Vox Cooltron Bull Dog Distortion

Price Paid: 190 (Euro)

Ease of Use: 10
Considering that this is a 2-in-1 pedal, its simplicity is quite welcome. The shared EQ may not be to everyone's liking, yet it does provide me with 2 very good sounds with a bit of adjusting of both the EQ and gain 2's "voice control".

As for switching, I suppose that a bypass switch and a Gain 1/2 switch are more than self-explanatory. It deserves a 10 in this category.

Sound Quality: 9
This pedal has been put to actual use (excluding practice, rehearsal, etc.) with 2 amps: a Mesa/Boogie Mark III and an ENGL Savage 60. As far as guitars are concerned, I've plugged everything from Teles to Les Pauls, so its character and the way it influences your sound have been thoroughly tested.

Vox's descriptions on this are quite accurate: gain 1 has a looser, more vintage vibe, while gain 2 is more punchy and slightly scooped, like a good JCM 800 with a good booster on front. The sounds are extremely varied, and it is a true jack of all trades (unless you're specifically after ultra-scooped distortion). You can get impressive "sag" out of it once it warms up properly, and you'll find that your amp AND the pedals' personalities shine through perfectly.

It is a tad on the treblier side of things, so you might want to lower the treble when using single-coil ecquiped guitars to prevent it from becoming too harsh. Doesn't bother me at all, since EQ isn't extreme in terms of range, but very cleverly tuned instead.

Perfection seldom comes, however, and this fantastic box hasn't had its output level tweaked to perfection, since it's a bit low. In most cases this won't present a problem, but I find it strange that, when I plugged it into a Laney VC30's clean channel, I was forced to turn the level (for both channels) up to 9 just to balance the sound, which is silly...

If it wasn't for this tiny matter, it would easily get a 10, but as it is, 9 seems fair.

Reliability: N/A
It is rock-solid, BUT it does have a nice lovely 12AU7 lurking within, which means you must check for microphonics every once in a while. If you take good care of it, it will certainly take good care of you!...

As far as consistency is concerned, it's perfect. It is a relatively new pedal, so I'll get back to Reliability a few months from now. Time will be the judge here.

Customer Support: N/A
Never dealt with Vox UK, partly because of a carefully structured website and dumb-proof manuals. Of course I do hope never to deal with them because my gear went 'kaboom' on me... :-P

A friend of mine does own a Tonelab and they have been most helpful. I doubt it would be any different for me.

Overall Rating: 10
I have been working as a session player for a while, and my setup consists of 14 guitars, 2 amps (unless I'm using other stuff for sessions - it's great when you can fiddle with tons of gear while paying nothing for it -, and a multitude of pedals and various FX units. I happen to play mostly everything, from pop to r'n'b to funk to blues to rock to metal, and most session guys like me tend to, so I was happy to witness the versatility of this unit.

This is, of course, an expensive pedal, and I encourage you to try it before you buy it. NEVER take a review for granted: what rocks my world might be crap to you and vice-versa. If it was lost or stolen, I'd get another one for sure, considering the way I like it. The one and only thing that I wish it had was a little bit extra output, but it hasn't been a prblem so far.

I must say that it is indeed expensive, but I found myself gigging with it without turning the amps' overdrive on a single time, so it does pay off.

Submitted by Fred the Shred at 12/16/2005 09:51

Price Paid: 180 (euro)

Ease of Use: 10
very easy two channel stompbox overdrive. No need for a manual. a bit more knobs than a boss pedal but....ok straight to the soundpoint.

Sound Quality: 10
I'm using it through a VOX AC30 and it sounds great!
It has two channels, channel 1 is more clean and crunch channel 2 is high gain compressed sustained sound...with additional treble control....the two sounds are very different. I use the channel 1 for rythm and channel 2 for solo. channel 2 also kicks ass if you use it to play sort of smashing pumpkins harmonies (like the song "Zero").
This pedal has a true valve blue-glowing and man...it works!
the sound is clearly a tube sound.....the only thing is that it's a bit too much "treble" oriented...but you have bass knob to pump.

Reliability: 9
it seems teel made.
hard case and relieble.

Customer Support: N/A

Overall Rating: 10
it maches my soundstyle perfectly.maybe it is going to tak ethe place of my boss blue driver....

Submitted by Buldra at 12/02/2005 06:01

Price Paid: US $225

Ease of Use: 9
Been using it for a month now. Very easy straight to the point pedal. Dont need a manual to operate it. Its analog so you dont need to edit any patches...just dial in the setting you want and play away.

Sound Quality: 8
this pedal is a great all around pedal. Rock, blues, metal... this baby can deliver. I use it with various amps, and it sounds almost the same with any amp. But i think it will sound best with tube amps. I used it once with a roland jazz chorus and this dog bites!!!. The only comment I have is that it sounds too bright. I role off the treble control just to hit that sweet spot. Gain 1 is warmer than gain 2 but a little bit noisy if you turn the gain at full. Gain two has a compressed, tweekable but heavier gain structure which is a bit harsher but still sounds good when you use it for heavier music. My fender strat fits this pedal like a tailored glove. My set up very simple: Fender strat or Ibanez RG, Dunlop wah 535Q, Arion octave, Cooltron Bulldog, Boss DD3. Ever since I switched to the cooltron I've been getting praises on my sound. I use to have a sansamp GT2, the bulldog just ate it for breakfast.

Reliability: N/A
I wouldnt know, just used it for a month. Let's see after a year. But it looks pretty sturdy with its chrome chasis.

Customer Support: N/A

Overall Rating: 8
I play glam rock and sometimes mainstream when I session. It works with all the artists I've played with. It definitely is a heavy pedal...but it could also go mellow with the right adjustments. I would definitely get another one if this gets stolen. I just love Gain 1. It's warm even at maximum gain. I kinda dislike the treble on this baby. I would compare it to a mesa v-twin. But I like the fact that you can control gain 1 and 2 separately. I wish it had a mid control though, then all my ratings will be 10.

Submitted by Machine Man at 10/12/2005 12:07

Price Paid: 220 (euro)

Ease of Use: 9
This is new in 2005 with the evolutionary cooltron technology. First impression was not good as there were too many buttons and knobs (9 all together) But after using for about 5 minutes, it's not as intimidating as it looks!! easy enough to get a good sound out from the 2 channels. Manual itself is a Joke, a piece of paper with many languages and NO helpful infomations. It is easier to figure out the sound by messing around than reading the manual!!

Sound Quality: 10
My setting is a Gibson Les Paul/ Fender Tele thru this baby to VOX AC 30 CC2. It's simply rocks!! This baby gives a little hizz when you have both volume and gain wind to max but that is just warning you that you have more than enough distortation on your tips. Beside, this baby also makes you amp louder which, is good for many but if you have a loud amp life AC30....... but thanks to separate colume control for each channals, it can be easily sorted.
The first channel is more vintage like distortion, not very aggressive but very responsive when the strings are attacked! Fantastic for soloing as it's a killer sound and ultimate clarity!!
The second channel is flat out. Kill'em all approach. very heavy, solid, punchy and crunhy. ideal for rymth works in metal band. Not bad for soloing as well, very unique!!

Reliability: 10
the Shell looks like metal but it's actually very hard plastic. have this baby for only a short while and have no prob so far. it looks reliabale and if not, will come back and report again

Customer Support: N/A
never deal with any of them so..................... no comment

Overall Rating: 10
I play punk' (Greenday, cood charlotte) rocks ( Guns n roses, Randy Rhoads) and some alternative for about a yr and a half. still new in this area but my friends in the band simply praise the sound out from this baby (they have been play for about 15 yrs) They have the tube screamer, tube factor, mega distortation, only tube factor comes close the other are..... well they are not tube driven so not same league!
If this is stolen, will get this baby again or maybe some other padel in this Cooltron product range, heard they are few new peddals out so will see^^

Submitted by antou at 10/10/2005 08:16

Price Paid: N/A

Ease of Use: N/A

Sound Quality: N/A
just a couple of thoughts following my review. for the ones who care:

1. although the Bulldog uses operational amps (I.C.'s),they DO NOT create distortion.
all they really do is boosting a powerful clean signal right before the valve,thus overdriving the valve insanely.It is only a clean booster.

because a single 12ax7 could not possibly have all that gain,they use this system ,enabling them to obtain such high amounts of gain,and keeping the price low,because a preamp with 5 valves costs more than a preamp with one valve.
So does that means that if a pedal or whatever has more valves in it sounds or is actually better? No.
Mesa or Peavey uses 5 or 6 valves to get all the gain their preamps,but you know Mesa,they make you pay with interest.

Hughes & Kettner uses the same I.C. system before the valve,in their very good Tubeman. If a valve pedal uses transistors to create part of the gain,you would hear it. But not so with the Bulldog.
In my opinion,any good valve pedal like the Bulldog absolutely thrashes toys like the Boss Metal Zone ,DOD,sansamp etc.

2. You might want to use a boss ge-7 or similar before the Bulldog to cut the bass BEFORE the Bulldog's distortion...I do that and get an excellent 'tight' sound ,if that's what you are after,in other words there is a total lack of muddiness,not that the Bulldog is muddy-sounding pedal. That is only my personal preference though. Happy barking

Reliability: N/A

Customer Support: N/A

Overall Rating: N/A

Submitted by Anonymous at 08/18/2005 17:03

Price Paid: 149 (sterling pounds)

Ease of Use: 8
It's an overdrive/distortion pedal..nothing difficult to use!
Manual is good and conversational,although short. Well..you dont need a book for a pedal,right?

Sound Quality: 10
I always record direct to my laptop,and I have used the Bulldog for that also . I also run a fully fledged tube amp thru a powerbreak and it ends in my laptop anyway. I listen thru headphones. If you do this sort of thing,you will need a speaker simulator of some sort,like ab Hughes & ketner Red box ,or if you want to go software,Cakewalk does some excellent speaker sims for free. I also use stuff such as Amplitube,but I NEVER use the distortion ,or even the clean sound,from such stuff. Neither I ever use transistor or digital distortion...I absolutely dislike it,to me has to come from tube.
That's the only way I play a guitar.

I am rather impressed with the Bulldog. I even compared it,side to side,with the preamp out of my peavey Bravo...the preamp of the latter is no joke.They both were using the same speaker simulators.
They both sounds very aggressive and harmonic,but the Bulldog gives also an hint of something less american-sounding....it sounds very Marshall-like,the tone is more 'macho',and it does not sound buzzy.
It's eq it's powerful and uses the right frequencies,in my opinion.

Someone could complain about the fact that the Bulldog shares the eq with both channels. It's true,but also remember that this was supposed to be a distortion pedal rather than a 2 channels preamp,so I think of it's eq as a plus rather than a minus.

It has 2 channels,and they sound rather different to my ears,channel 1 is less gain (but still a lot) it's a very cool vintage-like distortion.

Channel 2 is the flat-out ,take-no-prisoners approach. the thing I liked is that it sounds bigger as you increase the gain.
Power chords are very 'british'like...as I said it's a really good marshall-type of sound,rather than Mesa or Fender.
It's still modern and ballsy,but older as well,I really think it's the best of both worlds but at the same time it's not a wannabee pedal...it has a sound with a lot of attitude and authority of it's own.
BTW, something like the Mesa Boogie V-Twin is very compressed and weak sounding compared to the Bulldog.Other than ridicolously over-priced. the Bulldog eats that at breakfast!
(Also, I will never understand why some people uses stuff such a Tubescreamer,Sansamp etc,when you can find a pedal like the Bulldog!).

the Bulldog is rather the opposite,it's not a squashed 12ax7 sound but a lot more of a focused heavy high gain,quite exciting in riffs and solos.
It's an heavy expressive sound,responds very very well to anything from blues to fusion to whatever form of metal. Very responsive to speed picking and legato-based licks. the thing I really like about this pedal is that other than the insane gain,the tone is of a singing quality. I love that quality in a guitar sound.
It also does the 'chugga-chugga' thing excellently.
Distorted triads or intervals sound very harmonic.

I use also a graphic -eq in front of whatever preamp because it allows me to tune more finely my sound. Also,it servers as double-purpouse,because it's also a booster should I need a boosted sound. You dont really need a booster with the Bulldog though! It has plenty of gain!

The pedal it's not noisy at all,compared to other pedals or preamps with similar high amounts of gain.
Another thing: dont change it's valve to a 12ax7,for more gain or whatever,doing so will weaken a lot the Bulldog's output,which is rather strong,and you might want that strong output to drive a good valve power-amp hard.
So keep a good 12au7 in there.

My only niggle is that those pedals are a bit of a fuss if you want to change the valve. Although the Bulldog uses a good one,no krap like Mesa Boogie does.
In the Bulldog is not more difficult to change the valve than in the H+k Tubeman 2 ,for example,but still,why complicate a complicate an already difficult life.....
I give the Bulldog a 10 for sound.

Reliability: 9
seems very sturdy,but the sides of the pedal it's hard plastic ,although they look like aluminium. It still will be very difficult to break those sides because of the internal frame of the pedal,so unless you trow it down the stairs it wont break I suppose.
I would gig with no backups no problem

Customer Support: N/A

Overall Rating: 10
I play fusion,hard rock,metal,blues. The Bulldog it's a great match!
Been playing about 10 years.
i also own a h+k Crunchmaster ,a mini valve amp, and a Peavey Bravo. I used to have a Seymour Duncan 84-50, a Marhall reissue,a Peavey Triumph...all very good used stuff

I have compared the Bulldog with some other pedals,such as Guyatone Metal Monster. The latter it's even more expensive (really a theft for what it is) than the Bulldog and sounds like bullshit in comparison. very buzzy and thinny,compared to Bulldog's roaring bark!
I also compared it to a Sansamp Classic....I can only laugh at that Sansamp stuff,it costs even more than the sound it emulates,and compared to the real stuff like the Bulldog,it's light-years behind.
The Bulldog it's a bit pricey but still much less than a sansamp. And ,unlike those ridicolously priced toys ,delivers sound-wise.
It still deserves a 10 even if it is slightly pricey

Submitted by luigi at 08/18/2005 13:47

Price Paid: US $225

Ease of Use: 10
This pedal is really pretty straight forward. There aren't a whole lot of knobs to confuse a person. Inside of about 2 minutes I had dialed in a tone and was up and running.

Sound Quality: 6
OK, here's the thing. I run this through a Matchless Clubman 35 which will expose everything. The 1st channel on this thing sucks. I have tried about everything and I can't get it to sound good. The two channels share an EQ which bites because what sounds good on one channel makes the other one harsh. The 2nd channel on this thing is great. It really nails that British crunch. Because it is tube it responds very well to your picking dynamics and volume control. It will clean up, but because it is 2 channels, I was hoping this would replace my lower gain pedals. It definitely will not. I wonder if anyone has tried changing the tubes in this thing. That may improve the tone. It also needs a mod to smooth out the highs. They get really harsh really fast. For what I paid for it I must admit I am a little disappointed. This thing costs as much as Fulltone or Menatone, and doesn't sound good on everything like those pedals do. I'm gonna keep it because the 2nd channel is so balls to the walls, but the 1st channel was a real let down. Definitely try before you buy. It may work for you, I'm gonna make it work.

Reliability: 10
This thing is chrome, large and heavy. I seriously doubt you could much external damage to this piece. It is tube so eventually the tubes will go microphonic on you so keep that in mind. This is basically a tube preamp so you will have the same type of upkeep.

Customer Support: N/A
Don't know. The guys at Sweetwater are awesome though.

Overall Rating: 7
Overall this pedal wasn't what I was hoping for. It's not horrible, just not what I thought a 200+ effect pedal should sound like. I'm gonna keep tweaking though, who knows maybe It'll grow on me.

Submitted by Paul Steinbrunner at 07/30/2005 08:20

Price Paid: US $215+tax FL

Ease of Use: 10
Intresting but not cheap pedal. Has a 12au7 tube that can run off 4 AA batteries for 16 hours or you can use a 9 volt(boss) wall wart. Has 2 channels with true by pass for both. One channel has treble and bass pots, the other a mid scoop/boost for that metal sound; both channels have drive and volume controls. It's not an overdriven amp, but it comes close. Fairly easy to get anything from a soft od on chords to a singing Santana like lead sound to metalica. Also very quiet and can be used direct for recording.

Sound Quality: 9
Tested the pedal on a Fender twin playing a PRS standard 22. At home I've used a PRS standard 22, Ameican Strat, Washburn Falcon, Sammick 335 knock-off, all through a JC 120 and a Blues Jr. Will try it through my Delux RV and Peavey Classic 50 4/10 in the near future when I take it to the sudio. I am looking for Santan lead sound or sound of Mark Goldberg on Jackson Browne CD "I'm Alive". Comes pretty close to both. This is a balls out tube OD pedal with a low voltage curcity that allows it to run off batteries. Two channels that can be set up for different OD sounds plus true by pass for both.

Reliability: N/A
Haven't had it long enough to know but it is may by Vox(Korg) and is made in Japan. I would bring along another OD pedal just in case. It is a tube pedal and tubes burn out or get broken.

Customer Support: N/A

Overall Rating: 8
All. 40 yrs. Don't know. The tube glows a pretty blue. It's chrom and it looks like it's been dusted for finger prints after you use it. Yes, the Tweak Fuz. Information about switching tubes for different sounds. Helps with music. I'm butt naked in 1969. It is an interesting pedal and does the OD sound pretty good. I wish there was a way to control the harmonics better. By using a compressor in front of the pedal you're able to augment to dynamics of this device.

Submitted by uglybro50 at 07/05/2005 17:48

Price Paid: US $224

Ease of Use: 10
This unit has two 'channels'. They share the same EQ section (bass and treble) but channel 2 has an added mid-range shape control. There is an on-off footswitch and a footswitch to change between the 2 channels. An LED lights for channel 2 and is off for channel 1.

Sound Quality: 10
This pedal is very bright! It definitely leans toward the treble/presence side of the distortion range. There is however enough EQ available to round off the high end and get into the warm 'pocket'. The thing I like about this pedal is that it gets better as the tube warms up. After playing with it for about 15 minutes it really starts to 'sag' and sing like a pushed tube amp in the sweet zone! It is a great peedal for moving a class 'A' amp into the Marshall zone of crunch, it does a great Brian May treble boost sound too! The pedal is dead quiet even when the gain is maxed in channel 2! BONUS! Solid job, silent channel switching, works with a 9volt ac adapter (another major BONUS!) Because of the channel switching you can dial up 2 (slight to moderately) different sounds use channel one for crunch and use channel 2 for your high gain solo sound. At first I thought it was too bright, but, PATIENCE! I was able to dial in a great tube distortion sound that sits very nice in the mix. This pedal is a keeper on my pedalboard! and, I am a major picky dude when it come to pedals!

Reliability: N/A
I just got it so I can't vouch for reliability...it is built in a solid metal/chrome box and looks to be well built!

Customer Support: N/A
Don't know the 'chaps' over in England (is that where Vox is???)

Overall Rating: 10
I have this pedal right after my Fulltone OCD overdrive and right before my Budda Zenman pedals (both offer different 'types' of gain) now I have a nice 'biting' Marshall style pedal to push my Carr Mercury EL34 MONSTER of a small amp (that sounds like a wall of Marshalls to a PA or a recording mixer!) Great job Vox dudes!

Submitted by Jim at 04/27/2005 07:11