Electro-Harmonix re-introduces the rare CMOS Hot Tubes overdrive pedal, now with a smaller space-saving “Nano” size.
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Like the original, the EHX Hot Tubes Nano is designed to mimic the organic overdrive of a vintage tube amp.
This re-issue pedal is created to please the guitarists who have been bugging EHX for a remake. At its core is the same CMOS overdrive circuit found on the original, only this time the pedal is miniaturized for convenience and easier rig integration.
EHX describes the CMOS overdrive circuit as something that “can deliver a fattened tone at lower gain settings or transform your amp into a dimed vintage model with high sensitivity and a musical feel—all without compromising or coloring the original tone.”
Being part of the Nano series, the small surface area means that controls are limited. Electro-Harmonix decided on giving the pedal just three knobs – volume, tone and gain, and a tone on/off switch.
The Volume and Overdrive knobs work together to give you the output volume and overdrive saturation you want. At lower settings, you can add a subtle grit to your tone. Raising the overdrive or volume will intensify the effect and the output, while maxing out the settings will give you full-blown gain sounds that have a lot of punch.
Tone shaping is provided by the pedal’s Tone knob, it lets you emphasize or minimize certain frequencies. Turning off the Tone switch bypasses the tone circuitry for a more transparent sound. Rounding off the pedal’s feature is its modern True Bypass circuitry.
Mike Matthews, Electro-Harmonix Founder and President, expounded: “With the price of vintage Hot Tubes soaring, countless guitarists requested that we re-issue our 1970s CMOS pedal. We’ve done this using the exact same design and miniaturized it, too. And the guitarist-friendly price of the new Hot Tubes is only a fraction of the cost of a vintage unit, if you can find one!”
The EHX Hot Tubes Nano pedal has a list price of around $72. More information is available at Electro-Harmonix.
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