Tube-loaded stompboxes have been around for decades, and while some have featured conventional high-voltage tube circuitry, and others operated the tubes under very low voltage “starved plate” conditions, their designs have always been tethered by the need for some form of AC power. But thanks to some clever design work—including a special low-current filament/heater “chopper” power supply—the CoolTrons can operate for about 15 hours powered by four AA batteries.
The Cooltrons’ 12AU7A dual-triode tube is better suited for low-voltage operation than the more familiar, though closely related, 12AX7. The tube’s two triode sections are tied together, so it functions as a single tone-enhancing gain stage. (For prolonged battery life, the tube’s plates, as well as its heaters, run at approximately 3 volts DC.) This tube stage “building block” is essentially identical in all three pedals, while the rest of the circuitry—which is a mixture of op amp ICs and discrete transistors—is completely different in each design.