Crazy Tube Circuits / Venus

Venus is a true tube overdrive inspired by all pedal and rack versions of the BK Butler/Chandler Tube Driver, producing everything from smooth, light overdrive tones to high-gain, wicked distortion.

Various versions of the original BK Butler Tube Driver have been used by guitarists such as Eric Johnson (used on albums such as 'Ah Via Musicom' and 'Venus Isle'), David Gilmour (used on Pink Floyd's 'Division Bell', 'Pulse' and subsequent solo albums), Joe Satriani ('Surfing With The Alien'), J Mascis, Billy Gibbons and Joe Bonamassa.

With ultimate versatility and tone sculpting in mind, we set out to recreate one of Pedal Museum's greatest masterpieces with modern improvements. Without sacrificing tone, we've packed the circuitry into the smallest possible housing, making it less than half the size of the original pedal unit.
The Tube Driver is a unique overdrive design that uses vacuum tubes, and the tubes operate in a ""starved plate"" setup. The original design power supply was made with an internal step-down transformer to reduce the line voltage to +/-15V DC, which typically produced a lot of background noise and hum. To minimize such problems, we decided to power the Venus from a standard 9V DC power supply. The pedals can be operated from an isolated 9V DC center negative power output that can supply 500mA of current. A well-designed internal boost/inverter circuit then provides the correct voltage conditions (DC ±15V) for tube operation.

■Control
Drive: Controls the amount of tube drive/saturation and sustain.
Bias: Set the cathode bias of the vacuum tube depending on the type of vacuum tube and overdrive/distortion texture.
Volume: Set the output level of the effect
3 band EQ (Hi, Mid, Lo)
fat/tight push switch
Line driver/buffer + booster push switch

■Specs
- Real tube overdrive inspired by all pedals and rack versions of the BK Butler Tube Driver.
- Compact housing less than half the size of a classic tube drive unit.
・Equipped with ECC832 vacuum tube (half configuration of ECC83 and ECC82) to achieve optimal performance.
ECC83/12AX7, 5751, ECC81/12AT7, 6072/12AY7, ECC82/12AU7 can also be used instead of ECC832.
- Power supply: Use a center negative power supply with DC9V and a current capacity of 500mA or more.
Runs internally on ±15V DC (via internal boost and invert circuitry), similar to the classic tube drive units it is inspired by.
・Maximum current consumption 400mA.
-Clickless true bypass design with high quality relays.
-Footswitch power-up bypass/preset function.
・Top mount jack
・Metallic amber sand die-cast housing.
- Dimensions: (width x length x height): 126 x 66 x 57 mm.
・Weight: 317g.
・Made in Greece.