Dean markley overlord to b k butler tube driver so, ive got one of these and ive got to admit i agree with the advert its ugly as sin but it does sure cook an amp nicely, but it could be better. The first, original, one was the bk butlerchandler tube driver. Ive looked to compile the best and most reliable for this post. Real tube by tube works other than one being in super cool enclosure, and the other in a buttugly enclosure, the 4 knob 911 tube drivers and 5 knob real tube versions are basically the same patented b. It runs the 12ax7 stages at very low plate voltageabout 9 volts. Bk butler s original hand made tube driver guitar pedal used by eric johnson, david gilmour, billy gibbons, joe satriani, kenny wayne shepherd. I actually got it used on evilbay should have just bought a new one direct from bk. Bk butler tube driver 910 schematicpot value telecaster. Lower plate voltages insure greatly extended tube life. Due to the continuing requests for my limited production original design tube driver pedal, here are the details. Its supposed to sound great on bass, but i dont have any personal experience with them. It uses a 12ax7 which is pushed by a dual opamp followed by a fenderstyle tone stack. A hand made reissue of butlers original 911 tube driver tube works design from the 1990s. This is not a reissue of the original 1980s bkbchandler tube driver versions.
Ive heard au7 is pretty popular and that bk butler would give clients a yugo au7 from his secret stash. Tube works and chandler tube drivers have been on the market at different times, and in different versions. Chandler tube driver vs tube works 911 telecaster guitar. Used bk butler tube works tube driver, vintage tube overdrive pedal from the 1980s. Bk butlers original hand made tube driver guitar pedal used by eric johnson, david gilmour, billy gibbons, joe satriani, kenny wayne shepherd, robbie krieger, and many other pros. I kept the power section from john ks version of the blue tube.
The core of the pedal is a handselected 12ax7 tube which gives you a lovely sort of fuzzdrive sound than can sound amazingly smooth and textured in the hands of masters like david gilmour who still features 2 of these within his. I have an old 3 knob tube driver by bk butlertube works which has a broken potentiometer in the tube gain position. Unfollow butler tube driver to stop getting updates on your ebay feed. It definitely doesnt sound like a stock tube driver at least in terms of the amount of gain based on sound samples im hearing. Utilization the general configuration of the tube driver is really easy to follow, and it is easy to get a good sound from this. If you know of a tube pedal not listed here, please let me know. Check out these unsolicited customer videos on youtube. The tube driver is a holy grail type pedal, but many people, especially younger players, have never heard of it. A pair of adjustablebias mosfet gain stages take the place of the 12ax7 vacuum tube, otherwise the circuit is true to the original schematic. It was 9v powered, like most pedals, making it more marketable to a larger crowd. Butler and the tube driver, there is a good interview over on the fantastic tone from heaven website. Butler still makes 911 tube drivers by hand at the time this article was written through his butler audio company, here. It might not be identical to the tube driver but its in the same sort of area. The image above shows my recently purchased real tube pedal case disassembled, because in the video below im about to show you how to clean it.
Tubes typically will not have to be replaced for 23 years under normal conditions. Bk butler is the pioneer of lowvoltage designs for. It has an effect sendreceive and a footswitch for switching between the channels and turning onoff the reverb. This is the original model, designed by bk butler, built by chandler industries with the power supply built. The real tube overdrive is a bk butler guitar pedal manufactured by tube works back in the 70s and 80s. I personally autograph each tube driver on the bottoms side. Heart of the tube driver is a real handselected 12ax7 tube by bk butler himself controls. The tube driver is not an extremely versatile pedal but what it does it does very well. I got a bk butler tube driver several weeks ago and either it just doesnt work with my equipment or ive got a bum one, i was wondering if you guys could help me decide. The tube king is reputed to be a very similar circuit design to the tube driver and the patent there certainly backs that notion up. If youre wondering how these things sound heres a demo for you. It spins all the way around and pulls out some too. I wrote to butlers company and a technician there verified it as a genuine butler pedal, as opposed to the chandler fakes.
A bk butler tube driver fabbed board would be great handmade ones suck, really hard to get them right. Bk butler tube driver 1989 guitar pedals, electronics. The bk butler tube drive circuit is based on a opamp gainstage driven into two triodestages of 12ax7 tube, using low plate voltage about 16volts there are lot of similar products, such as chandler tube driver, dean markley. Im hand building only limited production numbers every week. The chandler tube driver is a real tube based overdrive guitar pedal.
The mosfet driver is based on the legendary bk butler tube driver. Butler mark, eric johnsons original tube driver, the common second version with the after driver and butler s name added, and a 1987 tube driver with mids and bias pots added as a custom option. Shown above left to right the 1985 bk butler tube driver, the revised 198687 bk butler tube driver, the unauthorized 1988 knockoff made by chandler after butler parted ways with them, the 1990s tube works 911 tube driver, and a b. Those who want to reserve a unit, please contact me via email. Tube driver amps 2 pages amplifier tube works 904 owners manual. I think its out of production now, but the bk butler blue tube was a lower gain version of the tube driver. About the bk butler real tube overdrive guitar pedal. The circuit layout and pathways were very similar to the 1980s circuits, but there. It no longer functions correctly to change the gain. These pedals have to be dialed in for each individual amp and guitar combination as they are relatively low output and the tube drive tends to kick in at a lower level than some pedals. Nov 2, 2016 bk butlerchandler tube driver current draw saved from.
The bk butler tube drive circuit is based on a opamp gainstage driven into two triodestages of 12ax7 tube, using low plate voltage about 16volts there are lot of similar products, such as chandler tube driver, dean markley overlord classic tube overdrive and many others. Bk butler tube driver page 2 joes guitars, amps and gear joe bonamassa forum the official forum for all things joe bonamassa, guitars and blues music. The tube driver td752 is a two channel 100 watt amp with spring reverb. Forgot to mention before, if you have a chandler wall mart tube driver you can easily convert it to a authentic tube driver by rebuilding the tone stack section.
Overall in great shape considering the age of the pedal. I think its designed for ax7 but mine is getting a lot of gain quickly. Heres the tube driver made famous by david gilmour. Used models are also plentiful and easy to find online. Bk butler s original hand made tube driver guitar pedal used by eric johnson, david gilmour, billy gibbons, joe satriani, kenny wayne shepherd, robbie krieger, and many other pros.
I wrote to butler s company and a technician there verified it as a genuine butler pedal, as opposed to the chandler fakes. Butler tube driver famously used by david gilmour, eric johnson, billy gibbons and joe satriani to name a few. If it says tube driver on it as a model name, its one way or the other supposed to be under the auspices of or royalties to one mr. The b k butler tube driver has been used by several of rock guitars greats david gilmour and eric johnson to name just two. It is made in the usa has a 14 inch input and output and i believe is has a 12ax7 type tube. Ive just opened mine up and the circuit board quite clearly reads patented. Preamp 12ax7s in my guitar amps are warm to the touch but 12au7s in my hifi preamp if i recall correctly are very very hot. The tube driver is a somewhat famous pedal, id guess it to be the most wellknown tubebased distortion pedal. But the blue tube will be part of my collection for years to come, its a great keeper the way it is stock imo. When chandler copied the bk butler design they totally messed up the tone stack section all schematics to compare the different versions are here on this thread. Is there anythig similar to a bk butler tube driver and. I also have a realtube bk butler driver here to compare my build to, and it is silent. There are many schematics out there as well as a wealth of pcb projects. Its a great tube drive and im very happy i happened upon it, thanks duke i dont use the blue tube much for drive but i do dial a little bit of dirt into the signal.
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