Tube preamp pedal in front of a Polytone?

[marcwhy]

Maybe try this: Catalinbread - 5F6 Tweed Bassman-style Foundation Overdrive

(Check out the Manual and other vids; you can control the clean/grind as you desire.]

[jorgemg1984]

Some of the preamps presented here, despite being great, are clean preamps... no grit at all. I once tried a Lovepedal Amp 50 that worked really well for that tweed sound trough a "jazz amp".

[nopedals]

> As to the OP, I've done all my country gigs for the last two years with a Polytone and a tech 21 blonde.

A Joyo American is basically the same thing at a fraction of the price of the blonde. It is not *exactly* the same thing, and you will have to get over the fact that it Chinese ripoff of an American product. And it is not tube.

But it would be a cheap experiment to see if that solves your problem. You can spin the knobs on it to make your polytone sound tweed or blackface.

[Greentone]

I have never begrudged anyone his/her pedals. Each person knows what it takes to get that tone that spells confidence.

Me, I have not been a pedal guy for about 35 years, or so. Every once in awhile I think, "maybe a bit of compression would be nice," but not enough to bother to carry a pedal.

I have always found that I can get the grit, hair, edge of distortion I want by just adjusting the amp volume/guitar volume/and my touch just so.

Cartainly, with the old, two-knob tonestack Polytone amps (either the fuzzy ones or the diamond Tolex ones--I have both), you can get the "non-clean" jazz/fusion tone by just upping the volume a bit. With my Telecaster and MiniBrute IV I get a Scofield sound no problem. (Scofield used to use Polytones, by the way.)

If the day comes that I cannot get the tone I want...I'll look for a pedal. Meanwhile, I'll keep things simple.

YMMV

[medblues]

Anyone tried one of these?:

Attachment 35962

If you think of that as an option you might like this one better (according to the reviews I read, I have their Euphoria pedal only):

https://www.amazon.com/Wampler-Black.../dp/B0045483C4

[BigToe]

I have been using a Kingsley Jester and I quite like the tone and versatility. 2 channel using 2 12ax7s. Channel A is very clean and warm but can break up if dimed. Channel B gets warm OD and saturates nicely as you crank it. volume for each channel, master, 2 EQ curve switches. Also a small footprint. Not cheap.

if you're going to choose a tube pedal make sure it runs the tubes at high voltage!! Otherwise it's just a gimmick and likely to be noisy and anemic.