B.K Butler Tube Driver (Review 2)
B.K Butler Tube Driver (5 Knob)
By Dan Stearn
Despite already having a review of this awesome pedal on Dirtbox I thought Dan’s review was too good to turn down, and it is always good to hear someone else’s story before you commit to buying a new pedal, particularly when it is this pricey. So I give you Dan Stearn’s review…
Features
A military-approved metal jacket houses a real 12AX7 valve here: the Tube Driver is most definitely the real deal, and are now handwired by BK himself. The version I’m reviewing today is the 5 knob “Bias upgrade” model which adds an extra dial on the side of the pedal for controlling and the voltage supplied to the valve, consequently adjusting its characteristics. Set to full, and the knob is essentially bypassed, causing your valve to behave like the beastly 12AX7 it is resulting in a higher gain, aggressive sounding overdrive. Back down on the Bias, however, and your 12AX7 starts to behave like an entirely different animal, with the tone getting smoother, sweeter and fuzzier the more you roll off the dial. Consequently, the pedal becomes incredibly versatile and allows you to emulate different valves.
Sounds
The sound quality produced by the Tube Driver is simply supreme. It’s a wonderfully organic and warm sounding unit, and is definitely a breath of fresh air amongst the Tube Screamer clones. If you’re after sustain without too much gain or compression, the Tube Driver can deliver, and consequently it becomes a very easy pedal to solo with, when used to boost a dirty rhythm tone into silky lead bliss. For me, this is where the Tube Driver excels the most, and whilst you can run it straight into the clean channel and yield some pleasant, earthy tones, I find best results are found when the Tube Driver is used to boost an already dirty signal. The result? Potentially one of the fattest, silkiest tones known to mankind!
That said, good tone doesn’t come without attention to detail, and so it’s only to be expected that the Tube Driver requires extensive tweaking to get the timbre you’re after. Even the slightest of adjustments can drastically alter the sound and FEEL of the pedal (this is of course both an advantage and disadvantage), so it’s important to spend a long time adjusting settings… it’s definitely not “plug-in and play”, and results vary considerably depending on the guitar and amp you’re running through. You’ll need patience to get the most out of this, heck, I’m still experimenting with settings a year on, but when you get it right, the results are unprecedented.
Overall
For many, this will be the secret weapon on the pedalboard. Although it might take some time to tame, when set correctly the Tube Driver can easily add that extra bit of magic to complete the signal chain that everyone’s after to change a good tone to a great one. In my opinion there are better options available for boosting a clean amp or driving the valves (although the Tube Driver can certainly be used for this), but if you’re after something to add that final touch of gain and complete your lead tone, the Butler will deliver on all fronts and I’m yet to find something that will do it better.
Rating
9.4 – Put simply, if you’re in the market for a utopia of boutique tone or after something a little different to add that extra bit of sparkle to your pedalboard, the BK Butler Tube Driver is your pedal. People after a straight forward, back to basics overdrive should look elsewhere, but for those willing to invest the time and money into acquiring a truly special tone, the Tube Driver could just be the pedal you’ve been searching for.
The Butler Tube Driver can be bought at BK Butler’s website.
http://www.butleraudio.com
Sources: www.butleraudio.com
