Vox introduced two new guitar effects pedals in the summer of 1998. Similar to a “tube screamer,” the Vox V810 “Valvetone” pedal was designed to simulate the tone of an overdriven guitar amplifier. Vox also introduced the V830 “Distortion Booster.” As in the 1960s, “Distortion Booster” was Vox parlance for fuzz tone. The V810 Valvetone and the V830 Distortion Booster pedals were included in the 1998-1999 Vox catalog, 1999-2000 Vox catalog, and a single page sales flyer.
Unlike the relatively simple V829 Vox Tone Bender circuit that required only ten electronic components, the parts list for the Valvetone and Distortion Booster pedals included a total of about three dozen resistors, capacitors, and semiconductors. Two “old school” germanium transistors powered the V829 Tone Bender circuit. The Valvetone and Distortion Booster pedals used a modern Texas Instruments RC4558P integrated circuit opamp to add gain to the input signal.
Like the Vox wah, the die cast aluminum case for the V810 and V830 was painted black and topped with a chrome plated bezel and a rubber tread. The tread featured an embosssed Vox diamond pattern.
Each pedal included three controls. The V810 Valvetone featured a Volume, Tone and a Gain control. The V830 Distortion Booster offered a Volume, Tone and a Drive control. Drive adjusted the intensity of the fuzz. A nine volt battery powered the pedal.
The V830 Distortion Booster replaced the V829 Tone Bender that Vox offered from 1994-1997. Country of Origin, Vox V810 Valve-Tone and V830 Vox Distortion Booster Pedals: China.
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