Xploration • Curation • Recommendation
Redbeard's superb Bearded Vulture take on the Thermionic Culture Vulture Tube Saturator Rack Unit could very well be their most satisfying pedal to date!
So I’ve had this pedal for over a month now, and was totally blown away by it right from when it first arrived. It’s part Overdrive, part Distortion, and part Fuzz in its output - depending on where you set the Drive, Bias, and Timbre dials - which are all very interactive - and particularly the Drive and Bias.
I’ve been waiting for Mikey Demus to do a rifftastic demo of his pedal - which he originally told me he would have out the week after the Birmingham Show - now long since passed. He’s kind of in the middle of recording the new Skindred album I’ve been led to believe - so he probably hasn’t had time to do that proper demo yet.
Jackson Brooksby to the rescue then! While I feel that this pedal is particularly well suited to a Riff-Lord like Mikey!
The Thermionic Culture Vulture was / is a celebrated 1998 2-Channel / Stereo Tube Saturator / Distortion Rack Unit - used mostly in a studio setup for adding warmth to recordings. Which it does with the use of 5 vacuum tubes typically I believe.
Thorpy has wholly recreated that style of output in solid state mono format here. As mentioned - the 3 sensitive dials are the Drive, Bias and Timbre, and particularly the first 2 - the Drive kind of controls the Range of the Bias - where the optimal Bias occurs at different intervals directly corresponding to the position of the Drive dial. You kind of set the level of Drive - and then Bias that! The Bias control seems to be somewhat inverted - in that the most potent signal is usually fully CCW.
The Timbre control requires further explanation - which I got from Thorpy as follows :
"The Timbre control is really a midrange character control. In the middle it is scooped mids. It’s a low pass filter at one end, and the other end is a low pass filter with upper mids and the treble made more present. It’s not a basic cut and boost tone control. It is passive rather - think of it as a compound frequency control!"
The Timbre definitely sounds like a filter to me - dampened when fully CCW, and open and searing at full tilt - CW. I tend to use this relatively sparingly as it can easily become too much if you elevate that knob much about noon - I mostly prefer Timbre at around 10 o’clock or so!
And then we have the added Octave circuit which is a new addition to this format and wasn’t present on the original. While mucking around in the Studio one day Mikey discovered that direct guitar into the Culture Vulture sounded fantastic - and he was determined to replicate that fantastic experience with Thorpy. Thorpy always throws his 20 cents into the ring to - and figured out that an octave voicing could be / would be really complementary to the core circuit.
So what we have here is a further evolved solid-state concoction of that Tube Saturator - with extra icing on top - courtesy of that beautifully searing Octave Effect. I love this pedal best with the octave engaged also - and fully searing too - deliver the most exceptional sustaining harmonics!
Controls - DRIVE } Volume, Drive, Bias (Highly interactive with Drive), Timbre (Dual Filter / Midrange Character), Drive Footswitch, OCTAVE > Level, Drive, Octave Footswitch.
Favourite Settings - DRIVE } Volume @ 3 o'c, Drive @ 2 o'c, Bias @ 9 o'c, Timbre @ 10 o'c, OCTAVE } Level @ 3 o'c, Drive @ Max.
The way I dial it in - its character is really well into the fuzz range, and the Octave further enhances that with some further amazing harmonics. With lower gain you get Overdrive and Distortion - it's really just a matter of revolving those 3 controls in tandem and seeing where you end up.
I think most will equate this do an Overdrive / Distortion - while I feel the full force of the Fuzz.
This pedal is best described as 'Lively' and 'Searing'. It also has that wonderful tube-saturation style character that lends it fairly lengthy singing sustain.
I really love this pedal - like I love all of the Redbeard stuff - having played the Red Mist, Honey Badger and Angry Rhubarb rather extensively. I've not spent enough time in the company of the Hairy Squid - I really need to get that one back in the rotation soon - as when it launched there was a lot going on - and it didn't really get a proper innings on the board!
The Bearded Vulture was instantly satisfying for me - I've dialled it in from scratch several times bow - and I seemingly always land on those same fuzz-like tones.
My favourite pedals are those which have a tonne of range on every dial - and which you can quickly switch up in any direction. We're talking vibrancy and verve here with superior saturating textures. It's easy to dial in and get superior sounds. This is an everyday everyway fabulous circuit. I would have had this review out sooner had the official review been out quicker. I'm going live here without a Mikey Demus demo - hopefully that will emerge someday soon - as it's always tricky to measure the value of a pedal with just the one demo - however good that might be!
The Bearded Vulture Direct Drive is a very reasonable £219 ($285) from the Redbeards Effects Webstore - and an absolute must buy as far as I'm concerned. It's a distinctly different distortion - with a wider range of outputs - and comes very highly recommended. All who've tried one have been hugely impressed - and it was very much one of the stars of the show at the recent Birmingham Guitar Show. Mikey is so busy these days with the rise and rise of his Skindred band - that it sometimes feels that this fabulous pedal range is a little neglected on the promotional side - it deserves to do really well regardless - as all now 5 pedals are absolutely stellar - and mostly very unique. You've obviously got Thorpy in your corner here - and he rarely if ever puts a fut wrong!
Demos
