Jacques Stompboxes Tubeblower

Very easy to use, I wish the distortion knob was the same size as the volume knob.

Sounds great for rock rhythm with the distortion up around 3:00 but leads sound a little stiff.

Small but well built, solid.

He is in France.

Good for rock rhythm, not as good for lead. I play a Gibson Les Paul Standard into a Marshall AVT 50 and a Fender Blues jr.

Bought this new six years ago in 2004, its an overdrive pedal that goes from clean boost, past overdrive, to moderate distortion. Nice solidly built pedal.

Sounds pretty good, explosive harmonics only occur with the drive up high, but this pedal gives a nice rhythm rock tone, I play lead and can get a good sound out of this pedal. Other pedals I own include the Boss Blues Driver and SD-1 Overdrive, Zinky True Grit Overdrive, Roger Mayer Axis and Spitfire fuzzes, Well's 5:00 Shadow Fuzz, Reverend Drivetrain black & white version, Austone Millenium Overdrive and Fuzz Nutz pedals, Prescription Electronics Rx Overdriver, Maxon OD-820 and OD-808 overdrive pedals, Vintage Rat pedal, MJM Britbender 2 knob version, Soulbender, and Banzai Cold Fusion overdrive.

Built like a tank.

He's in France and I'm in New York.

I like this overdrive pedal, I play blues and rock and use it with my 1989 Gibson Les Paul Standard into the 5 watt tube amp Epiphone Valve Junior (2008 model) into a Songworks 1 x 12 cab with a Jensen 12 inch speaker. It rocks! I also have the Marshall AVT 50 watt amp bought in 2001 and a Fender Blues Jr bought in 2004. Also have two Crate 58 amps, they are 5 watt class A amps with an 8 inch Celestion Speaker made in the USA in 2003.

It's easy enough to use. But with the additional dials beyond a normal TS808, there are many more possibilities for tweaking.

Before sharing my opinion on the sound quality, let me say first that I never quite "got" the idea of an overdrive pedal. I usually preferred either a clean sound or a fully distorted sound; only occasionally did I use a mild "dirty" sound. But I head so many good things about the TS808 over the years that I wanted to try one. When I came across the Tubeblower, the additional features seemed like a better match for my.

The first amp I used it with was a Cyber Twin (yeah, it's not the best amp). Once in a while I liked the sound, but generally didn't like it. I was about to sell the pedal, but instead set it aside for a while.

Recently I bought a Super Champ XD for home practice so I gave the pedal another try. It sounds much better with this amp. Between the dynamic range of the amp and the dynamic range of the pedal, on one setting I can get anything from a soft, slightly edgy clean sound, to a loud, grungy blues sound.

It'll take more trial and error to see how this pedal will fit in. I've learned that some amps are more pedal-friendly than others, and after owning the pedal for 3 years, I now own an amp that it works well with.

It seems very well built, and the warranty is great.

No experience in this area.

Here is my take on the tube blower: It does what the ts-808 doesn't do well, but it doesn't do what the ts-808 does do well. It is like the tubescreamer alter ego.

What do I mean by that?

The ts-808 is great for overdriving a tube amp or boosting a lead, but as a stand alone distortion in front of a clean amp it sucks. The ts-808 is smooth and doesn't add much distortion. The ts-808 makes your leads pop but it makes your chords sound thin and nasal. It cuts your bass and boosts the mids.

The tube blower really sounds like tubes distorting and it can do chunky riffs. It is not smooth but raw like an amp going into powertube distortion. It is very transparent and doesn't cut your bass or boost your mids. It's got a lot of output and can drive a tube amp like crazy. It can cut on leads but you pretty much need the bridge pup on to get it right because there is no mid hump to act as a crutch for you.

So try this put a tube screamer in front of the tube blower and turn the ts on for leads. Goodness.

Simple and self explanatory

Well this pedal seems to divide people. I dont get why. If you like a tubescreamer, you just have to like this pedal. It really does address the 3 faults in a TS tubescreamer - lack of gain range - this goes from less than a TS to about X2; lack of bass end - solved with a bass control so you can have a lot more or about the same as a TS; no mid hump - sorted by the extra bass end. I have tried an awful lot of TS type pedals, and this is the one that stuck. I have had it 3-4 years now and it's still here and being gigged. A superb refined take on the tubescreamer, highly recommended if you like that type of pedal. If you dont, go elsewhere

OK this is where the issues start. After 3-4 years on the road, several things have become clear. The silly bent wire battery contacts are totally inadequate. I had to remove them, take a craft knife to the battery box and fit a standard battery clip. The soft grey plastic parts and the battery cover departed forever shortly after. after a couple of years hard use, the electronic footswich packed up and was a pain to replace (this is common to TS9, 10 and 808 pedals too). All the white writing has gone as have the little plastic caps on the knobs. It is very road-weary, not nearly as durable as a Boss for example, but its still working and still sounding great

Jacques replies if you contact him, but i have never asked for support, so no opinion.

Great pedal if you like tubescreamer type sounds and look after it carefully.

It's a simple overdrive unit

The sound is pure shite. There is no comparison what so ever to the ts808, that it claims to do. i used it both ways, as in an overdrive to push the amp, and a booster for solos, neither worked well!! I'm totally disapointed with this pedal. Jacques, take it off the market and make some changes to it. It just sounds shite, cant explain it, I've tried all settings, tweaked it till I can't tweak anymore!!! Too muddy, then too trebley, too this too that!!! No sustain. Couldn't get anything out of it, and I played it through a variety of amps, even a Vibrolux, and it made the amp sound shit when I switched the pedal on. DO NOT BUY THIS PEDAL.

Not reliable, it hasn't got a regular Boss/Ibanez type of 9v adaptor socket, so gotta rely on batteries, then it hasn't got the same battery connector either, so when i did put a battery in the back, it came loose and the effect went dead mid-solo!! OH NO!!!

Just couldn't be arsed, the pedal pissed me off that much.

Right then, it supposed to be a transparent overdrive pedal, it looks good, all boutique etc etc. But it's shite!!!!!! I tried it with every amp and every pedal, nothing changed, it was a weak link in the chain. Try and get yourself a Keeley modded TS808 or TS9, or even better, a Monte Allums modded Boss BD2, you won't be disappointed then.

the layout is simple

I'm rating it down to a 6 to balance out these ridiculous 10's. Whats all the hype! I don't like this thing. it costs to much. the sound is shrill. sure you can boost the bass up but you can't dial out the shrill. it is quiet, even on full gain. but I think i can buy a boss or something that will sound just as good in its own vein. the basic sound is pretty good but i need to dial down the shrill. I'm sending it back!

I play blues to hard rock and some metal. I have a Les Paul, Custom strat, a Parker nite fly(da best)Ibanez etc. mesa boogie lone star, Tranor yc40wr. and pedals galore. been playin 35 years. I certainly can play!

Now lets get down to it! I wouldn't have bought this thing if the reviews had put the way I'm putting it! I,m on a mission to bring it down from the 9.9 at the time I bought it. Whats up! Who the hell are these guys. People who work for the company. 2 or 3 three of these guys had it modded! Just put the reveiws under the guys company who modded it you knuckleheads. Like Keeley. By the way, I,m comparing most pedals to my keeley mod bd2. Which costs about the same.

A breeze, Not rocket science, no brain required.

Sound is very good . The Tube Blower's separate bass and treble knobs are rare in most pedals. The range of treble and bass are superior to any overdrive pedals I've used. Sounds like a Tube Screamer with a wider range of bass,treble and clipping distortion. It goes from near clean boost to serious crunch distortion. I would give it a 10 rating.
I had mine modified by Indyguitarist. The pedal is even better now. The clipping is more asymmetrical, warmer, more organic sounding, more punch.
Improved voicing, a more musical and warmer sound that goes from warm and musical to ferocious and explosive with ripping tubes that have that edgy driven tube tone. With the mod it takes this fine pedal to a 12 rating ,beyond 10 because I have yet hear a better pedal. It sings like a sweet bird or it can scare fur off a weirwolf.
Compared to the legendary Peavey Rock Master preamp tube distortion that has 4 tubes, the Tube Blower to my ear sounds better by far. The Tube Blower has no tubes, all solid state.

It is solid, metal housing,no trouble so far, well built.

E mailed Jacques, he responded quickly with helpful info.

Been playing guitar for 20 years. Rock,blues,raw swamp blues rock finger slide.This pedal suits a wide range of musical styles. This pedal has great EQ and versatility. I use mostly overdrives with a clean boost pedal and sometimes a buffered distortion pedal in a chain, through a tube amp or a good solid state amp. Play humbuckers and single coil pickup guitars.
I have several cool pedals, Tube Blower, Rt 66, TS-9 DX Tube Screamer, Ibanez DS-7, all modified,also TS-7 and a Microamp clean boost.
If they passed a law you could only have one pedal, I would choose the modded Tube Blower.
Nothing is perfect, what I do not like about the Tube Blower is the dial readability on the knobs, it is not bold enough and doesn't have good contrast for easy reading. I can fix that so no big problem.
The one I have has standard 9 volt power jac plug ,like Boss or Ibanez. That is a convieniance and improvement over the earlier models.
The stock Tube Blower is a great pedal,the modded Tube Blower is a killer class pedal.

Very easy. Level, Drive, High, Low...very standard overdrive controls. Very hard to get a bad sound out of this thing.

Wow.
I'm playing an epiphone les paul custom with stock humbuckers into a peavey classic 30 two channal tube amp. I usually have a dd-20 in the effects loop and sometimes put a boss bd-2 blues driver after the tube blower as a clean boost/slight overdrive depending on my mood or the music I'm going to play. I also have a jacques trinity (wah effects) after the tube blower.
This pedal is EXACTLY what I've been looking for in an overdrive. The gain range is very broad. Jacques website says that it can get both cleaner and dirtier than a standard tube screamer and I will say that this box sounds fantastic at both extremes and all points in the middle. The low control lets you dial the exact amount of bass response you want, and the high control voices the drive so that it sounds anywhere from dark to very bright. You can literally imagine in your head the overdrive sound you want and dial it in in about 15 seconds.

Nice and solidly built. Not quite a boss.

My search for perfect overdrive will probably never fully end, but it's going to take one heck of a pedal to knock this thing off my board. When I saw the stellar reviews on this site, I decided to get one after I decided that the jacques fuze blower 2 was too harsh an effect for me (check out my review, it's a great sounding pedal for heavy distortion). I am so happy I got my hands on one. Perfect 10 rating.

It's a lot harder to get a bad sound out of it than a good sound. I don't recall even looking in the manual, but it's all very self-explanatory. I'll be honest, I have customized mine for more gain and assymetrical clipping, so it is upgraded.

Gibson LP -> Jacques -> JC-120. It is very clear, responsive, and you can dial in as much bass and treble as you could ever want. The control range seems to be very wide. Both knobs all the way down produces a nice midrange distortion that could be compared to a radio sound or a lo-fi tone.

My only worries about the reliability are that it is in fact made of plastic and not metal like the bosses, and that it is actually quite a bit smaller too. Also the footswitch is very touchy, it take ever so little pressure to turn on and off. I often wonder if this leads to switching problems down the road. I dare say it's not a "stomp" box but rather a "tap" box.

But so far no problems.

I haven't dealt with, so I can't say, but word is that the folks are friendly and prompt.

I upgraded it myself though, I didn't need their help.

This pedal will wrok well for blues and country, but since I play rock I modded it for more distortion capability. I've been playing for roughly 15 years. If I lost this pedal I might ultimately try a T-Rex Mudhoney or a Jacques Fuseblower, I'm curious and like to try lots of gear. But certainly the Tubeblower is worth getting again. It's EQ section is remarkably flexible.