Project overview

Nothing beats the sound of a bass guitar roaring through a tube amp… well, almost nothing, as a pedal designed to emulate this experience might be just what your signal chain is missing.

Introduction

The Black Mirror Bass Tubes is a bass tube preamp captured in a very compact design. This Darkglass Vintage Microtubes-inspired pedal allows you to choose from classic bass tones, starting in the early 70s, passing through the 80s, and finishing on the 90s rock sounds.

This little device comes with 4 controls: BLEND, LEVEL, DRIVE and ERA.

The BLEND knob lets you mix your clean tone at the unity gain with the overdriven tone.

The LEVEL potentiometer allows for further control of only the volume of the overdriven signal to finetune your preferred sound further.

DRIVE is your standard knob that dictates how much saturation your tone should have. It goes from barely present to a tube pushed to its limits.

We have saved the best for the dessert – the ERA control. With this pot, you can decide what kind of flavor your overdrive will have. Set it to minimum and you’ll be taken back to the 70s, with the characteristic warm mid-range tones, while turning it clockwise will time travel you through more metallic sounding 80s, up to 90s rock sounds at the end of the dial.

As much as we all love the classic sound of a tube amp, it’s not always the most reliable equipment to carry around dodgy clubs that you’ll be playing in. Save some space on the stage with Black Mirror Bass Tubes – trust us, your back will thank you too!

Controls

• BLEND
• DRIVE
• LEVEL
• ERA

For further analysis on this circuit take a look at this thread on Free Stomp Boxes Forum.

For any technical questions regarding this build don’t forget to check out our Facebook Group and our forum at Free Stomp Boxes.

Black Mirror Bass Tubes – Building Docs

Black mirror bass tubes – Drilling template