Chandler Industries Tube Driver

The Chandler Industries Tube Driver is a tube-driven overdrive pedal made by Chandler Industries of San Francisco, and it houses an actual tube, which is where most of the pedal's power comes from¹. It is one branch of a design that dates back to 1983, when B.K. Butler drew up the original Tube Driver², and it became one of the most recognizable tube overdrives of its era, used by players including David Gilmour, Eric Johnson, Billy Gibbons, Joe Satriani and Joe Bonamassa³.

What sets it apart from ordinary overdrive pedals is that the tube does real work in the circuit. On That Pedal Show, Mick explained that the Tube Driver uses a real valve inside, albeit in combination with an opamp, so it is not a pure valve design⁴. The Chandler version shipped with a Groove Tubes 12AX7, and the reviewer who spent extended time with one stayed content with that tube¹.

What it does to your sound

The Tube Driver is an overdrive, and the reviewer at Pedal of the Day described what it delivers in plain terms¹⁵:

Mike B, Pedal of the Day¹

He credited it with rich warmth, sustain and a singing tone, and found that the Hi/Lo EQ, with no mids to worry about, was easy to dial in¹. On That Pedal Show, Dan and Mick described the Tube Driver's EQ as passive with a fixed midrange point: turn the high and low controls down to zero and all you hear is midrange⁷. That fixed midrange is a real characteristic a player should know before buying, since unlike an Ibanez Tube Screamer style circuit there is no midrange knob to shape.

The controls

The Chandler version keeps the control set simple. According to the Pedal of the Day review¹:

Later Tube Driver variants added more. Pete Thorn recalled a four-knob version and a three-knob version, the difference being separate bass and treble EQ versus a straight tone control⁸. The five-knob B.K. Butler version adds a Bias control that sets the operating range of the valve; on That Pedal Show, Dan and Mick demonstrated how a lower bias gives a grittier, spittier, starved sound, and noted that not all Tube Drivers have it⁷.

Power and size

The Chandler Tube Driver has its own built-in power supply, so it needs no external adapter and saves you an outlet on your pedalboard power supply¹. That convenience comes at a cost in size: the unit is almost as tall as two regular-sized pedals and 3 inches thick at its deepest¹. On That Pedal Show, Dan summed up the B.K. Butler original the same way, calling it physically massive and mains powered, and warning that getting the most from the controls can be a long and frustrating learning process⁷. Guitar.com's reviewer likewise noted that the original models are big, heavy and mains powered².

Versions and the split between B.K. Butler and Chandler

The Tube Driver story is complicated by who was building it at any given moment. B.K. Butler designed it in 1983², and it has appeared under both the Butler and Chandler names, in pedal and rackmount versions, with lots of variations between them³. The original featured an ECC83 valve, with the two sides cascaded, and users sometimes changed it for an ECC82 or tried different valves³⁷.

The Chandler-branded units came out of break-ups between B.K. Butler and Chandler, and as the Pedal of the Day reviewer put it, these all don't sound the same because of it¹. Pete Thorn also noted that players would switch out the tubes, using a 12AX7 or a 12AT7, which adds another layer of variation between units⁸. Today B.K. Butler still makes the Tube Driver and sells a new version direct from his own website, with each Butler Audio unit personally autographed on the bottom of the case⁷⁹. For a modern take on the circuit, the Crazy Tube Circuits Venus is a reimagining that shoots for the tones of the classic Chandler Tube Driver, using a 12AY7 tube and including a Bias control like the five-knob Tube Driver⁸¹⁰⁷.

What reviewers and players said

The Tube Driver's reputation rests heavily on its famous users. Pete Thorn named Joe Satriani, Eric Johnson and David Gilmour as its most famous users⁸, and Guitar World's list adds Billy Gibbons and Joe Bonamassa³. A Voodoo Lab demo described a vintage B.K. Butler Tube Driver as used by David Gilmour and Eric Johnson among others¹¹.

On the sound itself, Mick of That Pedal Show found a softness and compression with his particular unit that he really loves, possibly due to the tube in it⁷. The Pedal of the Day reviewer's verdict on the Chandler version was enthusiastic:

Mike B, Pedal of the Day¹

He also noted the practical side: Tube Drivers are getting harder to come by and are not the cheapest pedals on the planet, but they are sought-after for a reason¹. The Lovepedal Dover Drive page lists the tube-driven B.K. Butler and Chandler Tube Driver pedals as having powered everything from David Gilmour's late-model rig onward, which is the lineage that pedal draws on¹².

Where to get one

A new Tube Driver can be bought direct from B.K. Butler himself through the BK Butler website, since he still makes them⁷¹. The old-school Chandler Industries pedals are found secondhand, and reviewers describe them as getting harder to come by¹. Related tube overdrives covered elsewhere on this site include the BK Butler Tube Driver, the Mozztronics TD-1 Tube Driver, the Effectrode Tube Drive and the Hughes & Kettner Tube Factor Overdrive.

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