Kit Review: The Persuader Tube Drive Pedal

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tom
08:21 Friday.07 August 2015
So, I ordered a sovtek 12ax7 WXT off ebay, and there’s the same problem, the pins will not fit into the socket enough to secure it, but the tube protector with the spring can be used to keep the tube stationed, and, presumably, conducting from the socket, so I really didn’t need to order the sovtek after all, as my problem seems to be different then yours, where your china 12ax7’ s bottle circumference prevented fitting into the tube sheild screwed to the project box, cause mine, (in appearance the same china 12ax7) seemed to fit just fine past the tube sheild, but maybe I’ve misunderstood what u were trying to get across….

Anyway, I had to order a 1k resistor to replace mine with too-short leads, so I’ll be done and testing this within a few days, I hope it works, I don’t have a de-soldering tool.

tom
01:27 Tuesday.04 August 2015

By the way I’m a total novice with electronics and this is the first time I’ve ever even used a soldering gun, making it seem even more unlikely that this’ll actually work. I wanted to build this for my dad, as he’s always talking about getting a tube amp but never does it, and he doesn’t really use overdrive or fuzz pedals, but he responds positively when he plugs into my high-gain effects and amps, and this was far cheaper than the surprisingly limited selection of tube pedals,and a potential entry-way into effects building, which I’ve long harbored a desire to be capable of. If it don’t work I can take it to a tech but if he can’t help me would u suggest I desolder the entire thing, buy another of the same kit, or give in and buy a boutique tube drive??

tom
01:19 Tuesday.04 August 2015

I surprised myself with assembling most of the pedal in two sessions over two days, but it’s day three and the complexities around the tube socket have me double-checking and real apprehensive about marking the next move. I’ve soldered it entirely within the confines of the project box, (maybe my small hands are helping me out there) and though I can’t see any comfirmable mistakes, save one that’s been remedied, I have deliberately low hopes on whether it’ll work. I didn’t check the tube, but after reading this, I tried jamming the tube in the socket and It seems the pins are too far apart rather than the tube shield being too small in diameter, and your picture shows the china 12ax7 with inwardly bent pins like mine has after the attempt. I’m going with the NOS amperex or sovtek depending on what’s available on ebay, as a JJ ECC82 had the same problem.

WizardTim
07:07 Friday.10 July 2020
Boris: I have the Deluxe pedal and run it at 12V and it works fine. I wouldn’t go higher than that unless you want to do more work to step the filament voltage down. I use the pedal with bass guitar and also increased the resistor on the emitter of the Darlington gain stage from 220 to 440 Ohms. I use the pedal for bass guitar and fine that these two changes give me a better ability to find the sweet spot I like — driving the tube stage just into distortion not into Buzzsaw. I don’t like my bass to sound like a buzzsaw… Hope that helps!

-Tim

Thom Smith
01:45 Thursday.18 December 2014
you have to take your time!! yes, i would say this isn’t for the “first timer”! there is some skill, agility needed with soldering.

i built the persuader deluxe. it’s ok. i was hoping for more distortion…but thats just me.

bilbaggins—— just check and recheck your work! i guarantee it’s something VERY simple that you messed up. Always is!

Boris
07:53 Monday.08 June 2020

can we supply the pedal with 12v? if yes, does it affect the sound?

Nigel
06:08 Saturday.05 October 2013
This kit is definitely not for beginners, the short-sighted, clumsy or those with limited experience of electronics assembly (i.e., me). I am quite happy changing pickups or meddling with the wiring on my guitar but I found this impossible because of the tiny space in which you are supposed to work. I did assemble the strips outside the box but the valve socket is a nightmare. I am sure I have grilled all the components to a cinder.

So I spent 9 hours (everyone else claims to do it in 2-4 hours!) building myself a rather expensive paperweight. (As you might have figured out, my pedal doesn’t work at all :-0 ).

I feel I should mention this as everybody else who has reviewed it seemed to find it a bit of a breeze – or, at least, got a working pedal at the end of it.

Eduardo
22:11 Saturday.18 October 2014
Hello,

I am with a lot of doubts about this pedal and I lost my construction instructions. Could you send me these papers ?

You would help very much with this.

Thank you very much.

bilbaggins
22:35 Sunday.23 November 2014
I built the Persuader Deluxe K980 Kit – it has extra valves to swop out otherwise appears to be identical to the one shown here.

Mine won’t work. I had a wiring guy look at it and he OK’d my soldering etc and confirmed no parts were fried. However he was confounded by the schematic (I think the explanation is above here) and couldn’t figure out the negative numbers on the Test Points E & H which are on the Tube pins 2& 7.
Can anyone help or enlighten me??? I’d love to have this baby working!
Thanks heaps!!!

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