared to the Bass Drive...which is a good or bad thing depending on what you're after.
It really depends what you are trying to do. If you want golden caramel overdriven tone, you need a proper valve amp (output stage + transformer). To approximate that in a stomp box, you are possibly better off going for a solid state simulation, as IME you may find a 12AX7 pre sounds like angry bees. YMMV.
Last edited:
looking for that tube vintage drive. my ashdown amp head has a built in tube drive simulater which is pretty good but looking for a bit more. got standard distortion in my pre amp pedal and and a big fuzz so just looking for a box that does the vintage overdrive really well, like this or the ampeg pre amp and scrambler.
My advice, try before you buy ... and you may get closer with a Blueberry, Barbershop, VT Bass ... or maybe a Darkglass pedal. I was running a 12AX7 pre into a Class D head and it didn't sound quite right. When I replaced them with an all valve head, everything fell into place.
really like the look of the blueberry, dark glass are all good but really expensive.
I agree that tube power amp distortion is the best, but this pedal definitely doesn't sound like angry bees IMO, unless you try for that. I've owned tube power amps, as well as the Carl Martin Bass Drive, two of the Swell tube pedals, and the Two Notes Le Bass, and none of them are cheesy buzzy things. YMMV. I agree that the Barbershop sounds great. I haven't owned the others. I have a Darkglass B7K that I'm about to sell...good pedal for modern stuff, but I don't think it's the best for this vibe.