Butler Tube Driver - opinions?

[TroyHamilton]

I feel like I've been skipping around a big part of the overdrive world and have never given this a look - can you guys offer me some reviews?

Some questions I'd have after reading the HC reviews:

1. Is it hard to dial in a good sound?
2. Is it particularly good/bad with certain types amps? Any pedal/amp combo can not blend as well as another, but just wanting some feedback on the flexibility of it.
3. Range of tones?
4. Thoughts on the optional bias control?
5. By chance anyone using one with a Fender BF champ?

Any and all info is appreciated - Thanks!

 

[coolhand78]

I recently bought one and i love it... Eric johnson and david gilmour are 2 of my favorite guitar players and it is an essential part of both their tones... Having said that i'm not trying to copy either of their tones i play a vibroverb and bf bassman... I stack my tube driver into a fulldrive 2 set to flat mids for a more balanced eq...
Some say the tube driver is a one trick pony but thats not really the case... As a point of reference look at the way that ej and dg use them... Eric sets his eq's to 0 has dials the drive to taste, somewhere between 9:00 and 12:00 and actually attenuates his lead marshall with the volume... Gilmour on the other hand uses 2 in his cornish board... He sets one for low gain and one for higher gain with quite different eq settings on both...
The pedal does have a specific sound but it is a good one! The bias knob is worth having as it sort of helps wind down or up the amount of gain your getting out of the tube you have in there... Kind of like turning a 12ax7 into a 12au or 12at...

Hope this helps...

 

[Stressfest]

I've had one on my board for 12 months or so and used it with various Marshalls, CAE OD-100's and AC-30's and it works well with all. My advice is that if you do order one, speak to BK and grab one of his hand picked Yugo's. Totally transformed the pedal... Was great before, but now...

 

[TroyHamilton]

My advice is that if you do order one, speak to BK and grab one of his hand picked Yugo's. Totally transformed the pedal... Was great before, but now...

Can you explain a little more? "Yugo"?? I'm afraid I don't know quite what you're referring to...??

Thanks for the input though!

 

[traviswalk]

It is a NOS Yugoslavian 12AX7 tube and they are getting hard to come by.

 

[Jim S]

I have the yellow/white rack version and I think it makes a killer OD for bass. Wow: Entwistel LIVE AT LEEDS is right there.

For guitar it's nice but not OMG.

 

[pold]

I bought one and I like it, it's a great pedal, on the other hand I don't use it really often, normally as a OD I just use a COT 50, but if I sell the Tubedriver I think I would regret it, so I think it's going to stay... Another OD I am looking forward to buying is the MJM Phantom, it's considered a top tubescreamer and the clips are really encouraging.

 

[BillyK]

The TD is awesome.

Here's a recent post on tube selection:

https://www.thegearpage.net/board/index.php?threads/521888

 

[TroyHamilton]

Thanks for all the input guys... it definitely sounds like one I should at least check in to...

 

[Stressfest]

I'd make a move asap if i were you... apprently BK doesn't have many left and a lot gets thrown during testing. Also, Billy G just bought another 5 Tube Drivers with the Yugo's...