Ibanez Tube King review

Ibanez offers you more tone in your distortion pedal

  • £49
You can see the valve glowing away, making your amp sound better

MusicRadar Verdict

If you want to add some warmth to your solid-state amp, this is for you.

Pros

  • +

    Valve makes solid state amps sound almost like a valve amp.

Cons

  • -

    The features beyond this aren't spectacular.

Why you can trust MusicRadar Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing products and services so you can choose the best for you. Find out more about how we test.

Ibanez has a long history of producing great distortion pedals with the Tube Screamer series.

But the TS range were solid-state pedals designed to get the most out of valve amplifiers - the new Tube King is a very different beast.

We're always a bit sceptical of pedals with built-in valves. We're not engineers so we don't know just how much the valve contributes to the sound.

That being said, the Tube King made our solid-state amp sound like a valve amp and that alone must justify the humble outlay.

Total Guitar

Total Guitar is Europe's best-selling guitar magazine.

Every month we feature interviews with the biggest names and hottest new acts in guitar land, plus Guest Lessons from the stars.

Finally, our Rocked & Rated section is the place to go for reviews, round-ups and help setting up your guitars and gear.

Subscribe: http://bit.ly/totalguitar (opens in new tab)