

Sadly I had to give that one back as the owner didn't want to part with it (is this common with DHA gear I wonder?)

Shortly after though I was given the chance to own one of these beauties for a very reasobable price!

http://www.davehallamps.co.uk/page29.html
I snapped the guys hand off (not literally as he's a bass player and we need both hands usually!) and shortly after closing the deal it arrived with Mr Postman.
Plugged it in that evening and there was 'the' sound I loved (so I was immediately happy!) but the other knobs do all sorts of other things that are also rather exciting too! There's more control of the fatness (or thin-ness) of the sound and a DI and an aux in and that 'boost' thing...

Fly in the ointment time: I tried it using the headphone out on the unit and the sound was most bizarre, something definitely not right, sounded like tuning an old analop radio with the dial as I turned the pot.
Redemption: I emailed Dave (the man himself) and he emailed back straight away that the circuit and chip used can be a bit iffy and it's not an uncommon occurence BUT that the signal feed for that circuit is split off the main output and so won't affect the sound of the pedal at all if I simply don't use the headphone socket.
Since I have no real need for the headphone out on it as I have an sfx headphone amp that is perfect for my needs, what I really needed was a valve drive pedal that could do that subtle break round the edges of notes to add a beautiful vintage vibe to my p-bass. This is perfectly provided by the VT1!
I'm a happy camper

(especially knowing that any fault in the h/p out isn't a result of any issue with the unit but rather a dubious choice of chip from DHA in a peripheral circuit).