November October 3. Dec 24, I have many " Related Articles. Feb 7, Jun 5, Sep 4, Sep 3, Contact Us. Reset Password. Terms of Use. Privacy Policy. I have never seen one dated earlier than , but Butler said he first designed this version in Butler insists that there never was a "Chandler" Tube Driver, that they just handled the marketing and distribution, but since the first version was ONLY branded with the Chandler name, and the revised graphics had Chandler's name under Butler's, the nickname is understandable.
Some of these early Tube Drivers were offered with a mid range knob or tube bias knob as a custom option. The bias pot allowed the gain of the tube to be altered by adjusting the voltage on the cathodes of the tube, simulating the effect of using higher or lower gain tubes. There were several different versions of the circuit, each with minor differences. The Level, Hi, Lo, and Drive pots are typically audio taper, but values vary.
There were some capacitor and resistor value differences from unit to unit as well. It was full wave rectified into 12VDC to work with the circuit. Those were half wave rectified into 12VDC. There were three versions made by Butler from It had the LEDs placed above the screen printed text and was marked on top:.
These are extremely rare as only about of them were made, and approximately of those were made with the jacks mounted on the sides, according to Butler. The pcb was tan colored with the marking 9 on the trace side. Components were mounted on both sides. Eric Johnson used one on his album Tones, and has been a user ever since.
The jacks were later permanently moved to the the rear end and the graphics were modifed so the LED's were moved below the text. The front markings also changed but I have only ever seen one example like this:. Butler trusted Chandler in the beginning, but later decided he needed his name on the pedal. He made a revised version in identical to the one above, but the front markings were changed to:.
Approximately of those were made using tan colored pcbs with a slightly different trace pattern that the previous pcb. I have seen two slightly different sets of component values on that board. On a few that I have owned there was no volume until the Drive pot was dialed above 2.
The sound also seems to vary greatly from one pedal to another. Some sound the same as next version, some different.
Part of this could simply be due to part values drifting due to component aging. Various B. Butler Tube Driver circuits - circuit on left, in middle, and on right. Butler then had a firm in California manufacture a third version of the circuit board for him sometime in The pcb was dark green on the trace side and had no identifying numbers or letters. Most components were soldered on the front side, but a few caps and resistors were on the trace side.
Approximately were made, and I have seen two slightly different sets of component values on this pcb. The two that I own sound nearly identical to each other, and identical to one of the Tube Drivers I own with the first version of the pcb.
These old model s Tube Drivers have a seven digit serial number engraved on the bottom. The first digit is the year made, next two digits are the month, next two digits are the day, and last two digits are the number in the batch. So serial number would be:. Some of the v versions that were made for export have "EX" marked in front of the serial number thanks to Tom for the photo.
Real Tube Users Manual. Designed in , but first made in under Butler's new Tube Works brand. Same op amp and 12AX7 Tube Driver circuit, but with a mid range knob added. Butler considered this version a superior pedal in some ways to his original 4 knob Tube Driver, which I agree with - the added mid range knob makes the tone much more versatile. These can sound slightly harsher and more fuzzy than the later Tube Driver at high gain, depending on the tube used, but at medium to low overdrive settings they can sound identical to the No true bypass.
These were made around Butler made a run of his Tube Driver car amplifiers with a gold anodized sheet metal enclosures. He had some of the gold stock left over and thought it would look cool to make some gold cased Real Tubes.
Some Tube drivers were made in gold as well. Butler says he made around 6 for Billy Gibbons, who used to give pedals away. There were probably more than 6 made, as I have seen several for sale, and own two myself. Unfortunately, over time the gold oxidizes and becomes spotted and rusted, but they are still a cool collectible. The first version was marked on top:. A small number of these were made with gold tops. They were marked on top:.
The ones made around are marked on top:. The pedals were made with several different pcb's in this period and had different graphics and knobs than the US versions. The country of origin was on the bottom.
Some Genz Benz versions have a 9v or 12v power adpator jack on the back rather than an AC power cord. These are easily identified by a solid yellow rectangle around the footswitch. They are marked on top:. A smoother, lower gain version of the Real Tube. I recently found this post on you blog amazing work, by the way! I bought a B. I read in many reviews that the Tube Driver does not sound as good in 9v as it does with the v cord, since 9v are not enough to properly feed the 12AX7 or any other tube you use.
My question is; can I use more voltage? I mean, if I use a 12v or 18v or even 24v or 27v ac adapter, can the sound get better? Would it damage the circuit of the Tube Driver in any way? And would it be enough to get a better sound? Thanks a lot and all the best,. Great explanation! This way the Muff will dominate and the BD2 only boost.
Hey Bjorn, Thanks so much for the insight. The BD2 has a transparent, glassy tone ranging from super clean to near fuzz, while the OD has much more mid range, warmer tone and a creamy overdrive. So, What do think is better for the tone i want to achieve? Click the links for my reviews. Noticed a lot of people on the thread not getting the sound they expected. Would just like to share some wisdom that may or may not be appreciated. There are many things which can affect the sound of this pedal, and the way it is placed in this rig.
Like on all my valve equipment power amps, pre amps , I make sure I get my valves professionally tested by a local tech who owns a Amplitrex AT Digital Valve Tester, and make sure the triodes are reasonably balanced on both sides, and rated strong for current and transconductance at 1.
For peace of mind I'd suggest everyone gets their valves tested, before giving up on this pedal, or even the sound they get from a valve amp. The valve on this pedal is not high tension, meaning it doesn't use Volts DC like in a guitar preamp. I measured it and it's only 17 Volts supply. Therefore it's only used as a makeup gain stage, so a transistor or maybe a Op Amp are used in combination to create the gain.
I guess one good thing is your tube should last indefinitely as it's not doing the same amount of work or thermionic emission. I noticed that I actually prefer Eric Johnson's settings for his Violin type tone. Just a suggestion for anyone interested. Something I'm yet to try, once I get my own tube Buffer.
Have you yourself tried this? In my experience the TD is extremely sensitive to what pedals you place before and after it and even further out in the chain. Also, the TD is a demanding beast that really needs pickups and an amp that can handle it. The Double Trouble and Tube Screamers in general has a lot of mid range, which on some amps may sound a bit muddy and lack that crisp top. The Tube Driver is very transparent and clear. I might be wrong but from experience the Tube Driver tend to get harsh and just too bright in those combos.
Hi Bjorn, I got your message about suggesting using a Boss BD-2 over a the tube driver on a laney cub Would you suggest The BD-2 to be modded?
If so, which mod, keeley? The modded versions are warmer, smoother and has an overall more sophisticated tone. The Keeley is a good choice. First of all, Thank you for this websitethanks for update it whenever you can and give us this valuable information to improve every day and getting a little closer to the legendary Sir David Gilmour tone. Seriously, congratulations. I have a Fuzz Pedal not very good brand. So want to change it. One of our favorites, and is preferred by listeners Echoes, Pompeii version.
When I do the introduction Violin , excessive noise sounds, guitar sounds good, accompanied by a nasty noise. While all the other pedals activated together make no noise, the Fuzz makes a shocking noise when activated individually. I want to know what you recommend? If the EH Big Muff or other fuzz of another brand, that is not too expensive. Analog is the Sun Face is amazing. But the price is out of my hands. And congratulations on your new daughter Bjorn!
Just wanted to ask a quick question. Hi Bjorn, hope that the new year is going well for you. Depends on a lot of things like your pickups, EQ settings on the amp, how the other controls on the TD are set, what other pedals you combine it with and what pedals that are placed before and after it in the chain in regards to buffers etc… I always keep the volume at 2. This produce a volume boost but also smooths out any harsh overtones.
The more you increase the gain, the more you need to roll off the treble as well. Hope this helped : — Bjorn]. Just got a Laney Cub Stack, very much enjoying it. Great review man!! I think that older sounds little warmer but it makes a huge different what amp is used. It must be really crazy for guys who try to get sound of certain artist and get the same gear, but play in the bedroom level and it comes sounding bad.
What you doing is beyond words. I consider myself lucky to even stumble across your website!! Thank you from bottom of my heart, Bjorn!!! TubeDriver sounding great through them even at low levels is ultimate proof!!! You have to listen YouTube videos of Andy Timmons with his LoneStar and Stiletto rig, they are ultimate tone factory and anyone looking for great Clean and nicely Overdriven sounds must see them.
Anyway just wanted to share my experience. Hi Bjorn, thanks so much for this amazing resource! Advice would be much appreciated, cheers! Hi Bjorn. I just wonder if its best for me to buy a The Chandler Tube Driver even if i just play at home, but im thinking to play outside soon. The TD is a quite demanding pedal. But why?
My equipment should be able for that…. Your rig seems fine but the Muff might not suit your rig… — Bjorn]. On the previous Gilmourish website you wrote that it is quite suitable for most Gilmour tones. Plug the guitar straight into the amp without any pedals and tweak the setting until you get the tone you want.
Try not to touch the amp settings. Add the rest of the pedals and see how they effect the Muff. Several Boss pedals will make the Muff slightly brighter even if the Boss pedals are off. Perhaps not the pedal for you if you had another tone in mind. Also, the Muff will change dramatically when you combine it with other pedals so always check the tone without any pedals in the chain. Let me know if you need more help. I almost came to the decision that have to remove the MUFF.
If I do more, I get an immediately noise feedback from the cabinet. How is that possible? With an EQ? I just picked up a Tube Driver from BK himself. I still have the stock tube in mine too. Do you notice a different in your modulation pedals when running them after the TD? I notice the effects seem stronger after the TD, than with my muffs, and other overdrives.
All pedals will behave differently with different pedals. The Tube Driver has an aggressive character with a typically scooped mids tone, which will make the modulations sounds brighter and more focused. Muffs with a warmer tone and more mids, will make the modulations sound smoother and not as dominating. Ttry different setups and combinations and see how that affects the tone. As ever… Fantastic site. Its amazing how many references to gilmourish I come across when bouncing round the net reading stuff.
So recently I began my search for the Gilmour tone and I have got myself a BK TD with bias, I already had a boss cs-2, phase script 90, EHX Deluxe Mistress, ge-7, vox wah and digitec delay its never let me down so will decide later if I need to replace that one. So when researching the TD, reading lots and listening to stacks of YouTube clips rightly or wrongly I decided that this was for me. However reading this article I am not sure I have made the best choice based on my setup.
I mainly play at home and in a practise studio with some pals using my Marshall solid state mdfx This will traded in very soon but I am not sure what amp to go for. I defo want a tube amp and have reasonable budget. Would you recommend the Fender super champ? Also I am interested in the lunar module and royal beaver simply because of its versatility.
Can you please offer any advice? Any help would be great. Thanks a lot for your kind words! Check out the Peavey Classic 30 as well and the Laney Cub amps — great value tube amps.
One question though; which model of the callaham bridges do you reccomend? Thank you Bjorn. That helps me alot. It is good to know it is not beause of my pedals. I also found out that some tubes were broken in my amp. That also expelains many things for me.
I am getting your point. I f I would not frustrate you : , again one another thing…. When I apply the same settings at the your web site with same effect pedals I understand that the tube driver should boost slightly i mean there should be an increase in the volume as well.
However, when I turn on the the tube driver, the voulme decreases remarkably amd the collor of the tone becomes muffy. So I adjust treble and bass knobs as to make no difference in the collor of the tone when I turn it on after P1. So in order to get that slight increase in the volume, I have to adjust the volume of the tube driver more than it is mentioned.. Could there be a problem or is it normal?
The Tube Driver can sound quite harsh and boomy on some amps and Boss pedals etc makes it sound bright and spiky. However, there might be instances where you might want to use both TDs. I would stick to the rule of thumb and have all gain pedals arranged by tone.
This way you will keep the chain tidy and always be sure you combine the right pedals in the right order. The settings for the tube driver for comfortably numb is listed as below at your web site. And it is being used after P1. The drive settings are too high. When you use it together with P1, there becomes a hell of noise.
Should it be used with less drive? Having that much gain on both makes, as you point out, too much noise. Set the TD slightly above unity level but not too high. Add the amount of gain you need but keep in mind that the Tube Driver should act more as an EQ rather than a booster.
I have a quick question. The Tube Driver is placed after the Muff with an equally mild setting with a slight crunch and the volume slightly above unity with the amp. This way he adds tone to the Muff rather than to boost the volume. Hope this helped. How is the bypass signal of the Tube Driver? He did a diagnostic on mine, and it turned out that the Bass EQ knob WAS totally broken, and engaging the pedal was sucking all the bass away.
He fixed it and sent it back, since then its been amazing! Simply gorgeous. I keep the tube drive level as far down as I can without hurting the bass tone so its mostly clean , and run it with a Boss CS2, TC corona chorus with the warm toneprint , and some reverb and delay from a TC Gmajor in the effects loop all of this running through a GCS switcher. Tone heaven. I also just got an Eric Johnson strat which perfectly completes the picture.
Thank you, best regards from Germany! The Albert Hall version of Shine On starts with a clean tone with compression and delay and for the solos and rhythms he adds the TD with a mild gain setting.
I think the problem with both these clips is that the volume is too low. You really need to crank your amp to get that smooth open tone from the TD. As I said the Blackstar is aggressive. So is the HK in the last clip. These will make the TD sound more fuzzy but again, if you crank the amp it will sound better. I also suspect that the DD7 in your rig messes up the signal.
Once I realized that I got the tones I wanted. Do a test where you compare the sound you get from your normal set and what you get when you plug the guitar into the TD and then into the amp.
The amp settings is crucial as well. Use only the clean channel on your amp if it has two. I usually keep the treble at on mine for overdrive stuff and around for clean boost. Any higher the pedal will sound like a fuzz. I play in a small valve amp Blackstar HT Blackstar amps are aggressive.
Even if they appear to have lots of headroom they have a dark saturated tone that will make overdrives and distortion sound heaver than on other amps like a Hiwatt and similar.
Pickups obviously plays a huge role and you should also be careful with placing the TD next to any Boss and other buffered pedals.
These will alter its tone making it brighter and harsher. Arthur here again, thanks for your info that was a very good help. No the chandler is jst one of my other option. Now do you see anything wrogn with that set up? Me again. Any thought between the chandler tube driver vs the hermida zendrive? Have your tried both? Im in the position to aquire a chandler tube drive from a friend with a 12ax7 tube in it.
I was wodnering if the chandler is able to aquire that tone. And would it be a good idea for me to get that pedal. Hey Bjorn The music sounds awesome. In regards to the tube switching….
There are several models of the 12AU7. Anywhere from silver pin to gold pin. Does this even matter? Hi Bjorn, you might have heard it many times but again, what a great site! I am a PF fan and after a long break I start to build my gear. I did modify myself the CS3 with only few items like some metal film capacitors and resistors and few other things. With the actual set it is hard to find a nice balance between the muff and the OS2!
Probably the boss are a bit noisy in general and also the OS has a to shy overdrive. But also, I use in concerts the amps that are already set there so it can be usually bigger and tube based amps such as twin reverb etc… so it makes maybe sense to invest in tube overdrive?
Then of course, BK. Glad you enjoy my site : The Tube Driver needs the right amp or it will sound harsh and thin. The OCD is perhaps more versatile though. It has a bit more gain and bass than the TS. However, the OCD also feature an additional tone switch that allows for more presence scooped mids and gain.
Very versatile. It has a warm creamy tone with lots of mid range and medium gain. The Tube Driver has a built in tube and has a much more transparent tone. I ran a 12AT7 in it which was OK, but it just never really blew my mind. I tweaked that poor thing to death but I never could find a sound that was right for me. A couple of days ago I was going through my tube box and I found an interesting tube at the bottom.
It was a 12DW7 which is pretty fascinating. Well folks, personally I found my tone. It growls and screams. It can chunk like a Rectifier really! Hi Bjorn and all , I just discovered this site recently, and it is an amazing resource, thank you! I actually got it used on evilBay should have just bought a new one direct from BK. The owner says that he actually checked with BK and gave him the serial to confirm is authenticity, it was produced back in , under the Chandler name, but still says BK Butler Audio on the front.
Again, not the typical setup that you are probably all used to using the TD with, but its clean channel is quite Fenderish and stays super clean to very high volumes. This occurs even when the Hi and Lo knobs are turned completely off. Even then I still lose some bass, and the sound is harsher and thinner. I was expecting fat thicker bass response, and a slight attentuation of the treble frequencies. One clue could be that the top yellow cap on the top of the treble knob was knocked off at some point in this pedals history, I wonder if the eq was damaged at all.
As you point out neither the amp nor the guitar fit a typical Gilmour setup although you should be able to get some decent and powerful clean tones with the amp. Humbuckers will sound different from a Strat no matter how you tweak the amp or pedals. But you know that already. Quite the opposite of what you describe.
There might be something wrong with the pedal but you can easily do a test. Plug your guitar straight into the amp without any pedals and set the amp up for a desired tone. On a clean amp with humbuckers you should hear a slight increase in the volume and lots more bass with a mild crunch. You might want to roll off the treble to around Boss and other buffered pedals makes the TD brighter and thinner in the lower ends.
It seems to be the nature of the pedal. In these cases its better to perhaps give up the fight and consider something a bit more versatile like a Tube Screamer TS9 or or the excellent Boss BD Keeley version.
Both will provide easy to tweak Gilmour and Johnson tones. Hi Bjorn , Gtrat sound , thank You. Thank You very much. You might be experiencing to much saturation… Blending a Tube Driver and a Fuzz Face is tricky and you need to find the sweetspot for the pedals where they function together. Thank you, specially for the great website. I have the same issue only when Tube Driver is active. I think Tube driver behaves better with less treble and bass upstream mostly using it with low mid frequency , and then you can bring up those two areas downstream.
I own the Boss BD2, but I prefer the sound of the Boss Super Overdrive, mainly because I like a warm, barely saturated, thick and clean tone, if that makes sense. Check out this article for details and some tips. This thing is the cats socks, and it rawks!! Best investment so far. Really very very happy with it!
With my US Fender Blues Deville 4X10 variant , at one and a half, with the master all the way up on the PB, you literally can not be in the same room with it. I have yet to get the Fender past 2. I will be venturing outdoors with it in the next 2 weeks, and will really drive the hell out of it.
I can not recommend this pedal enough. I know that it seems steep, but it is more than well worth it. I took my 12AX7 out, and put the 12AU7 in. Very sweet sounding, but hardly no drive. Have you tried this one??
Anyway, just wanted to share my last three nights with the Colorsound PB, and to say thanks for helping me to discover this pedal. Also to back up that this pedal is a must for larger tube amps.
Anthony was awesome, and the shipping was fast. I am interested about your experience with the 12AT7, if you have had any yet.
If not, you should give it a whirl. I definitely will! I was very frustrated with the 12AX7 at first and used the AU7 for some time but after countless rearrangements on my board I refitted the pedal with a AX7 and are very pleased with it now.
Rarely use it for cleans so the roughness is just right for my tones and it goes very well with my new Reeves amp. Nicely compressed and very smooth. Rolling down the treble to around on the TD with the gain at around does it for me.
Hi Bjorn, I agree that people run to 12AU7 to seek rescue from the drive blast of 12AX7 but with higher mu tubes than 12AU7 it just needs more tweaking and once it is achieved, it has more character.
With 12AU7, I ran my upstream pedals compressor, etc. With this tube, I had to set my upstream pedals Boss CS2, etc. I control the tone knob just to maintain some of that high frequency for transparency. I will say that after messing with a bunch of different rack pieces I ended up selling a bunch until, at the end I ended up primarily using only 2 pieces.
Both Lexicon. Vortex and Alex. Vortex was an extrordinarly unique and versatile piece. It was a typical rack journey. Much like pedals. Start with 1, end up with too many, pare down to essentials. At one point I had the classic "Mini fridge" rig. That only lasted a couple years.
Just too damn bulky. The sweet spot ended up being 2x 3 up SKBs. One 3 up per amp. Again, stereo was the driving force. Long before I retired the rack I stopped gigging with stereo.
Running it mono revealed the downsides over time. The return on investment for space and tedious menus just didn't pay for me.
Combine that with the rise of pedal capability and Really, in my mind though, this rig is still a rack. It does rack things that pedals used to not be able to do thanks to Source Audio and Boss series gear. Rack biggest cons.. Just this and it's a regular but very powerful pedalboard with some unique capability. I went down the rack rabbit hole for awhile. I had a massive setup with 14 pedals in 3 sliding shelves, 2 gcx's and a ground control. It was a huge undertaking. Cost a fortune. Weighed a ton!.
The idea of it all was perfect, but the actual performance was not. So many wires the 2 gcx's alone needed nearly 70 cables. The first pic was just the start:. Most certainly if you like to interact with them traditionally thru your volume and tone on the guitar.
Those will need to be close to your pickups with buffers after. The PBC is perfect for this. Depends on what sounds you are going for. Doing wet dry will sound a bit better with good rack gear. If it's enough of a difference for the form factor is only something you can determine.
If you want to cover all ground you go with both. The cool thing is the PBC is really powerful and can be strong switcher at your feet that also controls the rack. The PBC 10 also lets you enable buffers in the right place.
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