Behringer VT999

I am using VT999 as my exclusive hi-gain / distortion effect, boosting it using a high-volume compressor and / or a separate tube dirt / overdrive stompbox, for metal riffs and rock / metal leads. I always used it with humbucker pickups.

- Construction: it is sturdy built, metal box, easy to open the bottom for changing the lamp. The pots are very smooth, they are even in action and free of anything reminding of noise. They should not be touched unintentionally, because they may turn a lot at the slightest touch. The switch is also smooth and noise-free. The box is large for the components inside, however, this appears to dissipate the lamp heat better. The metal box of VT999 is not heated compared to other lamp, more cluttered boxes I tried; one barely can feel a higher temperature when touches the area closest to the lamp.

This box is moddable. The lamp, which has a great impact on the sound, can be changed easily. There are mods for it available on the Internet.

- Sound: in the first place, this *is* a distortion pedal. The only vintage thing I can find about it is, perhaps, the design and the fact it is using a real lamp. Whoever tells it is no more than an overdrive either does not drive it sufficiently (low guitar volume, weak pickups, no booster) or uses low gain tube in it. With moderate input signal, gain between 0 and 1 gives a tube-ish warm sound; beginning with gain at 1, the clipping buzz starts occurring discreetly. No middle ground for round, crunch sound. It goes from overdrive to high-gain distortion; for crunch to fuzzy sounds I am using a different tube pedal.

To mention that the Tube Monster's distortion is raw. The sound is not tweaked to be listenable without an amp or amp / speaker simulator, but that's what it should be, in my opinion: with the proper setup, the distortion sounds good and it is very defined, clear, not muddy. The stock, Bugera tube sounds good, just I found it better for my taste, fuller and subjectively more balanced using Ruby Tubes and Electro Harmonics 12AX7 valves. They sound neither too bassy or too treble in this device, and, looking at the waveform in an editor, their attack is neither cut nor oversized against the sustain.

- Features: the noise gate works all the way. It can be set so high it cuts off all sound. Turning the EQ pots makes a real difference and they are not too extreme, neither in range nor in the bandwidths they affect, in my opinion. The sound with the effect engaged and all EQ pots set to middle has more highs and mids, and less bass than the bypassed signal, but it can be tweaked to get close to it, with some differences in the midrange area.

- Cons: the only minuses I could find with this stompbox are almost insignificant. They are: the the lack of tone neutrality I talked about above, which probably might not be possible to keep in order to obtain a proper distortion sound, then it's the non-resistant pots and, finally, the bending open of the lamp holding spring ends, when the lamp is changed often.

This was bought to add a real tube overdrive channel for my single-channel amp.

I'm using the VT999 as an overdrive-channel for my VHT 44 Special, which is a strong, all-tube, single channel amp.

I had to swap the Bugera 12AX7-tube for a TAD JJ 12AU7-tube, as the AX had way to high gain level. It went from zero to full distortion at level 1 on the gain dial... There was no in-between.

What this box needed was a "milder" tube, and with the AU7 I am now able to dial in exactly the right gain-level, or find "the sweet spot", with incremental rise in gain/drive over the full 1 - 10 scale.

Conclusion: This is a budget friendly priced piece of equipment that's sounding really good, with minor modification (the tube-swap is done in 5 min.). It does add a fully fledged overdrive channel, with a "master" volume control knob, and good EQ capabilities.

With the tube-swap it's a straight 5 - without, it's a 3...

I bought this pedal after hearing a lot of good things about it. I also heard that it comes with a bad tube and a replacement for a JJ 12AU7 would be advised.
Honestly, though, I found the tube (Bugera premium selected 12AX7) to be totally fine and truthfully did not notice this pedal sounding much different or better when replacing the tube, it maybe taimed the gain a bit but that's it. So I don't know what's the whole ordeal about swapping tubes, maybe I luckily got a good one.

You can get a variety of sounds out of this pedal, from mild breakup up to heavy distortion. It has bass, mid and treble knobs with which you can really shape your sound. The inbuilt noise gate is handly if you don't have one already.

The only con I have about this pedal is how big it is, and I really underestimated that. 3 pedals big. Not only that, but if you take a look at the insides you see how unnecessary the size is. The box could have been easily half the size, however, I guess they were going for the vintage look of big pedals... It's fine and no big deal if this is your only OD pedal, but if you're already rocking with 10 pedals, you will have a hard time justifying its real-estate on your pedalboard. When this pedal was still 30€-something, it didn't really matter as you could put it on the shelf and grab it when you needed to, without feeling bad. However, for the money you have to spend now, it's good to think twice about the use case.