Hagerman Technology

Here we go! Sometimes you just have to listen to the universe, it tells you exactly where you need to go. Don't fight it. 😉

The question was, how to make a nice overdrive pedal out of this microphonic tube? Regular footswitch made it sing like crazy. But wait a minute, what if there was no footswitch? I could do either a soft-switching type with relay and control circuits, or hey, why not just get rid of it altogether? Make this an always on pedal. Is that outside the box or what?

So let's jam it into a standard 1590B case, see what happens. Oops, no room for tone control. Gone! Now it is just DRIVE and LEVEL. Set and forget. The idea here is to add tube warmth and feel to your rig, nothing more. Ideally, this would be first in chain, always on, sort of like a tuner. I'm pretty sure I could sell this for $129.

Always try something new! Bought a few of these sub-miniature low power tubes originally made for battery powered hearing aids and radios. At 20mA heater current I figured these could be a game changer for pedals. Tube tone at low power?

So I got this prototype up and running, sounding good, but not really enough gain to be an overdrive for anything but humbuckers. Will try a transistor front-end for higher gain, let the tube do all the clipping.

Anyhow, maybe it's all for naught? People warned me about this! Every time I hit the footswitch the tubes would ring like a Banshee for about ten seconds. High pitched whine in the low kilohertz. Silicone glue did not help and possibly made it worse. How could these have possibly worked in hearing aids?

Stay tuned...

Doing some advanced research for future products. This tiny pentode tube operates with a heater of 1.25V at 20mA. That's like nothing! Perfect for a pedal.

Quick test shows it fires up and puts out a very nice, clean signal with a plate load of 100k. The gears are spinning in my head...

Version 4 of prototype breadboard. I'm expecting a lot out of this one. ;)

Sammy and my OVERDRIVER pedal getting ready for tour. Credit to Avi Ronen :)

Wow, biggest order yet! I am so grateful for everyone's support and love for my pedals. Mahalo nui loa!

PS - This is also how to get a bulk discount, as shipping is charged only once per order... :)

https://pollux.positive-feedback.com/reviews/hardware-reviews/hagerman-audio-cornet-mm-vacuum-tube-phono-stage/

pollux.positive-feedback.com

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60Bac-m7VSI

Joe Perkins 7 likes, 2 comments. "Hagerman Tsar Octave: The New Original!"

Version 2 of new Tube Overdrive up and running. This time with a 20dB preamp section before tube and tone control after. Very well behaved. Can go from warm to edge of breakup to a bit more. Very tubey.