It’s the holy grail of the armchair guitar-god isn’t it? –– an overdrive pedal capable of producing searing, creamy, tube-driven distortion reminiscent of the great classic amp heads, but at a reasonable price-point and with a small footprint.
Add in a dose of seriously sturdy construction, dual overdrive channels, military-grade vacuum tubes, and true-bypass circuitry, and you’ve got a pedal that’ll really go the distance –– that’s the Twin Tube Classic.
Like most long-time electric guitar players, I’ve owned at least a dozen or more distortion pedals over the years, and I’ve spent real “quality time” with at least a few dozen more, but nothing has ever scratched my itch for the rich, warm, organic sound of a vacuum tube being pushed to the breaking point like Seymour Duncan’s Twin Tube does… it’s just that good.
Creamy High-Voltage Goodness
Running off a 16-volt AC adapter (as opposed to the more common 9-volt DC,) the Twin Tube Classic is pumping some serious voltage through a set of subminiature military-spec 6021 vacuum tubes, and producing a high-quality overdrive that will leave your ears truly satisfied and your fingers itching to play.
The controls couldn’t be much easier: there’s an ON/BYPASS footswitch (with true bypass circuitry) for turning the device off and on, a CHANNEL SELECT footswitch for moving between the two overdrive channels (Rhythm and Lead,) separate VOLUME and GAIN knobs for each of the channels, and a single set of BASS and TREBLE knobs for setting your desired tone. The back panel is as simple as simple can be: Input, Output, that’s it.
With two channels on-board, plus a bypass footswitch in easy reach, the Twin Tube Classic essentially gives you access to three different pre-sets –– your amp’s clean tone, the pedal’s Ryhthm overdrive channel, and of course the Lead overdrive channel… what more are you really looking for?
Seymour Duncan has managed to create one highly usable pedal in the Twin Tube Classic: the unit’s Rhythm overdrive channel easily produces anything from a slightly muddy slur to a full-on clipped and crunchy distortion, while the Lead channel can be set to produce just about anything you like –– from just a slight tweak in volume all the way up to buttery smooth wailing and crying.
Pounding Townshend-esqe power chords? Check!
Vocally expressive Warren Haynesian blues riffs? Check!
It’s ultimately an entire tube pre-amp in a floor pedal.
And I’ve been pleasantly surprised to find that the Twin Tube Classic performs equally well with both singlecoils and humbuckers –– heck, the tone this thing produces when matched with P-90s (my Gibson ’67 SG Special) is nothing short of guttural and gorgeous.
In fact, perhaps the only thing this pedal won’t do is screeching modern high-gain distortion –– Seymour Duncan built a pedal just for that: the Twin Tube Mayhem –– but when it comes to classic tube distortion, you really have to hear this thing to believe it… the Twin Tube Classic is quite simply one of the most expressive overdrive pedals I’ve had the pleasure to play, and both my Strat and SG are thanking me for sinking one of these orange beauties into my pedal board.
Get out there and try one out. You won’t be disappointed.
- Video Review Of Seymour Duncan’s Twin Tube Classic Overdrive
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October 26th, 2009 at 2:29 pm
Visually, reminds me of those mad-assed pedal the cats at Lovetone make/used to make/delete as appropriate.
October 26th, 2009 at 4:44 pm
Never had much luck with distortion pedals but that looks like a solid piece of equipment. Too bad I don’t use gain that much
October 26th, 2009 at 7:53 pm
Really?! I felt the same way about my Fultone FullDrive 2 Mosfet ( http://www.fulltone.com/fd2.asp ), although its purpose is to drive existing tubes a bit more & doing a bit of sculpting, but with the boost it functions as a lead channel too.
What’s intriguing about this SD Pedal is that it uses its own tubes and treble/bass controls. It would probably sound great in front of my Vox AC4 or Fender Champion 600….or even in the power amp in of my Boogie. Hmmm
What were some of those other pedals you spent quality time with?
December 30th, 2009 at 11:18 am
I bought one and I don’t like it. It sounds nice by itself, but with the band it sounds flabby. I put an EQ box downstream to boost the mids and cut the highs+lows; this makes for a fine, focused sound, at the cost of using another pedal. Does anyone know a tube overdrive pedal like the Twin Tube that has more mids, or perhaps more built-in EQ choices?
February 18th, 2010 at 2:35 pm
Hello,
I am a professional musician/composer/recording artist with four instrumental albums out. You can hear me playing through the twin tube on youtube. Just type in Marc Vee Europa live. It’s the electric. not acoustic version. The bottom line on the Twin tube is that it is my favorite tube distortion pedal. It’s distortion is smoother and more complex than most tube amplifiers’ distortion channels. It’s that good. If you want more saturation, add a tube screamer in front of it. Smooth and vocal tube distortion. No. Seymour duncan did not pay me to say this, but he did promise to send me some free pickups once. I gave up waiting for that.
Marc Vee
February 18th, 2010 at 2:58 pm
Here is a second reply. The twin tube is warm and sweet sounding, so you need to set your amp for a great clean tone for the distortion to cut through the mix. It works like a charm. Some people are used to other modern tones for metal music. This is not the best pedal for that tone.
Classic rock is this pedal’s domain. Think Santana, Page, Clapton etc.
Marc Vee