Vox adds four Nutube Valvenergy pedals for 2024

January 19, 2024 · 4 sources

Vox announced four new Valvenergy pedals on 19 January 2024, ahead of NAMM 2024: the Power Burst, Tone Sculptor, Fuel Injector and Smooth Impact¹². Guitar World reported that they are the first Valvenergy pedals in four years¹. The original four, the Copperhead Drive, Silk Drive, Cutting Edge and Mystic Edge, were first shown at NAMM 2020³; Gearnews described the 2020 release as all based on amp-style drive tones, while the 2024 pedals are individual effects².

All four use Nutube technology, which Guitar World describes as an innovation that supposedly creates the same overtones and harmonic character of conventional vacuum tubes¹. Each has an OLED display showing an oscilloscope and meters, and a newly engineered buffer that Vox says is ideal for lengthy signal chains¹. Gearnews reported that each pedal has an etched design inspired by the effect it produces².

• Power Burst: a three-mode boost with one Boost rotary control and a three-way toggle for Treble, Middle or Natural voices¹. Gearnews describes it as a single-knob boost that provides natural compression and extra sustain².
• Fuel Injector: an overdrive/distortion with a mode toggle between Natural and Fat voices, plus Level, Tone and Drive controls¹.
• Smooth Impact: the line's first compressor, which Vox calls "one of the very first tube driven compressor pedal[s] in the market"¹. It has Vintage, Natural and SAG modes, with Output, Tube Gain and Comp controls¹.
• Tone Sculptor: a six-band EQ covering 100Hz to 5.6kHz, with each band adjustable from +10 to -10, plus a seventh slider for Level that cuts or boosts by 12dB¹. Gearnews notes it also has a Nutube-driven preamp².

Official US prices had not been confirmed at the time of the announcement¹. Gearnews reported no official prices and expected them to land near the current models' price point². A later Premier Guitar review of the Tone Sculptor and Smooth Impact gave a price of $219 for the Tone Sculptor⁴.