VOX Valvenergy Silk Drive

Love it! So far, I've used this Vox Silk Drive going directly into my recording interface as well as the "line" input on my Vox Cambridge50 - sounds warm and creamy in both situations. I also compared its sound going through studio monitors with my Vox AC15, and while the character is different, it's definitely in the same league for both clean and crunch playing.

I've been a NuTube fan since Vox came out with the MV50 miniamps a few years back. While the MV50 Boutique is my favorite, all distort like a 12ax7 tube, but clearer in a way. Compared to the NuTube sound, my Fender, Marshall and Vox tube amps all have a papery kind of sound covering the distorted signal. The NuTube has 12ax7-style warmth when overdriven, but without the papery edge.

But the Vox amps with the NuTubes always had some connectivity issue, such as missing an effects loop, or had extra stuff that got in the way like digital modeling. This Valvenergy pedal has the missing pieces! It's fully analog, so no fizzy sound. Full EQ, and especially the bright switch and mid control, which fix the only tone issue with the MV50 Boutique which is that it can sound a little cold. This pedal has the same character as the Boutique, but with filled-out EQ options. But like the Boutique, if you push it hard with another boost pedal and it just gets creamier, like a good tube amp front end.

The "preamp" output settings don't seem to be boosting the signal, so I'm guessing they're an impedance switch designed to let you plug straight into a sound board or DAW without a DI box - they work great going into my board. And the cab sim setting is wonderful - it seems to be the same as in the MV50s, which I once compared to micing my Marshall 1960 cabinet with a Neumann KM84 and I couldn't tell the difference between the two.