Zoom's Tube Booster uses a 12AX7 vaccum tube to add up to +16 dB of amplification.
By turning the booster on when playing a lead, you can overload a guitar amp to
achieve a powerful sound level.
According the manual, the boost effect cannot be recorded via the G5's USB connection.
Signals recorded by USB Audio cannot be amplified by the TUBE BOOSTER.
The Zoom website has this little bit about recording the G5:
The Tube Booster also offers extra power when recording directly to a line input.
For me, setting BOOST to 10 o'clock and TONE to 2 o'clock gives me just the nudge I need to add a little extra to a patch. This feature reminds me of the "More" button on the Vox Satchurator distortion pedal.
I should add that whatever tube you have in the G5 will make a great difference in how the Booster behaves. I took out the stock tube and put in a JJ instead. With the JJ, 10 o'clock and 2 o'clock are right on. I have the same JJ tube in the three amps I run. The boost wasn't great but there was certainly some boost.
I got an electro-harmonix tube in an amp deal and tried it out in the G5. Whew. The boost was much brighter and more full than the JJ was.
Then I put back in the stock tube. With Boost level at 10 o'clock the output volume actually went down.
Replacing the tube
You can easily replace the stock 12AXT with a different brand to change how the added boost sounds and behaves.
First remove the rear panel. There are 18 screws all togeter. The four that are grouped together on the left side are different from the other 14 so don't get them mixed together.
With the panel removed, you can see the tube to the left and in front of the grill cutout.
Here is the tube close-up.
To remove the tube, first unhinge the metal wire that holds the tube in place. The two ends of the wire are clipped into slots on the edge of the circuit board. They are very easy to unclip. Then slowly and carefully pull the tube away from where it is connected to its circuit board. Sometimes it helps to wiggle the tube back and forth a little when pulling.
Plug in your new tube and reattach the wire holder.
Put the back panel back on. You're done.
Fine-Tuning the Boost Levels
Several G5 owners have said that their left and right outputs don't have the same about of Boost between them. Inside the G5 there are two trim pots located next to the tube that allow you to adjust the available boost. I tweaked mine so that there was no audible boost from either channel when the Boost control was on zero.
When you're inside the G5, use a small screwdriver to turn the "+" sign controls. Turn to the right to increase available boost or the left to decrease it.
If you want to remove the grill like you see in the photo at the top of this page, click the image below to go to an instuctions page.
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