The Valvebucker® is “just one pickup” - and yet, it offers a whole array of different sounds. The Valvebucker® functions in a different way than other pickups, and thus a guitar equipped with a Valvebucker® doesn’t quite fit any old school genre of guitars - its wide tonal spectrum and organic dynamics are simply different from other guitars.
The design architecture of the Valvebucker® circuit is noteworthy, making use of sweet spots found from outside the typical operational points of vacuum tubes, by using relatively low voltages. The power consumption of the Valvebucker® remains within the given values also during startup - an important feature when using commercially available pedal power units. Every Valvebucker® unit is handmade and finetuned individually in Finland. The Valvebucker® design team is: Lassi Ukkonen (the designer of Simble Overdrive, etc), Jorma Kostamo, Jyrki Kostamo and Juha Ruokangas.
The Valvebucker® will be introduced at The NAMM Show 2019. The Valvebucker® is available as a custom option for Ruokangas guitars from January 2019 on, adding $1,200.00 to the cost of an ordered instrument.
The Valvebucker® features include:
• Tube amplified active preamp circuit
• Military grade triode and pentode NOS tubes with lifetime warranty
• Volume and Tone controls • 3-way switch for a variety of sounds
• 2-way boost switch
• A floor unit included, to connect the Valvebucker®-equipped guitar with the rest of your signal chain
• A 12VAC power supply included • A 10-foot XLR cable included
This is how the Valvebucker® works:
1. Your Valvebucker-equipped guitar comes with a floor unit in the size of a standard guitar FX pedal.
You connect the Valvebucker guitar to the floor unit with a standard XLR microphone cable.
2. The Valvebucker is powered through the floor unit, that connects to a 12VAC power source. Use either your regular pedal power (12VAC, min. 250mA) or the power supply provided with the guitar.
3. The floor unit has two inputs and a true bypass A/B switch to easily alternate between the Valvebucker-equipped guitar and the rest of your guitars. The signal chain continues through the floor unit normally to your pedalboard and/or amplifier.
About Ruokangas Guitars
Ruokangas Guitars is a boutique guitar workshop established in 1995 by master luthier Juha Ruokangas. Juha’s instruments are regarded in various books, magazines and countless other independent sources as some of the finest in the world. Each Ruokangas instrument is individually handmade in the heart of southern Finland by one of Juha’s highly skilled luthiers, without any kind of serial production methods.
