Crazy Tube Circuits unveils Venus tube overdrive pedal at NAMM 2025

January 1, 2025 · 3 sources

Crazy Tube Circuits showed the Venus, a tube overdrive pedal, at the NAMM Show in January 2025, where it made its public debut¹². The company announced its immediate availability on March 18, 2025¹.

The Venus is a real tube overdrive inspired by all pedal and rack versions of the BK Butler Tube Driver¹³. It ships with an ECC832 tube, which Crazy Tube Circuits describes as a hybrid of an ECC83 and an ECC82¹. The tube is socketed, and the maker lists ECC83/12AX7, 5751, ECC81/12AT7, 6072/12AY7 and ECC82/12AU7 as alternatives¹³. Controls are Volume, Bias, Drive and a three-band EQ, plus a Fat/Tight push switch and a Line Driver/buffer and booster push switch³. The Bias knob sets the tube cathode bias, for using different tube types or shaping the overdrive and distortion texture¹³. MusicRadar reports that running bias fully clockwise gives the smoothest sound, and that below noon it can produce gated sounds².

The pedal runs internally at +/-15V DC from a standard 9V DC supply through an internal voltage booster¹³. Power requirements are given as 9V DC center negative at a minimum of 500mA, with maximum current consumption of 400mA³². It has top-mounted jacks, a click-less true bypass relay and a programmable power-up state for players using remote switching systems¹. The enclosure is described as Metallic Amber Sand die-cast, and the maker says it is less than half the size of the original pedal units and other real tube overdrive models¹³.

The US list price is $299¹. Crazy Tube Circuits is based in Greece¹.