Toronto, Ontario (April 22, 2008) -- The Tone God is issuing the very funky TubeUlent, a smaller and lighter tube amplifier with the final output configured to operate as a preamp. This allows a player to plug the TubeUlent into any piece of equipment that will accept a standard effect.
The TubeUlent behaves, distorts and sounds like a full-size tube amplifier because the core of the TubeUlent is a tube amplifier. The TubeUlent will distort when driven hard or remain clean at lower volumes while maintaining that warm tube sound. No techniques have been used to artificially create distortion in the tubes; no extra gain stages, artificial clipping techniques or starving voltages. The final output level can be adjusted without causing any changes to the tube response.
According to the company, the advantages of using the TubeUlent as a preamp verses a full size tube amplifier include:
- Smaller size and lighter weight for a more portable performance rig
- Rugged construction requires less maintenance and provides higher reliability
- No major reliance on type or model of final amplifier -- just about any amplifier (tube or solid state) can be used
- The output power of the final amplifier does not affect the response of the TubeUlent
- The amplifier can be a headphone, practice or medium-to-high power amp, which facilitates the scaling of the final output volume to suit the situation without affecting tube response
- Other effects can be used before and/or after the TubeUlent, providing a broader range of tonal possibilities that in some cases would be difficult to do with full size tube amplifiers (i.e. reverb after distortion)
The TubeUlent has a suggested retail price of $599.
For more information:
The Tone God
The day before they played the coveted Blue Room at Third Man Records in Nashville, the Washington, D.C.-based garage-punk duo Teen Mortgage released their debut record, Devil Ultrasonic Dream. Not a bad couple of days for a young band.
PG’s Chris Kies caught up with guitarist and vocalist James Guile at the Blue Room to find out how he builds the band’s bombastic guitar attack.
Brought to you by D’Addario.
Devilish Dunable
Guile has been known to use Telecasters and Gretsches in the past, but this time out he’s sticking with this Dunable Cyclops DE, courtesy of Gwarsenio Hall—aka Jordan Olds of metal-themed comedy talk show Two Minutes to Late Night. Guile digs the Dunable’s lightness on his shoulders, and its balance of high and low frequencies.
Storm Warning
What does Guile like about this Squier Cyclone? Simple: its color. This one is also nice and easy on the back, and Guile picked it up from Atomic Music in Beltsville, Maryland.
Crushing It
Guile also scooped this Music Man 410-HD from Atomic, which he got just for this tour for a pretty sweet deal. It runs alongside an Orange Crush Bass 100 to rumble out the low end.
James Guile’s Pedalboard
The Electro-Harmonix Micro POG and Hiwatt Filter Fuzz MkII run to the Orange, while everything else—a DigiTech Whammy, Pro Co Lil’ RAT, and Death by Audio Echo Dream 2—runs to the Music Man. A TC Helicon Mic Mechanic is on board for vocal assistance, and a TC Electronic PolyTune 3, Morley ABY, and Voodoo Labs Pedal Power 3 Plus keep the ship afloat.
