Hey yZe, you may have solved a problem for me...if you plug guitar> blonde> small pa/or mixer would you be able to leave the amp at home? does the Blonde work as a direct-in using speaker cab simiulation protect tweeters/horns or do you have to watch your volumes??? anyway thanks for the info and nice job on the demo!!!

Whoa - missed this - yeah, the input levels on the blonde is super hot , and it is not balanced. You definitely have to be careful with the controls on this as it is hair trigger. I think the best way to go is to go into a DI and get a balanced out

thanks for listening guys - it was a BK Butler Real tube into the pedal - but w/some help from the EP-Pre - ha ha

Don't you mean the output level of the blonde?

If you did use a DI in addition to the blonde, where would you put the DI in your signal chain? I thought the Sansamp was designed to replace a DI - they advertise it as being able to go straight into the mixer.

It's weird there seems to be two (maybe more?) pedals with the name Real Tube Overdrive!

I'm pretty sure that, for this application with a PA, a DI would be best placed last in line, right before the PA's mixer input.

Otherwise, placing it in-between any other NON balanced devices, you'd completely lose the benefits of the DI.

Note that the Blonde DOES have a speaker-sim; it has its own, on-board "Jensen"-colored speaker-simulation that is always on- it can't be turned off or bypassed, AFAIK.

And, you could easily use the Blonde WITHOUT a DI, that's essentially what it's for- you would just have to be careful when setting its controls. It's a SansAmp that's been tweaked and optimized to favor vintage Fender flavors. But having a balanced output via a quality DI interface wouldn't be a bad idea.

yeah, i haven't used the DI yet (not sure waht to get)

but there is a loaded signal comin out of that thing, it definitely can be troublesome in the PA live or recording

I'm wondering if going balanced will solve that

As Is, though - it can be tweaked w/o much difficulty - you just have to be ready for it !

Can be used as DI, though - but it is not balanced out

Hmn; maybe a little compression/limiting after the Blonde would help with that?

lookin in to the General Guitar Gadgets Orange Squeeze kit - that is the baddest ass comp in guit history

I just tried out the blonde at a buddy's house, we both have the same T5 guitars and are going into the blonde and then to a fishman solo amp...it works great...found a guy doing the same thing only he's using an Ibanez big body double humbucker jazz guitar johnhorneguitar.com....

we used an A/B swith and set the adjustments to match a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe and can leave the amp at home...the blonde gives a nice boost for leads and clean amp sounds and when kicked off you automatically are back on acoustic so you can leave the A/B switch at home also...did use a whirlwind direct in after the Blonde just to be on the safe side as the blonde can really put out some heavy volume and electric sound if cranked up or on the blues drive settings...

setting the blonde drive down and level up gives a really clean jazz sound...so I'm ordering a blonde for christmas and may take my strats and try them out in the future...thanks for the info.

I've run the Liverpool direct into a PA with no problem, but I think in reviews it was the easiest one to deal with both amp-wise and direct. It comes with me to every show and practice as an ass-saver, and it's been used as such... when things blow, crap out, or the guy who borrowed my amp and was supposed to bring it to practice the next city over forgets and I have to play through an ancient unused bass amp... a Blonde and a British are on the inevitable list.

I also picked up a Seymour Duncan Twin Tube Classic last week for $125. Was just curious... and that was cheap for one that was practically new. I'd been watching some Marshall Crenshaw clips and he gets great sounds from an old Ampeg M 5 or something (he bought it as a kid, says it sounds crappy except for the tremolo) and was using a Siegmund Micro-tube preamp to spruce it up. I have an Ampeg Jet that's alright (it's small and light, and I needed an amp that was cab-friendly) but doesn't hold its own with a full band. A speaker upgrade and some tube experiments are in order... but anyway, the Siegmunds don't seem to turn up used often (and when they do people want more than they cost new) and they're pricey. The twin tube seems to be Seymour Duncan's version of his preamp, using the military microtubes. Haven't spent the time with it yet to feel it out that much.