Nashville and LA session player Shawn Tubbs offers some of the most iconic amp tones in history with his new signature overdrive, the Revv Amplification Tilt
Shawn Tubbs’ new Tilt signature overdrive pedal with Revv Amplification is touted as the “tonal cumulation” of his lifetime in music.
With Tubbs’ resume as a session A-lister whose professional credits include work with Stone Temple Pilots, Carrie Underwood and David Crosby, and a pedal nut with his own YouTube channel boasting nearly 40,000 subscribers, you can bet your money the stompbox is one of the strongest and most versatile overdrives that’ve hit the market this year.
Launched at this year’s NAMM show, the Tilt Overdrive boasts an all-analog organic drive circuit with a “record-ready amp tone and feel,” and combines some of the most iconic overdriven amp tones in history.
These include, as Tubbs reveals, “everything from a little Tweed Champ, all the way up to a high-powered Tweed Twin, up to a Marshall Plexi, or a JTM or JCM.”
“Our goal from day one was to develop the exact tone in my head,” the guitarist explains. “I’ve been on so many different gigs that I know exactly what I need to perform. Cutting through the mix with the right mids, great feel that cleans up with your hands and the volume knob, and a killer boost to kick in and just make everything sound better.
“We had to combine that practicality with realizing my dream tone I’ve always wanted. Every time I’ve played an incredible vintage amp I’d get so inspired and then think about how to tweak it to suit my playing style. That’s what went into this pedal. It’s all my favorite tones combined into one simple box.”
The Tilt Overdrive’s user interface consists of a Drive section – with Treble, Bass, Level and Gain knobs – and a “game-changing” Boost section, with Boost level and Tilt EQ knobs, and a three-position Tight switch, which delivers “strategic frequency choices for precision tone sculpting.”
“The reason the Tilt EQ is there is that I’ve always noticed with really great-sounding single-knob boost pedals as you really start cranking it, anomalies will start showing up, either in the top end or the low end,” Tubbs explains.
“Another reason is for workflow; I want to be able to quickly sculpt in a tone, especially when I’m using this to drive the overdrive side of the pedal for more gain, I want to be able to quickly dial things in.”
Other features include top-mounted jacks, silent-relay switching and 12V high-headroom circuitry.
As Revv explains, the Tilt Overdrive took President and Head Designer Dan Trudeau’s research and development process to new heights.
Over the course of its design process, the pedal saw over 10 unique revisions, with Tubbs regularly traveling to the company’s workshop in Winnipeg, Canada to test prototypes. Such rigorous R&D led to a finished product that exceeded both Revv and Tubbs’ expectations.
“I remember hearing killer blues players in the studio testing the final prototype, or even metal cats in the Revv shop checking it out, and everyone sounded so unique,” Tubbs recalls. “Like the best version of their own personal style.
“If you want to have my tone, here it is in this pedal. But what’s most important is that I think this pedal might help you sound like yourself.”
The Tilt Overdrive is designed to work with any guitar and gear setup, and is, as Revv explains, equally at home with single coil-equipped bolt-on guitars as it is with humbucker-loaded set necks.
“Low or high gain – at home or with a band – you’ll always have the right tone for the job,” Revv says.
The Shawn Tubbs Tilt Overdrive is available now for $269. For more information, head to Revv Amplification.
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Sam was Staff Writer at GuitarWorld.com from 2019 to 2023, and also created content for Total Guitar, Guitarist and Guitar Player. He has well over 15 years of guitar playing under his belt, as well as a degree in Music Technology (Mixing and Mastering). He's a metalhead through and through, but has a thorough appreciation for all genres of music. In his spare time, Sam creates point-of-view guitar lesson videos on YouTube under the name Sightline Guitar.
