Tube / Distortion project

[Zben3129]

Thanks guys

[frankclarke]

Make a low wattage tube amp, so you can actually crank it up. Tons of info on the web. Tube distortion pedals may not sound better than solid state.

[DougH]

I agree with Frank. There's nothing inherent in tubes or transistors that is going to guarantee that tubes sound good and transistors sound bad. I've heard clips of commercial high-voltage tube pedals that sounded like complete crap. I've built starved-plate tube circuits that sound like crap. I've built starved-plate tube circuits that sound great. I've played crappy high-priced tube amps. I have a SS amp that is decent.  I've built a lot of decent SS pedals as well as some crappy ones. I've built nice sounding tube amps. Yada yada...

It always comes down to the same stuff- freq response, headroom, gain, etc.

I have a tube pedal I like a lot because of the way it compresses. Tubes in pedals are nice novelties if nothing else and a low voltage tube pedal is fun to play with and a good way to get some experience with tubes without the high voltage danger.

Otherwise, if you're absolutely after a "cranked amp tone" then build yourself a small tube amp you can crank, like Frank said.

[Zben3129]

I'm really into zeppelin, but I am also looking for a mellow tone. Really the 2 ends of thespectrum are what I need, a nice, warm, smooth OD and something a little higher gain, for zeppelin songs


Zach