A Blue Tube Screamer? It's £18? Ah, go on then...

This one’s going to be short and sweet.

The Shaevle Blue Tuber is, let’s not beat around the bush, a green overdrive in a blue overcoat. Three knobs. Volume, Tone, Gain. True bypass. All-analog circuit. If you’ve ever seen a Tube Screamer, you already know what this is trying to do.

And honestly? It does it.

This is a straight-up TS-style overdrive in exactly the way you’d expect. It’s got the mid-hump. It thickens up Strat single coils beautifully. It’ll do the low-gain, clean-ish solo boost thing. It’ll push the front end of a tube amp into that singing saturation (which is that tonal nirvana  I'm aiming for, at very least). And yes, it’ll tighten up heavier amp tones too — trimming the flubby low end and pushing those all-important mids back into the spotlight.

So far, so predictable.

The reason we’re even talking about this is the price. As of writing, it’s sitting at £18.55 on Amazon.

Now, ultra-budget pedals aren’t exactly rare these days. AliExpress and Temu are full of them. The problem is, you usually feel the compromises. Narrow sweet spots. Tone controls that are basically “bad, usable, worse.” Gain sweeps where 80% of the rotation is off-limits. They technically work, but they’re not refined.

The Shaevle is a bit different.

The tone control is actually well voiced. You can sweep it without fear. There’s usable ground across the range rather than one tiny magic notch. The gain range is solid too — from glistening, edge-of-breakup tones through to a proper classic crunch. It doesn’t feel like a one-trick box.

And on a completely superficial note, it’s reassuringly heavy. Does that mean anything? Probably not. But in my head, heavy pedals equal quality. Science may disagree.

This isn’t ground-breaking. It’s not innovative. It’s not going to change the overdrive landscape. What it is, is a genuinely solid Tube Screamer-style pedal for under £20.

For a beginner buying their first drive? Perfect.

For someone building a budget board? Easy win.

For a backup to throw in a gig bag? Why not.

Shaevle are quietly shaping up to be one to watch if they keep delivering this level of quality at these prices. Sometimes boring and done well is exactly what you want.