{"id":23341,"date":"2025-01-05T21:35:29","date_gmt":"2025-01-05T21:35:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/guitarmadrid.com\/?p=23341"},"modified":"2025-01-05T21:35:29","modified_gmt":"2025-01-05T21:35:29","slug":"the-tonal-character-and-responsiveness-of-all-four-pedals-is-indeed-quite-tubular-vox-valvenergy-fuel-injector-tone-sculptor-power-burst-and-smooth-impact-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/guitarmadrid.com\/es\/2025\/01\/05\/the-tonal-character-and-responsiveness-of-all-four-pedals-is-indeed-quite-tubular-vox-valvenergy-fuel-injector-tone-sculptor-power-burst-and-smooth-impact-review\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cThe tonal character and responsiveness of all four pedals is indeed quite tubular\u201d: Vox Valvenergy Fuel Injector, Tone Sculptor, Power Burst and Smooth Impact review"},"content":{"rendered":"
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If you simply can\u2019t live without the dynamic responsiveness and smooth, musical harmonic overtones of real tube technology but don\u2019t want the hassles of hot operating temperatures, costly and regular maintenance and bulky designs, the Vox Valvenergy second series pedals are worth strong consideration.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

\n

Pros<\/h4>\n
    \n
  • +<\/span>\n

    Nutube technology provides true tube performance and sounds without hassles.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

  • +<\/span>\n

    Smooth Impact provides studio-quality natural-sounding compression effects.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

  • +<\/span>\n

    Tone Sculptor combines preamp and graphic EQ in a single package.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

  • +<\/span>\n

    Fuel Injector and Power Burst pedals\u2019 tone\u00a0toggles expand tonal options.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n

    \n

    Cons<\/h4>\n
      \n
    • –<\/span>\n

      -Illuminated display provides eye candy but little useful info (Smooth Impact is an\u00a0exception).<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

    • –<\/span>\n

      Fuel Injector and Power Burst have limited\u00a0EQ shaping capabilities.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

      \n
      \n

      You can trust Guitar World <\/span>Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing guitar products so you can choose the best for you. Find out more about how we test.<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n

      \n

      What is it?<\/span><\/h3>\n

      Vox first introduced its Nutube technology in a series of micro amps back in 2017, followed by their first series of Valvenergy pedals<\/a> featuring an all-analog signal path and Nutube tech in 2021.<\/p>\n

      Nutube involves a genuine miniature vacuum tube adapted from vacuum fluorescent display (VFD) technology to function like a traditional tube but with low-current and low-voltage specs.<\/p>\n

      The new second series of Vox Valvenergy pedals consists of the Fuel Injector Tube Overdrive, Power Burst Tube Booster, Smooth Impact Tube Compressor and Tone Sculptor Tube Preamp Equalizer.<\/p>\n

      As with the previous series, these Valvenergy pedals employ Nutube to provide the dynamic responsiveness and rich harmonic overtones of traditional tube technology but without bulky designs and maintenance issues.<\/p>\n

      Usability and sounds<\/span><\/h3>\n

      \"Vox<\/img>
      (Image credit: Vox)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

      Each Valvenergy pedal is housed in a sturdy metal case that\u2019s slightly wider and taller than a Phase 90. Because of the higher than average power consumption, using a 9VDC pedalboard power supply<\/a> is recommended but an easy-access battery compartment is also provided. A Link jack allows users to connect multiple pedals together and switch between them with one footswitch.<\/p>\n

      Controls are straightforward. The Fuel Injector overdrive pedal<\/a> provides a typical three-knob (Level, Drive, Tone) configuration plus a Natural\/Fat toggle switch.<\/p>\n

      The Power Burst booster offers a single Boost knob (about 20dB, but due to the character of the NuTube it will compress and distort at higher levels) plus a 3-position toggle with Treble, Natural and Middle settings.<\/p>\n

      \"Vox<\/img>
      (Image credit: Vox)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

      Smooth Impact\u2019s compressor controls consist of Output, Comp and Tube Gain knobs and a toggle with Vintage\/Natural\/Sag settings.<\/p>\n

      Tone Sculptor combines preamp overdrive and graphic EQ in a single box with six EQ sliders (100Hz, 250Hz, 570Hz, 800Hz, 2.2kHz and 5.6kHz) with 10dB boost\/cut and a +\/-12dB Level slider. All four pedals include an illuminated graphic waveform display instead of a typical on\/off LED.<\/p>\n

      This feature is particularly helpful with the compressor as it shows how much the effect is adjusting the signal and decay, while on the other pedals it\u2019s more of a novelty.<\/p>\n

      \"Vox<\/img>
      (Image credit: Vox)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

      The overall tonal character and responsiveness of all four pedals is indeed quite tubular as promised. The Smooth Impact\u2019s compression effects sound especially natural without any pumping or squashed textures.<\/p>\n

      Pick attack is articulate and notes sustain with impressive body without boosting noise. The overall character is more studio processor than typical stompbox compression.<\/p>\n

      The Tone Sculptor\u2019s graphic EQ makes it perfect for players who want more control over dialing in lead tones than typical overdrive pedals offer.<\/p>\n

      \"Vox<\/img>
      (Image credit: Vox)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

      The EQ bands are ideal for natural-sounding guitar tones with bass that sounds full but not flabby, mids with expressive voice-like qualities and treble that cuts without being harsh. Performance is noise-free.<\/p>\n

      \"VOX<\/img><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n

      Chris is the co-author of Eruption – Conversations with Eddie Van Halen. <\/em>He is a 40-year music industry veteran who started at Boardwalk Entertainment (Joan Jett, Night Ranger) and Roland US before becoming a guitar journalist in 1991. He has interviewed more than 600 artists, written more than 1,400 product reviews and contributed to Jeff Beck\u2019s Beck 01: Hot Rods and Rock & Roll <\/em>and Eric Clapton\u2019s Six String Stories.<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      If you simply can\u2019t live without the dynamic responsiveness and smooth, musical harmonic overtones of real tube technology but don\u2019t want the hassles of hot operating temperatures, costly and regular maintenance and bulky designs, the Vox Valvenergy second series pedals are worth strong consideration. Pros + Nutube technology provides true tube performance and sounds without […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23342,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23341","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gear"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/guitarmadrid.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23341","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/guitarmadrid.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/guitarmadrid.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/guitarmadrid.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/guitarmadrid.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23341"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/guitarmadrid.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23341\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23347,"href":"https:\/\/guitarmadrid.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23341\/revisions\/23347"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/guitarmadrid.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23342"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/guitarmadrid.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23341"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/guitarmadrid.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23341"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/guitarmadrid.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23341"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}