In response, Chandler created their own unauthorized Tube Driver knock-off with Butler’s name removed from them. Around the same time, Butler ceased the distribution relationship with Chandler.

After he left Dean Markley, the company created their own knock-off of the Tube Driver called The Overlord.

Here's when things get funky: Butler left Dean Markley in 1987 and started his own company, Tube Works, to build and market the pedal under the Real Tube name.

The next year Brent decided he needed to put his name on his pedals so they were properly labeled “Tube Driver®, Concept and Design: B.K.

For the first time the Driver took on the familiar tan and black colors and form, though it was labeled with the Chandler name. The pedals were still hand built by him at home. By 1985 Butler was using Chandler Industries to distribute the Tube Driver.

In the mid-1980s BK went to work for Dean Markley Industries.

Around this time Butler began offering an option to allow users to adjust the bias voltage to the tube and tweak its response to their tastes. Each pedal was still hand-built by Brent in his home.

In 1979, Brent started his own brand under which to make the device.Somewhere along the way one got into the hands of a guitarist. When the results turned out to sound great, he called it the Tube Driver, and made a few of them for friends. Around 1975, keyboardist Brent Butler created a tube overdrive for his organ out of an old tube phonograph preamp housed in a Radio Shack enclosure.Surprisingly, the Tube Driver has experienced a bit of a nomadic life: This pedal has been around long enough to have accrued multiple pages worth of history so I'll condense it down for you. I finally got around to trying one out and here is what I found: Being hand-built for most of its life and priced accordingly, it was also one of the very first boutique pedals. During its long life the Tube Driver has appeared in many forms. This is a pedal that has been around for over thirty years and has become a long-standing favorite amongst some of the most elite players in the business for its smooth distortion and boost capabilities. Have you ever had one of those guitar items that you always wanted to try but never seemed to get around to? The BK Butler 911 Tube Driver has been one of those items for me. GUITAR TOOLBOX BASICS: The BK Butler 911 Tube Driver with Bias Mod BK Butler Tube Driver Stepping up to a Classic

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