Drunk Beaver's 20th Pedal Drop is the suitably impressive Ternopil Pentode Preamp Tone Enhancer

Apr 12, 202416:50 by

Stefan Karlsson

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Key Points

Drunk Beaver #20 Pedal Drop is the Ternopil Pentode Preamp Tone Enhancer, built by Vitalii using Ukrainian 6Ж45Б-В (6ZH45B‑V) pentode tubes rated 3,000 hours. Only 20 units made.

Controls: Gain (Master Volume); Low‑End Switch: Shift (Bass‑Cut) / Normal (Full Bass); Sparkle: Normal (Off) / Brilliance (On). Purpose: warm the core signal, add sparkle and low resonance; modest gain. Demo included; fits the Tone Enhancer category, alongside preamps like Boss BP‑1W.

Available from the Drunk Beaver Webstore; priced at $175 plus shipping and relevant taxes. Pedal Drop #19 Khelnytskyi OD proved popular and sold out.

The #20 Drunk Beaver Pedal Drop is a major milestone in that series - utilising a special small format Pentode Tube - with the purpose of warming up your core signal, and adding some magic and sparkle to the final output!

There seems to be something of a vogue for tube-powered preamp pedals these days - with each builder seeking rare and unique small format tubes. Vitalii has discoverd a stash of fairly rare / unique Ukrainian small format tubes - including the 6Ж45Б-В ones featured here - with the full complement of tubes plus a spare pictured below.

Controls - Gain (Master Volume), Low-End Switch : Shift (Bass-Cut) / Normal (Full Bass), Sparkle : Normal (Off) / Brilliance (On).

You could not ask for simpler controls - just a single Gain Knob / Master Volume and 2 sort of EQ switches that give you Less or More Bass, and Less or More Sparkle.

Vitalii has made 20 of these at breakneck pace - but he still managed to fit in a brief demo - as below. Where you can hear that the Ternopil is definitely in the Tone Enhancer category - there's not a whole load of gain onboard - but plenty to make your signal sound better!

I think most of us are familiar with the impact of a Tube Preamp - in how it opens up and warms up your core signal - and often adds a certain Sparkle to the top, and a deeper lower Resonance to the bottom-end of the frequency profile.

Those 6Ж45Б-В / 6ZH45B-V Tubes are a military spec type - rated for a lifetime of 3000 hours - which should be plenty!

There has been a slew of interesting preamps on the market recently - including the very popular BP-1W from Boss, and this is another exceptional one for that essential Tone Enhancer category.

As mentioned, only 20 of this Ternopil Pentode Preamp were made, and they've been very reasonably priced at $175 plus shipping and relevant taxes. Of course available for order from the Drunk Beaver Webstore as soon as this article goes live!

The last Pedal Drop (#19 Khelnytskyi OD) proved to be extremely popular and several who wanted one of those were too late to the party and alas missed out. I feel that the same will likely apply for this release - they will invariable be snapped up as quickly as hot cakes!