Snake Charmer Compressor

Cooltron

Valve driven pedals that will also run on batteries

Tame your tone with the new Snake Charmer Compressor.

The result? Silky smooth, mesmerizing tone that behaves as it should. The Snake Charmer’s compression affects the ratio and threshold of the signal, smoothing out peaks and spikes. At the same time, the Snake Charmer also increases the Gain level to complement the corresponding ratio and threshold settings so that the overall gain remains constant.

There’s also a Gain Reduction Indicator that gives you visual cues of the results of your settings. And a High/Low Switch lets you choose between two overall levels of ratio. The Snake Charmer is equipped with other controls for Attack, which determines how quickly the gain reduction kicks in, and Release, which determines how long the gain is attenuated. Finally, the High-End Emphasis control fine-tunes the amount of compression applied to the top end of the guitar signal.

Over the Top Boost
O.T.T.B.

Blast your tone over the edge and back with the new Over the Top Boost pedal.

The OTTB puts the top boost channel of a VOX AC30 into a pedal. The Treble control can take your tone from cutting attack at one extreme to smooth and l iquidy at the other. While the Bass control adds low-end girth at higher settings and a warm round smoothness at lower settings.

The OTTB even comes with a Cut control to add or remove higher frequencies at the turn of a knob. Vary the overall gain of the pedal from bluesy and mellow to fat and saturated. Or use the Standard/Custom switch to either make the EQ very interactive in Standard mode, or have it behave more like a traditional AC30 Hand Wired in Custom mode. You can use the OTTB as a booster pedal to drive the input of your amp by setting the Gain low and the Volume high. Conversely, set the Gain high and the Volume low for an overdrive from the pedal itself.

Big Ben Overdrive

Bulldog Distortion

Brit Boost

Preserve your amp’s warm, silky tone while pushing your sound into overdrive! The tube-powered Big Ben Overdrive pedal responds to your playing dynamics and cranks out that extra firepower when you really dig in and want to cut through. The Gain knob varies the overall gain of the pedal from bluesy and mellow to fat and saturated, while the Tone knobs adjusts that overall tonality of the pedal. As with all COOLTRON pedals, the Big Ben’s true bypass allows you to let your signal flow through untouched.

With dual channels – each with its own Gain and Volume controls – and growling tube tone, the VOX Bulldog Distortion pedal adds extra bite to your fret burning maneuvers. Gain 1 dishes out vintage distortion while Gain 2 packs a more modern, aggressive sound with slightly scooped mids. Both are adjustable from subtle to completely over the top. A Bass control adds extra low end thump at extreme settings and a warm, round mellowness at lower settings. And with the Gain 2 Voice control you can independently tailor the second channel’s hell-raising tone. A Treble control will take your sound from a biting attack at one extreme to smooth and liquid at the other. The Bulldog also is equipped with true bypass.

Give your tone extra muscle with the Brit Boost pedal. The Treble Boost setting pumps up the treble and upper middle frequencies, just like you’d expect from a vintage Treble Booster pedal. In the Full Range Boost position the pedal enhances all frequencies. It adds low mids and bottom end to the Treble Boost mode and is good for pushing a slightly overdriven amp into heavy overdrive. A gain knob varies the overall gain of the pedal from mellow and warm to grinding and ripping! Plus, a Tone knob adjusts the overall tonality of the pedal. Of course, there’s a true bypass switch that lets your signal flow through without coloring the tone.

Both the Vox Cooltron Big Ben and Bulldog Distortion pedals received the prestigious "Platinum Award " in the September 2005 issue of Guitar World Magazine.

Want to know how it all works?

Normally, tubes are used at high voltages and this restricts their use in battery-powered devices such as guitar effects pedals. Historically, attempts have been made to use tubes at low voltages in what has been dubbed “starvation” mode, but these circuits don’t allow the tube to function in an acceptable manner. The tube simply cannot be biased to a satisfactory operating condition. Plus, the necessary heater (filament) current is too high to deliver acceptable battery life. Imagine how annoying it would be to have to change batteries every ten minutes during a gig!

Here’s what makes the COOLTRON system tick. The COOLTRON circuit basically operates by using two very special signal paths. The first is the “servo circuit,” which provides the right conditions between the plate of the tube and the grid. This achieves controllable, stable parameters for the tube and provides the correct operating conditions for the tube to function as it would if run at a higher voltage. The second circuit is a patented power supply that provides a low voltage, low current supply to the heater elements in the tube. Since the tube is now running at such a reduced supply level, the anode current is much smaller than normal. This means that the amount of heat required at the cathode to achieve sufficient cathode current emission is much smaller – hence the ability to run the heaters at a lower level and for COOLTRON pedals to run for 20 hours on 4 x AA batteries!

The COOLTRON system provides true tube sonic performance at very low voltage and at reduced heater current – ideal for inclusion into guitar effects pedals. COOLTRON guitar effects pedals offer valuable tube type sonic performance.