Vox's Valvenergy NuTube Mystic Edge AC30 style and Copperhead Drive JCM800 style Overdrive / Preamps are fairly decent budget options for those genres
Vox’s Valvenergy pedals are just a handful of pedals that are currently using parent company Korg’s NuTube microtube technology - which first appeared in the now discontinued Ibanez NTS NU Tube Screamer. I always thought there was something slightly soft about the output of the NuTube - and I was never really taken by the NU Tube Screamer compared to the classic TS808 and TS9 varieties.
I went into this exercise with an open mind - following on from my recent ’Brian and Eddie’ article. Where I actually thought I would be testing out the Victory V1 equivalent types next, but an opportunity arose to tackle these Vox Valvenergy pedals ahead of that.
I benchmarked the Copper Drive pedal against 3 Marshall types currently on the board - the Sinvertek N5 MGAT-1, Formula B Eighty Master, and Bispell Audio Saxon, while the Mystic Edge was tested head-to-head against the Bispell Proxy. Obviously the Bispell duo are the current incumbent champs on slots #17 and #18 and I was testing to see if the two Vox equivalents deserved a residency in those slots.
The general findings are that for whatever reason - whether it’s to do with the nature of the NuTube clipping / output or how the tone-stack is set up on those two pedals - their output never gets as crisp or vibrant as on my benchmark devices.
Both the Mystic Edge and Vox obviously sound somewhat AC30 and Marshally respectively, but not as much as the other benchmarks. I would expect that Vox might not be quite so strong on Marshall flavours as some of the others, while I have several pedals which are far more ’Voxy’ and have more Chime than the Mystic Edge.
As I mentioned before it’s as if the output of those Valvenergy pedals is slightly muted or softened even - as with the bright switch engaged and Treble maxed out - you don’t get anywhere near as bright and crisp as output as on the various benchmarks.
There’s plenty of range on the Valvenergy pedals’ dials - while you don’t seem to be able to get the output to be as crisp or vibrant as I would like it to be - and which is easily achievable on the other benchmarks.
When I did the research I could not find any really decent demos of these two pedals, and now that I’ve played them at length, I can understand why that may be the case. All 4 Valvenergy pedals have a cool output waveform screen - like a mini oscilloscope - while however cool those are, they more likely highlight the relative softness of those pedals’ outputs. I’m still not convinced on the merits of the NuTube component for these applications - as discrete Transistors / JFETs / MOSFETs seem to deliver better results.
Here follow the individual details on each. Note that two of the current Valvenergy pedals are discounted to £99, while the other 2 are still at £129. Essentially the 2 distortions are discounted while the overdrives are still at full price :
Valvenergy VE-ME Mystic Edge Overdrive - £129
Controls - Volume, Bright Switch, Gain, Bass, Tone Cut, Treble.
Preferred Settings : Volume @ 2 o'c, Bright switch - On, Gain @ 2 o'c, Bass @ Min, Tone Cut @ Min, Treble @ Max.
The Mystic Edge is undeniably 'Vox' in overall tonality - while as mentioned in the intro - somehow softened and subdued to a degree.
You can still dial in a pretty decent tone with my settings - white the bass here is still a touch flabby - even when fully wound down, and with Bright Switch on and Treble on Max - I'm still not getting as full a Chime or crispness as I get on my favourite Vox style pedals.
It feels slightly odd to say that most of my other Vox-style pedals sound more Voxy than this pedal from Vox's own stable.
There's plenty of range on the dials - while it doesn't really get you properly into those singing Brian May Top-Boosted style tones. The Bispell Audio Proxy - which is mostly modelled on the Vox UL730 amp - that can still deliver fantastic Brian May tones when certain dials are cranked.
The Mystic Edge undeniably sounds Voxy in character - is just doesn't sound quite as Voxy as my other Vox-style pedals.
These are decent quality pedals - well made and well priced - while I obviously have other preferences.
Valvenergy VE-CD Copperhead Drive Distortion - £99
Copperhead 3
Controls - Volume, Bright Switch, Gain, Bass, Middle, Treble.
Preferred Settings : Volume @ 4 o'c, Bright switch - On, Gain @ 2 o'c, Bass @ noon, Middle @ 10 o'c, Treble @ Max.
Weirdly I feel that the Copperhead Drive does a better job at replicating JCM800 tones than its Mystic Edge sibling does for AC30. It still suffers the same output quirk in that the output seems somewhat subdued and softened.
It just doesn't sounds anywhere near as vibrant and lively as my other current benchmark Marshals. The new Formula B Eighty Master is killer - with a superb core Marshall sounding signature sound. While the overall champ is still the Sinvertek N5 MGAT-1, and the Bispell Audio Saxon is pretty killer too.
The benchmark MIAB's all have a crisper attack - with a lot more verve - they just sounds more real somehow. The Copperhead Drive's core voicing is unmistakably Marshall sounding - but somewhat lesser than the other benchmarks.
I'm not sure what is causing the output softness - as there's plenty more Volume and Gain on tap - while the output just doesn't have that harmonic crispness of the other candidates.
In isolation these probably sound pretty great, and I would have thought Single Coil guitars would probably be more favourable in delivering a brighter and crisper output. While for humbuckers there are better options available - while not many at the £99 price point.
It's a little strange for me that Korg / Vox have this flagship NuTube technology - which doesn't really seem to be doing the business for those products. The Ibanez one is already discontinued, and parts of the Valvenergy range are discounted and in short supply. I'm not saying those pedals are going to be discontinued too - but looking at what stock sits with dealers (or lack thereof) there certainly seems to be something going on. Currently on Andertons - only the Mystic Edge is listed of the 4 supposedly available Valvenergy pedals - this is why I made these a priority - as I've been caught out by pedal discontinuations in the past - and really wanted to be able to do do this review.
So both of these were in the chain for a very short period - I determined very quickly that the current Bispell Incumbents were superior in every way - while I still really admire the design and engineering of those Valvenergy pedals with those cool signal trace screens - that elements is really cool. The materials and construction are top quality seemingly too, so it's a little disappointing that these don't sound as stellar as they look.
These seem to have failed tto fully properly take off, and based on my own personal experience it's kind of easy to see why.
There are so many great sounding pedals out there nowadays that it's somewhat odd to comes across ones that aren't fully up to the task. Vox got so much right here - while whether it's the NuTube or Tone Stacks - something there just isn't quite right. I'm still glad that I got the opportunity to try these out - while I don't see them being much in future circulation within the pedal-chain!
I would be interested in hearing from you if you have experienced either of these!
