Fryette Valvulator I
By Nick Guppy

Fryette deserves a good deal more familiarity on this side of the pond than it gets. Stevie Fryette (Steven Fryette Design, Inc’s president and chief designer) is a tone-aholic and his amps have garnered an impressive list of users, among them Steve Lukather and Nashville session ace Dan Huff. Not content with providing killer amps like the Pittbull 45, Fryette researches all aspects of guitar tone, and this new device, the Valvulator V-1, addresses a common set of problems encountered by many stompbox users.

The output signal of a passive electric guitar is a delicate and easily bruised thing. The combination of low level output and high source impedance means that your tone can be easily degraded which commonly occurs when a guitar’s signal gets passed through a number of effects devices on its way to the front-end of a guitar amp.

Enter the Valvulator V-1. This unassuming little gadget – the size and weight of a house brick – has some clever tricks that will breathe new life into a tired pedal board. Firstly, there’s a valve – a single ECC83/12AX7 configured just like the front end of a typical guitar amp. Unlike many FX devices with valves, the V-1 runs at typically high, guitar amp voltages for maximum performance. One input jack on the side leads to two low impedance outputs which can then be routed happily through any number of stomp boxes without loss of tone, even with long leads.

Another common pedal board affliction is hum and poor frequency response due to inferior power supplies – especially on older ‘vintage’ pedals. The Valvulator’s answer is a set of four properly isolated and regulated 12-volt DC power sockets, which almost all 9Vstomp boxes will happily plug into. There’s enough current at each outlet to power at least two pedals. If you have an 18V device, just connect two outlets in series.

In use, the V-1 is sonically transparent, and super-quiet thanks to top quality components, a DC heater supply and superior design – no mean feat when you see just how crowded the circuit board is inside that neatly pressed steel. We plugged in three old pedals, a rusty Coloursound wah, an original Electro-Harmonix Small Stone phaser and an Electric Mistress flanger. It was immediately noticeable just how much better and quieter they all performed with little or none of the tonal ‘thinning out’ that normally occurs when you put a pedal or two in front of an amp. The biggest benefit was with the wah pedal, which had a much more pronounced effect, and the sweep range can be varied by using the guitars tone control.

This tool is aimed at any pedal user or board builder, but its versatility doesn’t stop there. “We’re getting all kinds of feedback from people who are using the V-1 as a direct box for guitar, bass, keyboards… even vocals,” says Fryette. “We’ve had great response from Line 6 POD users connecting the V-1 between the guitar and the POD’s input.”

Someone once called the laser an answer looking for question. We couldn’t think of a more apt description for the V-1. There are other line-level preamps and dedicated power supplies, but to combine them in such a neat package, with the warmth and response that only valves deliver, makes the Valvulator unique, with almost limitless application possibilities in any set-up, both live and in the studio.