Chandler Tube Driver

Easy to use? Definitely. I own an older one that only has output, hi and low eq, and overdrive controls as well as a switch to turn the effect on or off. Newer ones have all sorts of useless toys.

I'm using a '94 Strat Plus (lace sensors) into a '76 twin reverb. I have been looking for a good lead pedal forever. I've tried everything I came across and bought at least 4 of them. This is the first one to come close to the sound I seek. It is very quiet, and VERY SMOOTH for lead work. The best thing about this machine is that it has CHARACTER on just about every setting. It's very thick sounding, even with the strat. Don't recommend it for the les paul side of the coin though.

Seems pretty solid. Tube will need to be replaced regularly.

Model is discontinued, so good luck!

This is an excellent machine. If you are having trouble finding "the" pedal, then give this sucker a try for blues lead, rock, etc. It kicks all kinds of ass!

Went into my setup right away. No manual. There is gain, hi,lo and drive. Who needs one. Dial it in and away you go.

I use Fender Guitars and Amps. This baby gives me nice clean dirty tones very well. Listen to Eric Johnson do "Righteous" and you'll know what I mean. This distortion can be slight or great depending on how much you are driving that little 12ax7 tube in the pedal. I was getting great tones this way.

The fact that it has a tube in it makes me lower this rating. But the tube is replacable so baby the pedal if possible. No wall wart to deal with. The newer ones have it though.

Never called them. I think this pedal is discontinued so good luck finding one.

I was pleased with this pedal. It meshed in nicely with my rig and guitar. I'm still teetering on what is better the Fultone Fulldrive or this. They sound real good together as well as with the Fulltone Soulbender.

This is a very easy pedal to use. Four controls--output level, high frequencies, low frequencies, and gain. Warning: turning the gain all the way down will NOT result in a clean sound; rather it will turn the signal down altogether. Bring it up a bit and you will hear a clean sound, but you'll have to adjust the output level if you want to have it as loud/louder than the bypassed signal. The output level and the gain level are to be used together. You can't just put the level at say 3 o'clock and think that it's going to be the same level no matter what gain you dial up--it's a bit more interactive than that. There's one solid button to step on, and there are two lights, one to indicate that the Tube Driver is on (and remains on), and another that indicates that the effect is in use. They're green and red but I can't remember which is which, sorry! Another warning: this pedal is "on" as soon as you plug it in (it has its own huge wallwart attached to it), and the effect can be turned on or off without any cords plugged in. So bear in mind that the pedal is on all the time so you don't end up blowing the tube inside from too much idle time.

I play a '72 Custom RI tele through a Fender SF Twin. The Tube Driver is not that noisy at all. You don't have to crank the high freq. control at all imho, but you might want to boost the low control (which seems to be more subtle). I like something a bit more gainy than the usual tweed/Fulldrive crunch, but nothing too outrageous where you can't hear the notes of the chords. The great thing about the Tube Driver is that it can sound a Fulldrive or a really gainy liquid-y overdrive--and have the range to sound like anything in between. (Of course, it doesn't have two channels like the Fulldrive, which is a nice touch.) So I can attain a nice tone that I can use for rhythm *and* lead.

This is a very heavy steel box, and the adapter attached is burly (as is the cord). However, the fact that there's a tube inside brings down the reliability score just a tad.

I'm going to say that because they discontinued the model, Chandler is very unhelpful and unfriendly.:)

I play lots of musical styles, but mostly pop with emphasis on clean tones and warm overdrive on occasion. This is a great pedal for my sound. I would definitely try to hunt another one down if this were stolen or lost. I love the tube inside, I love the range of sounds I can get, I love the two-band EQ, and I love how rugged and big the pedal is. I wish it didn't get so weird on high gain settings (anything past 10 o'clock on the gain control is only good for solos) but I never really need it that high anyway. I have gone through two OD pedals before this--the Sansamp Tri-OD and the Voodoo Labs Overdrive. Each one marked an increase in quality, but the Tube Driver beat both soundly and sent them to bed. THis one is warmer and has more range from the really clean to the really gain-y, more tone control, and a better tone overall. Plus, it has lights, which the Voodoo Labs did not (the Voodoo Labs also had no EQ control whatsoever). I kinda wish it had two channels so you could set rhythm and lead settings. It's definitely a musical pedal and very inspiring. I play it with Boss pedals--an EQ pedal, a digital delay, and a tremolo/pan pedal. This is a great pedal for those who don't want to sound like they just turned on a vacuum cleaner when they want overdrive--it sings. I hear Eric Johnson played one. Good for him. Can he petition to have it reissued? These are great values because you'll probably find one used. Mine was $125 and I traded in an old pedal and just gave 'em twenty more bucks. It was totally worth it. Play one and you'll see.

This is very easy to use, it has analog controls for gain, EQ (low, mid, high), master, contour (like a Marshall) and Tube Bias. Tube bias lets you fatten the signal but it is farily subtle. It seems to enhance the tube harmonincs (even) but I am just guessing about that. There is a boost control which allows it to function like a two channel device. Simple. The boost and bypass are footswitch controlled.

Stomp boxes simply cannot compete with this unit. There are better high-end units out there, but not in this price range. The tone is nice and warm, and the boost control gives it a nice kick. It gets a bit noisy with high gain and master settings. The treble EQ adds noise too, but again, this thing sounds very nice. It really makes a tube amp sing and it gives solid state some much needed warmth.

I have no idea, but since it has a real tube in it I will always keep a few back up tubes handy. The chassis seems solid as a rock, and I keep it in a rack mount case so I expect no troubles.

No clue, but this is out of production so there I don't expect much.

I've been playing for 15 years, and I can say for sure that this is one of the better pre-amp units out there. There is not one stomp box that sounds this nice. For real, and I've tried a bunch. There are better pre-amp units on the market, but if you can get a hold of one of these for under $100 BUY IT! I use a customized 1970 Strat with active electronics (hum/sing/sing) with a variety of amps. Run this through a little Fender combo and you'll be shocked at how sweet it sounds. Run it through a solid state combo like a Roland JC120 and it really warms up the signal without sacrificing the clarity.

This is one of the easiest peadals I've used. All you do is decide how much drive you need, fix the EQ and play away. Since I bought it used, I don't have a manual - but the only thing to remember it to keep the volume turned past 5 or 6.

This is a very quiet unit and does not sap your tone when off. The distortion is smooth and very sensitive to any variations in playing. The distortion also gets stronger depending on volume from the guitar, so you can control the distortion level. The only thing is that certain types of tubes make the unit's distortion sound slightly different. I've played ont with a 1970 dead stock Sovitek(it think) tube, and the distortion was definatly smoother, but mine sounds good as well.

The only problem that I can see with this is the fact that you can blow tubes, just like in an amp. It also may feed back a little at higher volumes if the pedal is colse to the amp. I do, and will use it without a backup.

No idea, but I know Chandler doesn't make Tube Drivers any more.

I love it and would definatly buy it again, even over a Tube Screamer. This is the perfect pedal for overdrive and blues/rock stuff, but it is not a stack of Marshalls. Also, Eric Johnson uses one (not that that's why I bought the pedal).

easy

good

good

I would buy it again.

This preamp is very easy to use.

It is a bit noisy on the high end but other than that it is preaty much quiet. The overdrive is very good, but I wouldn't recomed it with sigle coil guitars. The bias is preaty much useless, since I had this preamp for a while and never used it once.

Yes, it is very dependable. I have giged with it many times with no problems at all. By the way my band consists of Alex S and me Mike B. We are called Tangarine Dream.

I never talked with Chandler people but I suspect the are a bunch morons.

Yes I would buy it again not just for the overdrive. If you put the boost off and the drive down to zero and your transistor amp to 7 you can get a preaty good tube sound. Not as much juice and wormth as the old famous Fender Bassman can provide, but still gives you that added tube sound to your cheap trans. amp.
P.S Grunge sucks the bag!!

tube overdrive/distortion, easy to dial in settings. The mannual was pretty basic-4 or five settings were described. Mounted in a one space chassis.

Line noise low as opposed to some of the older solid state devices (like MXR). The tube circuitry is very quiet. Two lines in, two lines out, one rackspace high. Pretty clean for the signal/noise ratio.

Very dependable. Robust.

Never talked to cs, no problems

Better than most distortion units, because it will give settings that surpass the effects sold as distortions that are really just signal boosters. I have seen these used for 100-150.