Vox Cooltron Bull Dog Distortion

7 knobs,
Each channel has its own "Gain" and "Volume"
and they share the same "Bass" and Treble" knob,
Channel 2 have an additional "Voicing" knob,which can let you to choose from Classic Distortion sound to modern Metal sound.

easy to use?of coz!

I use an Yamaha RGX TT with 3 Seymour Duncan pickup and a USA Jackson V with TB-4 on bridge and JB on neck,the effect sounds really really nice!

it's not noisy,compare to a Sansamp GT-2 that i also owned,and it sounds more "Natural"!

the sounds is really "Tubish",

you can get some really nice low-gain sound from the channel 1,it give a quick respond to your picking.

Want some metal-sound?just tune the "Channel 2 voicing" knob all the way up,you will get a very "Compressed" and powerful sound!

All i can say is..the effect sounds warm and natural,with this price the quality is supreb!

just bought it yesterday,but it looks so well-built so i think it won't have any problem.

no idea .never have to deal with them

i got it with a great price since i was working in a Musicial instrument shop,

and since i was working there,i have try many difference equipment.and for the effect range,this pedal is always in my "Top 3" list,even compare to a Mesa boogie V-twin,or something cost 2 or 3 or 4 times the price!

it really have the sound of it's own,once you bougth this pedal,i hope you guys can keep it until you die(or maybe you can pass it to your son....:D)

the only minor problem that i'm not 100% satisify,is the tube doesn't really "Grown" a blue light,there is a blue Led under the tube that makes the tube looks like have blue light.

Fairly straight- forward, dual channel pedal. If you can't figure it out in two minutes, find a new hobby. My only beef with it is that there is only one eq for both channels, but with the bass on 2/3 and treble on 3/8, it works nicely with both.

I use it with a Amer. Lonestar Strat or Carvin dual hum into a Seymour-Duncan Pick-up Booster into the Bulldog into a modified Fender Blues Jr. This is the ballsiest most versatile pedal I've ever heard. I was at store and tried every od/dist pedal they had, all of which (including everyone's favorite Tubescreamer) sounded thin and weak. Because of the price, I tried this one last, but when I did I was blown away. The fact that I couldn't afford it didn't matter anymore. I immediately bought it and when I took it home and played it through my setup, it was even better, a lot better. I can get an incredible texas blues sound(like SRV) in channel 1, and a bad-ass (not thin,cheap, and thrashy sounding) distortion in 2. With the voice knob you can really tweak your sound in 2. The pick-up booster is a great compliment to this pedal, especially when using single coils. This is the only 12au7 driven pedal I've ever heard, but it's a great one. too bad there's not 11 rating. Worth every penny of the high price.

I'l never own another dist/od pedal again. I play everything as far as instruments and styles, and have been for a relatively good while. I don't use as much dist these days as I used to, but since I've had this pedal I've been finding excuses to use a lot more. I'm very picky about my sound and I'm no less than extatic about this purchase. The best pedal of it's kind out there, so don't bother looking, I already did. If it were stolen I couldn't buy a new one because I'd be locked for murdering the theif. Despite the one EQ thing, this gets a perfect rating. The only reason not to buy this is if you play death-metal or thrash metal, have no taste, or both. Even you whiny emo-punk-indy-rock kids would like it.

I don't want to repeat all the things already said. 2 channels and true bypass.

first time i hooked it up i was fairly disappointed with the sound. Harsh and rough in the first channel - biting and piercing in the second. the distortion seemed to crumble and fall at a certain threshhold (ok thats what tubes are supposed to do) and i was missing punch and balls. My setup was a Les Paul with Rios (Texas BBQ)- Vox 847 UK Wah - the Bulldog - TC Chorus/Flanger - into a Matchless Chieftain Head w/ a 412 Celestion G12H100 cab.

The Matchless delivers a great sound with this cab and i love the dynamic response and the full and ballsy sound of it.

Now: 2 weeks later i chekced the Bulldog again - and this time as a single frontend to the amp. WOW - now it sounds like a new world to me. I played several hours with different eq settings on either the Bulldog and the amp itself to find the sweet spots. And there are many of them. After i was wondering why it was so ugly and harsh sounding before i reassembled the fx line step by step and i found the problem: the TC doesn't like the Bulldog in front! I wired an old Boss CS1 Chorus behind it and - there we go! all as it should be. fantastic sounding setup.

My advice to all the people who running several fx in a line - check the position of the Bulldog if it sounds weird. Some pedals don't seem to like the Bulldog as a feeding unit.

All together I am very happy now with this unit. two great distortion sounds and a true bypass gives you already three sounds.

I bought the bulldog about 2 months ago and there is not much to say by now. it looks solid and even it has a tube inside no weak spot to detect. I gigged several times (i bacame one of my favourite stomps) and it never let me down. No backup required.

I never dealt with Vox or their distributors. So no opinion here.

I play mainly rock and blues. After over 25 years of playing I went through many styles and setups. And - as you certainly all know - the tone you're after changes with time. Many years ago i found the sound of a cranked big muff into a marshall plexi fantastic - today i find this not appropriate anymore. Music is changing and the sounds,too.
The Bulldog is a fresh and modern sounding pedal without missing the vibe of "vintage" tone. I am wondering how i would rate it in 5 or ten years time????
I love it right now and that's all it. It suits my desires for distortion sounds perfectly and i would definitely buy it again.
The price is fair in my opinion. The value is great.

Considering that this is a 2-in-1 pedal, its simplicity is quite welcome. The shared EQ may not be to everyone's liking, yet it does provide me with 2 very good sounds with a bit of adjusting of both the EQ and gain 2's "voice control".

As for switching, I suppose that a bypass switch and a Gain 1/2 switch are more than self-explanatory. It deserves a 10 in this category.

This pedal has been put to actual use (excluding practice, rehearsal, etc.) with 2 amps: a Mesa/Boogie Mark III and an ENGL Savage 60. As far as guitars are concerned, I've plugged everything from Teles to Les Pauls, so its character and the way it influences your sound have been thoroughly tested.

Vox's descriptions on this are quite accurate: gain 1 has a looser, more vintage vibe, while gain 2 is more punchy and slightly scooped, like a good JCM 800 with a good booster on front. The sounds are extremely varied, and it is a true jack of all trades (unless you're specifically after ultra-scooped distortion). You can get impressive "sag" out of it once it warms up properly, and you'll find that your amp AND the pedals' personalities shine through perfectly.

It is a tad on the treblier side of things, so you might want to lower the treble when using single-coil ecquiped guitars to prevent it from becoming too harsh. Doesn't bother me at all, since EQ isn't extreme in terms of range, but very cleverly tuned instead.

Perfection seldom comes, however, and this fantastic box hasn't had its output level tweaked to perfection, since it's a bit low. In most cases this won't present a problem, but I find it strange that, when I plugged it into a Laney VC30's clean channel, I was forced to turn the level (for both channels) up to 9 just to balance the sound, which is silly...

If it wasn't for this tiny matter, it would easily get a 10, but as it is, 9 seems fair.

It is rock-solid, BUT it does have a nice lovely 12AU7 lurking within, which means you must check for microphonics every once in a while. If you take good care of it, it will certainly take good care of you!...

As far as consistency is concerned, it's perfect. It is a relatively new pedal, so I'll get back to Reliability a few months from now. Time will be the judge here.

Never dealt with Vox UK, partly because of a carefully structured website and dumb-proof manuals. Of course I do hope never to deal with them because my gear went 'kaboom' on me... :-P

A friend of mine does own a Tonelab and they have been most helpful. I doubt it would be any different for me.

I have been working as a session player for a while, and my setup consists of 14 guitars, 2 amps (unless I'm using other stuff for sessions - it's great when you can fiddle with tons of gear while paying nothing for it -, and a multitude of pedals and various FX units. I happen to play mostly everything, from pop to r'n'b to funk to blues to rock to metal, and most session guys like me tend to, so I was happy to witness the versatility of this unit.

This is, of course, an expensive pedal, and I encourage you to try it before you buy it. NEVER take a review for granted: what rocks my world might be crap to you and vice-versa. If it was lost or stolen, I'd get another one for sure, considering the way I like it. The one and only thing that I wish it had was a little bit extra output, but it hasn't been a prblem so far.

I must say that it is indeed expensive, but I found myself gigging with it without turning the amps' overdrive on a single time, so it does pay off.

very easy two channel stompbox overdrive. No need for a manual. a bit more knobs than a boss pedal but....ok straight to the soundpoint.

I'm using it through a VOX AC30 and it sounds great!
It has two channels, channel 1 is more clean and crunch channel 2 is high gain compressed sustained sound...with additional treble control....the two sounds are very different. I use the channel 1 for rythm and channel 2 for solo. channel 2 also kicks ass if you use it to play sort of smashing pumpkins harmonies (like the song "Zero").
This pedal has a true valve blue-glowing and man...it works!
the sound is clearly a tube sound.....the only thing is that it's a bit too much "treble" oriented...but you have bass knob to pump.

it seems teel made.
hard case and relieble.

it maches my soundstyle perfectly.maybe it is going to tak ethe place of my boss blue driver....

Been using it for a month now. Very easy straight to the point pedal. Dont need a manual to operate it. Its analog so you dont need to edit any patches...just dial in the setting you want and play away.

this pedal is a great all around pedal. Rock, blues, metal... this baby can deliver. I use it with various amps, and it sounds almost the same with any amp. But i think it will sound best with tube amps. I used it once with a roland jazz chorus and this dog bites!!!. The only comment I have is that it sounds too bright. I role off the treble control just to hit that sweet spot. Gain 1 is warmer than gain 2 but a little bit noisy if you turn the gain at full. Gain two has a compressed, tweekable but heavier gain structure which is a bit harsher but still sounds good when you use it for heavier music. My fender strat fits this pedal like a tailored glove. My set up very simple: Fender strat or Ibanez RG, Dunlop wah 535Q, Arion octave, Cooltron Bulldog, Boss DD3. Ever since I switched to the cooltron I've been getting praises on my sound. I use to have a sansamp GT2, the bulldog just ate it for breakfast.

I wouldnt know, just used it for a month. Let's see after a year. But it looks pretty sturdy with its chrome chasis.

I play glam rock and sometimes mainstream when I session. It works with all the artists I've played with. It definitely is a heavy pedal...but it could also go mellow with the right adjustments. I would definitely get another one if this gets stolen. I just love Gain 1. It's warm even at maximum gain. I kinda dislike the treble on this baby. I would compare it to a mesa v-twin. But I like the fact that you can control gain 1 and 2 separately. I wish it had a mid control though, then all my ratings will be 10.

This is new in 2005 with the evolutionary cooltron technology. First impression was not good as there were too many buttons and knobs (9 all together) But after using for about 5 minutes, it's not as intimidating as it looks!! easy enough to get a good sound out from the 2 channels. Manual itself is a Joke, a piece of paper with many languages and NO helpful infomations. It is easier to figure out the sound by messing around than reading the manual!!

My setting is a Gibson Les Paul/ Fender Tele thru this baby to VOX AC 30 CC2. It's simply rocks!! This baby gives a little hizz when you have both volume and gain wind to max but that is just warning you that you have more than enough distortation on your tips. Beside, this baby also makes you amp louder which, is good for many but if you have a loud amp life AC30....... but thanks to separate colume control for each channals, it can be easily sorted.
The first channel is more vintage like distortion, not very aggressive but very responsive when the strings are attacked! Fantastic for soloing as it's a killer sound and ultimate clarity!!
The second channel is flat out. Kill'em all approach. very heavy, solid, punchy and crunhy. ideal for rymth works in metal band. Not bad for soloing as well, very unique!!

the Shell looks like metal but it's actually very hard plastic. have this baby for only a short while and have no prob so far. it looks reliabale and if not, will come back and report again

never deal with any of them so..................... no comment

I play punk' (Greenday, cood charlotte) rocks ( Guns n roses, Randy Rhoads) and some alternative for about a yr and a half. still new in this area but my friends in the band simply praise the sound out from this baby (they have been play for about 15 yrs) They have the tube screamer, tube factor, mega distortation, only tube factor comes close the other are..... well they are not tube driven so not same league!
If this is stolen, will get this baby again or maybe some other padel in this Cooltron product range, heard they are few new peddals out so will see^^

just a couple of thoughts following my review. for the ones who care:

1. although the Bulldog uses operational amps (I.C.'s),they DO NOT create distortion.
all they really do is boosting a powerful clean signal right before the valve,thus overdriving the valve insanely.It is only a clean booster.

because a single 12ax7 could not possibly have all that gain,they use this system ,enabling them to obtain such high amounts of gain,and keeping the price low,because a preamp with 5 valves costs more than a preamp with one valve.
So does that means that if a pedal or whatever has more valves in it sounds or is actually better? No.
Mesa or Peavey uses 5 or 6 valves to get all the gain their preamps,but you know Mesa,they make you pay with interest.

Hughes & Kettner uses the same I.C. system before the valve,in their very good Tubeman. If a valve pedal uses transistors to create part of the gain,you would hear it. But not so with the Bulldog.
In my opinion,any good valve pedal like the Bulldog absolutely thrashes toys like the Boss Metal Zone ,DOD,sansamp etc.

2. You might want to use a boss ge-7 or similar before the Bulldog to cut the bass BEFORE the Bulldog's distortion...I do that and get an excellent 'tight' sound ,if that's what you are after,in other words there is a total lack of muddiness,not that the Bulldog is muddy-sounding pedal. That is only my personal preference though. Happy barking

It's an overdrive/distortion pedal..nothing difficult to use!
Manual is good and conversational,although short. Well..you dont need a book for a pedal,right?

I always record direct to my laptop,and I have used the Bulldog for that also . I also run a fully fledged tube amp thru a powerbreak and it ends in my laptop anyway. I listen thru headphones. If you do this sort of thing,you will need a speaker simulator of some sort,like ab Hughes & ketner Red box ,or if you want to go software,Cakewalk does some excellent speaker sims for free. I also use stuff such as Amplitube,but I NEVER use the distortion ,or even the clean sound,from such stuff. Neither I ever use transistor or digital distortion...I absolutely dislike it,to me has to come from tube.
That's the only way I play a guitar.

I am rather impressed with the Bulldog. I even compared it,side to side,with the preamp out of my peavey Bravo...the preamp of the latter is no joke.They both were using the same speaker simulators.
They both sounds very aggressive and harmonic,but the Bulldog gives also an hint of something less american-sounding....it sounds very Marshall-like,the tone is more 'macho',and it does not sound buzzy.
It's eq it's powerful and uses the right frequencies,in my opinion.

Someone could complain about the fact that the Bulldog shares the eq with both channels. It's true,but also remember that this was supposed to be a distortion pedal rather than a 2 channels preamp,so I think of it's eq as a plus rather than a minus.

It has 2 channels,and they sound rather different to my ears,channel 1 is less gain (but still a lot) it's a very cool vintage-like distortion.

Channel 2 is the flat-out ,take-no-prisoners approach. the thing I liked is that it sounds bigger as you increase the gain.
Power chords are very 'british'like...as I said it's a really good marshall-type of sound,rather than Mesa or Fender.
It's still modern and ballsy,but older as well,I really think it's the best of both worlds but at the same time it's not a wannabee pedal...it has a sound with a lot of attitude and authority of it's own.
BTW, something like the Mesa Boogie V-Twin is very compressed and weak sounding compared to the Bulldog.Other than ridicolously over-priced. the Bulldog eats that at breakfast!
(Also, I will never understand why some people uses stuff such a Tubescreamer,Sansamp etc,when you can find a pedal like the Bulldog!).

the Bulldog is rather the opposite,it's not a squashed 12ax7 sound but a lot more of a focused heavy high gain,quite exciting in riffs and solos.
It's an heavy expressive sound,responds very very well to anything from blues to fusion to whatever form of metal. Very responsive to speed picking and legato-based licks. the thing I really like about this pedal is that other than the insane gain,the tone is of a singing quality. I love that quality in a guitar sound.
It also does the 'chugga-chugga' thing excellently.
Distorted triads or intervals sound very harmonic.

I use also a graphic -eq in front of whatever preamp because it allows me to tune more finely my sound. Also,it servers as double-purpouse,because it's also a booster should I need a boosted sound. You dont really need a booster with the Bulldog though! It has plenty of gain!

The pedal it's not noisy at all,compared to other pedals or preamps with similar high amounts of gain.
Another thing: dont change it's valve to a 12ax7,for more gain or whatever,doing so will weaken a lot the Bulldog's output,which is rather strong,and you might want that strong output to drive a good valve power-amp hard.
So keep a good 12au7 in there.

My only niggle is that those pedals are a bit of a fuss if you want to change the valve. Although the Bulldog uses a good one,no krap like Mesa Boogie does.
In the Bulldog is not more difficult to change the valve than in the H+k Tubeman 2 ,for example,but still,why complicate a complicate an already difficult life.....
I give the Bulldog a 10 for sound.

seems very sturdy,but the sides of the pedal it's hard plastic ,although they look like aluminium. It still will be very difficult to break those sides because of the internal frame of the pedal,so unless you trow it down the stairs it wont break I suppose.
I would gig with no backups no problem

I play fusion,hard rock,metal,blues. The Bulldog it's a great match!
Been playing about 10 years.
i also own a h+k Crunchmaster ,a mini valve amp, and a Peavey Bravo. I used to have a Seymour Duncan 84-50, a Marhall reissue,a Peavey Triumph...all very good used stuff

I have compared the Bulldog with some other pedals,such as Guyatone Metal Monster. The latter it's even more expensive (really a theft for what it is) than the Bulldog and sounds like bullshit in comparison. very buzzy and thinny,compared to Bulldog's roaring bark!
I also compared it to a Sansamp Classic....I can only laugh at that Sansamp stuff,it costs even more than the sound it emulates,and compared to the real stuff like the Bulldog,it's light-years behind.
The Bulldog it's a bit pricey but still much less than a sansamp. And ,unlike those ridicolously priced toys ,delivers sound-wise.
It still deserves a 10 even if it is slightly pricey

This pedal is really pretty straight forward. There aren't a whole lot of knobs to confuse a person. Inside of about 2 minutes I had dialed in a tone and was up and running.

OK, here's the thing. I run this through a Matchless Clubman 35 which will expose everything. The 1st channel on this thing sucks. I have tried about everything and I can't get it to sound good. The two channels share an EQ which bites because what sounds good on one channel makes the other one harsh. The 2nd channel on this thing is great. It really nails that British crunch. Because it is tube it responds very well to your picking dynamics and volume control. It will clean up, but because it is 2 channels, I was hoping this would replace my lower gain pedals. It definitely will not. I wonder if anyone has tried changing the tubes in this thing. That may improve the tone. It also needs a mod to smooth out the highs. They get really harsh really fast. For what I paid for it I must admit I am a little disappointed. This thing costs as much as Fulltone or Menatone, and doesn't sound good on everything like those pedals do. I'm gonna keep it because the 2nd channel is so balls to the walls, but the 1st channel was a real let down. Definitely try before you buy. It may work for you, I'm gonna make it work.

This thing is chrome, large and heavy. I seriously doubt you could much external damage to this piece. It is tube so eventually the tubes will go microphonic on you so keep that in mind. This is basically a tube preamp so you will have the same type of upkeep.

Don't know. The guys at Sweetwater are awesome though.

Overall this pedal wasn't what I was hoping for. It's not horrible, just not what I thought a 200+ effect pedal should sound like. I'm gonna keep tweaking though, who knows maybe It'll grow on me.