Vertex Steel String Supreme SRV

The Vertex Steel String Supreme SRV is a D-style preamp pedal from Vertex, a version of the company's D-Style flagship pedal inspired by the "Slight Return Version" of the Dumble amps¹. It is an all-analog clean boost to overdrive preamp, voiced after model #001 of the Dumble Steel String Singer, and it is aimed squarely at the tones Stevie Ray Vaughan pulled from that amp¹². Vertex's Mason Marangella describes it as a full-fledged, D-voiced preamp that builds on the more streamlined Steel String MkII with an independent EQ section and five extra tone-shaping controls².

Delicious Audio characterizes the sound as "fat and glassy," with tubelike harmonics that deepen as the gain comes up¹. In Sweetwater's demo, the pedal's glassiness, transparency and natural compression come through as notes decay, with a big bottom end and a glassy top end².

What it does: a D-style clean boost to overdrive preamp

The SRV sits in the preamp pedal category rather than being a simple overdrive. Its versatile Gain and Level controls make it a capable clean boost or a full-on overdrive¹. On the related Steel String MkII, Vertex says gain below 50% acts as a clean boost with D-style coloration, and above 50% moves into light overdrive territory⁴.

The pedal is also built to work as an amp-style front end on its own. Delicious Audio calls it "a true amp in a box," designed to go into a tube amp or direct to a cab simulator or IR loader¹. Guitar World lists the Steel String Supreme line's type simply as "Amp-style preamp"⁵.

The controls

The SRV shares its control layout with the regular Steel String Supreme: dual channels, an EQ footswitch, six knobs and two toggle switches¹. The three core knobs are Gain, Filter and Level, carried over from the original Steel String⁶. The Supreme section adds five more controls, and the Clean knob decides how much of those five new controls is blended with the tone from the original three⁶.

The Bright and Deep toggles work like focused EQ boosts: Bright behaves like a boost adding more top end, and Deep like a 250 Hz boost adding low-end punch¹⁰. The Rock/Jazz toggle in the SRV version is totally redesigned with new values compared with the standard Steel String versions².

History and versions: from the limited Steel String to the Supreme format

The story starts with the Dumble Steel String Singer, an amp most famously used by Stevie Ray Vaughan⁵. Vertex had access to Steel String Singer number one and used it to inform the design of the Steel String line¹⁰. The first unit ever made was used to voice the original Vertex Steel String pedal, while Stevie Ray Vaughan's own unit had a little more midrange content⁷.

The timeline of the family:

1. The original Steel String Clean Drive, voiced after Dumble Steel String Singer serial #001¹¹.
2. The Steel String MkII, a 33% smaller version with the complete circuit⁴.
3. The 2018 limited edition Steel String Slight Return Version, based on Dumble Steel String Singer #001¹²¹.
4. The Steel String Supreme in 2020 to 2021, integrating the MkII circuit with a new five-control Supreme section and an EQ footswitch⁶¹⁰.
5. The SRV in 2021, re-releasing the Slight Return Version circuit in the multi-channel Supreme format¹.
6. The Steel String Supreme SR Mini in 2022, a bite-size version of the Steel String Supreme SR⁷.

In the SRV, Vertex took the exact circuit of the 2018 limited edition Steel String and implanted it into the SRV version, then brought in all the other components of the all-analog Supreme side². Compared with the 2018 model, the SRV has more than double the features, two independent channels, and added toggle switches for more Stevie-ish "glass" and low-end "snap," in the same enclosure size¹. The pedal is assembled in California in a rugged steel housing with authentic D-style appointments resembling Stevie Ray's Dumble Steel String Singer¹.

What reviewers said

In Sweetwater's demo, Mason Marangella and Jules Leahy present the SRV as "as close as a pedal can get" to the sound and essence Stevie Ray Vaughan brought to the table². In an earlier Steel String Supreme demo, Ford Thurston described the experience of playing it:

Gearnews reviewed the Steel String Supreme at 4,0 / 5,0, noting that the active EQ should really help adjust tones to taste, and that if it gets near the Dumble tone it could be a bargain¹³. Delicious Audio called the Supreme "a very interesting new pedal and an original take on the D-Style stompbox clone," adding it to its Best Dumble Pedals article⁶. On That Pedal Show, the original Steel String was described as not having a glassy top end, but being fat and bigger instead¹⁴.

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Players whose Steel String Singer sound it evokes

Videos

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Questions