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The Effectrode Blackbird: A study in tube rolling

  1. HomeKnowledge BaseThe Effectrode Blackbird: A study in tube rolling

The Effectrode Blackbird: A study in tube rolling

by Yoel Kreisler

The debate of guitar tone is an old flame that has seemed to be fanned by the advent of the internet. Online forums and Facebook groups focused on guitars or guitar tone have only heated up the arguments, with the veil of anonymity allowing people to spit vitriol at each other with no immediate social repercussion. Like many things with the rise of the internet, the entire structure of the market (not only for guitar gear) changed for good, and the conversations between manufacturer and consumer were opened up to a whole new level, making garage operations blow up to the new norm we see today.

With all the heated debate, there is one constant that can almost never be shot down. As almost letter of law, guitar players almost (we can never agree on everything) unanimously agree that there is nothing better than a good tube amp. Something unquantifiable about the magic of tubes (or valves, as you Brits like to call them) imparts a character to the electric guitar that has driven it from big-band backline to rock and blues’ center stage. This comes as no surprise, since tubes impart a richness and a sweetness to the tone that neither the best of digital or solid state gear can hold a candle to.

The Effectrode ‘Blackbird’ is more or less a realization of what we know and love about tube saturation, quantified and distilled into a package that can be taken with complete ease to a faraway gig, to a studio date, or across an ocean in my case (more on that later) . For the last few months, the Blackbird has been my constant companion; my wingman in tone (no pun intended). Since my plans for it were quite extensive, I wanted to make sure it was the absolute best it could possibly be before I really took it through its paces. Like a piece of hi-fi gear, changing or “rolling” the tubes in the Blackbird drastically changes the tone, especially when using NOS tubes.

Since getting the Blackbird, I have been on a quest to extract the best possible tone from out of it. The level of tweakability that comes from simply changing the tubes in this unit is an invitation to experimentation; or down a never-ending rabbit hole that inspired me to come up with a new term for our gear-centric lexicon, TAS (Tube Acquisition Syndrome), which I’m sure a number of you who own any tube equipment suffer from. It’s the constant chase for perfection, and it can be a difficult and expensive path.

To help those of you who are Blackbird owners and want to learn more about changing the stock tubes and what they do to the tone in different positions in the unit, look no further. To those of you who are prospective Blackbird owners and want to understand a little more about this incredibly versatile unit, tune in here, because we’re diving headfirst into glass-powered nirvana.

For this feature, I have collected a number of NOS tubes from eBay to test in many different positions in the Blackbird. Here they are:

tube-rolling-640px
From left to right: JJ 12AX7, RCA 12AY7, Philips 12AX7WA, JAN Sylvania 5751, Tung Sol 12AV7

To maintain consistency, I played one pass through a looper. The first pass is through the clean channel, and the second time I would switch to the drive channel. Before each recording, I would turn off the Blackbird, change the tubes, turn it back on and let it warm up for at least a minute and half, to hear the tubes running at optimum performance.

Clips are organized [V1, V2, V3]. I did not have a tube tester handy to measure gain factor from each tube, so I have stuck to fairly generic gain factor measurements:

12AX7 (WA) – 100
5751 – 70
12AT7 – 60
12AY7 – 44
12AV7 – 41

Signal path: Strat with D. Allen Echoes pickups>Effectrode Blackbird>Focusrite Scarlett 2i2
No EQ or post-effects were added to these clips.

Clip 1: JJ 12AX7, Sylvania 12AX7WA, Tung Sol 12AV7

We’ll start off with one of my favorite combinations in the Blackbird. The JJ here is running the clean channel input stage and the output cathode follower buffer. This isn’t really a gain stage so there isn’t much audible change in the tone. You can really hear the changes with the Sylvania, since it controls both the first and second gain stages of the Blackbird’s drive channel. The 12AV7 however is where the magic happens; being a lower gain tube means it smooths out those harsh highs and makes for a more subtle breakup characteristic. Have a listen!

https://www.effectrode.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/yoel-kreisler-blackbird-clip-1.mp3

Clip 2: All stock

With the Blackbird all stock, it is perhaps at its most aggressive. This time, the full power of the JJ 12AX7s are utilized, and they have no lower gain tube to fall back on to tame the gain stages. With other tubes, the sweep of the gain control changes, and since I left the gain control more or less static throughout the entire “rolling” session. The gain on the stock tube setting is very sensitive, and you can see just how much more saturation it introduces at the exact same pot position as the clip before. The JJs are very mid-forward, as you can here in the clip below.

https://www.effectrode.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/yoel-kreisler-blackbird-clip-2.mp3

Clip 3: JJ 12AX7, JJ 12AX7, Tung-Sol 12AV7

This clip is very similar to the first clip with the Sylvania 12AX7WA in V2, but with just a hint more mids. The Sylvania seems to “breathe” more in the high-end, while the JJs impart a rich low-mid saturation. The difference lies in those frequencies here; and it is a very subtle change that could easily make or break a good tone (depending on your needs of course).

https://www.effectrode.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/yoel-kreisler-blackbird-clip-3.mp3

Clip 4: JJ 12AX7, JJ 12AX7, RCA 12AY7

Like before, we have put a low gain tube in V3 for the first and second gain stages of V2 to sort of lean back on, while the 12AY7 smooths out the gain and adds a nice, high end richness that wasn’t as prevalent in the Tung-Sol 12AV7.

https://www.effectrode.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/yoel-kreisler-blackbird-clip-4.mp3

Clip 5: JJ 12AX7, Sylvania 5751, RCA 12AY7

For this clip, I used the Sylvania 5751 for V2, to lower the gain in the 1st and 2nd stages. The gain was further lowered in the 3rd and 4th stages by the RCA. The 5751 is known as the lower gain 12AX7 substitute, and it is commonly recommended by amp techs for players who want to hit that sweet spot earlier, and who want to have the breakup be a little sweeter. Adding in addition to that the 12AY7 rolled off some of those harsher highs, and really let those lower-mids shine through.

https://www.effectrode.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/yoel-kreisler-blackbird-clip-5.mp3

Clip 6: JJ 12AX7, Sylvania 5751, JJ 12AX7

Here I tried to do something a little unconventional. I lowered the gain in V2 by adding the 5751, then I ramped it back up again in V3 with the JJ 12AX7. We can see here that the most critical tube in the circuit to affect drive tones is V3, because this clip is just as aggressive if not more than the full stock clip. The 5751 adds a nice high end kick, which can make it sound more aggressive and a little raspy at higher gain settings.

https://www.effectrode.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/yoel-kreisler-blackbird-clip-6.mp3

Clip 7: JJ 12AX7, Sylvania 5751, Tung-Sol 12AV7

This one perhaps is the closest to the coveted cranked Fender Deluxe tones found on Steely Dan’s Royal Scam album, which was the first thing to come to mind when I first strummed this setting. This is a close tie for one of my favorite tube combinations up there with the first clip, but it’s got more highs thanks to the brighter 5751 in V2.

https://www.effectrode.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/yoel-kreisler-blackbird-clip-7.mp3

Clip 8: JJ 12AX7, Sylvania 5751, Philips 12AX7WA

Again here we have a very aggressive and trebly sound coming from the Blackbird. This is similar again to the stock mode and to Clip 6. This particular 5751 is quite bright, and with the addition of the Philips you have quite a bit of gain flowing out the glass here. The correlation between 12AX7s and brightness seem to be a recurring pattern here, and this clip is a testament to the bright and aggressive sounds that you can coax out with 12AX7s and the like.

https://www.effectrode.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/yoel-kreisler-blackbird-clip-8.mp3

Clip 9: Philips 12AX7WA, Sylvania 5751, Tung-Sol 12AV7

Here I tried something a little different than before. This time, I tried substituting the usual JJ 12AX7 in V1 for the Philips, to see if there was any change in the clean tone or dirty tone. Compared to Clip 7, the drive is almost identical, but the clean just has that little extra smidge of detail that at higher volumes can really open up a tone.

https://www.effectrode.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/yoel-kreisler-blackbird-clip-9.mp3

Clip 10: Philips 12AX7WA, RCA 12AY7, Tung Sol 12AV7

I apologize in advance here, because my RCA tube started to produce some unwanted noise which you hear in the background during the drive section of the clip. Noise aside, this is the lowest gain clip here. The tone is very much edge-of-breakup, and it loses some of its high end articulation that the 5751 or the 12AX7WA give it. That being said, it remains to be the warmest tone here, and it feels incredibly vintage. The clean tone is again identical to the above clip, with that little extra bit of detail and sparkle that the JJ’s seem to miss.

https://www.effectrode.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/yoel-kreisler-blackbird-clip-10.mp3

As you have seen with the clips above, there is an absolute cornucopia of tones awaiting for you inside the Blackbird, with just a few simple tube swaps. I think this not only speaks to how versatile this unit is, but how it was designed to soak up every ounce of tone and character from whatever tubes you decide to put in. I hope for current owners of the Blackbird I have helped give you a sort of “beginners guide” to the world of breaking out of stock mode and into the exciting world of tube rolling with NOS tubes. Additionally, I hope that for prospective owners of the Blackbird I have helped show you how truly versatile and transparent this unit is for all sorts of tones, without the need for an amp at all (although an amp certainly helps in some situations). Until next time!

Yoel Kreisler is a freelance writer based in Arizona. He has both an affinity for obsolete funky technology and an insatiable love of all things tube. When he is not writing he’s usually recording, and when he is not recording he’s usually writing. His work has been published in numerous guitar publications, namely Premier Guitar, Tone Report Weekly, and Vintage Guitar. You can follow Yoel’s work on his Facebook page.

In This Section

  • A Little Vibe History
  • Blackbird Bias Settings
  • Blackbird Sample Settings
  • Blackbird Sounds
  • Blackbird Switching Options
  • Blue Bottle Sounds
  • Custom Work
  • Delta-Trem Sounds
  • Delta-Trem Tremolo-Panner In-depth
  • Everything You Need To Know About Playing And Recording With The ‘Blackbird’ Vacuum Tube Preamp
  • Fire Bottle Sounds
  • Fuzz Pedal Placement
  • How to Use a Guitar Buffer Pedal
  • Mercury Fuzz Sounds
  • PC-2A Compressor In-depth
  • PC-2A Sounds
  • PC-2A Supplemental
  • Phaseomatic In-depth
  • Phaseomatic Sounds
  • Story Behind the Tube Drive
  • Swapping Tubes in the Blackbird
  • The Dream Machine: the Echorec 3°
  • The Effectrode Blackbird: A study in tube rolling
  • Tube Drive Sounds
  • Tube-Vibe Expression Pedal Options
  • Tube-Vibe Sounds
  • Vibe Pedal Placement
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