Tubesteader updates Lightkeeper tube preamp to compact V2
January 13, 2025 · 2 sources
Tubesteader has updated its Lightkeeper boost/overdrive to a compact V2, Delicious Audio reported on January 13, 2025, and added it to its Best Dumble-Style Pedals article1. Guitar Pedal X had reported the V2 earlier, on February 15, 2024, describing it as an "incredibly exacting shrink-down of 2021's Dumble-style Lightkeeper Preamp" with all features intact in a more compact enclosure2.
The pedal is a tube-based, all-analog boost/overdrive. Delicious Audio writes that it operates as a pure analog, Class A audio pre-amp with no semiconductor or DSP in the signal path, and that it uses a genuine ECC83/12AX7 vacuum tube at 250VDC high voltage1. Both accounts say it is voiced after the "High Plate" design of the Dumble Overdrive Special, specifically its clean channel12.
Controls, per Guitar Pedal X, are Gain, Volume, Deep/Mids (Off, Switch Mode, Always On), Treble Boost (Off, Switch Mode, Always On), Treble, Mid and Bass, plus a Deep/Boost footswitch and a bypass footswitch2. Delicious Audio describes three EQ knobs (Bass, Mid, High) and says the Mid toggle boosts the mids and shifts the pedal's frequency, while the Boost toggle raises overall volume; the left footswitch can be assigned to either or both1. Guitar Pedal X lists 35 decibels of gain breakup and says Deep Mids and Treble Boost together add +5dB of gain2.
Guitar Pedal X reports a 12V DC [-] 350mA power requirement and an External Switch port for a remote switch, and says the pedal suits amps, power amplifiers, FX loops, PA systems and interfaces2. It gives a US price of $279, available from the Tubesteader Webstore2. Delicious Audio describes Tubesteader as a Montreal-based company that specializes in pedals with tube-driven circuits1.
"V2 fits all these controls in a smaller, compact enclosure."