Vox Cooltron Big Ben Overdrive

covered

Having been playing for 40 years in many bands and used tons of gear I hereby pronounce this is the best od out there. It blends perfectly through my Fender Blues Junior and through my tiny Roland Microcube street. It responds somewhat like a tube amp - very sensitive to your playing - and has great compression making playing easier. It's better than a TS9 or even a Ibanez Tone King.

Why come up with such a great pedal and put a total crapo footswich in it? Mine by the way, has metal sides.

Some say it's dark - and that's just what I need for my Telecaster which now sounds the right thickness. I'd buy another. It is expensive but still worth it.

This pedal is extremely to use! You only have 3 knobs on it. Volume, tone and gain! Simple to use!

I found it on the return shelf when I was working at Guitar Center in colorado springs, co. I was the guitar dept manager at the time. I grabbed it off the shelf, threw some fresh batteries in it, plugged it into a gibson SG to a fender twin and hit the switch. The tone was sweet and warm!!! I had to dial it in to get the tone I liked, but after that it was all over! I bought it immediately!!! I took it home to plug it into my SG and my peavey delta blues. The pedal is a perfect addition for my amp and guitar. Pure, unadulterated, sweet tube driven overdrive!!! Great product!!!

I gigged with my band alot in the springs and my gear gets moved around alot. So far I have had no problems with the pedal. It has been rock solid for me.

As far as customer support goes, I have never had to use it, so I couldn't tell you.

This pedal is a must-have for and musician! It doesn't matter what kind of music you play. This pedal will provide a great overdrive with ANY rig! It's simple, a little expensive, (you get what you pay for), and reliable. I paid $175.00 for the pedal and I personally think it sounds better than the Seymour Duncan overdrive pedal. Working at Guitar Center opened me up to alot of gear that I got to try out on a daily basis and as far as an overdrive pedal goes, THIS IS THE ONE TO GET!!!

Very easy to use, just like any normal OD pedal with 3 knobs.

Bought it used at a cheap price, thinking I can flip it if I don't like it. Now, no way I'm selling it.

Very transparent. Also has that tube presence, clarity and warmth. Good with single-coils. The OD is very similar to amp break-up.

Really surprised and taken by the sound quality.

Bought it used. Apparently, the previous owner used it for a couple of years, problem-free.

The wordings are starting to disappear though. Functionally, just great.

Dunno

Am very happy with it. Didn't think the tube in there will do much in terms of tone, but am convinced now.

This is one good-sounding tube overdrive pedal.

what's up with people saying all this crap about dielectric noise and hard plastic coloration? and mostly that tubes are the "purest and crispest form of amplification." i totally disagree with this. The reason tubes sound better is not because of their pureness, it is actually the opposite. It's because of their lack of purity; their distortion. Tubes introduce even harmonic distortion to the signal path which we perceive as "warmth". I can tell the difference between tube overdrive and transistor based overdrive, but what is this dielectric noise? I looked it up and can't find one thing on the internet about dielectric noise. the two words are never found together, except on harmony central. there is only dielectric, not dielectric noise. anyway, people are way to biased based off of other people's opinions. that's the only problem with effects reviews.

I also own a TS9 and was unsure about how to set up the tone knob. It just sounded not quite right regardless of the position. With the bigben, you are finaly able to get a sound as clear as a bell or as dark as a black cat in the night :-).
I amazes me how to get such a good sound from a pedal running with 9 Volts!This is genious!

Well yes!... This is the sound I hunted for such a long time. I previously used a badcat 2tone pedal. That one sounds also nice but you just cannot get a smoth distortion out of it and the output is too high and difficult to control at lower volumes.
I prefer to control the grade of distortion by (finger-)picking softer or harder and bigben is just made for that! My likes for an agressive distortion are over mostly. Otherwise I use a MXR Distortion+ to throw in a very biteing lead sound for a few notes that is sounding like a Marshal Solidstate Amp... I always missed the distortion channel in my ol' VOX AC30 - now I've got one by my feets!

Well, everything would be fine if:

- the noisy footswitch was replaced by a better one
- The side-panels would not be made of cheap plastic

What I'm gona do about that is:
- Replace the switch regardless of the 2 years guarantee
- Build some nice sidepanels made of real wood (or alu?)

I guess I don't need it. I'm an electronician. A schematic diagram would be helpful in future...

I give it a 9.99 in reality just to show that it is not quite perfect but still my choice!

Althought that Mister Butler has 'invented' a similar tube-effect years ago I am sure that VOX is earning a huge succes with the new cooltron products.

easy enough to get out your sound, only the 3 things to change. out of the box and into the circuit, 5 mins to get it sorted and im happy with the sound.

i pump mine through a JCM800 and its does just what i need, a general purpose warm overdrive that wont sound out of place for blues or oldschool rock. there is the heard about cluck when the pedal is pressed which is annoying but the overdrive is great value.

no problem tkae it with me and forget about it

wouldnt know; never needed any

il play anything going, blues, rock, metal through bass and guitar and this will handle all of the above with a few seconds worth of tweaks. ive been playing about 18 months but i have a habit of burning through gear :D.
i would get a new one if it were lost or stolen because its an essential, a good steady OD.
teh noise of the footswitch is anoying but its not liek its the only pedal that does it and it doesnt affect the overdrive itself.
i chose this for the shock value and becuase i was without a smoother OD, my mxr is a little more electronic sounding.

like all cooltron it is well made in a metal chassis, only plastic borders but solid. Cool, beautyfull to see with the blue led behind the valve.
Simple and pratice with three knobs in vintage style!

One of the best overdrive ever heard, due tothe warmth of tone: a nice valve natural saturation (even if the circuit is transistor and the valve only heats up the sound, but in a great way!
You hear that valve works. Great to crank up your sound, to have a smooth distorted ampli-like distortion or to boost your crunch.
With gain on the top you have a sweet sound like valve saturation, not extreme, tink some santana sound, ac dc or some vintage tone!
It s great with every ampli, better if it is a tube one.

Ok.

I don't know. never had problems

This is one of the best over drive without doubt. Try it before buy, the tone is grat but maybe not for modern sounds.
A great stomp, only the price could be something better.... to much expensive.

This pedal is exceedingly simple to use. There are three "chicken-head" style knobs: volume, tone and gain. There is a little instruction booklet, but it's not really needed. If you're looking to do a lot of EQ tweaking, probably not going to get it out of this pedal. But it is very easy to get a nice, glassy, brit-style tube tone out of this box.

Well, I use this as a direct-input device. My setup is guitar -> big ben -> garageband software. I play a PRS SE EG in the S/S/S config. I don't get the chance to play out a lot, and I wanted a tube pedal to "warm up" my otherwise dry guitar signal. I have to say that with a little "post" EQ and a dash of reverb in garageband, it sounds exceptionally amp-like. You are obviously missing the speaker, which makes a huge tonal difference, but this $179 pedal is about as good a tube amp sim as I've ever gotten.

I really love 60s British amps ... the Vox AC15s and AC30s and Marshall plexis (and, especially, the 1974x & the Bluesbreaker amps.) I have found that by simply manipulating the gain knob, I can cover a huge tonal range within those baselines. With gain all the way down, it's a very warm, fat clean. Put the gain anywhere from 8:00 to 2:00, and it's a remarkably chimey tone. On the verge of breaking up ... but not fully there. Anywhere from 2:00 and above and you are really in some wonderful areas ... a meaty overdrive, thick and harmonically rich.

I've only played this w/ single-coils, and I've found that there is a lot of "bite." The highs are definitely something to be aware of. I actually roll the tone down on my guitar, keep the treble up on the pedal, and that seems to work well, keeping the highs crips without being screamy. Rolling the gain down brings out some wonderful "jangle."

Roll the gain all the down, leave the tone all the way up and you get a fantastically transparent volume boost. And the knobs are VERY SENSITIVE. Just a little push forward can make a big difference -- that's true of each knob on the pedal.

I am very, very happy with the tonality I can squeeze out of this pedal.

I haven't needed to bring it out with me, but I can say that the construction (a chrome box) seems about as road-worthy and reliable as I've seen. I'm not rough on my gear, and I wouldn't go around smashing the Big Ben intentionally, but if it fell or was dropped or was hit, I wouldn't be worried.

N/A.

I do bluesy rock "rave up" type stuff. Have a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe and an Epi Valve Jr. (which I **love**.) This pedal is exactly what I was looking for. I considered an SIB Varidrive, which is a similar type of pedal, but the Vox Big Ben was actually available! And it was significantly cheaper. I would definitely consider getting another more fully-featured Vox "cooltron" type pedal in the future.

I've been playing for about a dozen years, and I've heard all kinds of overdrives and distortions, but this is easily the most touch-sensitive, defined, crisp and useful OD pedal I've come across. I love the fact that it's tube-powered, and I think that home-recorders would do well to consider it as a DI unit. Sometimes, I feel like I'm the only person who truly doesn't like the Tubescreamer. This pedal blows it out of the water, as far as I'm concerned.

The gain knob is one of the most interesting settings I've encountered, period, on an amp or a pedal. A little push forward and back can really make you sound like you've got two different amps.

I would be extremely upset if someone stole this.

Very easy to use, volume, tone and gain, takes just a few minutes to get great tone. I have used many other pedals and this is one of the easiest.

I play a G&L ASAT through a Fender '65 reissue and have great clean tone, with nice breakup at higher volumes but missed having a second channel to get some overdriven tones. One of the other reviewers described this pedal as a second channel for vintage style tube amps so it sounded like what I was looking for. I've had it for about two weeks now and love it. It maintains the sound and tone of your guitar and amp,it doesn't change it into a differint animal, just gives great overdriven distortion with the same great tube tone. I can come very damn close to getting the exact same tones at a lower volume with the pedal as the sound of the amp at a much higher volume with the gain set low. Turn up the gain and you got lead! It sounded great just practicing by myself, but when playing with the band at higher volume, the Big Ben really shined with good sounds. We play everything from 60's garage through to grunge and punk. The BB handles everything well and for the punk the BB in front of a Russian Big Muff does a great Marshall sound while still maintaining great tone. I'm giving it a 9 in the tone dept. because it really does sound like you have an extra tube channel on your amp, which in my opinion says everything. I'd give it a 10, but I don't know what a 10 would sound like.

It seams solidly built. I bought mine used on ebay without the box or instructions and it arrived in like new condition. When checking the battery compartment (even though I use an ac adapt.) everything seems to be well made. I have it on a pedal board so it stays plugged in and is carried about on the board, so I doubt it will break easily.

No experience.

I give it a 9.5 for ease of operation, cool looks and absolutely nailing the "extra tube channel" sound. I'ts not a distortion or compression pedal, but it will make your amp scream way earlier and you can get many usefull tones, from shimmering early tube breakup for rhythm work to some nasty overdrive for leads. I have to say that I got a great deal paying $90 on ebay, but after hearing it in my actual situation if it was stolen I would definately buy a new one at retail.

Well, if it takes more than five minutes or so for you to get a decent sound from it, you need a slap. It only has three knobs, for crying out loud. Volume, tone, and gain. Simple. There was a manual, but I didn't bother looking at it. Very easy to use, just dial in a sound you like.

I absolutely love this box. I play a Gibson SG Special or an American Fender Strat HSS into a Marshall AVT50 (soon to be upgraded to a VOX AC15- I love VOX stuff now), through a Dunlop Crybaby and then the Big Ben. Sometimes I put a DOD Classic Fuzz in front of the wah to get a Hendrix-type sound.
This pedal rules for tone, but it lacks drive a bit. It needs the gain knob pretty much full to get a good punch on it. Keep it low and you can get a nice Beatles/ Yardbirds light dirt on your sound, 'til about 12 o'clock where it starts to heat up nicely, and at full crank you get a full on Led Zep, AC/DC, Sabbath smack in the gob. Turn the tone down and you can get good on a Clapton "Woman" type of tone.
I didn't expect tubes in pedals to work fantastically, but this really does. I tried Boss, Digitech, DOD, Danelectro and Marshall pedals before this. This was by far the best.
The great thing is that it isn't like a lot of overdrive pedals where the overdrive is like a layer of sound on top of your guitar signal. If you picture your guitar's clean sound as running water, and then someone drops some coloured dye in the water, only a tiny bit mind... That's what this is like. It works with the guitar.

People have said this isn't built very solidly. I'd have to disagree. You get a vent for the tube, and you can see how thick the metal casing is. It's a very shiny tank. Sure, the jacks are plastic ones. So what? It performs, that's all I can see. I've had it 4 months now, and had no problems.

Not had to deal with them yet. Hope I don't have to.

Love it. Just love it. The overdrive on the amp was okay. I got this meaning it to be an alternative depending on what song I was playing/ what sound I needed, but I've just gone ahead and let the pedal take over. It's just so good. If you see one as cheap as I got mine, grab it, I promise youwill not regret it.