Don't know what to do about LPB2UBE

[devideva]

I got one of these used. It was cheap. I had heard you could gang the two tubes for a good distortion. I tried, yeah it boosts, but it also sucked really hard. I lost all bass and my sound acquired a tinny midrange. I don't want to sell this thing cause it was so cheap but it seems useless to me. My EQD Speaker Cranker sounds a billion times better without any tone suck, and I feel like even if I replaced the tubes with low noise high gainers like Rubys the LPB2UBE would still suck out all my lows. Is this pedal a keeper for some future something or should I hawk it now and get a Black Arts Pharaoh. Pro Guitar Shop has a fifteen bucks off of a hundred today using 'fall15' code. Time is of the essence. I have to do this today. I guess I am asking whether the Sovtek 12ax7wb tubes it has stock might be sucking my tone, and whether if I used some 12au7 it might get a more usable expressional palette???

[skullservant]

12au7's are going to lower the gain and not give you the distortion you're wanting. You could always throw the LPB2UBE into a true bypass looper so you don't experience the tone sucking when it's not engaged, but as far as when the pedal is on, I'm not thinking that it will really give you much 'chunk'

[kaeth]

I have one with upgraded tubes, and I love it. However, I don't crank the gain, and I use it stereo in combination with fuzz and EQ. Sounds a lot better to me than fuzz alone.

If you're just using it in place of the Speaker Cranker, which you like better, you should probably hawk it. Changing the tubes will make it sound a little better, but it's not going to be a world of difference.

[Dr. Sherman Sticks M.D.]

not on topic at all, but the other day, i noticed that the glow from the tubes in my electribe, actually comes from 2 orange LEDs installed underneath and behind the tubes....i already knew that the tubes were mostly for show, but it was interesting to say the least....yay tubes!!

[devideva]

I have bought and sold three tube boosts. I jwish I could say I got a lot of knowledge from them but the fact is I bought them without adapters from Guitar Center and then had to take them back after not finding replacement adapters. But, in trying out various adapters I found that all the tube boosts from Blackstar, Ibanez and this EHX all have lights or LEDs behind the tubes for show.

Okay I am trying my boost through Speaker Cranker without as much gain. In fact I decided to try the high mode instead of low to get more headroom. I got this pedal for cheap from Used Guitar Center after they promised me one with adapter and it took three weeks to get and then came without adapter for yet another product. I was fit to tie. They refunded me half the cost so it was 55 bucks. I don't really want to lose it after so much ballyhooing. They did send me an adapter finally. I'm rambling. I think this is a real steal and will be useful in the future. But I really want that Pharaoh.

[kaeth]

Lots of modern 12AX7s don't glow much or at all when they're working, but lots of people don't know that. Korg (and Behringer too) put the LEDs behind there to give people the feeling that the tubes are working their magic. I guess they figured no one would ever look inside, because now they've kind of given the opposite impression.

Also lots of tube boosts are starved-plate (low voltage), which will make the tubes glow less. The LPB2ube is one of the few high voltage ones. It should still light up certain models of tube....not that the glow changes your sound at all.

[devideva]

Hey kaeth do you have any other LPB2UBE tricks? What kind of tubes did you put in yours? I was thinking Ruby 12AX7AC5 cause they are low noise. You think those or Tungsols would be better?

[goroth]

Tungsols are nice. Tube Amp Doctor are good too. I prefer them to Rubys - I didn't hear a lot of difference between them and Sovteks when I've been experimenting with tubes. Different tubes won't change the tone enormously - it might push it in a certain direction, but ya gotta like the basic tone of the pedal. If not then it might not be worth the money.

[the Life Aquatic]

Never had any experience with tube boosts, but why not just get an actual distortion pedal instead of trying to mod a boost to give u a distortion?

[devideva]

Never had any experience with tube boosts, but why not just get an actual distortion pedal instead of trying to mod a boost to give u a distortion?

Well that's the question. When I first started listening to YT pedal demos I really loved the way the Ibanez Tube King TK999HT sounded. At that point I thought everything was about distortion. I tried a few metal pedals that I could afford - Boss MT-2, Metal Muff Top Boost, and I found that they just cut ones bandwidth. I could get good tones, but those two pedals at least didn't support ones entire dynamic range.

So then I decided I preferred overdrives. But I also thought that I could get a more dynamic distortion using a high voltage tube pushed into overdrive over a transistor or chip. It was something i was - am experimenting with.

For instance kaeth says he likes the LPB before his fuzz, but I just tried that and with Speaker Cranker at least, and also with Boss SD1 they ground the signal out so the boost is not pushing the pedal into new territory.

[kaeth]

I have one of these: http://thetubestore.com/tad7025s.html
and one of these: http://thetubestore.com/northern-electric-12ax7.html

I put 2 different ones in for variety, and also to try them out. I've only really used a small handful of tubes, so I can't say what's best, but this was helpful for picking some.
http://thetubestore.com/12ax7review.html

Also, I don't really know what kind of sound you're looking for. The LPB isn't going to sound anything like the Pharaoh if that's the sound you're after.

[devideva]

Well, I am not trying to sound like anyone. In fact I don't want to sound like anyone. I also am not trying to sound different. But what I have right now is kinda British classic Yardbird sound but with some slight sputtery germanium clipping. I want to keep the treblelly Marshally OD sound but I also want to add more grind. I said trebelly but that doesn't mean I like no bass. I really like the whole dynamics.

I started guitar with a dread and I like the interplay of harmonics and I have been trying to keep that. I am liking boosts because they have higher capacitance and let through the whole signal. Some ODs (I haven't had many at all) cut your tone so I am piecing together a puzzle.

Since I wrote this post this morning alot has changed. I moved some things around. Put my Speaker Cranker in the effect loop. (before and after the LPB one or the other shut the other down-not sure why-capacitance I think). I also called the local Hammond Organ store and asked them about tubes (keep your organ in mind when retubing) and they have several military spec Sylvania 12ax7 I am gonna go piss the wife off about and buy. 10 bucks each. My first foray into vintage tube-ville.

I am gonna switch the tubes out.

I have a Bugera V55 and Epi LPC Studio.

[Dr. Sherman Sticks M.D.]

^your wive gets pissed about $10 items?

[devideva]

50 bucks - it's a deal we have - she let me buy an amp and I promised I wouldn't buy anything else for the rest of the year. Then I ended up buying ten pedals, returning five of them, and shifting the money around saying - it's all the same money - but I finally reach the true cut off, or that is to say this is the3 last fifty bucks I have to spend through the end of the year. On this. She won't get pissed but she won't be thrilled either. I do get the best deals by shopping around and only keeping what I will really use, but she doesn't really know about that. She's a good woman. I can't fault her. But I don't work.

[ryan summit]

im tube dumb,but
get the pharoah
and have fun with it