Radial Tonebone - Hot British

[Spudman***]

Now that I've had this pedal for a bit I thought I should tell you about it. Actually, I thought you could probably hear it where ever you are. It's loud.

This is one amazing pedal. What it is is every British tube amp that ever existed in a foot pedal. And that's not all. It is every British tube amp modified and running hot in a foot pedal.

It is a tube driven distortion/amp modeling pedal. It uses 1-12AX7 tube. It is an extremely high gain pedal and is true bypass. Incredibly versatile.

It has 5 knobs and 3 switches. First the knobs (left to right)
Level - Controls over all level of the unit without coloring the tone.
High - Boost or cut 10db @ 4.3kz
Low - Boost or cut 14.5 db @ 100hz
Contour - Adjusts the balance of low and high frequencies in "Notch"
and "Fat" voicing mode. Kind of like the "morph" knob on Digitech
pedals. It really tweaks the sound.
Drive - Adjustsoverall amount of input gain and distortion

3 Switches (left to right)
Top End - Bright +6db @10kh, Flat, Dark +6db @ 3.3kh
Voicing - Notch = passive coloration of lows and highs. Fat = passive
mid range tight filter. Out = no effect
Mid Boost - +7db & 12db @ 360Hz or Out = no effect

Here is what happens when you step on the foot switch to engage the pedal...the universe explodes. Almost. It has so much gain you can almost hear it when it is unplugged (remember Spinal Tap?). I've never experienced such an over the top pedal in my life. Yes it can be tamed. It has very nice clean structure as well as hyper gain smooth shred. And it's quiet. Really.
It will do clean Stevie Ray to gritty Texas mojo to Fuzzy Hendrix to Smooth Satriani. When I roll my guitar volume down I can still hear that amp rolling underneath all hot and warm. It doesn't fizzle out.

The knobs are super wide ranging. Just a small tweak and it changes a lot. Every knob acts this way and with the switches the sound options are as close to infinite as I have ever experienced in any single purpose pedal.

I've only started to use this pedal so I'm not an expert yet. However, the potential is huge. I only have tube amps to run it into so no word from me on how it is with a solid state amp although I'll bet that it sounds good.

If you can find a store that has one check it out. It is one of those pedals that makes you keep playing just because it sounds good and you can't believe it. Well believe it. This pedal ROCKS! Oh, it's expensive too. Suggested retail is $249, but don't worry used they are around half of that. Go figure.

Here is the company web site http://www.tonebone.com/

[SuperSwede]

Sweet! I tried it at a musicstore and I found that its great for producing that Top Boost sound as well.. Congrats on a killer pedal Spudsie

[Nelskie]

Spud - With the pedal being on the aggressive side boost-wise, how do you have your amp set? And also, are you you adjusting your amp volume level based on the overall boost of the pedal, or do you keep the pedal engaged all the time? And lastly, what brand of tube (Sovtek, Groove Tube, Electro-Harmonix) comes stock?

If anyone wants to get an idea of how kick-a$$ this pedal sounds live, check out the new Black Crowes concert DVD Freak n' Roll - Into the Fog. Lead guitarist Marc Ford employs a Tone Bone in his effects arsenal, and without question, it's one of the hottest, tastiest live guitar sounds I think I've ever heard. BTW - that Crowes concert DVD is recorded in Dolby 5.1. The mix is so fantastically clean, you can hear Katie Hudson (Chris' wife) painting her nails backstage.

[Spudman***]

Spud - With the pedal being on the aggressive side boost-wise, how do you have your amp set? And also, are you you adjusting your amp volume level based on the overall boost of the pedal, or do you keep the pedal engaged all the time? And lastly, what brand of tube (Sovtek, Groove Tube, Electro-Harmonix) comes stock?

My amps are usually set with the clean channel loud enough with it ready to break up if I dig in to the guitar hard.

So far I have just used the pedal as a distortion/boost for some big fat crunchy rip your head off distortion. I like to be able to instantly go from clean to not clean. Kind of childhood carry over thing.

The tube inside the unit is a glass one. It's real purdy and makes an orange light. I haven't any idea what brand it is, but it is a 12AX7. The sound is so good I'm not going to worry about changing it for a long time...or until I drop it when it is hot. Which ever comes first.

[Nelskie]

The tube inside the unit is a glass one. It's real purdy and makes an orange light.

Spudman - Thanks for that rich, detailed technical assessment. However, rest assured that you're still a long ways away from that prestigious chair on the Board of Governors over at Amptone.com.

With the way you'd described it, I was thinking that there was some sort of super-mojo tube thing goin' on to make it sound so good. Hence, my inquiry as to whether it had some type of name-brand ringer of a tube to bring those groceries home.

[Mark]

LOL!!! Its glass, its purdy and it glows orange. Spud can you give a more simple description all the technical jargon confuses me. Oh dont forget I have it on good authority it is probably hot too.

[Spudman***]

Ok. Minus all the technical jargon...it's a thingy. That is about as good as I can describe it without getting too bogged down in technicalities like shape and size.

Alright then, I did try to take the unit apart to discover the brand of tube but it requires major surgery to do so. Obviously the company doesn't think that the tube will need attention for a long time. The tube rests about 2 inches into the unit and can be seen through a small metal vent in the side but no lettering is visible. Maybe it's possible to find out from the company what brand they use? I'm not going to spend a half an hour taking this apart and putting it back together just because you guys think I'm being to technical.

[Robert****]

It's purdy and it sounds good - that's all the description needed!

Too bad it's so expensive.

[Nelskie]

I'm not going to spend a half an hour taking this apart and putting it back together just because you guys think I'm being to technical.

No need to report to surgery, Dr. Spud. The question was forwarded more out of curiousity than anything else. A lot of gear manufacturers publicize name-brand spec items, like "Groove Tube Equipped", or "Celestion Equipped", to name a few. I thought Tone Bone might be doing the same - but apparently not.

As long as it does what it does, and sounds good doing it, who really cares what the tiny black letters say. Or don't say.

Keep that purdy little orange thing-a-ma-bob glowin'!

[duhvoodooman***]

I found some info on the Tonebone Classic model that indicated the tube was a JJ ECC83S. This appeared to be confirmed by a couple of different owners who were fooling around substituting different brands.

It seems unlikely that Tonebone would use different 12AX7 tube brands in different models for tonal differentiation; this would almost certainly be handled by varying the circuitry, not the tube brand. On the other hand, it's quite possible that they would switch brands for that basest of reasons--a cheaper price!

[Spudman***]

Here is a link to the Radial Tonebone web site and the sound samples. http://www.tonebone.com/tb-hotbritish-sounds.htm

If you hold your mouse pointer over the little speakers for each sample it will produce a small window with the guitar, amp, player, and pickup information for that particular sound clip. Very cool. I think you will hear that it is a very versatile pedal.

So far what I have found out is that the stock tube is a low gain ecc83 tube, The manufacturer says this is best to stay with.

[Nelskie]

Just picked up one of these pedals on the 'Bay for $129 + shipping. Plugged it into my Valve Jr. today, and I must say, that amp has never sounded better. Incredibly smooth, fat, rich OD, with loads of sustain, and incredible note definition. In short, it does what it says it does. This pedal is THE BOMB!

Anyways, my days of lamenting the sale of my old TS-808 have officially ended. The clouds have opened, and rays of sunlight are streaming down upon my little black and blue wonder box. Good-bye therapy. Hello incredible tone.

[SuperSwede]

Nelskie, only officially.. right?

[Nelskie]

Permanently, SS. The Tonebone Classic is in a whole different league tone-wise vs. the TS-808.

[blogan]

Just picked up one of these pedals on the 'Bay for $129 + shipping. Plugged it into my Valve Jr. today, and I must say, that amp has never sounded better. Incredibly smooth, fat, rich OD, with loads of sustain, and incredible note definition. In short, it does what it says it does. This pedal is THE BOMB!

There's gotta be something illegal about using a pedal that cost more than the amp. Actually, it sounds really tempting, the way you describe it.

[SuperSwede]

yeah, sounds like a killer stompbox!

[Nelskie]

There's gotta be something illegal about using a pedal that cost more than the amp. Actually, it sounds really tempting, the way you describe it.

blogan - I'm exactly the same way as you when it comes to forking over cash for gear - esp. higher ticket items. As in "is it really worth the dough?" IMHO, this pedal is. I'm very happy that I tried it out, and happier yet that I was able to find a used one on Ebay, instead of buying new. If you can't try one of these pedals out at a local shop, then maybe your best option would be to order one in from an online or catalog retailer that has a return policy. That way, if you don't like it, you can send it back.

I've really tried and went through a lot of gear in the past 2-3 years, and to say that it has changed the way I sound & play would be a big understatement. The ability to manipulate tone to your liking is a HUGE plus in my book, and I'm constantly on the look-out for gear that helps me to do that. Yeah, sometimes it can be a bit on the pricey side. Yet, there's always the chance that the elusive "grail tone" is lurking inside of that particular piece of gear . . . somewhere. It's up to you to find it!

SS - I'll see if I can't line up a few short clips of that pedal this week sometime, so you can hear what it sounds like.

[SuperSwede]

Nelskie, please do that !