While many valve overdrive pedals are designed to act as a low- to medium-gain preamp, the Valveslapper is most definitely a distortion device. Sharing the same taste for edgy, aggressive distortion as the rest of the Coopersonic range, this is most definitely not a smooth blues machine! Classic rock, punk and even metal, however, are on the menu, but the Valveslapper is not just about top-end bite and break-up. The sounds on offer are full-bodied and solid in the low end too. For anyone with a good-quality single-channel valve amp who wants to instantly add a distortion channel, this could be the ideal solution.
The gain on offer [from The Tubecleaner] might be clean, but there’s more than enough of it to push a good valve amp into overdrive. It’s also highly effective when placed in front of other overdrive and distortion pedals — applying a moderate boost here can create some wonderful additional sustain and break-up.
