Buy whatever tube pedals from a store with a good return policy, so you can try them and dump them as needed. Some used 4knob tube drivers marked chandler are not the original design by bk butler. The b k butler tube driver has been used by several of rock guitars greats david gilmour and eric johnson to name just two. I found this one at guitar resurrection in austin texas. Some used 4 knob tube drivers marked chandler are not the original design by bk butler. Right now i have a mullard 12at7 in mine and it sounds cool. Bk butler tube driver feature requests kemper profiler. Ive looked to compile the best and most reliable for this post. The layout included is for an offboard tube socket not mounted on the pcb.
David is often associated with his lead tones but heas a master creating. 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 rig. The tube driver is our own creation following the bk butler or chandler models but taking it to new levels regarding flexibility and noise reduction. 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. I kept the power section from john ks version of the blue tube. Bk butler tube driver page 1 joes guitars, amps and. During its long life the tube driver has appeared in many forms. Is there anythig similar to a bk butler tube driver and.
Welcome to butler audios tube driver blue car audio site. Unfollow butler tube driver to stop getting updates on your ebay feed. Tube driver pedals, real tube overdrive, tube works, etc. It will draw 4x the power it needs, causing it to overheat and damage the circuit. This is the ultimate bias model inspired by requests from eric johnson in 1985.
It might not be identical to the tube driver but its in the same sort of area. Id been aware for many years of futtermans otl tube amps and later his moscode design which used hitachitype lateral mosfets to simulate power tubes. Short discussion of the new butler thermionic vacuum tube technology bk butler. If youre wondering how these things sound heres a demo for you. Tube driver new direct from bk butler with bias covid. Bk butler tube works tube driver 12ax7 overdrive effect pedal.
A large online repository or library of guitar pedal schematics, layouts, pcb transfers. They are available as outside and inside tube variations. Dc circuit eric johnson guitar pedals electronics projects butler tube layout david gilmour. Conversely, if you plug a tube driver with a 220240v transformer meant for the eurpoean market into a 110120v outlet. Differences between tube driver and real tube hi bk. But looks like it originally was a schematic of the tube driver from 1986 done by mr. This is a pedal that has been around for over thirty years and has become a longstanding favorite amongst some of the most elite players in the business for its smooth distortion and boost capabilities.
If you end up getting it, shoot bk an email im sure hell be glad to help. It was designed and built by audio electronics engineer b. Tube works valve distortion guitar bass keyboard pedal overdrive bk butler blue. Bk butler tube driver page 2 joes guitars, amps and.
Heart of the tube driver is a real handselected 12ax7 tube by bk butler himself. Butler then reworked the design again, combining an opamp operational amplifier or. Butler real tube overdrive the tube driver is a boosteroverdrive pedal with an ic and vacuum tube driven preamp circuit inside, used by guitarists such as david gilmour of pink floyd, eric johnson, billy gibbons, joe bonamassa, joe satriani, kenny wayne shepherd, j mascis, david holt, keith urban, and others. Butler tube driver famously used by david gilmour, eric johnson, billy gibbons and joe satriani to name a few. To me, the bk butler tube driver is one of the best around both for leads, taming a muff and for a clean volume boost that adds some bite. Its kind of like having a section of your amp right in a pedal. A four knob version of the tube works 901 real tube pedal, which was an improved tube driver.
Bk butler tube driver perf and pcb effects layouts. Bk butler s original hand made tube driver guitar pedal used by. Beware of inferior clones and used worn out pedals. One super cool feature of the tube driver is that the level knob acts like a global master volume for the lead sound. It is now possible to get the best vacuum tube home audio sound in your car.
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. That cool joe, i also prefer a lower gain nos preamp tube in my tube driver. Known the world over for creating the eric johnson violin tone. With careful attention given to the attainment of all tube response characteristics in a mobile environment, tube driver blue will satisfy even the most critical audiophile.
Make offer tube works valve distortion guitar bass keyboard pedal overdrive bk butler blue. Knockoff made by chandler after butler parted ways with them. Tube driver with bias control original design by bk butler. This is the big daddy of tube overdrive pedals the classic tube driver from b. 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. Compatible with all electric guitars and amplifiers. The design and sound is the same as the original as supplied to eric johnson, david gilmour, etc but with improved parts such as switchcraft all metal jacks, click pots, etc. 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. The mini boogeemini matrix circuit included two 12ax7 preamp tubes. I even produced and patented a car amplifier in 1995 called tube driver which used a similar approach.
Each unit is hand built to my specs and i personally check out each tube driver to perfection. Bk butler has been designing vacuum tube related musical. The b k butler tube driver has been used by several of rock guitars greats david gilmour. This latest patent pending creation of bk butler, promises to become a classic just as his former tube driver designs have. The baja tube driver is basically a replica reverse engineered bk butler tube. There are many schematics out there as well as a wealth of pcb projects. Ive just opened mine up and the circuit board quite clearly reads patented.
This is a selfverified layout of the famous baja version of the bk butler chandler tube drive. Butler made in taiwan tube works on the botton it says it was made 041798 and it is black and tan in color. The td may not sound so great on its on but when playing with other instruments it. I also have a realtube bk butler driver here to compare my build to, and it is silent. What do you guys know about the bk butler real tube driver.
My superlead is so loud that itll probably blow any. 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. My bk butler tube driver mine is tan not grey has a tube socket and you can substitute a 12at7 or a 12au7 tube for the supplied 12ax7. Those same sessions also resulted in pink floyds the endless river album, which was not completed until 2015. I plan to yous this one as an overdrive and the other as clean boost for.
Only marked with script chandler logo on the front, no bk butler. That being said i dont want to drop 300 bones on the butler if its not what i had hoped. The original project runs on an 16v ac adapter so chances are that the original will sound better than my 12v dc version. The bk butler 911 tube driver has been one of those items for me. I have loads of drives hotcake, klon ktr, timmy, kot but theres something special about the driver. Johnk had made a layout for the 903 awhile ago, so i thought id give the 901.
The stomp box world has much more variety than what the kpa has in store when it comes to distortions and overdrives. He first used them for the recording sessions for pink floys division bell album in 1993. It spins all the way around and pulls out some too. Browse bk butler tube driver clone pcb and overlay pictures, photos, images, gifs, and videos on photobucket. Heres the tube driver made famous by david gilmour. It uses a 12ax7 which is pushed by a dual opamp followed by a fenderstyle tone stack. 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. Make offer bk butler tube works tube driver 12ax7 overdrive effect pedal valve 3 knob. Do not plug a tube driver made with a 110120v transformer into a 220240v power outlet. Secrets revealedwhats inside this bk butler tube driver real tube overdrive. This is the only handmade and authentic tube driver. Bk butler tube driver 910 schematicpot value telecaster.
I have an old 3 knob tube driver by bk butler tube works which has a broken potentiometer in the tube gain position. I dont have any 7660s but i plan on building a bipolar power supply. It also works extremely well as a booster for the more demanding distortions like the big muff. This pedal is legendary, used by eric johnson, kenny wayne. It no longer functions correctly to change the gain. Beautiful ideas electric guitar building plans free 3 pdf blueprints on. Then someone modified it to match with the 911 pedal. Heres your chance to own this legendary holy grail of overdrive pedals. As im from uk, the bk butler pedals are not available over here, so i wanted to get a heads up on a pedal that offers a very similar tone to that of the tube driver. Browse bk butler tube driver schematic bias pictures, photos, images, gifs, and videos on photobucket. Ive read several threads on this, and nobody seems to ever really come to a conclusion. A bk butler tube driver fabbed board would be great handmade ones suck, really hard to get them right. Maybe its a correct schematic for the pedal being analysed here. Tube driver readyfortransfer printed circuit board layout.
Then i engrave my signature on the bottom of the case. David gilmour tones david gilmour has been an avid tube driver user since the 1990s. Pedals with separate ac power supplies or wall warts are not original and do not sound the same. Please practice handwashing and social distancing, and check out our resources for adapting to these times. Baja real tube driver 12v dc online stripboard layout. The tube driver houses a preamp tube and it generates distortion by overdriving the tube rather than conventional pedal methods.
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