VINTAGE TUBE MONSTER VT999

Amazing pedal for the price. Currently using it to slightly warm the sound of my Kemper. Not sure it would work on my board due to size but the sound is outstanding. It looks like the tube is easy to change to make it closer to the original chandler too.

Right out the box this pedal really impresses, I’ve used a number of tube modellers and OD/Distortion effects but always found them fizzy and artificial. The Tube Monster gives thick drive, overtones and dynamics and can run a full cranked tube distortion at very low volumes so ideal for home practice. The fact it acts as a 3 band EQ, a Noise Gate and Overdrive make it incredible value for money. I run this pedal through the FX return of my solid state amp bypassing the preamp and it sounds fantastic. I may experiment with swapping the stock tube out just to see if the sound does improve but I’m more than happy with it as is. Very well made, looks cool, best £40 I’ve spent in a long time!

To be honest, it is a decent overdrive pedal over all. Of course it is not from a more fancy brand and is big so it is affordable, but it performs what promised. When I play on it, it sounds very good. I can change tones, gain and volume as I like. It sounds like a tube amp overdrive and actually it is. It is interesting the possibility to upgrade the valve when I want to; there are a plenty of youtube videos where people changed the tone once changed the tube... Actually, it sounds good also with the standard tube when I play on it; so no really need to hurry to change the valve on it in my opinion. As usual with tube audio device, this overdrive needs to be warmed and used for a while until performs to its best.

I just bought this Vintage Tube Monster and am in two minds about it. Like other reviewers I'm going into a solid state amp, this time a Katana 50. I am finding that it only has a small area of low breakup between 7 and 10 o'clock on the gain (it doesn't go down to 6 o'clock so 7 is the lowest) so I'm surprised to find other people saying they thought you could use it for clean Jazz. I couldn't get just clean valviness at all. There is always a kind of background fizziness to the note. I use Behringer's MIC50USB preamp for that and it does it brilliantly. It was about OK for slightly crunchy Blues but, again, I can drive my MIC500USB to do that too. After 10 o'clock it seems to jump drastically into Stonesy territory and on into rather solid state sounding distortion past 12 o'clock. Clean and edge of breakup it doesn't really do. There's always a feeling of fizz about it to me with a definite tendency for any D note to really set things buzzing. I did try comparing it with a Joyo Vintage Overdrive which is supposed to be a Tubescreamer clone and the Tube Monster was definitely better and more dynamic. I really missed not having those three EQ knobs, but at least the Joyo didn't fizz. I also have an OCD clone and it can do what this Tone Monster does - fizz - but it also has a Hi/Lo switch which can cut that toppiness out. Maybe I need to try stacking a few other effects into it or after it, a fuzz or a compressor or a further overdrive, but I was hoping for a low maintenance, minimalist pedal board. With this sizeable slab I wouldn't want too many other pedals. See the pic for a size comparison. I'm not totally off it but I'm not blown away either. I know that a tube swap is recommended and that may indeed be the cause of this fizz. For my needs maybe a lower gain 12AU7 would help. But I just wonder how much the tube is doing the overdriving though on a starved plate 9v circuit like this? If it's all the diodes then the gain characteristic of a tube ought to have little impact. Being a consumable item I also wonder whether just trying a tube swap would invalidate my warranty. The only way to try it is to open up the device as there's no trap door to access the socket. There is also another mod with a few resistors and a switch that you can pick up for just a few pounds that might be worth considering but the three year warranty will certainly bite the dust if I go down that route. Ponder, ponder. What to do?

I decided to take a punt on this pedal based solely on the price - at the time of purchase, around £46 - which is daft money considering it comes with its own power supply. I have a vintage Fender Twin Reverb which you can force to overdrive if you really try hard but has no dedicated drive channel and is really only a clean amp. The VT999 right out of the box sounded pretty good and with tweaking gave me good approximation of a range of sounds from southern rock to almost modern metal scooped mid. Other reviewers say they could only get heavily distorted sounds from it, but that's not what I've found at all which leads me to believe that (much like tube amps) the results from this pedal really do vary from unit to unit. I would suggest if you buy one and aren't happy with the sounds try experimenting with replacement tubes - for the price the VT999 sells at, that's a viable option even for those on a tight budget. Overall, build quality is good though the knobs do feel a little bit cheap and it is faily large for a stompbox. I don't know about durability, but again for the price it feels fairly robust. I think most guitarists could find some use for the VT999, either as an OD/Dist or as a booster to push a tube amp a bit further. Given the options for experimentation, the price and the included power supply I'd say the VT999 was well worth a go. Recommended.

Wow..... that is all.

Da un overdrive/distorsión muy interesante generada por un auténtico bulbo 12AX7. Puedes obtener un sonido desde rock clásico (varios niveles de OD) hasta distorsión de heavy metal de inicios de los 80 (suena más a Motley Crue que a Metallica, por decirlo de alguna manera). Tiene además de un EQ de tres bandas, una puerta de ruido (noise gate) que resulta muy útil cuando aumentas mucho el nivel de ganancia, aunque en general no es ruidoso. Es el doble de voluminoso que un pedal tipo Boss (para tomar en cuenta) y viene con su propio adaptador incluido. Llegó rápido, en perfecto estado y está sólidamente construido. Sí lo recomiendo muchísimo si buscas versatilidad de distorsiones y OD clásicos en un solo pedal.

The pedal is solid. The EQ is very versatile and the gain can go from sweet overdrive to big distortion. The only con is the pedal size, it takes a lot of space on pedal boards.

overdrive qui vire au fuzz en fin de gain sublime!!! enorme palette de disto, les potards corrigent bien. un noise gate en prime bref deja dingue de cet pedale a lampe bref de quoi me faire oublier ma dod preamp 250 que jai vendu. les yeux fermes enjoy...

This is a GREAT tube OD pedal...but not out of the box. Surprisingly...just kidding...the stock tube is awful. Like every other review...my stock tube sucked. I didn't hate the tones with the stock tubes...but they're plain, sterile, and a little thin. Some pedals do sound like garbage with the stock tube...watch some YouTube reviews and you'll hear the great possibilities this pedal can offer if you do the following 2 things: This is the first add on you need to get...a good 12AU7 tube. I'm using a 60's NOS RCA 12AU7A...but any decent tube from Tung Sol, JJ...etc will work just as well. Why not replace it will another 12AX7? You can...but pedal does generate a lot of overdrive. So unless you're after a real saturated metal distortion...a very low gain works best. It'll still OD a lot with a 12AU7, but you get a wider scope of clean to dirt with the low gain tube. I tried the following tubes in descending order of gain: A better 12AX7 gain rating 100% 5751, and exact match to a 12AX7 with a gain rating of 70% 12AT7 gain rating 60% 12AY7 gain rating 45% 12AV7 gain rating 41% 12AU7 gain rating 19% All of the tubes sounded MUCH better than the stock....but the 12AU7 gave the wide scope of overdrive and a fuller tone that responded the best to the tone controls. The "A" in the 12AU7A tube I used just means it's lower noise than a regular 12AU7.. if you're new to tubes, any type of tube that ends with an "A" is a lower noise version of a 12AX7, 12AY7....etc. Secondly...a new power adapter. The supplied adapter works just fine...but if you install a lower gain tube it's not going to function as well. A lower gain tube runs hotter...I know that sounds counterintuitive but it's the way the tubes function. The stock adapter is 9v 300 mV...you need an adapter than runs 9v 500 mV. They're a several good adapters on Amazon that run $7-15...so it's not an expensive add on. Do these two things and the pedal kills. I can use this pedal to get REAL tube OD thru my tube amps, 50's Tweed Deluxe clone, 65 Princeton Reverb or even a 50's Champ clone...at low volume. The tone controls are good...it ALWAYS a plus to have the high, low and mids separately controlled. The Noise Gate actually works too. Set it to the threshold you want and the pedal is DEAD QUIET when you're not playing. There are high-end tube driven OD pedals out there...but this one can go toe to toe with them. Will the pedal last long? I have no idea. The chassis is well made and quality...but I can't begin to guess about the longevity of the interior components. For well under $100, if it dies after three years, so be it. If your looking for a OD pedal that is an actual tube driven circuit...this is a good one. But ONLY if you spend a few extra bucks for a good 12AU7 & power adapter to match the tube.

Lo he probado con mi amplificador a válvulas harley benton tube 15 al cual le cambié el altavoz de origen por un celestion greenback, este amplificador es mono canal, lo tengo para que suene limpio con el gain bajo,he probado muchos pedales y pedaleras, de precios bajos y altos, debo ser muy maniático pero casi ninguno me gustaba como sonaba, yo quiero sonido analógico, he visto este pedal y las opiniones de el, casi todas 5 estrellas, digo lo voy a probar, probado está, he flipado, sonido increíble, desde crunch suaves hasta distorsiones para heavy metal,para sonidos más duros ya no da, pero es igual, por el precio es un regalo, además viene con puerta de ruido que funciona muy bien y además se puede regular,hay gente que le ha cambiado la válvula,pero con la que lleva, para mi suena genial, el único inconveniente del pedal es el tamaño y peso, espero que me dure muchos años.