Tubes

You gotta hang on to it @howard :grin:

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What pedals? The EBS Valve Drive versus the VT Bass DI?

The SVT as in a preamp stage from an actual Ampeg amp head?

Kinda confused what you mean there :slight_smile:

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the Tech 21 SVT Pre-amp / DI
to
the Tech 21 SVT pre amp

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The DI has some buttons around the XLR output, on the face of the unit
the Pre-amp just has 6 knobs, smaller pedal

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Ahh. No idea. Willing to bet the tones are close.

Tech 21 makes really good stuff in general though.

The VT Bass DI hasn’t arrived yet but I expect it to be awesome. I’ll probably be keeping it regardless but for this thread I am primarily going to compare real tube sound vs solid state tube modeling, more than looking at how good it is in general. I don’t think you need to worry about that, it’s one of the most highly regarded preamps you can buy now.

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Let’s keep this topic focused on Tubes vs Not-Tubes and discuss this thing in the normal pedal topic.

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This thread can’t be complete without auditioning the @terb 6SN7. I’ll pre-order if it encourages development!

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So, Tubes
I got this Tube Compressor
It does use the tube for compression per Onvilabs review, it is not just there to glow and look like it is tube driven.
I don’t have any knowledge about tubes in general, and I have no idea how to tell the difference between a tube compressor and an optical or VCA for instance.
I can tell you, it is as nice a compressor as I have ever used.

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What I would be interested in is how this thing changes your tone. What kind of color does its tube add to the tone when you use it?

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Actually, very little to none. It keeps it fat and rich.
it is completely silent as far as expected compressor noise.
Once you set unity gain, and attack and release, you can play with ratio and threshold and very easily dial in what you like.
I think it is the most noticeable compressor of any that I have used as far as the ratio and threshold.

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you can slightly overdrive it with the gain, and it sounds pretty F’n bad ass when you do

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Sold!!!

Bought it on Offer Up this weekend. Sold it on Reverb tonight.
Sold so quick that I am thinking of getting the other one on Offer up, not as good a deal for me to buy, I think they are asking $150, but I can still turn a quick $75 if I get this other one.
This one just sold for $240, and that is the going rate since there are ZERO for sale in the USA on Reverb.
Such a nice compressor too, if it were not for the size, i might have kept it.

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Well, I am in luck
Sort of
The guy that bought the Compressor sent a message saying he bought it on accident and he wanted to cancel the sale.
OK, I issued a refund for the full purchase, and re-listed it.

But I was sort of EXTREMELY relieved that it was not sold. I am kind of attached to it.

I am hoping that @Scoundrel1680 will take it for a test spin, like it, and buy it for what I paid for it, so I can keep it around. Such a great compressor.

IDK if it is the tube that makes it great or not, but it is awesome

@howard, I was reading the Onvilabs review on it, and what he said about the tube

First, I must say it has almost no noise! Even at high compression settings the noise is low, which is amazing for a tube pedal. The tone is very smooth and clean, not very colored by the tube, although it does seem to add a nice “thickness” to the mids. There is no loss of lows, and the low end sounds big and full.

I must say that I totally agree with this assessment of the pedal, so if it is the tube that does this would answer the questions you posed in a recent post about what the tube does to the tone.

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Interesting, those sound awesome.

I’m mostly interested in tubes for the tone they can bring - I’m almost disappointed it doesn’t color the tone :slight_smile:

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@howard All of those samples sound incredibly good to me.

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Thanks! I agree, the EBS is a winner for sure, I don’t think it has a bad tone in it. It’s kind of limited in its range but what it does it does really well.

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So, if you didn’t fry the VT (or if you fix it hopefully) which would you keep? or do you think you will actually keep both.
I get in this position all the time, usually with compressors, but with amps and basses, etc… where I want to test between two and find qualities about both that make it seem better option to just keep both.
Of course at sometime, i need to be practical about things and decide between the two, but you seem to be more practical than not and can probably afford the space and time to just keeping both.

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If I can fix the VT I am definitely keeping it (I mean, no one would buy it anyway at that point). If I can’t fix it I might buy another one. It’s that good, I regret killing it before I could post samples.

The only thing that might change that plan is I also just bought a Vintage Microtubes clone kit to build. If that turns out as awesome as I think it might it could replace the need/desire for the VT.

I’m also probably going to buy another preamp kit, a GK 400RB front end clone, @terb is building it now, I am going to wait for his report there to see if it is as awesome as I think it will be.

So, the EBS. I like it a lot. A whole lot. It’s a big, heavy, clumsy, inefficient chunk of awesome tonal goodness - pretty much the epitome of the Tube Ideal :slight_smile:

I might hold on to it as well and use it at the end of my chain at all times, kind of like an uber-Glowplug. In fact I bet the GK preamp will sound amazing running in to it.

But the VT Bass DI sounded just killer and did a really really good job of achieving the same kind of tone, and was an order of magnitude more versatile. You should seriously check one out. It’s a great piece of gear.

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this looks fun. old, but fun.

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They have a few more models on their site. They look amazing! Pretty expensive though.

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