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Tube Distortion Box
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BRITRECORDS Kiev, Ukraine
Yriy Smalius, chief engineer:
“Gentle Beast or Cream of Tubes.
I’m proud to present you one the latest products from Handcrafted Laboratories, Ukraine’s leading tube gear manufacturer, the TubeSCream. So what it is apart from being great vintage-looking 3U rack beast with lots of knobs? Here’s the story.
Originally developed by the request and in collaboration with Britrecords Kiev Studio staff the device was intended to be modern producer’s “pandora’s box” for creative sound design as well as everyday recording tool. The idea was simple: take the best out of tubes. And by that I mean not only taking class A tube pre with opto compressor/limiter but also the fun stuff for the cold digital sound – the distortion module. So after combining all these ideas and more then a year of developing and testing one grate and versatile studio device was born – the TubeSCream.
Let’s take a closer look. The design of the TubeSCream is modular, so user is given a vast choice on how to deal with the signal. On the input stage signal goes through extremely transparent sounding tube preamplifier where you’re already given a choice of further routing (there is an additional “after pre” split output on the rear) as well as “-20db” , phase conversion and a high pass filter. Also to mention a high Z instrument input on the front panel. Then goes a compression module with smooth opto compressor and a limiter, which is also a new feature. Within the compression module you have hard/soft knee switch, low pass/full range compression switch (a great feature on wide spectrum signals where you want your lows to be deeper and the rest of the spectrum more structured) and pre/post distortion switch which brings to the corner stone of this device – the distortion module.
The distortion module is one creative playground for a passionate producer or sound designer. Firstly it offers a switch that routs the signal which engineers at HCL called vertical/horizontal modes. One routs the signal directly through the distortion module while the other gives an ability to “blend” the distorted sound to the clear one, giving it a nice tube punch. Main turn knobs of the distortion module are “Drive” which I really think I should not explain and “Bias” which controls, well, the bias. But there’s more! There are 3 distortion modes you get to choose from and in each mode you get to choose between fixed dist and bias controlled. And you also get to choose between triode and pentode that are two different characters of the distorted sound. The character of sound is also largely influenced by the pre/post distortion switch of the compressor/limiter module that I have mentioned before.
The output module incorporates “Master” volume control with a Class A/Drive switch. In this case it is a choice between transparent Class A tube signal and slightly spiced tube sound with some tube harmonics in it. And again, after all the creative stage the signal’s been through you’re given this choice. How cool is that! There’s also a great feature called “Brilliance” on the output stage which is there to compensate the highs after a heavy distortion or just to give an extra presence and brilliance to the sound. And last but not least the device has an insert switch. It gives an extra two ways to work with: first – to use the TubeSCream on the insert of your consol (you can use compressor and distortion modules separately or combined), and second – to use external device (like EQ) inserted in the TubeSCream.
With all that choice you are given a great creative tool to express your musical and sound design ideas and talents in a fast, convenient and greatly sounding way. In fact these are three high quality devices all under the same hood – preamplifier, opto compressor/limiter and a creative distortion module. So you get really good value for you money. And speaking of that, the price is extremely competitive while the quality is uncompromised.
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Tips on the use of the TubeSCream.
So how do you use this beast? Well, apart of it’s wild nature it is still a great Class A tube preamp with very smooth opto compressor. So it’s a great instrument in everyday tracking already. It’s remarkable on vocals, very good sounding on almost any acoustic instrument, can give a warm touch to the keyboard sound. I’ve had good experiences on percussive instruments, snare drum, toms. But in a push of a button the TubeSCream is ready to blow you away with creative distortion.
From my experience, and I use two devices in stereo mode, the TubeSCream can give life to most anything where some distortion may do good. I really love to put some on synth organs (B3, VOX etc.) and Rhodes. Also I’ve had good results on tracking backing vocals and even a lead vocal on alternative rock band’s song. On one project it had a huge affect on the sound of acoustic guitar in the mix (I’ve actually built the mix with that sound!). Another huge playground is the drums sound. One of my greatest experiences with the sound of the live kit was routing it to the pair of TubeSCreams, adding some punchy distortion, then routing it to the pair of 1176’s to squeeze it to death and then blending it to the clear sound of the kit. Same thing I’ve done to bass track recorded through the DI, giving it a good distortion and using TubeSCreams limiter placed post distortion.
And another great thing about TubeSCream that saves me a lot of time and nerves as a producer is it’s instrument input. I simply plug electric guitar in, warm it up, add a gentle compression and then rout a signal to ProTools where I use software emulated guitar amps. Trust me, its pretty hard to tell that the sound you get there wasn’t recorded on an actual amp.
Well, the TubeSCream from Handcrafted Laboratories is quite a new device so many tips are yet to come. But I’m sure that creative possibilities and the quality of the sound that this device has will earn the trust of many engineers and producers around the globe....”
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