Electro-Harmonix Hot Tubes

Not difficult to deal with it, just Bass and Treble controls mislead me because they are not standard tone controls you would find into a pedal or an amp.
The powering led is useful. Easy access to tubes for replacement.

I play an Electrical Guitar Company, single coil pick-up arranged like a strat through a Fender Princeton Silverface and with external 2x12" Marshall cab.
Well, i don't like how it sounds at all. Bass and Treble controls when turned introduce a strong phase cancellation which sucks tone out from your guitar and your overall sound. As said, they are not simple passive eq to deal with (wich would be much more useful) but they add distortion to the low and high frequencies. Distortion is way too dirt, like the one you get putting three distortion poedals in series one after the other! I mean, no great dynamic and ugly tone. Even when few gained to get crunchy but still clean sound you get a slight unpleasant distortion on low freqs.

Owned for a couple of days

can't say

I'm just looking for standard rock sounds, going from clean, crunchy, fuzzy to full screaming distortion (no metal). This pedal does it but does it bad. There are better distortion pedals out there. I bought and took it back after a couple of days.

Takes some time to dial in.

10 for me.. I'd give it a 7 for guitar use, since most guitar players already go through a tube amp. A guitar player struggling with a solid state setup may find this very useful though....

Here's what made it shine for me- I've been searching for YEARS for an ampeg-in-a-box. I play bass, have been for 12 years, and I have a holy grail 60's B-15 that sits at home. I wanted that sound, but footswitchable through my modern rig. I tried everything out there. Nothing came close.. I've had overdrives, distortions, preamps.. the only thing that got even close to the sound was tube preamps, which were expensive and not footswitchable. I modded some pedals to help nail down the tone... no good. Everything sounded either too modern, too overdriven, or both.

Then I tried this thing, with everything on 1 except bass and master. Absolutely wonderful. Now I can have clean modern sound... and at a switch go totally motown. Eureka!

Change the stock tubes to some good ones, well worth it.

This is a tube device, on a floor. Not the best combo. Be weary. Also trade out the jack for a boss-style.... before something catches on fire.

First off, I'd like to end a debate on these reviews. Yes, there are some transistors and diodes inside, but your signal is not going through them. Check this site for lots of info from someone who knows what they're talking about.

http://www.analogman.com/hottubes.htm


Resale value on these things suck. Buy one used... super cheap.

Overall, for my purpose, absolutely fantastic. I would have paid $500 for something that accomplished this goal, that is, to sound like a B-15 with volume on 3. NOTHING out there did that for me. To pick one up for $65.. is a dream come true.

Takes time dialing a tone, but well worth the search once you find it. That's part of the fun of owning a pedal anyways.

The sound is freakin killer. I've owned many pedals. This is it.
Perfect with my LP and 1975 Fender Pro. I run it into the clean channel and WOW!...from gritty Neil Young to off the hook fuzz. Sometime I get a hum from the pedal, but that depends on the room itself. (Ground/power issues - I know this because I've taken the HOT TUBES in/out of the line to trouble shoot).

I have one of those Marshall MD30 thingy amps for practise. I ran the HOT TUBES through the clean channel and CRANKED IT!!! WOW-BOOST! and a pretty respectable sound from the stock speaker too.

so far no probs! I don't leave home with out it.

Like other post's have said, hard wire the AC cord (great idea), because that alien looking plug looks like a car crash waiting to happen.

No time for repairs. Life is too short.

I play ROCK with one foot in the blues. This stomp is perfect.

This pedal is very easy to use. After about 10 minutes you can find a sound your looking for

The sound quality is amazing. Warm rich tones. You can dial in a distortion that is light.. or... full out fuzz. The hardest thing I've found when using a distortion or fuzz, is finding a pedal that won't hide your chords in the pedals. But this pedal sounds great in fuzz or in distortion, when playing single notes or chords. I'm now convinced that the 2 tubes in this pedal is what makes the tone so sweet. I've since dumped my vox valve stomp and TS9. This pedal is a best kept secret, but what the hell. Give EH a plug I say. They make great stuff. I liked it so much I grabbed a Tube Zipper too. That one takes more time to dial in a tone. I use it with my 76 Les Custom and my 69 Plexi and it's freaking amazing. I'm getting an Orange this week and I'm looking forward to hearing the tone on that.

There are tubes in this pedal, so you may still want to transport with extra care, but VERY nicely built. Mine didn't, but I think they now come in wooden box. (My TUBE ZIPPER did) It also has a strong metal cover over top of the tubes for extra protection. I found that having the HOTTUBES "in front" of my Leslie Emulator in my chain, was cliping out my Emulator. Now I run it as the last pedal to the amp and everything is fine.

Not applicable

I play straight up rock. (Humple Pie, Free) and this works great. Been playing for 25 years. I have yet to run the HOTTUBES with my other gear 66 Baseman, Es-135, 60 Gibsonette, 77 Farfisa, 84 Les Paul Standard.
If it were stolen, I would call the police and buy another one. This pedal just makes playing that more enjoyable. Warm. Rich Velvet with a hint of salt. My only complaint, is the adapter. It's a custom exclusive to EH. They should use a standard adapter. God knows I loose enough adapters and this pedal CAN"T run on batteries due to the tubes (batteries would last for one song). So loosing it would be a pain in the ass trying to order a new one in I would think. This pedal has ended my search for a good distortion/drive pedal. The only reason I didn't give it a 10 Rating, is because the price was a little rich. $260 Canadian Dollars. ($150 -175 would be fare) But I am very happy with it.

This review is for a late 70s solid state model, 'tube amp overdrive simulator'. It's Memory Man sized, with an AC cord attached.

The pedal has 3 controls - Overdrive, Tone and Volume. It also has a switch to switch out the tone circuit.

With respect to some of the other reviewers this shares nothing in common with the Big Muff. The Big Muff is a 4 transistor fuzz, this is a IC based overdrive, probably EHX's response to the Ibanez Tubescreamer and Boss Overdrive. They sound nothing alike. The Big Muff is huge sounding as it's very scooped in the mids and very creamy - think Smashing Pumpkins. The Hot Tubes is a gritty tweed-sounding overdrive which has a slight mid boost but is very tonally transparent next to a Muff. Think "Teenage Riot" by Sonic Youth.

I think it functions best as a light gain device - it's a bit harsh with the overdrive too high. Basically I just leave it on all the time for a lo-fi indie kind of tone. The pedal responds wonderfully to the guitar volume - it'll clean right up as you roll the volume control down. It also responds great to playing dynamics - dig into the strings a little harder and it'll grit up.

Personally I think this pedal kills the Boss Overdrive and Ibanez Tubescreamer. It far more tonally transparent - those other pedals boost the mids significantly and shave off a lot of bass from the signal, trying to make you guitar fit their image of what an overdrive should sound like. Personally I prefer the grainy nature of the Hot Tubes drive - most other overdrives I've tried are too smooth, generic, beer-commercial sounding. I used to have an old 70s Big Muff that sounded better with the tone circuit switched out, but this Hot Tubes sounds a bit dull with the guitar volume low unless I switch the tone circuit in and brighten it up a bit.

Nothing is perfect and minus a point because it's not exactly versatile, at least not with my setup.

Hard to say. The unit I have has recently be reconditioned by Howard Davis, chief engineer at EHX in the 70s, but these pedals are approaching 40 years old now. I'd certainly have a backup ready just in case.

I like brighter, grainy overdrives and this is certainly one of those. In typical EHX fashion they went overboard with the size, but I can live with that. I've been through a few overdrives recently - the Boss OD-1, SD-1, Ibanez TS-9, MI Audio BlueBoy and this is the first I've really liked. The others were too boxy, unnatural and generic sounding. The Hot Tubes forte is light-mid indie rock overdrive. If you want to play heavy you'll want something else.

Most of the time I don`t use a drive knob... output does well
Bass and treble on 9 o`clock and it sounds pretty nice
Well it took a time to find out how the hell is it working..

Well, Radiohead, Nirvana, Sonic youth....I do my own stuff and a bit harshy distortion suits me well.. As I said add some bass, trebles, and drive it a bit and you`ll get some noise. For serious and concrete distortion, overdrive play only with output knob..
It`s a bit noisy ..but it is a true bypass Haleluyah!!!!!!
It doesnt still me tone when its off AND THATS IMPORTANT.

Looks solid, works fine, supplied in wooden box..no probs

never dealth with them

I`m playing for ten years now... I`ve own and sometimes stupidly sold all kind of effects you can remember. I have had Bosses, Ibanezes, Dods and so on.
Hot Tubes sounds good. It has it`s own nuances I`ve never heard before.
It`s kind o second amp channel in the stompbox.. yeah..
OK.. Works fine with boss DS-1 and Fender twin, EHX deluxe mistress, and Boss dd-5, Vox wah. Walvetronix AD60VTH was really shoked by that fuzzzzzzzz and went to heaven.

Most of the time I don`t use a drive knob... output does well
Bass and treble on 9 o`clock and it sounds pretty nice
Well it took a time to find out how the hell is it working..

Well, Radiohead, Nirvana, Sonic youth....I do my own stuff and a bit harshy distortion suits me well.. As I said add some bass, trebles, and drive it a bit and you`ll get some noise. For serious and concrete distortion, overdrive play only with output knob..
It`s a bit noisy ..but it is a true bypass Haleluyah!!!!!!
It doesnt still me tone when its off AND THATS IMPORTANT.

Looks solid, works fine, supplied in wooden box..no probs

never dealth with them

This is a review for the newer tube pedal. The controls all do what they say and are easy in that respect, but it's all interactive (especially the EQ) so it takes time to get used to it.

I use it with bass and I'm very happy with it. The Drive knob is more like fuzz, and the Gain knob is a rougher overdrive, and I use the Gain most often, as it flattens the signal less. Depending on where you set the EQ, it can tend to sound like a stuck wah, so it takes time to find a balance between effected and uneffected that makes the most sense. I'm going to look into modding it with a switch between the existing EQ and a simpler shelving EQ for more options. I've had no problems with hum. It has HUGE gain, and I think it might melt my amp if I put it up even half way.

I've only had it a couple of months. Many people complain about the wall wart and the odd power plug, so I didn't even start using it until I made a small pedal board for it and the rest of my crap. Now I use no batteries for anything, setup is faster, and I don't have to worry that my plug will get knocked out or broken. I expect no problems. Otherwise, yeah, it'd be a problem.

I've never dealt with them, but their pedals tend to be easy to work on, and I know a few local spark chasers, and of course the famous analogman.com mods lots of the ehx stuff.

The lower ease of use actually adds to the overall in this case because it's a bonus to have so many options. I've tried a lot of distortion pedals before getting this one, and nothing else sounded as full or varied, and many lack enough gain for bass. It's a true tube device, running the tubes at the high voltage you find in a real tube amp, and that was a huge selling point. I use tube amps because that's the sound I love, and the "starved plate" designs out there don't measure up. Since it's the best I've found, I'd buy it again without hesitation. The peaky EQ is a bonus, but if it had a regular EQ option as well, the overall rating would be a 9 or 10. We'll see how the modding goes.

Not an easy pedal, takes a bit to get yr head around it. Interactive controls, so experiment! Its all in there. You don't need a manual, just use ears.

Its a brute, but a magnificent one. Can be kind of gentle as well. Bit noisy, but hey, it's valve! Im playing a Gibon 1979 The Paul through a vintage Roland Bolt 30 hybrid. Unusual setup, but I like it like that. The sound initially can seem coarse and harsh, bit fizzy, but work with it. Pays off big time.

Its surprisingly light, aluminium box with nothing much in it but some EQ and a set of valves. Build quality seems ok. Has an external power supply, so that will fack up someday or get lost.

No idea

Its a beautiful thing. Hard to tame, and not easy to get yr sound, but once you find the sweet spot, you're laughing. A mid- control would be the icing on the cake ( apart from an internal power supply fr god's sake....MANUFACTURERS, LISTEN TO YR CUSOMERS! WE DO NOT WANT ANY MORE ADAPTERS!!!)
Nevermind, if you can get one fr a decent price, get it. Its a classic. Comes in a nice big wooden box as well, bonus!

this is a follow up to an earlier response and a reaction to others i have read. one person claims there is "not a bit of sand" in this pedal and implied that somehow it made its distortion purely through two preamp tubes. i changed out my tubes for some 60's baldwin labeled rca's and i can tell you that there is a board full of capacitors, transistors and the like and that their claim is pure bunk. still, the pedal sounds great and being preamp tubes, they don't run very hot, at all. in fact, e-h put a little light in the box to make it look like the thing is working overtime. so, you get special effects with this effect... LOL. i got this thing really cheap. so cheap that the new owners of harmony-central won't let me tell you. just check back and see if the price is listed at seventyfive buckaroos. i wouldn't give it as high a rating if i had to shell out the big bucks, so i am changing my vote to a 9 by giving it an 8 this time around. i don't think paying almost 200 clams for a single effects pedal is a fantastic value.