The Rare And Wonderful BK Butler Mini Boogee / Matrix Tube Overdrive Pedal

The Rare And Wonderful BK Butler Mini Boogee / Matrix Tube Overdrive Pedal

Hi gang!  So this will be, for the most part a video blog.  I recently sold my stupidly rare Mini Boogee Pedal, but I made a little demo video before shipping her out.  These things are legendary!  There is lotsa chatter about these among serious players, but most folks have never even SEEN one in real life. 

BK Butler made only a few of these by hand from 1980-1981, then Randall Smith (Mesa-Boogie) asked him to use another name and in 1982-84 he made a few more labeled "Audio Matrix". This one is from 1981, I personally feel this is the BEST model because it's still labeled "Boogee", and it's in the VERY Mesa-Boogie looking black-n-White color scheme.  This model is also the rarest, as it was only produces for a few months in 1981 before loosing the "Boogee" moniker.

These are often refereed to as the predecessor to the "Tube Driver", but they are really VERY different pedals ... this pedal actually has TWO 12AX7 tubes ... for a total of FOUR tube gain stages; in the Tube Driver it's only one!  Plus, these operate at twice the voltage of the original Tube Drivers.  Oh, and there's the VERY powerful bass, middle, and treble controls as well as a very fender-like "bright" switch.  There has never been a finer, more powerful actual tube overdrive pedal made. 

This one has it's original (and wonderful) General Electric 12AX7's and they still test as better than new in my Hickock TV7 tester.  Just be careful with the Master Volume control, because these things have the ability to REALLY hit the front end of your amp hard!  In fact, they can drive a speaker as about a 1-watt tube practice amp with GREAT TONE.

So what does she sound like?  Check out this demo video :-)