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.

because of the way it is wired, this pedal requires alot of tweeking. you should take notes on different settings that you like and maybe mark them in different colored permanent markers on the pedal. i did this and it helps alot.

i am using this and playing a 1994 hotrod fender strat with overwound pickups wound to 9.0, 9.4 and 10k. absolutely the best sounding distortion pedal i have ever owned in the 20 years that i have been playing.

care is needed when using a pedal with tubes and the setup should be done thoughtfully, and slowly. put it where it won't get kicked around and don't pull it across the room running around and you shouldn't have any problems.

i play rock. this pedal lets me stretch the definition of rock with its versatility. this distortion pedal is really a preamp on steriods. better than a big muff (which i consider to be a one setting pedal) by a longshot. creamy, rich distortion that can go from subtle, to over the top and still sound great. hope you like to play loud. this pedal isn't for quiet bedrooms.

change the gain and you change the perimeters of the treble and bass knobs, and you have to adjust them again to find the right setting, again. the manual is useless, so you have to toy with this stomp. you will get an oscillating signal at some settings. adjust the treble, or bass and it will go away. if you don't know this, you will go crazy trying to figure out how to quiet the pedal, or give up on it and say it is sh#t, if you are kind of stupid. the ac adaptor is kind of weird, and i would like to replace the tip with one i consider more stable.

This pedal is TRUE BYPASS (yay!), accomplished by means of a 12VDC DPDT relay operated from the 12V filament supply. As far as I could tell, the operation of the relay was noiseless. I confirmed true bypass by taking a direct reading from tip-to-tip on the input and output jacks with an ohmmeter.
Here's the *best* part, though...NO SAND IN THE SIGNAL PATH(read, this means not a single diode, or transistor makes the distortion... it is PURE TUBE distortion)... I mean nil point, zip, nada! The whole thing is 100% tube from input to output; the only sand in it is used for rectification and regulation. Probably why the thing sounds so damn good.

This is the pedal that started the all tube pedal craze five years ago.
Vox and others have copied this pedal, but none have really passed it. Many of them have diodes, and transistors and the tubes are just for show. The EH HOT TUBES is REAL TuBe DiStOrTiON, while others have tubes just for show. Creamy, creamy Real Tube distortion, even in its very extreme modes, and this is electro harmonix and by nature, leans towards extreme... the Hot Tubes pedal has one serious sh&tload of sustain. It's very smooth sustain, too...not the kind that jumps from level to level as the string decays. T-Nice. Very Good crunch, too. Don't let the price get you down, this pedal is distortion like no diode, or transistor can provide and is worth every penny. DD says Check this one out. SIX STARS...

no, this is not a particularly easy pedal to use. hence, it is more versatile. there is always a trade off, you know...

this thing gives you the creamiest distortion, and it is quite flexible... has that big muff miles of sustain in a more versatile, controlable package. perfect for my uses.

i have had mine for 5 years and while i changed the tubes a while back, there have been no other issues with this pedal.

the hot tubes is best distortion pedal i have ever owned. not a diode, or transistor to be found in it. the distortion comes completely from the overdriven tubes and your guitar signal. hand wired in nyc and ready to rock all of america. yes, it is alot more expensive than many classic analog transistor, or diode pedals. but, it is money well spent. works great pushing a tube amp, or as a straight distortion pedal.

Yes, easy to use.

tones were NOT great! too sweeping.
wasn't happy when used with a bass.

I Agree with most of these...power supply was CRAP!!!
Returned the unit within 1 month to get a new one and replaced the power supply twice in 6 months.....both chincy pins BROKE OFF within weeks!
THIS IS ROCK AND ROLL E.H.!!
Why NOT hard wire the power supply like the old ones OR at least OFFER battery as an option! EH should be ashamed!

Recieved a new unit within bringing it in.
Got new power supplies in the mail quickly.

This is for the 2005 version, with two vacuum tubes.

Pretty obvious controls: Master, Gain, Drive, Bass, Treble. All do what they say. Very low gain and drive gives nice slight crunch. Moderate gain/drive a good vintage distortion. High gain/drive don't really add much, in my opinion. Lots of range on bass/treble. A control for mid-range would have been nice.

Power pack is a piece of crud. It makes a lot of racket (audible noise, not electrical noise) and has a horrid cheapo connector that's too easy to pull out accidentally, with the risk of shorting.

Rickenbacker Dakota and Mexican Fat Strat, through the Hot Tubes to Fender Blues Junior. Very little electrical noise. Very nice tube crunch or vintage distortion available, and accessible at moderate neighbour-friendly volume.

Haven't had it long, but the pedal itself looks and feels quality. Power pack is rubbish, as already mentioned.

Achieves what I bought it for, very well.

I give this opedal high marks for ease of use because it has very few controls. Only the ones a player needs in order achieve a desired tone, and it doesn't lack a single control that it really needs to have.

The sound quality is fine, however, one thing about this pedal pisses me off. This pedal is little more than a pre-amp that prduces ditortion through two 12AX7 tubes. That being said, I am mystified as to why Elecxtro-Harmonix would put such crappy tubes in it.

With the stock tubes, this thing was noisy and the distortion consisted of either too much buzz or too much mud. When I replaced them with Groove Tubes, this pedal quited down very nicely and does exactly what I wanted it to do--give me a third, super hot, searing, smoking, ringing rocking channel.

I think this pedal work best if the bass and treble knobs are turned to 0, and then inched up (far more parts treble than bass) after the gain gets dialed into roughly the right zip code. But I don't inch them up too high. Bass is just a hair above 0 and treble is at about 9:00.

I don't use the "drive" knob, so I leave it parked just above 0. I find it adds little to the mix, but I use this pedal primarily with a Peavey Classic 50 combo, which has a post gain control through which I dial in whatever warmth I want in the tone.

I use the the pedal in the majority of the solos I play, setting the "master" so that it bumps my volume slightly. I really, really, really like the pedal. Far more than solid state distortion or overdrive pedals. It is great for rock and blues (i just saw Buddy guy in Monterey, and that cat played a Fender tele with humbuckers through a Marshall that producing some serious distortion).

But I'm still pissed that I had to drop an additional $30 into replacement tubes.

No problems thus far.

I play rock and blues, and I would replace this pedal if lost or stolen. Along with a Fulltone Wah, this is the only pedal I use. I use with a Les Paul through a Peavey Classic 50, and it producing a searing hot sound, but does not compress my guitar's tone to the point that it loses it character.

Have I mentioned that it pisses me off that players have to add $30 to $40 to the purchase price to replace stock tubes in a product called Hot Tubes?

this review is for the current model with tubes not the 70's one that sounds like crap. compared to decoding the rosetta stone it's pretty easy, but for a gain pedal it's pretty tweaked out. Every setting of every knob effects every setting of every other. You must observe it's ways untill the five knobs become one.

The eq is really a filter not an eq in the traditional sense. To hear the closest thing to your clean tone turn all the controls fully counter clockwise. Now bring up the gain until it starts to sound clear. At this point you've got a good clean boost going. With that as your starting point you can realize an ass batch o' tones with this beast.

The thing is that as you turn up the eq you must turn down the gain and drive controls to keep the same level of saturation. Consider that every knob is ADDITIVE to the overall level of gain so at a certain level of gain it just starts to sound like a big muff. It's not the pedals fault. You just went to far. (probably with the bass knob. The bass knob really MUFFles things up a lot). The trebles is almost like a resonance control. I don't think it is at all fair to call this a big muff with tubes though. Even at full big muff roar it is tighter, better defined and you can hear a chord through it even at square wave distortion.

this pedal is not kind to bright amps, but sounds really f-ing great with a class a/b fender type amp. Garage tones from heaven. I think it sounds like a cross between overdrive and fuzz as opposed to the big muff's distortion with fuzz.

knobs get loose and must be tightened. Hmmm....I've seen better build.

this pedal rulZZZZZZZZZ. you must give it time.Rock it for at least an hour by yourself. Don't expect a smooth mild mannered pedal. It is an electro-harmonix pedal after all!

Mine is an old 1970s model that is beat and bent and scratched all to hell. No tubes. Purely solid state. Ac cord means no batteries ever.

I play it with a solid state Fender Princeton and a 2000 American Series Fender Stratocaster. I use it in the church band every Sunday night.

I've been playing electric guitar since 1975 and this old thing is awesome. It makes all my DOD and Boss pedals sound dead.

It's actually a very mild overdrive yet the tone is huge. I don't know what words can describe it's tone. ah, BIG...ah, CLEAR...maybe, REAL...

Stevie Ray Vaughn would have loved this thing. Really sounds like Cold Shot. Also, the Rolling Stones songs....Midnight Rambler and Satisfaction.

Not really a wild solo device but playing Little Wing by Hendrix is an orgasmic experience with this pedal.

Big, Fat, Full, Clear, Dynamic, Rich, and best of all SUPER QUIET. I can't hear any floor noise! Amazing!

I feel bad for all the raving reviews I've given other pedals such as Boss, DOD, etc pedals as this thing is on another arena all together. It's like comparing black and white to color tv....huge difference!

30 years old and still works. AMAZING!

I've been playing since 1969 and on a daily basis.
I play blues, grunge, rock, metal.
I'm not waiting till it gets lost or stolen...I'm looking for a replacement now.
I've got a bunch of old overdrive pedals to unload now. My old favorites are just rubbish now.

No palm muting heavy metal with this thing but absolutely the best Grunge pedal I've ever heard. Absolutely perfect for classic rock and blues too.

EH Hot Tubes, bought new in 2003. Volume, Gain and separate Drive controls, Bass and Treble controls as well. Easy to dial in the tone your looking for, from relatively broken-up clean crunch to all-out over the top overdriven screamin' leads. The manual is for all practical purposes inexistant, but who neds one?

I play a Gibson LP or Tak GZ-300 solidbody, through a class-A tube amp. The Hot tubes is plugged into the clean section of my amp so I can get a different type of gain than my dirty channel. I usually have the gain and drive knobs turned to around 2 o'clock, and with my Les Paul I have to cut the bass quite a bit and turn up the treble to avoid muddiness. The pedal generates a lot of noise, so I use a Boss NS-2 noise suppressor to clean things up a bit. It is quite versatile in terms of how you can shape your sound, but it can get quite noisy (obviously) on hi-gain hi-drive settings, and you cannot use this pedal in my opinion for ultra-high gain scooped modern metal sounds. I kept the stock 12AX7's, and haven't yet tried swaping them to see how it would sound with JJ's or Mullards.

Built like a tank, the only thing that's an irritant is the wall wart, which should be made illigal for any serious piece of gear.

Never had to deal with 'em.

Great pedal, a definitely good-sounding overdrive pedal with lots of tone-shaping possibilities.

This is for the older transistor version. Very easy to use - 3 knobs + a tone bypass switch.

I use this with my Les Paul Electra copy w/ Gibson pickups. This distortion has the potential to sound amazing. I second the other reviews that say it doesn't sound too good at bedroom levels - however, I played this through my Fender Champ and cranked that up and got a beautiful crunchy, creamy sound that made the whole setup sound like it was being played thorugh a cranked Marshall stack...very vintage, huge sound. Lots of sustain and crunch at higher volumes. I use this with the tone bypassed because it seems to give the setup a bigger, fuller sound. I love this pedal and it sounds great for crunchy, raunchy rock 'n roll. However, you really do have to play this through a cranked amp or using another distortion pedal because on its own, at low amp volumes, it does sound thin and tinny.

Only had it for a few eeks, but so far so good. I may have an intermitent switching problem, but I plan on replacing the switch. Other than that, seems solidly built and has lasted a long time for an older pedal.

N/A

Great sounding pedal with a '70's rock mojo...but it needs to be used with an amp that is cranked up because at lower volumes, this pedal does not sound good. Crank your amp & the difference is like night and day and then this pedal sings.

THIS REVIEW FOR THE OLD GERANIUM TRANSISTOR VERSION!

When I first got it I set it down, pluged it in, turned on the amp, nothing. Hmmm...Lets see check switch, volume, ahh! I put the cord in the direct out not the effect out. So, I switch it around, nothing. Hit the switch and BOOM! Out poured the finest harmonic distortion I'd ever heard. After the idiot (moi) found out how to set it up it was easy from there just tweak the volume, tone, and OD knobs.

Well for this one I pulled out my old Charvel with Duncans (Distortion and '59) and first played through an ADA MP-1 preamp direct to my 4x12. The MP-1 was to processed for this kind of effect and I could sense it instantly. So, since I'm in amp limbo and can't decide what kind of head to get I pluged it into an old Pignose. The two fit together real nicely, actually. The hot tubes is an excellent sounding effect that is great for pushing an overdriven amp into to total mayham. Since i first got it I played it through a JCM-800 and I soiled my pants. Literaly. This thing pushed the JCM like crazy. It sounds like a Big Muff with less of a bassy mid scoop tone. Great for classic jams.

Even though this old EH stuff is notorious for cheap build quality there stuff always seems to hold up like troopers. Why? No one knows, I guess Mike really knew how to build 'em.

Never dealt with them.

This is the finest distortion I've ever played. If you have the chance to pick one up do yourself a favor and act on it!

its pretty hard to get a good sound of it but when u find it its like wham its there u just gotta werk at it
plus i had mine modified to sound much tighter less flabbery then a big muff which is wat i like
very ac/dc tone just awesome

its awesome i use it primarily as a booster

i opened it up and modified seems like a tank
tuff to modify but it was done and its much bettr now

this pedal rules thats all i have to say no need to bore u with other facts

This is pretty much a standard distortion/overdrive set up. It takes some playing time to get a sound you like, but there are almost limitless variations of that sound.

I played this with a 1978 Strat through a crate, a marshall, and a mesa boogie dual rectifier. It sounded great through all of them except the boogie. The boogie has too much natural tone for this effect, besides with the boogie gain I had no use for this pedal. Definitely worth the effort if you are looking for a vintage Big Muff sound. Also try different tubes, they come out quickly and different brands give different sound qualities.

I never had any trouble with it except the power cord can get knocked out easily during a gig (tape it in). I stomp the hell out of this and it laughs at me.

I live near the EH factory, so I deal with them in person when I need to. I never had a problem with this pedal, but they were great when I had a problem with a small stone.

This is a very versatile pedal as long as you are looking for that 60's-70's sound. You won't be getting those super death metal sounds unless you have an amp that can augment the pedal to that extent. I recently sold mine because with the mesa boogie I no longer need it, but it was quite a bit of fun while I had it.

Three knobs, all of which have a great effect on the sound

This is a real Vintage Hot Tubes, an analog, Solid State device, not the new one with tubes that sounds horrible. These vintage Hot Tubes pedals are amazing, you can go from subtle overdrive to over the top, bBig Muff distortion. this is the most usable pedal EH Ever made. It makes all my guitars sound better. Very Mid 70's sound. I have two, and i will never part with either!

Electro Harmonix stuff is notoriously cheaply made, but for some reason, these Hot tubes pedals don't die, I've had one for over 15 years without a problem!

Never Needed it.

This pedal is indespensable, a perfect design, this box lays my Ibanez TS808, and Mxr distortion+ pedals to waste, I don't even bother to use them anymore, but I always ues the Hot Tubes!

Takes ages to find a good sound, but once you do, it sounds BRILLIANT.

When I first bought this pedal it sounded horrid - it made an unbearable hum when it was on. Turned out one of the valves was loose. 5 minute job to fix. Sounds great now. Can get anything from smashing pumpkins to zakk wylde out of this pedal when plugged into my marshall TSL.
It can sound a bit harsh if you arent careful with the tone controls though

I wouldnt trust the plug - the wire is too thin and the pins that plug into the pedal could easily short out and kill the adapter, as they are completely exposed. The pedal itself is bombproof however. I also have a 1970s Big muff which still works perfectly - these pedals are built to last.

Never had any experience with them

I play anything from Red Hot Chili Peppers to Black Label Society, and this pedal can cover just about everything, except heavily scooped metal sounds ie pantera/metallica