The NuVision is a high voltage, all-tube instrument preamp pedal from Lightning Boy Audio, released as a limited run. It is built around a pair of NuVistor vacuum tubes, which the maker describes as the smallest vacuum tubes ever made. As a tube-driven stompbox that can push its first tube into overdriving the second, it sits in the territory shared by overdrive pedals and preamp pedals1.
Tubes and circuit
The NuVision's defining feature is its tube complement. It uses a pair of new old stock nuvistor vacuum tubes, and the pedal's name is a reference to them. According to Delicious Audio, nuvistors are the smallest vacuum tubes ever made, and the pedal runs them at high voltage1.
There are no transistors in the audio circuitry. As Delicious Audio put it1:
"The NuVision operates solely on vacuum tubes. There are no transistors in the audio circuitry of this pedal."
The nuvistor pair is also economical by tube standards: the combined pair in the pedal consumes 50mA less current than a 12AX71.
Controls
The pedal's gain structure comes from how its two tubes interact. The In knob adjusts how much distortion the pedal makes by controlling how much the first tube overdrives the second tube1.
Power
The NuVision is designed to run on a standard 9V DC adapter rated at 300mA or more1.
Delicious Audio's report gives the power requirement in two ways: as a 9V DC adapter at 300mA or more, and elsewhere as a 9V DC at 300mA input. The two descriptions agree on 9V DC and 300mA, but the report does not resolve whether more current is required, so a supply rated at 300mA or above covers both readings.
Context in Lightning Boy Audio's range
The NuVision is a tube-powered pedal in Lightning Boy Audio's range, covered in more detail on the Lightning Boy Audio brand page. Where many tube pedals are built around a 12AX7, the NuVision instead uses the smaller NuVistor tubes, which as a combined pair consume 50mA less current than a 12AX71.
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Lightning Boy Audio
Delicious Audio
Questions
What is a nuvistor tube?
Nuvistors are vacuum tubes, and according to Delicious Audio they are the smallest vacuum tubes ever made. The NuVision uses a pair of new old stock nuvistor tubes as its core, and the pedal's name comes from them. The combined pair in the pedal consumes 50mA less current than a 12AX7.
Does the NuVision have any transistors in the audio path?
No. Delicious Audio's NAMM 2018 report states that the NuVision operates solely on vacuum tubes and that there are no transistors in the audio circuitry of the pedal.
What power supply does the Lightning Boy NuVision need?
The NuVision is designed to run on a standard 9V DC adapter rated at 300mA or more. Note that one part of the same report describes the input as 9V DC at 300mA, so a supply meeting or exceeding that rating is what the pedal calls for.
Is the NuVision a limited release?
Yes. Delicious Audio describes the NuVision as a limited release instrument preamp pedal, debuted at the NAMM 2018 show.
Is the NuVision an overdrive or a preamp?
Both descriptions are used. Delicious Audio's NAMM 2018 coverage headlines it as an overdrive, while also calling it a high voltage all-tube instrument preamp pedal. It is a preamp-style pedal that can be pushed into overdrive.
Sources (1)
- New At NAMM: Lightning Boy Audio NuVision Overdrive, Delicious Audio, 2018-02-08