Tonebone Headbone VT

The hookup can be a little tricky, but just follow the manual and you'll be fine.

I heard no change in tone when using it. As the manual says, keep your cable runs as SHORT AS POSSIBLE.

Reliability was awful. I bought mine used, and it worked fine, for a month or two. Then one of the channels stopped working altogether. I sent it back to Radial for repair, and when I didn't hear from them, I had to contact them to find out what's going on. They said they tested the unit and "couldn't find anything wrong with it." I told them there IS something wrong with it- keep working! Finally, they found the problem (a bad relay), and fixed it... cost me $65 + international shipping charges (they are in CA, I'm in US). I got it back (about 6 weeks turaround time), and it worked great... for about a month. Then the same thing happenned again. To the SAME CHANNEL. This is BS. I have owned & own other Radial products with no problems, but this one SUCKS.

See above rant.

If you get one that works & KEEPS WORKING, it's great.

I hate to give this product a 6, but it is a bit difficult to use. That said, switching two heads and one cab is a relatively weird and difficult thing to do. Provided that you do everything right, and exactly the way the manual says, the unit will work fine and do exactly what it is advertised to do. If you don't follow the manual, it will either sound crappy or not work at all. I ran into a problem where I was turning on my amps before I plugged in the power for the headbone, bad idea. Switching didn't work. I was about to send it back to radial, when I reread the manual and realized my mistake. All in all, lots of cords, lots of room to mess up, have to be careful, but I love what the pedal does.

I'm switching between a '65 Bandmaster head for cleans, and a Fuchs Lucky 7 head (cranked) for leads, both running into an Avatar Cab (G12H30's). This is the ultimate setup of my life: my favorite clean sound and my favorite gain, going into my favorite speakers. It's great, the Bandmaster always sounds incredible, and the Lucky 7 makes all of my distortion pedals sound like toys. In a controlled listening environment where you're really taking time to A/B the sounds, you might notice a difference between having the Headbone in there and going direct into the amps, but in real life, on stage, especially when the rig's miced? You're not going to notice any difference at all. There's a (literally) split second, maybe 1/4 of a second of silence when you switch between amps.

For a while, I didn't think it worked. Then I realized I wasn't using it right. It's finicky but it works.

Customer support was fine when I thought it was broken. Dude got back to me same day.

This pedal has given me the opportunity to basically create my favorite channel-switching amp never got built: an actual blackface fender clean sound, and Andy Fuchs' take on the Trainwreck gain, both going through celestions. I love it. I feel like I can sit back and relax on the gear acquisition syndrome for a while, or at least concentrate on guitars now. I love that I only have to bring one cab around. Two cabs in my band's van just wouldn't work. For this functionality, I don't really think there are any other products like the headbone out there. Kudos to radial for making a really cool product that actually works.

For those who don't know, the Headbone switches a guitar signal between two amp heads into one cabinet. Useful for those who can't convince stubborn bandmates to carry two rigs for your musical genius on stage, and would just as soon leave you behind on tour instead.

No problems - 5 cables, power, and a footswitch. Guitar signal goes into the Headbone. Then from the Headbone there's one cable to amp 1 guitar input, another to amp 2 guitar input, a cable from amp 1's speaker output into the Headbone, and a cable from amp2's speaker output into the Headbone. Then the last cable goes from the Headbone to the speaker cab. It makes sense, for what it does, and the instructions are clear.

I have a Marshall single-channel footswitch that works fine for the "slingshot remote". Which everyone recommends (don't run long speaker cables, duh).

The only tricky part was the "buffered/unbuffered" input. I haven't heard that terminology used before, but they're referring to the signal level coming from the guitar and/or effects.

If it sounds too hot and squeely or dull and lifeless, switch jacks. When I first plugged in direct from the guitar (no pedals) into the unbuffered jack, it was boosting the signal too hot. Switching jacks, and it was fine. Once I plugged in pedals, it was too dull, and I switched jacks, and again, fine.

I didn't notice a difference between going straight into my heads and going through the Headbone. I'm of the belief that the more you run the guitar signal through, it does lose some aspect of "purity", but I really couldn't tell any difference. I recommend the Pepsi challenge to those who think they could. Maybe they'd have an ear for it. But the people in the crowd won't.

Musically, this is a 10 for sound.

There is one problem: there's a quick silence when the channel is switched. The website says about 11ms. It could be a deal-breaker, depending on the song. It gets dropped a notch for this, though I'm going to ask Radial about this and I'll file an update depending on what they say.

It's heavy. So far so good. I'd make sure you check the rating on some of the modern high-wattage amps on tonebone's site. My Fender is 85 watts and the Marshall is the loudest goddamn 50 watts I've ever heard.

http://www.tonebone.com/tb-headbone-vt-features.htm

Haven't had to use it. There's a lot of info on their website.

If you're looking for the ultimate guitar setup, there are two options. One is running an A/B(C?) switcher between separate, full rigs. When your band tells you to go f yourself when you suggest this, option 2 is this awesome little box.

I have the Headbone sitting on top of my 1965 Fender Showman 85 watt head, which in turn is sitting on top of my 1983 Marshall JCM 800 2204 50 watt. These run into the Headbone, which is connected to a 1960A which will soon have a pair of Celestion Vintage 30's to complement the G12-75's. I play a Epi Les Paul with 57 classics, and some evil hybrid Frankenstein Fender telecaster with Lollar pickups.

My friend plays through an original 1965 Fender Twin with those amazing clean tones, but my heart and soul required a deal with the devil for The Sound of Rock and Roll of a JCM 800. So why not? I bought the Headbone - keeping my return policy, in disbelief that this setup would actually work.

It works, and the ability to switch between that vintage pure Fender chime and vintage face-peeling abortion-inducing hell Marshall punch is wicked. Until they start building Fenders inside Marshall amp cabs, this is it.

How easy do you want it? Plug in the cab plug in the heads and bam!! awsome rig in seconds. Manual states keep cables short keep them short keep unit away from heads and no probs what-so-ever

How good are oyur amps. ~I use two matamps a 1224 for my clean/rythmn and a c7 flat out for my lead and have the option of a 1224 with pedal to generate mad overdriven lead at ear bleeding volumes. I found that if unit is place on top of or next to head some noise is generated but with good quality cables and placing the unit on the hard stuff no probs at all.
Doesn't affect tone at all but does stop the dragging of multiple cabs

Hasn't gone t*** up yet. no probs dont forsee any.

dont need it so far. if service is like product no probs

i play a whole mix and match of music so need the max fleibilty from my rig with a good pedal board a couple of decent amps I can get any sound i want. The tonebone enables me to save space and back ache and give some of the most awsome sounds ever. If it got nicked I would buy another before replacing my amps. I would also hunt down the culprit and make sure he aws using it properly. The criminal thing would be to leave it on a shelf.

I used the Headbone with an old Marshall Plexi and an ENGL Richie Blackmore Signature Amplifier.
The Marshall worked well with it, but with the ENGL I had only terrible feedback when I was going to play only with a little distortion. The feedback was so extreme that I couldn`t get any normal tone out of the amplifier.
On the cabinet the Engl worked perfekt, so this is the proof for the fact, that the Headbone is responsible for the bad sound.
It seems to work on Vintage amps, but on High gain amps it is just a shame!!!

It's ok

Also as terrible as the sound quality!!!
I had to write four e-mails to "Tonebone" to get an answer, that was absolutely helpless.
I asked them how to solve my problem and all they could tell me was that I should use High quality speaker cables.
After I'd told them that I use very good and short speaker cables I didn`t get any answer no more. Thanks a lot!!!
I paid 229 dollars for nothing!

The Headbone is a relatively simple device that lets you use 2 x heads with the one cabinet, but care is needed to set it up correctly to get the most transparent operation out of it. (It's extremely well built and surprisingly heavy for a 'pedal'.)
The included manual is very good and goes to length to explain how the unit works and how to set it up properly. Keeping cable lengths to a minimum is essential, as is using the right type of cables (don't skimp....use high quality!). The 'Slingshot' feature allows you to set the unit up right next to your amps and be controlled remotely, this is the key to retaining the tone & feel of your guitar signal.
I had no problems making my own custom cables up to suit this setup. (Handy tip for those who might do the same, use a different colour cable to distinguish between instrument/speaker/Slingshot...you'll be less likely to hook it up wrong that way!)
It pays to check, the double check before turning your amps off of standby and playing that first chord!

I'm using the Headbone to switch between an early 'block letter' Peavey 5150 120w head and a new Vox AC30 Custom Classic 30w head, both on a single slant front 5150 cab. I'm currently 'au-natural' and not using any stomp or rack FX. Main guitar is a signature EVH Ernie Ball/Musicman.
IMHO the Headbone is totally transparent and does exactly as advertised as long as you take the time to get the cables setup correctly (see above). The switching is totally silent & pop free, and no noise is added. (2nd caution! By default the recessed Ground switch should be in the 'Lift' position to avoid ground loops between the 2 amps. I tried it engaged just to see if there was any difference...and there was. Extra hum, noise & wierd tone....I put it back to 'lifted' and everything was back to normal.)

Only just got it so I can't comment at this time.

Haven't needed customer support.

For me, being able to utilise both the Vox & the 5150 with the one cab is a godsend....my tonal palette has now doubled....very cool!
Probably the only drawback at this point is the number of cables required to set it up. So next on the cards in the near future is getting a road case to house bothe the heads & the Headbone so the bulk of the cables can remain permanently hooked up. (IMHO it's a small price to pay for the expanded sound possibilities.)

Others have explained features, but I would say that Ease of use is actually not that easy. You basically have to plug in seven cords, of which three have to be guitar cables, and four speaker cables. Plus a cord for the slingshot and the power cord. It can get to be a lot of messy wires coming out of the box. Once figured out, it is easy to replicate, but it is still a giant mess of cords, which I don't like having to deal with. Also, cord length is essential (but not mentioned in the literature). Fixed cords would have been better, and saved some headache in the setup.

Setup is a Les Paul through a JTM 45 Clone, and a Super Reverb. I found that the pedal sucked the tone out of the signal path, almost like someone threw a blanket over my cabinet. Before adding the Tonebone my signal path was great. I use excellent cords, with only a few pedals in my chain. Never had any issues, but putting this pedal in just sucked me dry. No loss of signal power, just tone.

Thankfully I won't be owning it long enough to find out if I can depend on it. I used it for three shows, and now it is getting sent back, hopefully to be melted down for scrap.

Never had to deal with them, yet.

If it were lost or stolen, I would only be bummed because I wouldn't be able to send it back for a refund. Be warned, if you are a tone junkie, you might be very disappointed with what this pedal promises, but cannot deliver. Maybe if I were to be playing through an amp that sucked it wouldn't be so bad, but the amps I use are great. I feel the same way about using an attenuator, so if you use one of those, feel free to use this, you won't make your signal any worse.

This box is very easy to hook up, as it should be because if you don't hook it up right you could have some serious problems after.
The manual is helpful in explaining the functions of this unit, & the Headbone does what it claims.

The Headbone, as you probably know, is designed to switch between two heads into a single cab.
I've always wondered what it would be like to do this, & until now it was only for those who could afford fancy switching systems like the ones Cornish or Bradshaw are making.

With the Tonebone Switchbone, you could switch between two amps with each having it's own cab but that means bringing 2 cabs, but you could run them both at the same time so that to some is a plus, I have no need for this as my rig sounds good enough just running a single head at a time.

I'm using a JTM45 reissue for my clean & light crunchy sounds & a modded 69 Traynor YBA-3 Custom Special for my heavy to insane tones.
I'm running a THD hotplate with the Traynor as it is a 120 watt beast & sounds best when attenuated as opposed to using the added master volume.
I'm running this into my 1960TV cab loaded with philips alnico 12's

This rig sound awsome, I touch all the bases with this set up, & the Headbone switches silently without fail, I use the slingshot function in tandem with my Loopbone & have yet to have any issues.
I don't notice any coloration to my sound when using this set up as opposed to running just a single head by itself, it has improved my sound actually, with the Loopbone my sound is much more balanced & easy to match my effects tonewise.
HUGE IMPROVEMENT!!!

I've had this unit for a month, so the test of time isn't much to say at the moment but if you pick up one of these units, you will notice that they are more solid & heavy than they look, top knotch construction.

These guys at Radial are great at customer support, just Email them & they usually reply the next buisness day with a very descriptive answer to your question.

I play blues to very heavy rock & this unit has made my set up much better in terms of sound quality, versatility, & ease of overall setup.
I've been playing for over 20 years & I'm glad to see that a company sees the needs of the more casual player, unlike the pro's that can afford the fancy switching systems & the road crew to carry & set them up, we need more compact & affordable units so we can achieve the sounds of the pro's with out the big racks, but these units are for pro's & casual players alike with great bang for the buck features, portable yet build quality is very heavy duty.
If lost or stolen I would get a replacment, no question, I would recommend it to anyone!

Very easy to use, easy connection , very intuitive. Good manual with clear instruction.

The sound quality is excellent, it is designed for noise free switching and it does just that. It switches amps without a click and the switching is instantaneous. I use it with a classic 50 head for clean and a Marshall 1987X for overdrive. I also have it mounted in a rack so that instrument and speaker runs are minimal. I also take advanatge of the switchbone feature and use my Ground Control Pro and GCX to remote switch. The set-up is so simple guitar-->couple pedals-->headbone<---amps
l
l--->1 speaker cabinet

Works like a charm!

So far so good. Nice heavy construction, metal quarter inch jacks. I haven't had it that long but it has never failed.

Outstanding. I did a lot of research before purchasing this pedal and decided to contact the company directly. They answered all my questions. When it came to buy, I purchased through my local music store and there was a mix up in paper work....could have cost me 4 weeks to receive, they took it upon themselves and shipped the Headbone via 2 day courier instead of their regular courier company. Stand up all the way!

Great product, does exactly what is suppose to do. Switching is silent with no loss of tone. I AB'd direct input vs Headbone, no notible difference to my ears.

One Switch...
Head one or Head Two...
How Simple is that?
However, there are several inputs and ouputs on the unit to Hook up. Attention to guitar signal vs. speaker signal should be taken when setting up your pedal for use to avoid damage to the unit or your heads.

Although this is not an effect pedal, It can alter your tone if you don't hook it up the way the manual suggests. I had no short cables the day I got the headbone and hooked it up with three 25 ft. speaker cables and 3 20 ft. guitar cables. There was signifigant signal degredation with these lengths. I went out and got three ft. speaker cables, set the headbone up at the foot of my cab, ran the remote switching output to one of my footswitches for my heads and everything sounded great. My set up is as follows...
RMC Teese Wizard Wah> Sweet Sound Mojo Vibe into a Pedalworks effects loop switcher. The wah and Vibe bypass the loop switcher and runs straight to the headbone. There's a Tonebone Hot British in loop one. Loop two feeds a Chicago Iron Parapedal> Red Witch Moon phaser> Maxon CS550 chorus> Visual Sound H2O Liquid chorus and delay. The signal then runs from the pedalworks loop switcher to the Headbone VT. The Headbone VT feeds two Peavey Classic 50 watt all tube heads and a matching Peavey 410e speaker cab. And the tone sounds great!

Although I have only had this pedal a couple of weeks, I still give it an 8 simply from past experience with tonebone products. They build rock solid gear period.

When I got my first tonebone product, I got email diurectly from Peter Janis at Radial Engineering. He answered all of my questions promptly and went out of his way to make sure I was happy. Nothing but great service from anyone I have ever had contact with at Radial.

I gig every weekend and have no desire to haul two speaker cabs around as much as I play out. This is a gigging musician's must have piece of gear. It gives me the versatility of running a two head rig for more tonal options and is a great addition to my set up. I'm waiting on the loopbone to come in now and I'm confident that it will be an excellent tool as well. I hope the folks at Tonebone keep these well thought out pedals coming!