tube distortion pedal vs solid-state distortion pedal?

Posted by admin in Wednesday, May 13th 2009

Joshua L asked:

I’m trying to choose a few distortion pedals so far I have voodoo lab sparkle drive and proco’s you dirty rat. Now since I’ve pretty much got the two extremes. I’m looking for lighter and heavier distortions. I personally like the distortion from tube amps but quit on them because they’re difficult to move around and the FX Loop is a pain. My main question is what’s the difference from solid state distortion pedals like the Boss DS-1, Ibanez tubescreamer. And tube preamp/distortion pedals like Ibanez tubeking, Damage control stuff, etc.

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2 Comments

D. said in May 14th, 2009 at 1:43 am

Well, in tube pedals, like the Ibanez Tube King, you are actually “driving” the tube, but in a Tube Screamer, you are “driving” an IC chip.

Tubes are somewhat costly, easily damaged, and take up space (I’ve used the SIB pedals which are fantastic tube pedals, especially the Echodrive).

The advantage to IC chips is if one fries (which is RARE) you can replace it for less than a dollar. You can even buy different chips to change the overall gain structure.

gtarczar said in May 15th, 2009 at 6:24 am

Any tube pedal actually has a 12ax7 preamp tube in the unit. Distortion is a unique animal in that everyone has their own idea as to what good sounding distortion is. Many factors go into what makes a good sounding distortion not the least of wich is pickups and amplifier combinations. A good sounding unit can sound totally different through another setup. Dont be afraid to experiment and checkout as many units as you can. The answer for you may be a modeling pedal wich allows you to combine aspects of tube and solid state distortion along with amp and speaker cab emulations too. Personally when I am just messing around I really dig my new zoom pedal wich has models of different amps and distortion pedals. I’ll play it straight into a clean amp and it works fine. But when I am doing some serious stuff (gig or recording session) I’ll use my hughes and kettner switchblade head (all tube) through 1 or 2 4-12 marshall cabs in combination with my behringer 2-12 combo (solid state) to be able to get the best of both worlds. Each has a unique distortion that compliment each other very well. This also gives me the flexibility of using clean and distorted tones simultaneously as well as a plethora of effects built in to each amp without resorting to any pedals whatsoever! The search for perfect tone is a never ending journey and I wish you luck in your quest!