Premier Guitar features affiliate links to help support our content. We may earn a commission on any affiliated purchases.

Tubesteader Releases the ROY

Tubesteader Releases the ROY

A dual-channel tube preamp and overdrive pedal inspired by the Top Boost channel of vintage VOX amps.


ROY is designed to deliver sweet, ringing cleans and the "shattered" upper-mid breakup tones without sounding harsh or brittle. It is built around a 12AX7 tube that operates internally at 260VDC, providing natural tube compression and a slightly "spongy" amp-like response.

ROY features two identical channels, each with separate gain and volume controls. This design allows you to switch from clean to overdrive with the press of a footswitch while maintaining control over the volume level. It's like having two separate preamps dialed in for clean and overdrive tones.

Much like the old amplifier, ROY includes a classic dual-band tone stack. This unique EQ features interactive Treble and Bass controls that inversely affect the Mids. Both channels share the EQ section.

Another notable feature of this circuit is the Tone Cut control: a master treble roll-off after the EQ. You can shape your tone using the EQ and then adjust the Tone Cut to reduce harshness in the top end while keeping your core sound.

ROY works well with other pedals and can serve as a clean tube platform at the end of your signal chain. It’s a simple and effective way to add a vintage British voice to any amp or direct rig setup.

ROY offers external channel switching and the option to turn the pedal on/off via a 3.5mm jack. The preamp comes with a wall-mount power supply and a country-specific plug.

Street price is 299 USD. It is available at select retailers and can also be purchased directly from the Tubesteader online store at www.tubesteader.com.


At home in the shop at Gibson USA, where DeCola is R&D manager and master luthier.

Photo courtesy of Gibson

The respected builder and R&D manager has worked for the stars—Eddie Van Halen, Paul McCartney, and others—while keeping his feet on the ground, blending invention, innovation, and common-sense design.

As a teenager, DeCola fell in love with surfing, but growing up in Indiana … no ocean. So, skateboarding became his passion. When a surf park called Big Surf—replete with rideable waves—opened up near his sister, who he was visiting during spring break at Arizona State University, she treated him to a day at the man-made sea.

Read MoreShow less
X's Billy Zoom & John Doe Rig Rundown
- YouTube

John Doe and Billy Zoom keep things spare and powerful, with two basses and a single guitar–and 47 years of shared musical history–between them, as founding members of this historic American band.

Read MoreShow less

The compact offspring of the Roland SDE-3000 rack unit is simple, flexible, and capable of a few cool new tricks of its own.

Tonalities bridge analog and digital characteristics. Cool polyrhythmic textures and easy-to-access, more-common echo subdivisions. Useful panning and stereo-routing options.

Interactivity among controls can yield some chaos and difficult-to-duplicate sounds.

$219

Boss SDE-3 Dual Digital Delay
boss.info

4.5
4
4
4

Though my affection for analog echo dwarfs my sentiments for digital delay, I don’t get doctrinaire about it. If the sound works, I’ll use it. Boss digital delays have been instructive in this way to me before: I used a Boss DD-5 in a A/B amp rig with an Echoplex for a long time, blending the slur and stretch of the reverse echo with the hazy, wobbly tape delay. It was delicious, deep, and complex. And the DD-5 still lives here just in case I get the urge to revisit that place.

Read MoreShow less

Reader: T. Moody

Hometown: Myrtle Beach, South Carolina

Guitar: The Green Snake


Reader T. Moody turned this Yamaha Pacifica body into a reptilian rocker.

With a few clicks on Reverb, a reptile-inspired shred machine was born.

With this guitar, I wanted to create a shadowbox-type vibe by adding something you could see inside. I have always loved the Yamaha Pacifica guitars because of the open pickup cavity and the light weight, so I purchased this body off Reverb (I think I am addicted to that website). I also wanted a color that was vivid and bold. The seller had already painted it neon yellow, so when I read in the description, “You can see this body from space,” I immediately clicked the Buy It Now button. I also purchased the neck and pickups off of Reverb.

Read MoreShow less