I’ve known about this pedal ever since it came out last year, and unlike many other overdrives out there, it uses a tube for distortion, and not a clipping diode. This pedal is like putting another gain stage in front of your amp. It comes with Master and Gain and the tone controls are all independent with no overlapping frequencies, so tone shaping is pretty incredible. And being that it’s a Maxon pedal, you’re pretty much guaranteed high-reliability and fantastic build quality.
So if I’ve known about this so long, and I love all its features and pedigree, why haven’t I written about it? Well, for one, life was pretty busy at that time last year, as time went on, I got my Timmy and Little Brute Drive, and finally, and probably most importantly, I just couldn’t see paying $385 for a pedal. Hell! My VHT Special 6 cost $199 when I got it, but you can get it now for only $179, and that’s a tube amp – and a great one at that! Same thing goes for a Fender Champ 600 at $149…
Okay, okay, I know that we’re kind of talking apples and oranges, but the point is that $385 is a rather steep price to pay. Based upon the clips I’ve heard and videos I’ve watched on this pedal, there’s no doubt in my mind that it’s killer. I guess for me, though it does sound incredible, it doesn’t move me enough to fork out that kind of cash.
Not that I wouldn’t pay a steep price for a pedal if it totally moved me. I paid $275 for my Mad Professor Deep Blue Delay. It hurt a bit, but it’s a pedal that I simply can’t live without now.
In any case, what got me thinking about the RTO700 was the Pigtronix Fat Drive. When I was watching videos of that pedal, I ran across references to the RTO700. I thought to myself at the time that I would get it over the Fat Drive; that is, until I saw the price tag. Then the Fat Drive seemed a hell of a lot more attractive to me. 🙂
In closing, having owned Maxon products in the past, I know how killer they are. Maxon isn’t a cheap proposition, but if you can swing it, you’ll be happy.
For more information on the pedal, check out the RTO700 product page!
Guitar Gear 
sorry
but i know that there are a clipping diode and a op-amp
the signal will be distorted BEFORE the tube!
not a bad thing…but no tube distortion!
as in Radial pedals (which i love too) the tube will add “something” but will not be responsable for the saturation.
from Maxon website:
“The Overdrive circuit features two stages of clipping – a bi-directional clipping diode in the feedback loop of the op-amp and then a single-diode in the second stage for asymmetrical clipping.”
Hmm…. Got this from the Maxon website (http://www.maxonfx.com/Realtube_II_RTO700.php):
“The RTO700 Tube Overdrive Pedal has no clipping diodes in the signal path – All distortion comes directly from the dual triode preamp tube and hi-gain amp circuit. This design makes the RTO the best tube overdrive pedal for use with clean and semi-clean amps to effectively add a 2nd or 3rd channel of pure tube tone to your rig.”
Where did you get that quote?
You were looking at the RTD800 page… 🙂
y’r right
i was looking at the RTD800
but i think that they works the same way
i’m even not sure if a tube at 12.6v can really “work” enough to give saturation (i’m not a technician so… … …)
The tube is after the OD/distortion circuit yes, so it acts like a power tube, giving power tube distortion, I suppose. In any case, the clips have been impressive. It’s just a bit pricey for me.
sure
to me, pedals amps etc could even work by coal XD
the sound is the only one thing that matter
and this seems to be a good piece of gear ;D
in this cases (even like Tonebone or Blackstar etc) the tube gives a sort of a “musical compression” and a “tube flavor” that are really nice usually