Ibanez Tube King

[BoogieMKIIA]

Anyone know about this pedal? Our other guitar player has this and I'm getting ready to record with it.

Edited March 18 by BoogieMKIIA
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[ZR]

I had one before and miss it! I always thought it provided exaggerated note bloom in solos. I felt like you could really "play" it. 

Has a real tube and I usually swapped it out to experiment but don't know what I settled on, probably some NOSish 12AX7.

[BoogieMKIIA]

Gave it a go tonight to record a rhythm part and little slide. Has a crunchy undertone but not fuzz. Used a Player Tele to this pedal and then a Pro Reverb. There is a noise gate control on the front. Behaved like it changes the threshold of the floor. The other guy tweaked it and I did not. The Gain and Master worked well and it was nice having the Mid control.

My friend said there were 500 of this version made, then they took out the noise gate when Chandler said it was their design. I don’t know, maybe someone here knows if this really happened. Cool older real tube pedal.

[Disturber]

I think I had one but liked the BK Butler, Blue Tube version better. Both are long gone. Would love to try one now, when I know more about finding my tone.

[Hackubus]

 

[velorush]

Interesting! Found this:

Quote

The original version of the Ibanez Tube King (known as the TK999) was produced for a short time in Japan before production moved to the US. The US-made models bear the designation TK999US. The Japan model featured a noise suppressor while the USA Model didn't. It's a great pedal and can run on 12AX7, 12AT7, or 12AY7 type tubes or the like. It also features a 3-band EQ to dial in some great tones.

So that's on OG Japanese-built unit.

The schematic is available if anyone is up for a build: Ibanez TK999 Schematic US 

 

[BoogieMKIIA]

Thanks for the history. I did some other searches to see what the variations have been. IF there was some IP concern it would be Butler. I'll search some more.

The rhythm track I laid down sounded great. I may try a different setup for the slide just to see. Recording is so different from live. Luckily, our live versions still sound like the same song.

[Jimbilly]

I've got a black one courtesy of Pesocaster, I like it. I understand that the tube is more of a 'buffer' (?) than an actual preamp for the breakup.  I think the Maxon made an indentical unit, or did they build the Tube King? - the Maxon ROD-880

[Biz Prof]

6 hours ago, Jimbilly said:

I've got a black one courtesy of Pesocaster, I like it. I understand that the tube is more of a 'buffer' (?) than an actual preamp for the breakup.  I think the Maxon made an indentical unit, or did they build the Tube King? - the Maxon ROD-880

Maxon built nearly all of the Ibby pedals from that era, including the TK.

[BoogieMKIIA]

7 hours ago, Jimbilly said:

I've got a black one courtesy of Pesocaster, I like it. I understand that the tube is more of a 'buffer' (?) than an actual preamp for the breakup.  I think the Maxon made an indentical unit, or did they build the Tube King? - the Maxon ROD-880

I found a few sites with history, but didn’t look at design details other than a mention of a dual op-amp in some version. There are links to archived threads on this board with history, see previous posts. Designed in the US, produced in Japan, then US with forks of the design built many places. Interesting how Maxon was involved with many influential pedals. Maybe it was the time in history where few were pursuing this market. Or maybe they were guitar fanatics on a tone quest.