Tonebone Hot-British Distortion

This pedal will require some tweaking to get the tone from it IF you are adament about using the EQing and boosting features.Still in all, easy to dial in once you know what your looking for.

I use the Volume/LEvel and Gain knobs are all thats needed for serious sustain/tone. I shut off the mid and lowend boost switches - run them out/ flat. AS well, the same goes for the EQ knobs for If you run them straight up 12 oclock they are essentially taken out of circuit.

I use the new Marshall 1959HW handwired Plexi amp. Great amp with some tweaks to it. I bridge the channels on this amp and run the Hot British in the top left input. I let the Tonebone supply the Gain and Volume whilest the 1959HW Marshall gives me 110% of my tone shaping/EQing to shape mny sound.

I wouldnt even beging to noodle with it through a Master Volume amp. To me it is not focused what so ever in that direction. If your a JCM800 2203 guy, Master VOlume rig...type of player which I also am for my Second rig look to a Klon Centaur or a SIlvermod TS9 Analogman. THis Tonebone is for the NMV type rigs. WIll send your Marshall into heights of greatness. What this pedal will NOT DO is give you Eddie Van Halen.

So far mine hasnt broken however a very close friend of mines switch went down on him and after sending it back to TOnebone direct the company put a heavy duty switch on the unit. So far so good. I think if TOnebone would have possibly upgraded the switch to the heavy duty variety in the first place this would have been avoided. Still in all, Im hoping this was an isolated incident . All else with the pedal was 100% THis rates an 8 for it didnt happen to me...yet:>) Im sure it will be fine. I also own a TOnebone Switchbone which I have yet to fully dial in due to final Rig modifications that are currently being done. I will post for the Switchbone. Tested really well though. Ok the Hot British seems like its a decent build of course its pcb for $180. I use only a Marshall 9thj gen chinese 12ax7 which gives me a noiseless and smooth operating conmdition over the stock tube which had a slight hum but still barely audible until you cerank her up! I have tried 12 dif. modern 12ax7 and 12ax7a types and the 9th gen chinese shines brightest in more ways then one.

TOnebone took some time with the repair to my friends unit but was acceptable. Overall he is happy with the repair. I myself have not used Customer support so no rating here for me.

I bought this unit under recommendation from my friend who sweared by these things for NMV type Marshalls. Well, as he usually is, he was correct. If your looking for an original tone or rather the particvualr tone your amp stock gives you but with added dimensionality, infinate sustain (If thats your type), Excellent harmonics, Nice Overdrive structure with punch and a broad freq. with even order harmonics across the top mid and bottom end EQs this pedal is the ticket. Great stuff. Great price. Good reliability. If your trul;y wanting to enhance your current Marshall or other Non Master Volume amps tone but not color its sound than this [edal will give it up in spades. Only more a-0natural sounding pedal mayu possibly be the BK designs. Still noodling with both! I trhink your missing something if you own a NMV Marshall anyway and dont have this pedal at least for a part of your arsenal. If your wanting to be EVH look elsewhere like an Attenuatopr, Variac, etc . I think you know. Great 12ax7 TOnebox for the money.

once purchased, the user will effortlessly dial in a variety of pleasing tones. the manual is extremely helpful in pinpointing the basics, at which time you've to let your ears tweek and finetune ''the sound'', your pursuing. ther are a copious amount of buttons to utilise that will allow you to get that heavenly sound.
if you can't find a particular sound that you can honestly use from this box, take up knitting, cuz your deaf.

2003 strat deluxe with dimarzio's into clean channel of an ALL TUBE 212, with celestion greeback ext spkrs. NOTE: YOU GET OUT WHAT YOU PUT IN!!!!!!!
don't whine about your tone when your running a floyd yamaha into a peavey bandit.
my pedal board , effects, and cables are boutique and first class. no digital boss crap here. many a praise i get.
this pedal is in one word british-marshall. a true pickers pedal, sensitive to pick attack, amazing natural lengthy decay, overtones.
i'll never have to look again. the distortion is JUST SO CONVINCING.
very finely grained distortion. smooth as butter to my ears and through my gear. sound is subjective and this is a refined marshal in a box. no overtly brutal sounds emanating from this box.

it's velcroed to my sturdy pedalboard and hasn't even farted in 2 years.

no need.

contemporary rock, legato, progressive. suits my style to a tee.
i'm a guitar teacher, weekend gigger, as well as many other things.
playing all my life, tried just about everything out there. smoother than my tube screamer, more versatile than them all. a very non-offensive user friendly pedal.
couldn't imagine playing without it anymore. i use it 75 % of the time i'm playing.

Its pretty easy to get a good sound of it, there are many EQ options to get used to, but once you get to know each one, you can get the hang of it.
The manual offers approx 10 examples of different settings, pretty useful... Overall, its easy to use, although the names for each parameter is a bit vague.

Im using a Fender American Stratocaster and a Fender 30w champion Amp, hence its a bit noisy, turning up the gain, though the single coils donate to it. The distortion you get from it is absolutely fantastic, you cant but get the authentic feeling of it.

Tweaking the parameters will lead to great sounds, although achieving a blues o/d might be a tough job to do. You also have the option to tweak the style of the sound (dark, bright, flat), making the bone a match to any amp.

I mostly into grundge - Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Nirvana, Alice in Chains, but I also play alot of blues and some hard rock like Guns N Roses... It can easily navigate through all the grundge and rock, I cant think of a band I wont be able to get to with it, yet, playing blues is a difficulty.

Its built like a tank, the knobs are solid, its all well.

Had no troubles with it, I wouldnt know.

I play everything from hard rock (Guns n Roses), grundge (Pearl Jam, AIC) to Blues (robben ford, etc). It can definitely sound amazing with all the rock types, but getting it to blues is pretty hard (try lowering the gain to 0 and getting the contour to max).

If it were stolen i'd definitely buy another one.

I really love its big mid boosts, its "sweet" tone, the fact that its extremely dominant... If you're thinking whether to buy it or the classic, simply ask yourself whether you're more into hard rock, a dist that really upgrades your tone presence, or whether you're looking for a dist. that'll give you everything from blues to mid-hard rock... (classic)

My 2 cents.

Although the pedal is a bit of a one trick pony, and the overall sound is pretty uniform, it can take a little tweaking to find exactly what you're looking for. Overall, though, it's quite simple to set up and use.

OK, this is a VERY subjective field, but for what it's worth: I bought this pedal because a reliable friend/guitarist said "It's Van Halen One in a box!". To an extent, I'd have to agree. If you play through clean or limited overdrive-style amps, and you're looking for a "classic" Marshall type tone, this pedal RULES!! That is all it does, but it does it wonderfully! If you already play through a high gain amp, it's probably not what you're looking for, because it can tend to "muddy" those up. I play a variety of guitars (Strats, Teles, a couple of Valley Arts) through either an old Super Reverb or a Vox AC30 CC. Through these amps, I'm able to cop the fabled "Brown Sound" and LOVE the sound I'm getting. I've tried it through higher gain amps, and didn't like it so much. But for me and my amps, I gotta give it a 10.

Been using this pedal for over 2 years now, and haven't had one problem.

Spoke with the Radial people a couple of times about other products (this pedal seems to be a tank) and they were friendly, knowledgeable (sp?), and professional.

I play mostly classic rock, some blues, some country, etc. While it doesn't work for the kind of country I play, for rock and blues, I haven't found a pedal I like better. Ended up buying a Tonebone Classic as well. Love these pedals. I've been playing for around 20 years, and I've tried dozens of pedals, from Boss to Ibanez to Digitech/DOD to Tubeworks (they were making clones of the old Chandler Tubedriver pedals) and I have not found a pedal that comes as close to the classic "Brown" Plexi sound. Like I said, I did buy a Classic too, since this pedal is a one-sound pedal. I also use an old Tube Screamer, a Keeley compressor, a boss delay, and an mxr phase 90, and a boss harmonist for chorus. I've been able to get pretty much any tone I've wanted with this setup.
If someone stole this pedal, I would definitely replace it!

Very easy to use.

Good general tube fuzz. Can have it trebbly or bassy/muted. The key work is 'GENERAL' tube fuzz.

Major things to keep in mind:

1-If you use the tube, you WILL get distortion with very very little overdrive or crunch sounds. This seems to only give distortion.

2-There is no 'clean sound' through the tubes. So If you wanna learn chords or practice while surfing the net with a nice mellow tube glow - forget it.

3-The tube does not give full 'crazy' distortion. Even maxed out with all knobs at max, there still is plently of 'could be' room for more distortion. Keep this in mind if you wanna go crazy or chase a sound.

4-The distortion that you DO get, is very tailor-friendly. You can get muted 'midrange' distortion or you can get very trebly open distortion with bass (which is what I like). You can fine tune this exactly to how you like. This is my favorite part of the pedal.
Again, keep in mind, for some reason there just isn't a tight crunch sound. It's a fuzz type distortion and that's it.

Here is my expert synopsis:

It's really a chip based that puts out the same fuzz tone like a fuzz face. When you up the gain, you are mostly likely just upping the tube output gain. The bass, trebble, etc are again just boosting signals to the chip.

Think about it, a REAL tube overdrive pedal should have at least two tubes.

Lots of people dump on the Electro-Harmonix English Muff?n Overdrive Pedal, but it uses 2 tubes and when you overdrive it all the way it beecomes very mudy and grungy. Almost changes tone.. why? Because it's most likely a real tube overdrive.

pretty easy to get the sound your chasing if you fiddle enough. manual helps.

using a fat strat through a hot rod deville. nice warm sound. can get a massive array of tones with it and every control is super responsive, and with enough tweaking you can really nail the sound you want. i use it for soloing to cut through and beyond

yeah its going fine. i think the tubes just gone in it. not flash after four months, but hey, you get that

had it for four months and i want to get rid of it. when i went looking i was tossing up between this and the classic. my reliable guitar store guy said this was the one because the classic just didn't have enough oomph/meat/zang whatever. this is where i screwed up. not remembering that my guitar guy is a big 70's and 80's metal fan, i took his advice and bought the hot british. what i realised is that his not enough is my plenty for the vintage rock'n'roll sounds i want. i can use this thing for solo's, and it is the best at what it does. but what it does, i cant use. entirely my fault. this pedal is a beast. so take this as a warning all pop/rock'n'roll players. and remember that 90% of guitar shop dudes are in the same guitar headspace my guy's in, so translate their advice accordingly (ie "right on man" = "i can dig, sugar").

The knobs are pretty self-explanatory, and there's a button you put your foot on... how can you go wrong? :)

Takes a bit of tweaking until you find your sound, but then everything does. Plenty of cool example settings on the Tonebone website (tonebone.com) which can provide a good starting point.

Replacing the tube is something you don't have to do with all-solidstate distortion pedals, but the manual gives detailed and easy-to-follow instructions so it's not such a disaster, and you don't have to do it often at all.

What can I say... this pedal is amazing.

I play an Ibanez RG1570 with the stock pups swapped out for DiMarzios (Tone Zone/Blue Velvet/Air Norton). I put a little compression on my clean tone and I keep the Tonebone in the loop on my Boss noise suppressor (quite important for me at least - I crank the gain up on this and with the compressor it does get a bit noisy). Amp-wise I use a Line6 POD Pro on the Roland JC120 amp model - not got the cash for a new power amp yet so I run it into the FX return on my other amp (Laney MXD120H)... works for me.

With the POD and the Tone Zone this pedal sounds amazing. It sounds pretty incredible when I had the stock pickups and just the Laney amp, but still... the range of sounds achievable on this thing is very impressive. Of all the people who say it's not that great for extreme metal, here's one guitarist *waves* who does. It's perhaps not your stereotypical metal tone, but it works for me at least. Crushing rhythm tone when you need it, and beautiful, smooth, creamy lead sounds when you need them too.

I may have taken a gamble which paid off but I'd still recommend trying it in the shop first, if you can.

It's a pretty sturdy metal box, it could probably be kicked around a fair bit and live... but I'm not going to try :P

I've had it 5 months and it's been PERFECT - no problems at all. Haven't gigged with it yet (will in a couple of months though) but I trust it enough to play without a backup.

Haven't had to go after customer support, so can't say.

I've been playing for about 4 years and I play metal - think Nevermore, Death, Symphony X, Lamb of God, etc - although I don't really sound like any of those bands, which is a good thing I suppose :P I don't just play metal though, I can handle almost all forms of rock guitar, as well as blues, funk and jazz, and this pedal is great for everything.

If it were stolen... first I'd hunt down the guy who took it and rough him up a little, then I'd buy it again in a heartbeat.

I love the sound, I love the versatility. I can't really think what I hate about it... nothing to hate!

Compared to my old Boss... no comparison. The MT-2 is just nasty standing next to the Tonebone. The other guitarist in my band uses a Digitech Death Metal which got some good reviews, but it's still constantly upstaged by the sound of the Tonebone. It cuts through the mix better, sounds meatier, smoother, and doesn't sound like a swarm of bees.

What I'd really like is a 7-band graphic EQ or something on the distortion pedal, but I have a Boss GE-7 anyway so I'm covered... but it'd be nice.

That's it really... this pedal is brilliant, so at least try it if you can.

Find your tone! play around

This is to respond to the people who say that the TB does not produce classic tones....BS*****t. You don't know waht you are talking about. Like the older players.... You need to have an old tube head such as a marshall plexi or JMP (67-75...no later)and not a JTM.I have an SG and use the tonebone and it is a totally natural gain sound that can be tweaked up. But yes....you can get classic tones. AC/DC with the drive down low or George Lynch with it up. People say that it has too much gain????Just turn the drive down. You NEED to have an old Marshall or Fender head and a Gibson or Fender to get these tones. There is barely any difference of gain when my drive is on 0, and when the tonebone is off. An MXR phase melds great with it.Throw in a Digiverb at the end of your chain. If you have a JMP Marshall(early 70s)this is the best tone on earth.If your pickups are mud, your tone is mud(neck PU). You will put all other tones to shame with the Tonebone. Without these great old tube heads...you can't have a vintage tone with the tonebone. Why would I waste my time typing this??

Carry a backup tube

fend for yourself

or You will em bar ass!!other people with your tone. I have an SG withsa stock bridge PU and a PAF pro in the neck along with 75 watt celestion cabinets. You can also get a killer modern metal tone when you drive it up...just use a HUSH pedal for the noise.(a great noise reducer that will NOT alter or chop off your tone or sustain when using an adapter/batteries will burn too quickly)
After 20 years of searching...my tone quest is over.
Again....you need that old Marshall or Fender head for that classic tone. Carvin., Bogner and Mesas will give killer tones also! JCM 800s,900s(heads) are crap along with AVTs
Throw away(I mean sell) your MXR or Boss or Digitech
Remember..Spend the money on an old Marshall ...6 knobs, 4 inputs

Controls are somewhat complicated compared to other distortion units, hence an 8 rating.

I had high expectations for the Hot British, being a big fan of the late 60s Marshall Plexi sound. I use a Germino Lead 55 head and Bogner Shiva head for guitar, both of which have plenty of Marshallesque overdrive in them. But I found the Hot British to be too muddy and too noisy. I recommend getting a Fulltone Full Drive 2 or OCD instead. Keep in mind that is just my preference, you could try the Hot British and find it gives you the sound you're looking for. And I'll repeat the old mantra -- "play it before you buy it". Especially with the amp you will be using it with.

Didn't have it long enough for a rating.

Did not contact them.

The Hot British wasn't my cup of tea. Maybe the Classic is a better pedal. Check out the Fulltone pedals, they have great overdrive along with crystal clear definition.

This pedal has a great deal of eq options, along with a well-matched volume control, and a sensitive gain control knob. It takes a bit to get the sound, but the options are well thought out. I usually run the eq flat, with the mid boost out and the notch out, but to add the notch does add a lot of bass and high end boost.

this is a very nice sounding tube driver. I run it with a PRS custom 24 with dimarzios or a les paul custom with dimarzios into a Marshall JTM 45. The sound is more sustain than gain. It adds a beautiful violin like tone to the JTM. It is a bit to much gain for a jcm 800, but a perfect match for the JTM or any plexi non master volume head!! I love this pedal, and feel it completely matches the early B.K. Butler designed tube drivers, for half the price!! Get one for your plexi type head, you will love getting a sustainy tone over an overdrive sound for different types of solos, or open chords like Angus Young!!! Sometimes a bit of mud on the neck pickup, probably unavoidable with a tube driver, but it is controllable!!

Seems very reliable. I have taken apart this unit to check out the insides, and let me tell you, it is one of the most well designed pedals I have seen. The circuit board is well laid out, and the tube is easily removed and replaced. It also uses a JRC 4558D chip, along with a bunch of other JRC (Japaneses Radio Corp.) chips, which sound fantastic. It is NOT very hard to take apart and removed the tube, do not be put off by this job, it took me 10 minutes to open and close, with changing the tube. The installed lovw gain Ruby tube sounds the best, I tried a JJ 12Ax7A and it was too much high end and gain, keep the low gain ruby tube, it works the best!!

This company is really on the move!! I love the people there in canada! I called them up the other day to ask about the tube, and in 2 minutes or less, I had a very knowledgeable tech on the line answering all my questions. He also suggested keeping the stock tube, a ruby, and he was right!!! I feel this company would take care of any problems whatsoever, plus they are very knowledgeable, and have a R & D room for testing complete with all the goodies, they are testing sounds and it shows!!

Overall I give it a 9. It has a great tone for sustaining a plexi head. That's what it does!! I love the sound running through my JTM 45, like early Santana and lots of creamy, fluid sustain! A must have!!