Arion MTE-1

No brainer-3 knobs and a stomp switch

Sovtek mig-50s, 9 different strats.I have 5 or 6 arion pedals that i use that i bought for the price.The tubulator is 1 of 3 distortion pedals that are on my pedal board.I use the tubulator and a TS-7 ibanez the most.With the mte-1,a holy grail reverb pedal and the low gain channel on my mig 50 cranked to about 12 oclock,i can nail Eric Johnsons tone right on the mark with no hisses or noise.Of course,that is not everyones tone goal.If you're a "grunge guy" this pedal is not for you.I will take an Arion pedal hands down anyday over an over rated,overpriced Boss.Advice to the younger players,simply because it cost more does not mean it's better.Trust me.I have yet to get a decent tone from a Boss and i have been playing for 33 years,i should have learned something by now.

Yes i depend on it.Everyone seems concerned about plastic enclosures.I use my gear alot and have never had an arion break on me.Of course i treat my gear kindly like any caring player should.I don't think you're supposed to be leaping into the air and landing full force on your pedals,even if it does look cool,this stuff cost money.But that's just my opinion.

Never had to use them

I play blues based rock with a mix of jazz and jazz fusion.I would buy another if it were stolen.As stated earlier i looked at several different pedals including Boss,DOD,Digitech and Ibanez and found that the Ibanez and Arion gave me the tones that i am happy with.Digitech a close second.People buy Boss but they just don't sound good to me.

As most distortion units go, this is self explanatory. Three knobs,
Level, Tone and Distortion. I am using this directly out of my steel guitar, before the volume pedal. I want distortion at all levels of volume, so I found the Level control turned to maximum gave me the most even distortion at all volumes. It seemed a bit muddy when not full on. The tone control gave a wide spread of tones, a bit too much midrange for me, but OK. The distortion control went from mild to medium levels of distortion...less than many of the pedals I have used. BUT, it is more than adequate for my needs. It compares with other OVERDRIVE pedals...distortion is a bit lower than "distortion"
pedals. It couldn't be easier to use. Finding the "perfect tone" is the fun, sometimes difficult part. This pedal, fortunately, has the "perfect tone" for me.

I'm using this effect with a single neck, 12-string Zumsteel Universal
Steel Guitar, running through a Peavey Nashville 400 amp, a few stomp boxes (flanger, phase shifter, fuzz, analog delay, and an IVL Steel Rider Synthesizer with Korg Sound Module.
The Tubulator is silent when in normal, clean mode ( a must for me),
NO tonal change in "off" mode and begins with slight distortion in the "on" mode. I had hoped it would be clean at minimum, gradually gaining distortion as you turned it up. No, there is some distortion at all times when turned "on"...at least the way I'm using it. The sound quality of the distortion is excellent,
gives a nice true tube amp distortion and gives me the tone I want if I dip the mids on the amp...easy and no problem for me, one twist of a knob. I have been using a Boss Tone distortion unit since the late'70s and am used to the unique, fuzzy distortion of that effect This Arion is true tube distortion with the unique tones of the steel guitar coming through clearly and accurately. I have a custom wound pickup, wound to vintage Sho Bud specs...the sound is there, giving my steel the distorted lap steel sound I want. I can also get the harmonics and overtones of a guitar with this...something new for me. I have quickly found at least 3 great tones, depending on the music I'm playing. The Arion is better than most other units that I've experimented with, name brands and bigger price tags. Rate it a 9...could have a scooped, less midrange tone and "no" distortion in the minimum setting. Still, I'm impressed.

I have been using it for some time now. I'm extremely careful with my equipment and have no reservations about using this without a backup.
The case is plastic, a little cheap looking but designed well.
(The battery compartment is very easy to use and well placed.)
Since I turn my floor effects units on and off with my hand, I don't foresee any problems with durability. On the floor, standing, using feet as these are made for, it will be likely to fail unless you're careful.
If you abuse your stuff and care more about looking cool while stomping, you should go buy a metal box and pay 4-5 times the price. In my opinion the sound won't be better in most instances. I'll have the 27 year old Boss Tone as a back up, but frankly feel I won't need it except when I want that smooth, barely on fuzz...still a great tone for a steel. I rate it an 8 for the normal way it would be used. For me, it'll probably not be an issue unless the electronics fail. Since the price is so low, lower quality components may be a factor. So far, no problems.

No experience here. I paid $14.99 for this. Just sending it somewhere would not be cost effective. I have a great tech guy who could keep this running forever...he's my support. I'd have him repackage the guts to my specs, as he has done for me in the past with another pedal. I'd still have the sound of the unit in a better package.
Otherwise, I'd simply buy another.

Overall Rating 10. I play classic country, "Americana",
western swing, "alt country", blues, jazz
and with the synth, I have done most everything at one time or another, onstage and in the studio.
I've been playing professionally for 38 years, 30 on steel as main instrument (bass guitar as well). I have the above mentioned equipment, have had 2 other steel guitars (Sho-Bud); Musicman , Fender, Roland, Peavey amps; many effects units of all types, several basses. I have experimented with other distortion units and with the exception of the RAT 2, this little box has what I need for the slide and blues work I do. I get a lot of positive comments about my tones. Nothing unique, just constant listening and experimentation with effects and combinations. I am hard to please.
Overdrives are what I feel give me the best tone. This is a good sounding overdrive. It will NOT have enough distortion for the average rock guitarist seeking metal or higher levels of distortion but if you're after a smooth overdrive, I think it will be in the running as one of the better sounding pedals. I became interested when I saw the price. It's worth buying two for that kind of $ and having a spare. I also tried an Arion MDS-1 Distortion pedal,
again $14.99. It had way too much distortion, was thin sounding, fuzz
more than distortion. I couldn't get the distortion level down to 0
so I could add just a small amount. The Tubulator has the lower levels to begin with but I can get the thing to distort far beyond what I would usually use at the upper end. By varying the tone and distortion knobs, I can get this to sound like the MDS-1 and still have the tube sounds I have to have at lower levels. Good range of tones for my needs, more than I'll use. I have read that these units have the Tubescreamer "chip". I have to say that the Tubulator has a lot more character and variety of sound than the Arion MDS-1 or the Tubescreamer. If it was stolen, lost, etc., I would order another right away. It blows away the Boss DS-1, Ibanez Tubescreamers, Maxon DS 2, Guyatone distortion pedal...all priced higher. I have reverse snobbery...if I find something that works, AND it's obscure or cheap, I feel like I've discovered something special. This qualifies. I would like it to have a more scooped mid section, or the option of sounding like a wah wah set in the nasal sounding tone you can get, but I come close using this with a flanger set in a slow rolling setting, with flange
engaged. The tone knob goes from a mild, somewhat dead low end to a thin, very "live" high end. Between those extremes is a range where I found what I want. I am extremely concerned with my tones and stick with something when I find it. This should do me fine and for $15, it's the value of the month. If it crashes, I'll make a few modifications to the switching, packaging and use the circuit board as is...or buy another. It was a nice surprise to find such a good sound for this price. Doesn't happen often.

very easy to use , 3 knobs

Sounds great , real smooth and rich. I set it at 12:00 12;00 and gain all the way down. Very tubey. It does sound similar the the ts7 but with not as much gain. Quiet. I use a tele and a hot rod amp

Its plastic , but good plastic , I have other plastic pedals that have lasted years.

I dont think arion in around anymore. musicians friend has good suuport

This is a very nice o/d pedal , Ive tried quite alot of pedals (botique and mods) This and the ts7 are really the only ones ive liked so far. For the price you absolutely cant go wrong

Easy to use.

This pedal simply blew me away.

My Gear : Fly-V w/ DD and EMG boost into rackmount --> Gainiac preamp, peavey FX, and stereo Poweramp.

I have the tubulator placed AFTER the preamp and before the effects. I think that's backwords compared to the way most people use overdrive pedals. I first did use it before the preamp and got great sound using it as a boost but I found that this way is more convenient for me because I already had a volume pedal between the preamp and FX so all I needed was a patch cable. Plus, it acts MORE LIKE tube-amp simulation if it occurs after the pre-amp anyways.


I bought this pedal because my gainiac can sometimes give me insane feedback so I wanted an alternate overdrive to use and didn't want to spend a lot of money. This solved that problem, but it also gave me a much more versatile setup. I fell in love with how PERFECT it is for adding a touch of crunch to a clean channel and for low-gain distortion!! It sounds very rich and responsive. It doesn't have great hi-gain sounds on its own (hence the rating of 9) but even then it still sounds pretty decent.

I also found that if I set my preamp for a lightly scooped rhythm sound then this pedal is perfect for going into a lead (kind of like using a tube-screamer in reverse) because it has plenty of mids to smooth out the sound. Very hot and sweet tone!



Just for reference, I play mostly hard rock but also contemporary praise and worship, some blues, and occasionally some hard-corpsish metal stuff.

Would you use it on a gig without a backup?

well....hmmm funny this is that I bought this to be the back-up. But it just sounds so gooood, I can't imagine that I would leave it sit around.

I've never owned anything from Arion before so i cannot really comment.
If it breaks (hope not) I'll post later.

Don't know this either

I've been playing for about 4 years now and have mostly had to play through solid-state amps. This pedal is the answer to sterile sounding clean and low-gain tones if you have transparent SS amps.

It would be nice if you could get a little more guts with its high-gain sound because the low-E string sounds a little SS fake-ish but it's definately nothing to complain about. I mean dude, this thing is only 15 freaking dollars new and you get some pretty aggressive crunch.

You get huge sound for such a low price! I give it 10 overall considering the low cost.

it is analog with three pots (level, tone, dist) and a switch, so it is easy to use. no manual needed. the tone control has a narrow band of usefull sounds (see below).

low ourput single coil guitar (ibanez rs 135 start type) / high output humbucker guitar (ibanez 72 telecaster thinline custom mod) => mte-1 "tubulator" => yamaha g50-112II (solid state amp)
boxes for comparison: ibanez mt 10 ("mostortion")
the mte-1 is a low gain overdrive to distortion box. like other products of this type it works well with humbuckers but sounds somewhat weak with single coils (say crunchy, not distorted). with humbuckers the dist control gives you sounds between slight crunch - aggressive crunch - mild distortion. with single coils and dist at min it works as a clean boost, with humbuckers it has some distortion already with min dist. it is not noisy. when turned off, there is no change of tone (real bypass?). the distortion does not break off but fades quite continually. there is one major drawback: the tone control is almost useless for my taste. at max ("high") it gives a trebly, almost fuzzy distortion sound (not very musical), with any setting below 3 o'clock you get muddy dark sounds without any higher overtones (and my amp is set at max treble plus bright!). So it just works fine in the "range" from 3 to 4.
as compared to the mostortion overall gain and distortion is a bit lower.

this one was built in sri lanka. the box is made of a sturdy plastic, both switch and pots look well. the switch feels more reliable than ibanez 9 or 10 series. i always take more than one overdrive box, so there is always a backup.

never dealt with them

i have been playing blues to hard rock for 30 years now on a low technical level. this box is a one trick pony like many overdrives are. i feel good about it with a neck humbucker and max dist (just that singing sound). for use with a strat i recommend a preboost (e.g. marshall drivemaster). to my taste it is not versatile enough. i prefer overdrives with three band equalization (mostortion, drivemaster and the like). the tone control of the tubulator is not well set up, just one usefull setting. if it got stolen or lost i would not actively look for a replacement. but it is certainly worth its price. if you can get it at about 10 USD/Euro it's okay.

Three knobs, not that difficult at all. And it was very easy for me to get good tones. I'm a kind of guy who likes a lot of knobs and choices, but their's a good variety of tones with just the three. Never even looked at the manual once.

I use a cheap SX les paul copy into a Marshall MG250 DFX combo. The MG has good built-in distortion, but you only really get heavy gungy tones from it. (which is good) So I needed more of an overdrive/tube-like tone as well. This baby is perfect for that! I found myself coming up with all sorts of beautiful tones with ease! It reminds me of an old Fender Bassman combo I used to use. It really makes my amp more versitle. And what great value too! An because it costs $15, I'm giving it a 10!

Seems very sturdy. But I literally just got it today, so who knows. Again $15..... I think I can afford another!

I ordered this from Musicians Friend like everyone else. But I've never had to contact them or Arion.

I've been playing guitar for over 10 years. I've owned tons of different pedals in the past. I also sold a lot of them too. A lot of pedals try to be something theire not, and I'm usually disapointed by them. Not so here, this thing does exactly what it should! And does it well. I would buy another if it went ba bye. I play all kinds of misic other than country, and it works perfect for all them. Get one while they still cost $15 fast!

Only three knobs, gain, tone and distortion. Good thing it has tone. The manual is a hoot--what a translation!

This thing sucks out much of the lows and highs and focuses on the midrange. I don't like much distortion, just a tinge, so I keep that knob down. I keep the tone past 12 o'clock because the unit really pulls out the treble. It's sort of a one-trick-pony but it's pretty good for a mellow tubey sound. If you want a hi-fi thunderous buzz- saw sound buy aBig Muff.

I have three other Arion products and they're still working although I haven't played out much recently.

I've never dealt with the company. Don't really know how, anyway. Do I call someone in China?

I started playing in the 60s so I know a lot about that era of distortion effects. When the Stones came out with "Satisfaction" everyone had to have fuzz box. First was the Maestro Fuzz and that was a buzzy affair. I soon bought a round Fuzz Face which was smoother, they may have re-issued those. Had a Univox and a Boss Tone (I think that is what it was called). It was a small plug-into-the guitar unit that had legendary powerful smooth distortion. They were unreliable though. The Arion unit is OK but I like the lead gain from my amp better. It keeps the wide tone range. The Arion has its place though.

There are three controls, like virtually every other overdrive unit. It's quite easy to use.

I have two main guitars I play. One is a custom black guitar with one Carvin humbucker, Floyd Rose, and a scalloped neck. The other is a cheap Kramer Strat that I put a couple of humbuckers into. They both sound nice through this, into a small all-tube combo. I run my Tubulator at 3 to 4.5 volts with an adaptor, reducing the headroom and high-end a little, and I like it that way. Like others have said, it sounds like a Tube Screamer with a little more gain.

It hasn't failed me so far. You could gig without a backup, but you might as well buy two because of the price.

n/a

For the money, it's a great deal. I'm planning on buying a higher-gain tube amp and I probably won't really need the Tubulator then, but it's a keeper.

Easier to operate than the computer you're using.

Les Paul, Strat, Tele and 335 clone all sound great through this. It does the job it's supposed to, using a variety of tube and SS 1X12 50W combo amps.

I got this for Christmas... Christmas 2002. So, I've been using it for over a year with NO problems. I've gigged with it, sams backup. It has never failed.

Never bothered with customer support. If it needs repair, I'll do it myself.

Bought from Musicians Friend. I decided to post this review after doing my guitar room "house cleaning."

Playing the aforementioned guitars through my Ibanez TS9 w/BROWN mod, Ibanez TS5, Boss SD-1 and the Arion Tubulatior overdrive, it was no contest. The Ibanez's had to go. The Arion sounded every bit as good as the Tube Screamers. (IMHO, FWIW, YMMV.) It has more low end, more gain and less noise. The Boss SD-1 has more high end crunch so I kept it for certain applications.

The Arion is 1/5 th. the cost of a TS9. Like someone below said; buy several before they're all gone.

I've been playing guitar since the Beatles appeared on Ed Sullivan.

This is real simple, level tone dist. couldn't be easier. All knobs work well and have a good range. The manual is funny. Whatever you do "Do not analyze for remodel the product!"

This sounds great. It is basically a tubescreamer tone with a bit more gain. I use a vox valve tone and wanted to get something a bit thicker sounding. I played these back to back and can get them to sound identical. The valve tone has a bit more nasal 'vox' quality, and i can get a bit thicker with the tubeulator. I like it with the level on 10 and the drive at 0 into an old fender bandmaster. I use either a 60's SG or Melody Maker. Mixes well with fuzz and wah, this is basically what I needed.

Well here is what I am unsure about. This thing was only $19 and the casing is a cheap plastic. I am a bit worried that the jacks, switch and pots may break at some point if you are gigging/touring like I am. But for under $20 what do you want? If they upgraded all that it would cost $100 like a tubescreamer does. I think this actually sounds better. Since I gig, I will bring my vox valvetone as backup.

If it dies I should be able to fix it. For $20 I won't bother contacting them.

Overall this thing is great. The sound rivals boutique tubescreamer clones, it just doesn't have the quality jacks, etc. I play garage/blues/psychedelic/rock'n'roll music and it is just great. Sounds perfect into a cranked up old fender with my old SG. If it dies I will probably get another one. Before this I purchased a 'botique' tubescreamer clone for $150 that was defective so I sent it back. I decided to try this and honestly it sounds better to my ears.