Tonebone Hot-British Distortion

It's a no brainer!! Versatile controls at your fingertips!

I use it with tons of amps as I gig quite often. Mainly at home I use it with a Blackheart half stack and a Marshall JCM 800 half stack. Produces great sounding classic distortion from AD/DC to Metallica to even My Chemical Romance kinda distortion! Amazing shiat comes out from this box. Adding a Tubescreamer in front adds more crunch and attack to it which enabled it to go even further. Sounds thick and warm with great highs and amazing harmonics and picking sounds. I use a Fender Tele Japan and a Gibson 56 reissue Goldtop as my main axes and it's a really sweet combination.

Gigged with this many times over the past 2 years. No problems at all except for some slight scratches on the casing, other than that.... this thing could be thrown around and it would still be working.

Never gave me any problems so I've never dealt with them.

Great pedal for any kind of music but for me, blues and classic rock to classic metal, this pedal can get all the sounds. If you can't bring around a tube amp, this is the pedal to achieve tube sounding distortion.

Theres heaps of knobs and switches but that isn't a problem.

OK this is why i wanted review it!

Yes it would be much better with a noisegate,eq and different tubes!

BUT you shouldn't have to buy all these to make it sound any good!

It should as good as the company described it!

It is basicly just ment for good clean amplifiers

LISTEN KIDS WHO EVER, THIS IS NOT A SUBSITUTE FOR HI GAIN TUBE AMPILFIE

IT WILL NOT MAKE YOUR SOLID STATE 15 WATT AMP SOUND LIKE ONE!

trust me i know :P

the knobs variate to make some good sounds but the TONE in general all isn't up to my standards!

By the way it's worth about $400 Australian over here...

Trust me on this it's built like a brick!

I give great Kudos on that!

I have dropped it now a fews times after i found out it was not what i quite intended it to sound like and it still strong, the tube is still fine after all that too.

Contact with them is great!

But the advice the give is pathetic.

I emailed them, to see if my pedal was broken or something.

When I select to neck pickup and put it on full drive it sounds digusting!

The company just said ease of the volume on your guitar and it should be fine!

All that did was make lower in volume and lower in distortion!

Thats not what i wanted. I wanted it to be high gain for a reason!

I play metal rock and some blues licks

it's good for rock and blues in a sense, metal it has no hope! sounds like crap with full drive!

Ive had it for about a yar now.

I have a Squier Strat*, Epiphone G400 with Dimebucker,Ibanez Custom made Blazer series, fender front man 15 watt, digitech rp80


I have played the TONEBONE THROUGH A PEAVEY 6505 with cabs and a MARSHALL DSL with cab- to try and see the diffence

that's why i came to write this haha

I would say this pedal is easy to use. It comes with quite many knobs and switches, but they do what they say they do. No surprises. The manual is all right, but you won't need it. Same one for the Classic distortion and Hot British also.

I would say this pedal is easy to use. It comes with quite many knobs and switches, but they do what they say they do. No surprises. The manual is all right, but you won't need it. Same one for the Classic distortion and Hot British also.

This pedal had, when I got it a somewhat moderate variety of sounds coming out of it. Of course it sound great when you just got it. And after a few months I would rather play the amp clean then with the hot British plugged in. No matter the settings it always sounded as the amp was put in closed box, really thin and without punch. It was way to early to change the tube, but I thought I'd give it a shot before cursing it to h*ll (It's an expensive pedal so you except it to deliver). I???m my case switching to a Svetlana tube made all the difference. Sounds great! No loss in tone when switched on. Bluesy, rocky and metalish.

I use this with a one channel tube amp (Laney LC15R). The amp does not have much gain, and the two get along very well. This combination works better with passive pups tho. Never found Active ones could use the dynamics.

The metal housing seems really solid. Don't know about dropping it...

Haven't talked to them

Does start of with some distortion even if you're really soft on picking and volume is rolled down. Other than that this pedal covers most areas except the level of distortion where you no longer hear the cords. Great sound, tho expensive and the two channel version is even more expensive...

As distortion pedals go, this is one of the more tricky ones. Speaking from about 3 years of experience with the Hot British, you can find awful sounds and you can find phenomenal tones from this box! The tube you use in it will also make some difference in the overall sound (naturally, right?). Now, this is not to say it's as difficult to use as a programmable preamp like a Triaxis, but because of the extreme range of the controls on the Hot British, it can sometimes be difficult to dial in a tone. You definitely must spend some time dialing this box in.

Ok. Here's the deal: Use an EQ after this pedal! As of now, I'm using a Boss EQ pedal in my chain immediately after the Hot British, and to put it mildly, it makes an enormous difference in tone! The Hot British by its lonesome tends to be thin and harsh sounding to my ears. It gets especially bad in lower tunings or when using 7 strings or baritone guitars. Without and outboard eq, the distortion takes on a very JCM-800 gnarl. That's a good thing for some, though not for me, and certainly not for tunings below D. In fact, the first year I had this pedal, I was quite frustrated with it and very nearly tossed it. Then I read a few posts online about using EQ pedals after a distortion box in your signal chain and decided to give it a try. Holy Balls! Death metal, black metal, van halen, greasy single-coil SRV tone, and a lot more were instantly at my fingertips! Lower tunings are absolutely no problem anymore!

However, you must be aware that this pedal has a few problems. First, while I applaud Radial for using quality tubes, the JJ 12AX7's that come standard in the Hot British are not the right choice for the distortion this box is capable of. Try an Electro Harmonix instead and you'll see what I mean. The JJ actually reduced the overall amount of gain of the Hot British with no appreciable difference in tone. Maybe I had a bad one, but I had a similar problem when I switched to JJ's in a combo I played as well, so I'm inclined to think JJ's are inherently less gainful than other preamp tubes. Also note, that the Hot British has difficulty nailing mid-gain tones. Even at lower gain settings, the distortion is too thick (compressed?) for that edge-of-gain type of tone. You'd be better of using a boost pedal or your amps own overdrive characteristics for achieving that type of sound.

But, if over-the-top metal and blues is your thing, take my advice, throw an EQ in the line after the Hot British, and run it into a good, clean tube amp (I'm using a Heritage Patriot and it's out of this world!), and you have yourself a very, very respectable rig.

I would not advise using this pedal with a high gain head or combo. They're usually voiced way too cold (especially Mesas, VHT, Peavey, etc.) for the Hot British to work very well. The Hot British works better with a mellow tube amp than with solid states or really tight sounding tube amps (such as many of the newer Marshalls or Krank heads). In other words, you need something in your poweramp section that will take some of the bite off of this pedal.

Also, for those complaining that this pedal is noisy...get a noise gate for christ's sake! Gobs of gain=noisy. Duh! Try to find me any pedal, head, or combo that doesn't get noisier as you crank the gain. Sheesh.

I practically destroyed this pedal and it still sounds great...it's a long...and embarassing...story.

It's rugged beyond my expectations.

Dunno. Haven't bothered with them.

It's sort of like this: Distortion pedals suck. They all have problems. None of them can really compare to full-on poweramp distortion coming out of a cranked tube amp and a stack of speakers a mile high. But let's face it--the vast majority of us don't have the space or the neighborhood to allow us to play such a rig...at least without legal ramifications. So, almost all of us will have to compromise on our tone for the sake of economy and practicality. That being said, many of us are using lower-power combos and more preamp distortion than our arena rock compatriots. Of all the super-distortion pedals out there for us lowly neighborhood rockers, the Hot British beats just about anything for high gain. So really, I guess I'm saying that the Hot British is a necessary evil. Would I rather have a monster rack or an old Marshall at full volume? Yep. Who wouldn't? But my rig right now makes the most sense for my budget and for my environment. I'm quite pleased. Most of you reading this will be too if you follow my advice on the EQ pedal.

There's a shitload of combinations to this pedal as it has the switches aswell as the normal bass, treble and contour controls, so it does take a bit of tweaking to get what you want, but it's not rocket science.

I bought this pedal because i'd sold my marshall DSL100 and bought a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe and i wanted to make the Fender sound like my Marshall dirty (the clean is epic). Well first of all it doesn't have as much gain as i thought it would, to be honest I don't really put the gain above 12 o'clock because after that it can get a bit muddy, at 12 o'clock it's a classic rock sound, maybe Guns n Roses style gain, no more.
To turn it into a full dirt sound i had to use my Carl Martin kick boost to metal it up, together they sound great but on it's own the Tonebone is a bit limited.
It's a strange sounding pedal, sometimes it can sound great, and others it can sound a bit thin, the guitar you use affects the tone massively - for example I've played my Peavey Wolfgang through it and had really good deep crunch think Tool, but then played my strat through it and it's sounded a bit flappy.

Overall I'd say that through a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe it sounds good, but not as good as I'd been led to believe by some reviews on here. For rythym it's not great, but for lead sounds it really comes to life.

Only had it about 6 months, no problems as yet, it seems very well put together.

n/a

I'd love to try it through a different amp, something more suited to a good distorted sound, but part of me thinks well if I have to buy a Marshall for this thing to sound good, i don't then need a pedal which sounds like a Marshall !!! if you know what i mean.

It's better than everything else i tried, but i'm still far from convinced.

Sure, easy to use, no problem here.

I didn't own it long enough to comment.

I didn't have to deal with the company.

I have been playing for over 25 years. I play anything from Robben Ford type stuff, to older Dokken, Van Halen. etc. One of my favorite guitar sounds is on Don Dokken's "up from the ashes" ripping boosted vintage Plexi tone all the way, ragged, crunchy, warm and bright in all the right places, check it out even if you hate the music. Tone! Tone! Tone! Back off the distortion and use your fingers! Stop the insanity!

easy enough, good marks here

I've been playing for over 25 years. Don Dokken's "up from the ashes" has one of my favorite distorted guitar sounds ever; warm, raggedy ripping old Plexi Marshall tone to the nines. Crunchy, warm and bright in all the right places. Check it out even if you hate the band. I play from Robben Ford type stuff, to Dokken-like or old Van Halen type older metal stuff. You get the idea. Tone! Tone! Tone! Let your fingers do some of the work, back off the gain! Stop the insantity!

First I would like to say that I agree with the guy below me. This pedal has gotten raving reviews.. and alot of people jump on the bandwagon to buy this pedal. But the longer I play this pedal the more I realize its shortcomings. In my opinion this pedal is NOT very versatile. I have fiddled with the settings for hours and still come out with like 2-3 basic useable settings. I have to keep the gain really low or it gets muddy and sounds disgusting. I even went on the website and tried all the factory settings and still did not get desirable results.

My main complaint is that this unit is noisy when on. I have a custom built hand wired mojave head and a PRS so my rig is dead quiet at full volumes.. except for when i activate this pedal. I guess when your playing its not very noticable but as soon as the band stops there is that obnoxious buzzing sound. In my opinion sound quality itself is up to the discretion of the user. Someone who has played on a crappy transistor practice amp thier whole life will think this sounds awesome. The other thing i dont like is how it gets so muddy when the gain is set higher. Any setting past 10 o clock is overkill and takes away from the from the over all sound.

I bought it used and have had it for over a year no problems

I have gotten some great tones out of this unit at lower volumes but for live situations it has its limitations. It is definately a usable and pleasing product but it is not the holy grail of distortion tone as it is made out to be.

Easy enought to use, all is self explanitory.

I think it?s about time someone submitted an opposing viewpoint on this thing. I got so excited about this from all the reviews both here and in magazines that I raced down to a local shop and bought one on the spot. I own a Marshall Plexi 50 reissue with PPI master installed and old Marshall 412 cab. I play a Strat with Duncan Single Coils and an 80?s Charvel with Dimarzio Airzone or something like that. As soon as I plugged in I immediately knew what I was playing through: A direct rip off of the old SansAmp GT-2 pedal. This is not a distortion stomp box, but subminiature transistor preamp with a tube used for nothing more than a pilot light. The sound was ok for low volume riffing but it is synthetic sounding and does not blend into your amp, instead it completely obscures the basic sound of your amp. The louder I played the more transistory and synthetic it got. To be fair, I can see why it's popular. At low volume it makes a big sound with satisfying bass and I guess if you have a little combo amp that is as non-marshall as you can get (seems to be the case with majority of the raves here) and you have not played a real boosted Marshall in a long time (if ever) then you might think this is great. But into a REAL Marshall that only gets up to mild grind levels on its own, you might has well be playing it direct in to the PA. Yes, the distortion has a fairly steady, solid nature to it, but again the texture of the distortion is very plastic and unnatural sounding and again, worse the louder you play. It IS voiced well for guitar. Also, it is very articulate consistant sounding from top to bottom (no mushy woofy bass or screetching highs) and that was the one thing I really liked about the SansAmp, But I still say this is so close the sound of the SansAMP GT-2 that these guys must have directly ripped off the GT-2 circuit because the similarity in distortion character and voicing is just too close for coincidence. THAT I do not respect. In summary, a fun toy for the bedroom, but not a pro unit. The Classic which I tried later was smoother and less plastic sounding, but still the same syndrome of a "hostile take over" of the foundation tone of the amp you play it into. Rating this is tough, because as a stomp box distortion which is how it is marketed, I give it a 3. As mini transistor pre-amp designed to imitate a big Marshall amp, I would give it an E for effort were it not for the fact that I believe this is a rip-off of another design with a tube used as a distractor. There is NOTHING "tubey" about this thing, and I mean both the good and the bad qualities of tubes.

Seems well built, I was satisfyingly heavy in solid to hold in your hand, which is always a smart thing to do from a marketing/customer satisfaction point of view.

I have no experience here so this doesn't apply.

I think I covered this section in the above. My main genre is "rock-metal". I like a high-gain but old-school type of tone and value hearing the tone of the guitar well-preserved. I am sorry if I offend anyone who has such contrary experiences with it, but I felt a contrary point of view would be helpful for potential purchasers.

Very easy for me to find the sound that I wanted. A few switches and knobs. Great tweakability.

Sounds exactly like I want it to. I play guitar with Autovenom and you can check out the sounds of both the classic tb and the hot brit on myspace.

Here's where I have a problem with the tonebone distortions, both the classic and the hot brit. The switching sucks the sweat off a dead mans balls! For this reason I am now searching for a replacement to both of these distortions. I've sent one of them back to canada already and I'd rather trash the thing than keep having to do that.

Radial supposedly fixed the switching problem when it first became a problem for me. Whatever they did it didn't last. If there's one thing that I can't fucking stand is being in the middle of a recording session and having any expensive piece of shit crap out on me. Kudos for their quick turnaround though, lol.....

What style of music do I play? I don't know, listen to Autovenom and you tell me! I've been playing guitar for 28 years and own nothing but top quality instruments and effects. Although the tonebone's sound great, I can't rely on them to be there when I need them. Hey maybe I just got 2 bad ones, and the one that was repaired just got tired of me stepping on it. If some dumb sonofabitch was to put there hands on my pedalboard, I'd probably tell them go ahead and take the tonebones, they suck anyway. Then again, they may swallow a hollowpoint! I give it a 4 in overall because it sounds so good but I don't want any extra aby switches on my board so I consider it a piece of sh1t!

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!!

Setting all knobs 12 o?clock and all switches neutral produces already a usable sound. It?s just much more time consuming to find the sound that suits you best; you won?t get there in the first day. The big problem is the lacking equalization. No mid knob? The mid boost switch affects the frequencies around 360Hz. I mean, WTF?! Since when has 360Hz been considered as mid? It?s much easier to get scooped EQs (read: sucky) out of this box than that upper mid bite, while treble is very prone to insanely bright sizzle. I found it helps when I put the voicing switch on 'fat' (which by the way doesn?t make things fatter, only louder) and the contour knob to max, and the treble knob relatively low.

I haven?t changed the tube yet (I haven?t owned this for that long), but eventually time will come to do that. According to the manual it looks quite confusing. Now I?m not a dim-wit, I will be able to do it, but I just don?t like the idea of disintegrating the whole unit to change one lousy tube. That?s part of the usability, so ease of use -rating won?t score high with Hot British.

The sound is definitely NOT as old school as all the hype claimed. Actually quite smooth (smoother than my personal tastes would prefer) with fine-grained texture and strong compression. But on the other hand it can?t be denied it has the drought and warmth you don?t hear nowadays anymore on the trendy "metal" recordings. I hear the same feel than in sounds of American hard rock and metal albums from the early 90?s. A bit like G?nR with moderate drive settings, and with the drive cranked to max more like death metal from that era (for example Brutal Truth?s Need To Control album, although not that extreme and huge... Ok, not the best example.) The drive around 12 or 1 o?clock, and it fits well for all kinds of metal (remember Skid Row?), and why not even for black metal too, for its rather good chord definition. I just don?t like the lack of ?breath? on higher string chords; it?s tight in that way instead of loose. (Keep in mind that I have a humbucker on my guitar.) Still it?s not tiresome to ears for some reason, and the more I play it, the more I grow to like it, although it?s definitely not MY sound (the sound I hear in my head).

Absolutely the worst part is the tendency for loud buzzing noise. I have the same problem with another distortion pedal that is acclaimed as silent, so I don?t know what the problem is. On the other hand I also have an analogue distortion pedal which noise levels are extremely low. So I guess Hot British doesn?t like my crappy guitar or electricity of my house. Frankly, I expected more noise tolerance for such expensive piece of equipment. However, it seems that this problem can be solved with buying a noise gate, because whenever I make a sound from my guitar, the noise steps aside.

The manual claims that the controls are interactive and "over-compensate" each other. This must be a blatant lie, because when keeping all the other knobs at same settings, distortion characteristic is the exact same whether I put the level knob to 9 o?clock or 5 o?clock. So there?s only one kind of distortion you get from this box, you can change only the gain and equalization. For this reason I?d like to someday try out Stephenson StageHog, which has genuine interactive controls.

Soloing is for some reason not so fun with Hot British. I dunno, it just sounds somehow awkward and not pretty sounding at all. Perhaps you will enjoy the mid boost switch for retro-ish blues solos, but for me there are better soloing distortion devices handy.

Pick attack is smooth and not very accentuated, but articulate on higher strings. On lower strings the pick attack is somehow lacking... As if it had flu. Melechesh?s Sphynx album has similar kind of behaviour of distortion, in case you have heard it.

I don?t know if using an adaptor with different voltage is possible or dangerous to Hot British. The stock power supply is 15 volts, and perhaps such a high voltage causes Hot British to sound the way it does. But I don?t want to fry this box with daring voltage experimentations.

For me, Hot British does only one thing (although it does it well), and that is good all around metal and hard rock rhythm guitaring. For such, the price is ab-so-lute-ly dreadful! For <gasp> 300 euros, a pedal should produce multitude of convincing non-digital sounds for multitude of situations, mow your lawn, and make your coffee as well. I recently found a distortion pedal that kicks Hot British?s ass for far less that 1/3 of its price (RAT 2, if you insist to know). I feel tricked. Tricked into thinking that there is no substitute for a real tube distortion.

But hold on, I?m not ready to part from Hot British, at least not yet. The sound has nice warmth and clarity, and it?s actually quite inspirational and addicting to play through Hot British, resulting in lots of cool riffs. I think I will use it in my future recordings alongside with other distortions. I?m just bitter for the money I spent.

Without the voicing and mid boost switches, this pedal would not be nearly as useful. It takes a while to dial in the right sounds, much like a good tube amp.The controls are very responsive, almost too responsive. Definetly not a "plug in and play" pedal, 8 for this category.

I have tried many marshall amps, and of course listened to countless records featuring the marshall sound.Being very particular about my guitar tone, i was very skeptical as to wether other not the lonely 12ax7 was just a gimmick. First plugging in my american strat into a simple blues jr, I was surprised that even with the gain at 12 the sound still had plenty of sustain and saturation, without the lo fi compression associated with many new transistor pedals. With mid boost,delay,reverb, and a tubescreamer to fatten up the high notes i could get very close to the eric johnson violin tone on the bridge pickup. Soaring leads without getting muddy, even with my sloppy technique. I think the secret is to not dime the gain, as i was used to doing on my other distortion pedals. Next up was my 58' reissue les paul, which when used with other dist pedals was a major disappointment. With a few minor tweaks i was getting the tone i had in mind when i bought the guitar. Fat,warm,responsive,rich les paul humbucking tone found all over the live zeppelin cd "how the west was won". I was very pleased to find that the pedal could mimic the drive of an old plexi as well as the higher gain marshalls, not just another one trick pony. Coming from a guy who is very particular about his distorted tones, this is the closest ive ever come to the ultimate dirt box.

The pedals seems solid enough, but when the time comes to change the tube im in for a hassle. Reading up in the manual, the entire pedal must be taken apart to get at the tube inside.Assuimg the inner electronics are fragile, im very weary of perfoming major surgery on such a great pedal. Tube needs to be replaced every 3 years or so with regular usage, warranty from tonebone only lasts for one year.

I imagine theyre pricks.

Ive owned boss ds-1's,mt2's, Dod's, Big muffs,etc. Nothing has come close to the authentic sound of this pedal. I reccomend this to anyone needing the sound of a marshall or just high quality tube distortion. Brillant,possibly the best distortion pedal on the market today.

I admit that it took me a while to find a sound that I like, but now I do believe that I've got it! It's just that with the controls all being active the slightest move on a dial can make all the differance. I did find a lot of cool tones along the way, but I was trying to find the right sound for me and for the equiptment that I'm using it thru.

I'm using the Hot British with a swamp ash Les Paul loaded with a set of Dimarzio Virtual PAF's. (Outstanding pickups!)My amp is a Fender Deluxe Reverb Reissue. (Great amp. Don't let some snobs tell you otherwise). The only change to the amp is a Hellatone 30 speaker from Avatar which is housed in a seperate open back cabinet that I built. I've read some reviews here where people have said the unit is noisey but that's not the case with mine at all. As I said it took me a while to find 'the' sound that would work for me. Part of that process involved trying differant preamp tubes. Mine came with a JJ ECC83S which is a very good tube in certain applications. But for the most part I thought it drove the gain on this pedal to extreames. This pedal is a hot-rod, make no mistake about it, and I thought it needed a bit of calming down. In my humble opinion the two tubes that I felt helped this pedal are a Groove Tubes 12AX7M and a lesser gained EH 5751. I seem to prefer the 12AX7M because to my ears it seemed to give the mids more of a 'wooden' quality which I like and it seemed to calm the gain down somewhat.
A lot of folks have said the Hot British sounds like a Marshall. Keep in mind that I've never played thru a Marshall but I have my own idea of what the Marshall sound is. To me, think Judas Priest's "Living after Midnight", AC/DC's "Back in Black" CD, EVH's tone on "Van Halen II" and Jimmy Pages tone on "How The West Was Won." In my opinion the Hot British does NOT sound anything like the artists tones I've mentioned. It's too high gained for tones like that. To me it's more along the lines of a 5150. Think of EVH's tone on "Fire in the Hole" or on "Aftershock." That's what the Hot British delivers. A very gainey, present and full kind of a sound that will peel the paint off a wall if you want it to. You can also get a decent scooped, Mesa kinda thing too but that's not my preferance.
For what I like to hear and what seems to work best with my equiptment is to have the controls on the Hot British set as follows:
Level: 2:00
High: 12:00 w/ Top End switch set to Flat
Low: 2:30
Contour: 2:30 w/ Voicing Switch set to Notch, Mid Boost set to 7dB
Drive: 11:30
Again, thru my gear I get a great sound that's thick but not too middy or muddy, low with no drone and clear without being ice-pickey. Just a really good modern rocking tone that works for me. Makes my little Deluxe sound HUGE!!

I've had the Hot British for about 2 years now and so far all's fine.

I did e-mail them one time and they never responded. Maybe my message got lost that day. but I have read that the folks at Radial are very helpful.

I'm by no means an expert when it comes to pedals because I've only tried maybe 5 others before buying the Hot British. I know there are other pedals with tubes out there and others that sound pretty good that don't require much of a learning curve compared to this one. But for my needs and for what I like to hear I'm really digging on this pedal since I've found the sound that works for me. It's definatley tailored for more of a higher-gained thing and if that's what you're looking for I would recommend giving the Hot British a try. If you're after more of a tradition Marshall sounding kinda pedal I would recommend the Classic, of which I also own. Great stuff.

The British tonebone puts any other distortion to shame. Everything else is a joke. You really need to spend time with it and have a good tube amp , and a good guitar. The manual is great...you just need to take your timwe dialing in. After searching for 19 years, this is it.

If you are using a guitar without a humbucker, it is limited, of course. I am using an SG with a marshall 74 head with a Hush pedal(very important). The Hush will wipe out most of the noise without affecting a high gain tone.I am able to get such a wide variety of tones from death metal to mild rock. The sustain and crunch is incredible. The sound is so much clearer when soloing on the G and D strings in the neck pickup position. You do not hear that annoying pick attack scraping sound. It is singing clarity.

No problems yet. Any one with a brain would carry a backup tube with them.

xxx

The tone w/ my SG, old Marshall tube head JMP 1974, the Hush and the tonebone, in my opinion can give you any rock or metal tone. It can sing sweet or blow your head off. Try this setup..

The tonebone is the key to happiness

It's not hard but you have to take your time to tweak the knobs. I suggest you to read the explanations of the swithces in the manual, which brings average info about the features.

Gretsch Sparkle Jet and Yamaha AES620 (Les Paul type with Duncan JB on the bridge) throught Tonebone to '59 Fender Bassman reissue.

Compared it with my TS9 reissue, a Maxon D & S II, an American made Big Muff and a Boss Turbo Distortion.

I compared it with the TS9 because this is a pedal that realy keeps your amp's original sound, no matter what people say abut 808s, OCDs and Fulldrives. The other pedals were there just for the comparison's sake.

The Tonebone is by far the most convincing distortion pedal that I've ever tried, and I am picky. It just doesn't have the same low-end that the Turbo Distortion has, but it sounds bigger than this and bigger than the Maxon. I used to have a Metal Zone and I sold it because, although it has a tight low-end, it sounds very solid state, which can be good if you play metal.

There's no middle ground or mild distortion for the Tonebone. This thing was made to rock hard and loud. If you want an overdrive, to play, like, Rolling Stones or Steve Ray Vaughn, go get some Tubescreamer or Maxon808. The Tonebone came directly from the depths of Marshall Hades to take our guitar players' souls. Great for playing STP and classic metal, but not for Pantera or Death Metal (I would stick with the Metal Zone if I was to play extreme metal).

There are so many possibilities in the Tonebone that it'll probably take me a year to figure it all out.

Chord definition is good, but not superb. It's not fuzzy at all and it has some smothness reminescent of a Master Volume tube amplifier. I found that the TS9 and the Maxon had better chord definition, but the former is just an (very good) overdrive and the latter does get fuzzy in higher gain settings and it doesn't sound as convincing. The Tonebone sounds beautiful no matter where the gain knob is.

I don't know. Bought it two days ago...

Although the pedal looks and feels like a tank, I would bring a backup because this thing has a tube in it and tubes sometimes have a temper...

Never had to deal with them.

I play classic rock, punk, post-punk, metal, alternative and I think the Tonebone covers at least 80% of these territories. First time I tried it was about 3 years ago and in the clean channel of a Bad Cat Hot Cat amp. I compared the pedal with the amp's distorted channel and liked the amp's distortion better. However, that was a over $ 2,500 amp and I'm fine having the Tonebone turning my Bassman into a Marshall. My favorite features in this pedal are the dip switches, and the marvellous things they can do. I'm a bedroom player, but I bet this thing rocks on stage becase it excels in provinding you with two extra mid-range levels, just what you need to make yourself heard in the mix.

As I said in the beginning, I compared it with a few other pedals, had previously played with it years ago and decided to buy it after months of rssearch on websites, including Harmony-cental. Now my search is over; better than the Tonebone, only buyng a Marshall stack, which I won't do in this life of meat-and-potatoes guitar player of mine.

Simple. The manual is a great way to start with this pedal, then expand the sound with your own tastes by turning a few knobs. the sounds on this pedal are endless.

This is by far the best distrotion pedal ive played on so far. My own theory in one word is " tubes ". there is no substitute or anything that comes close to re-creating the sound of genuine tube distortion. i play everything minus country and anything similar to rap, and this pedal does almost all of it, incuding some pretty heavy stuff. the only complaint i have is if im in a low tuning ( drop - c ), once i start doing chords on the lower stgings up past the 8th or 9th fret, it gets more fuzzy than it does distorted. it could be my pickups, cuz all im playing on for dropped-tuning stuff is a ibanez low end rg model. this thing sounds great for all around rock on my gibson ( es-335) and esp ( tele reissue ) and i have no complains with those guitars. this isnt made for heavy stuff, but it can cut it. this thing also breaks through the rest of a bands playing great.

for how small this thing is, it weighs quite a bit. the knobs are very tight, and that seems like a good sign to me too. id gig without a backup simply because i have no other distortion pedals anymore besides this one.

n/a

For what i play ( rock, blues, and metal ) this thing is great, but i could probly use a little more metal-styled pedal for the heavy stuff. this thing sounds like an amp itself. a marshall to be exact, like everyone has said. i bought this thing without trying it out or anything thinking i was taking a big gamble on it, and im more than happy with this pedal. if it were stolen, id simply find it, get it, and keep it. i love the way this thing makes my guitars sustain basically last for days. its unreal.i do wish it had a mid knob instead of switch along with the high and low knobs. seems more sensable to me. but im not complaingin, trust me. buy this pedal if you want a pedal that goes from a little bit of a growl to liquid-like sustain and distortion. its awesome.

If you cant work this, just shoot yourself!!

Right i plugged this thing in an hour ago into my 100watt MARSHALL Valvestate.Now im gunna be completly honest with you about this pedal ok,i bought this still having MAJOR douts about it/i was a actually telling myself 'this is gunna be SHIT'!
Oh boy was i wrong,this thing made me cream my pants-INSTANTLEY!
Pure-Un-adulterated-Blistering-TONE!!
Now, i am 25 ok & ive been playing since i was 13,so im not a DUMB-ASS when it comes to MY sound that i love like many others out there like me!
Seriously you know that SOUND/TONE in your 'head'?
This this REALLY gets it out for you,you cant NOT like this peadal FULL-F@@KIN-STOP!!
Ive searched for years for a DECENT distortion pedal,and now im one happy dude!
The world could blow up/but i dont care as im playing this when it happens!
Im in a Grunge/Rock band (3 of us) - WWW.SABIBA.NET
Check us out & leave a comment if ya like....
oh yeah, BUY THIS PEDAL NOW!! YOU WILL KICK YOURSELF IF YOU DONT!!

Built like a brick shit house!!
nearly INDISTRUCTABLE id say.... \m/-_-\m/ (rock'n'roll)

Not delt with them & hopefully i wont have to :)

Yes i know its abit steep but buy the time you bought 3 or 4 other brand names you would have spent this anyways!
Think about it-cheep pedal=cheep sound!!
At the end of the day i can only give you my honest opinion on this lovely - TONEBONE Hot British,and put it this way this is the ONLY thing that would make me be proud to 'BE' British!!
End of story - nuff said!
Oww yeah,this is a FULLER sound to the 'CLASSIC' which is a fine pedal,but this is WAY BETTER to me personally.
I love - A.I.C/S.T.P/SOUNDGARDEN/NIRVANA/ZAKK WYLDE/HENDRIX/LEDZEP/THE DOORS/SLIPKNOT/SABBATH & many more!! :)

This is not the easiest pedal to use, but it is worth the effort.

This pedal is a true "stack-in-the-box"! No kidding. It is a little noisy, but show me a Marshall stack that isn't. If you crank up the gain, the noise comes along for the ride plain and simple. Now when I say noisy, I mean when the guitar is in neutral, but when you start to play all you're gonna hear is TONE! This thing turns my beautiful sounding Deluxe Reverb amp into a rock monster and I refer to it as channel 3. Channel 2 is my Tonebone Classic -- another equaly impressive pedal by Radial.

Well aside from tube changes, this thing ought to last forever. Thick steel housing and solid feeling knobs and switches leave me feeling very confident that it will be around fro the long haul.

The folks at Radial/Tonebone were very friendly indeed and answered all my questions patiently and honestly. I realize this is a "before the sale" thing but I get the impression these folks are proud of their product and are willing and able to back up that pride.

What can I say, my search for OD pedals is over. Between the Tonebone Classic and this little jewel -- coupled with my beloved Deluxe Reverb I have every sound I ever wanted to make with my guitar(s) at my finger tips.

Takes a lot of tweaking to get the desired sound out of it; i.e. Lead and rhythm require two completely different settings. Also very dependent on the guitar and amp.

It's somewhat noisy, but that's to be expected from a tube distortion pedal emulating a Marshall stack. For lead, it sounds phenomenal...think "Slash-in-a-box". But for rhythm, it sounded muddy with my G&L Legacy and Hot Rod Deluxe. It didn't stack well with my tubescreamer or HepCat, either. I tried it with a Gibson SG, too, which was a significant improvement...sustain for days. But it still sounded somewhat muddy with a weak low end.

Buy it if you already have your rhythm sounds taken care of...it's a great lead pedal for high gain solos. But it's not very versatile, and I think you'll find yourself using it on a single setting, set for "lead boost".

It's pretty hard to get a bad sound out of it, although I personally am very picky with my distortions, so to get a good sound for me is pretty specific. Being that there are a lotta knobs and switches, it makes it a bit difficult to dial it in.

The manual for it is freakin awesome, with suggested settings and then a whole page for you to pen in your own!

I use a 3 Loooper effects loop, and this is in the 3rd effects loop. It's in there with a super chile picoso and a boss RC20XL Loopstation. I use a Gibson LP into a Marshall AVT275.

This unit is extremely quiet for the amount of gain it has. The effects on it are extremely sensitive and make for great tweaking. When I put the midboost on +7dB, I sound like freakin Brian May! I generally have the midboost off, though, as I have a boost pedal already and I don't want to sound like May ALL the time.

My favorite guitar player is Slash, and this thing sounds like a marshall and is everything I could have ever asked for. This is, as far as I can tell, the best distortion pedal on the market for that marshall sound. I always leave the voicing switch on "fat", as that is how I like my distortions.

This pedal is true bypass as well, and no audible pops or clicks when turning it on and off

Hell, I think it's better than my marshall distortion!

The tube needs to get replaced every 2 or 3 years, but besides that this thing should last a few lifetimes.

The power supply seems kinda fragile, but I've found some on ebay for pretty cheap (20 USD)

N/A

I like my distortions fat and thick, yet smooth, and this pedal is beautiful. Every other pedal I've ever heard give thin buzzy distortions (even ones others love, like the boss MT-2) and this beauty is, well, beautiful.

My main types of music are blues rock, alternative rock, and jazz. This pedal is obviously useless for jazz, but for rock sounds (and even electronic dance songs, like a song in one of my bands) this thing is awesome. Very versatile, although you can't get a mild overdrive nor a thrash-metal sound outta it. Being as I can get a mild overdrive from my amp and/or my boost pedal, and I don't play thrash, I don't see these as limitations.

If it were stolen or lost, I'd cry. I got a great deal on this one, but it's damned expensive nonetheless. If I had the cash, though (meaning I'd be broke afterwards), I'd definitely replace it.

I love everything about this pedal. Being as I have ADD, I don't have the patience to sit and tweak knobs all day trying to find different sounds, but I found the sound I was looking for pretty quickly. I'm happy with it, and the manual helped me find that sound.

My favorite feature on the pedal, if I have to choose one, is the "fat" voicing. That's exactly how I describe my favorite tones, and this pedal takes it's awesome sound and kicks it up a notch with the "fat" voicing.

I first heard about this when i called my music store and asked them for a pedal that would gimme a marshall sound. This is the one they told me about, and after checking harmony-central, I was sold.

The only thing I would wish for it would be another footswitch to turn on and off the midboost, as it does raise your volume. While the SCP satisfies my boost needs, if I wanna sound like brian may I've gotta bend over and hit that switch.

It's an awesome pedal, and the only reason I don't give it a 10 is that it's freakin expensive for a single purpose pedal, but all other things considered it's the best one on the market for almost any type of rock sound.

This one took me awhile to get the sound I wanted. The manual is very good, and it was easy to get a good sound, but considerable tweaking was needed to get what I was looking for. I ended up switching the 12ax7 for a 5751. You're not supposed to do that, but I doubt if I would have kept the pedal. I've got other distortions that come very close to the stock Hot British. That said, I wish it had a real Mid control to it, not just switches.

Stock, this pedal sounds very Marshally, just like they say. It's not a polite pedal. It doesn't clean up when you back off on the guitar volume pot. An overdrive pedal will do that, this is a distortion pedal. A good sound, but a bit too buzzy with the stock 12ax7. So rather than return it, I put a 5751 in the socket, and Presto! It took just enough edge off the hot-rodded Marshall type of sound, but still had plenty of gain. Yea, the manual and circuit board both say "don't do it!", but it now has THE lead-sound-in-a-pedal that I was looking for. Very nice. It rated an 8 stock, a 10 with the new tube, so it gets a 9 here.

The case and knobs are solid. Steel case with rubbery knobs to withstand a fair amount of abuse. The pots are mounted right to case, which is good. Internally however, Radial cut some serious corners. Very thin ciruit boards with PCB mounted plastic jacks. Ack Ack Ack. There are two circuit boards - one for the main guts, and one with the control pots and switches soldered to it. And the 2 circuit boards are connected by a few metal tines. YIKES! Extemely flimsy. If something goes wrong inside, not much chance of repairing it. And changing the tube is ridiculous. Terrible internal layout. So, the case and knobs will survive some serious trauma, but the innards will most likely turn to jelly should someone happen to give it too much verbal abuse. Not sure at all of the design logic here, so handle this thing gently. I'm taking a backup for this pedal.

No idea, they are in Canada, I'm in Southern Califoria, and I switched out the 12ax7 for a 5751. They'll probably tell me to take a long walk off a short pier if anything went wrong with the pedal.

I play a pretty wide variety of styles usually, and I bought this pedal for the high gain stuff. It fits the bill nicely with the mod. Stock, I probably would have returned it or ended up selling it. I actually do like the pedal, but the quality of construction really worries me. Swapping out tubes in Radial pedals is about the most absurd nightmare I've ever seen. It's tube driven. We're guitar players. A lot of us like to swap-out tubes. Hmmm...

In this price range, it's a boutique pedal. Radial needs to take some constuction tips from other pedal makers like Barber, Homebrew, and Keeley. With the mod, I really like the sound of this pedal. Great high-gain Marshall-type tone without the brain damage.

However, here's what it still needs: Give it a mid-range control pot, mount all the jacks (they should be metal) and pots/switches to the case and wire those to the circuit board. Mount the PC board to the case as well. And make it easier to swap tubes. Sheesh. A retail price of a few bucks more won't keep anyone from buying this pedal, and it would be the best tube driven distortion out there.

Whenever I get a new product I just plug it in and go which I did. I knew right off the bat this was going to be a good one. The knobs were all set at 12:00 and it sounded very musical drippind with lush tone.

When I got the pedal I quickly wanted to compare it to the distotion that I have already available in my amp. I run a Orange rockerverb 50 with a 4x12 cab. My typical effcts run is a fulltone fulldrive into the tonebone then into a line 6 delay( big green one )into a boss tremelo pedal then a tuner.When comparing the two The orange distortion was more mid-rangy but very focused and musical. When turning the orange to the clean channel ( very vox ac30 )and hitting the tonebone it was instant bliss. The notes had alot more sizzle and a bit more focus. I was able to use a lighter picking technique which I am always looking for to do the Vai thing. And the noise was lower than the amp by itself in the dirty channel. I kicked the fulltone in expecting to hear a ton of hiss ( running two distortion pedals in a row will do that )and it was still less than the amp by itself and the amp is actually quiet. I have just tried a ton of pedals and for high gain this one is head and shoulders above the rest. Hear is a list of pedals I tried : Carl Martin plexitone, Mesa boogie rocket and the V-twin, Sansamp GT2, MXR doulble shot. TS9 with 808 mod, line 6 distortion and amp modeler. Dont get me wrong I not selling the orange cuz now I have just about any sound I could ever want ( or at least till my next purchase ). I have been playing 30 years and will buy/try any and everything possible for the perfect tone that is always just beyond the horizon ( you gear nuts no what I am taking about). Hope this helps

I have to give it a 10 !!

forgot to mention below that valve changes cannot be done easily or quickly!...in order to change the valve you have to literally take it all apart - pull the knobs off and unscrew the pot shafts, unscrew the footswitch nut, unscrew the jackplug nuts (manual explains exactly how to take it apart - excellent manual btw).

if it wasn't such a rigmarole i'd be experimenting with different valves. as it is i wont bother until the stock tube wears out.
it's a shame that there isn't a screw-on plate or hatch on the bottom that you could just undo and reach in to change the valve - a hole the size of an E.H. small clone battery compartment would probably be big enough. ah well, nothings perfect.

straight out the box i set everything halfway and went from there easily. what sets it apart are the 3-way mini switches that tweak the highs, 'lo' mids, and 'hi' mids to preset eq curves - a very good feature.

this is the best distortion pedal i've ever owned/tried. however, compared to most players i haven't bought that many pedals in the last 15 years of playing, and here in Britain there just isn't the choice that American players have (the average music shop here will generally only stock the mainstream: boss, zoom, digitech, dod, and E.H. if you're lucky).
this is much better than my former boss od-2 and gt-3, and has now surpassed my visual sound route 66 (formerly my best ovedrive pedal). i'm using it with a 1995 reissue '63 fender vibroverb. it's great to be able to go from fender clean and mild dirt to marshall grind without having to a/b between 2 amps. good sustain, harmonics and controlled feedback with single notes. classic rock to chunky old school hard rock and metal rhythm sounds. doesn't have the modern nu-metal tones however (hurray!)
i wish i still had the '72 marshall 100w superlead head and cab that i sold in 1994 just so i could hear what it would sound like with this pedal! damn regets!
also, the tone controls are active so if you crank the bass and treble it will be louder (but also noisier).

seems solidly built. the knobs and switches are a little bit exposed to being kicked off, and the dc input is close to the output jack (potential problem if using angled jacks like i do on my pedal board). i've only gigged it once so far but have done many rehearsals with it aswell as much home use. the edge of one of the switches has a sliver of plastic shaved off - could've been caused by my shoe accidently kicking it, so the mini switches and knobs are a bit close to the on/off footswitch for my liking. i've only had it a few months so it's too soon to give a proper rating yet.

never had the experience. they're built in canada and i wouldn't bother shipping it unless it was free to do so under warranty.

great. the best one so far. i'm not a pedal junkie so i haven't had that much to compare it to, but i think i can tell when something sounds good, and i had a big smile on my face when i first plugged into this pedal. it's expensive for what it is, but much cheaper than buying a second amp. it makes playing more fun for me.

sound in itself is very subjective , we all know that. this unit has a lot of variances available for you to tweek. manual is very helpful. but if you've spent 2-300 $ on a pedal, it's a given you should know how to tweek.

traynor 40 watt combo, marshal ext cab, strat, jem. there's a little noise when every things at 11, hint: if you must go to 11, go buy your self a tsl 100 watt head. the overall quality of this pedal is impeccable. solid , quality fittings and junctions. the distortion is very, very, convincing. for a pedal that emulates a marshall. the key is to use it in conjunction with a warm tube amp rated at 40 watts or more , on the clean channel. then it'll shine. this is no mesa, or randall, it's marshall all the way.

absolutely no problems. but it's a machine , so you never know. would you cross the sahara in a landcruiser? you'll most likely make it , but then again....

never had to deal with support.

i play legato , melodic rock. i get a nice creamy tone out of it for lead playing. I use it in conjunction with a maxon 808 re issue that i sometimes use to boost this pedal to bring it over the top. both are very expensive pedals but both are worth it. if it were lost or stolen, i'd definetely look into buying it again with the insurance money. it sure beats toting around a tsl 100. as stated above, the options on this particular pedal are enormous. there are definetely a few sweet spots in it and a few lemon areas. the key is to let your ears and your fingers pull the tone out of the pedal for you. a definete god send, as far as i'm concerned, without having to shell out 2500 for a tsl.

This is a review of the Radial Tone Bone Hot British distortion pedal. The pedal, which features one 12AX7 preamp tube, is housed in a rugged sheet metal case and features controls (pots) for LEVEL, HIGH, LOW, CONTOUR, DRIVE, and also has three slide switches for TOP END, VOICING, and MID BOOST, and a footswitch for switching the unit off. Dialing in your desired tone isn't too difficult if you keep it simple (contols at 12 O'Clock). However, it is possible to get carried away with the assortment of tone controls available to the user. This can result in some rather unpleasant tones if you are not careful. The user manual does an adequate job of explaining the features and dialing in various settings.

I play the Tone Bone with a stock 2004 Gibson Gary Rossington Les Paul and Marshall 50 watt 1987X half-stack w/ 4 X 12" Greenbacks. I can get tones remeniscent of Duane Allman, Jimmy Page, Slash, Billy Gibbons, etc (when the unit is working!) See below. Right now, I use a THD Hot Plate and Ibanez TS-808 to overdrive my Marshall. This gets me the tone I really like.

Unfortunately my Tone Bone cuts out after about 15-20 minutes of use. It causes my rig to basically go dead until I toggle the footswicth once or twice to get it back up. I tried relacing the 12AX7 with a new tube but it still cuts out. I'm going to send back to the factory (in Canada) when I get around to it. In the meantime it makes a great paper weight or door stop. Obviously I can't rely on it or use it on a gig without a backup. I'm very dissapointed considering it cost me $229.00.

I contacted Radial Engineering a got a "RA #" so I plan to send it back to the factory for repairs. The jury is still out on the quality of customer support until I receive my unit back from repairs. Hopefully it will work properly and I can revise the reliabilityu and customer support scores.

I play classic rock from the 60's and 70's. I have been playing guitar off and on for 30 years.I would NOT buy another Radial Tone Bone based on my experience with this one. Right out of the box it failed. It's junk. There are much better distortion pedals out there that are more reliable. I prefer my Ibanez TS-808. It is simpler, more reliable, and sounds great.

This is a pretty easy pedal to get a good sound out of. Manual is very simple and to the point, and offers more than a few sample settings to get you started. The Eric Johnson setting is a good one for my basic sound, with a few tweaks. But pretty simple, and very sensative to tweakers...

I use this with a Rivera R-55 and either Fender or PRS guitars. Pretty quiet, even after an Analog Man Mini BiComp. Depending on your settings and how you approach it it can cut through wonderfully or turn to mud. Be careful using it to add oomph to an already distorted amp channel. Easy to miscalculate and have thick goo to wade through. Powering up the Rivera's clean channel, though, this sounds TERRIFIC anywhere I set it.

I've only used it for two gigs so far, but the build quality is very good. Anticipate no problems.

Good little distortion box for single channel amps. Wish I still had my old Top Hat to try this on...

I am updating my last post, why? Because I have gotten to know this pedal better. First of all, as far as changing the tube, no I haven't tried to yet, Second, Radial only suggests you do it every 2 to 3 years. The manual clearly states how to change the tube. Yes you have to take the whole unit apart, but any person with any mechanical/eletrical knowledge should have no problem. I am not worried about it, and the pure fact that this pedal sounds so awesome far outweighs any technical considerations.

I am using it in front of my THD Univalve. I wasn't able to get the singing/searing lead tones out of the Univalve on its own. The Univalve is a GREAT amp, but it needed some help for solo's. Like I said before there is a noise consideration, but any tube amp pushed to the limit will make noise. I have chosen the "Early Led Zeppelin" patch from Radial's manual. I run this into the clean channel of the THD and my solos soar. I use a Behringer SNR-1000 noise reduction post Tonebone to cut out any in-between noise. I then edit my wavefiles intro and outro to get rid of any "play-volume" noise. I bought a Ibanez Tube Screamer reissue TS-808, and that unit sucks compared to this.

Yes, built like a tank.

This is the best distortion pedal I have ever heard. In 1978 I had a MXR Disotrion+, "The Tonebone is better". In 1980 I had a original version RAT, "The Tonebone is better". In 1997 I had a reissue RAT, "The Tonebone is better". In 1999 I had a original 2.0 Line 6 POD, "The Tonebone is better". In 2004 I had a reissue Ibanez TS-808 Tube Screamer, "The Tonebone is 10 times better".

I was able to get a good sound out of it right away, "It is noisy though", I compare it to any tube effect, "CRANKED = NOISE", it is just the nature of the beast. If you expect to sound like your favorite artist, then get out your wallet. This is a very simple "MOD" pedal, ie:"no patches here" except if you manually change sounds. The manual is short and comprehensive.

I am spoiled and can afford to get the stuff this pedal needs, to make it sound great. So here goes my diatribe on my gear. A noise reduction unit is a must, "especially for recording". I am only recording with the RADIAL at this time, haven't tried it live yet. Here is my set-up. GUITARS= Brian Moore i1.13 and i2.13 with Seymour Duncan Pickups, Ibanez 540 PII with Gibson Tony Iommi Pickups, 1985 Gibson Les Paul classic with the 496R and 500T Gibson Pickups. PEDALS "In Order", Morley A/B box, B side into Roland TU-2 tuner, then into RADIAL Hot British, then to BEHRINGER SNR-1000 noise reduction, then to THD UniValve "Roll Channel" line out to "Hughes & Kettner" MKII Red Box cabinet simulator, then to Yamaha MG16/6FX mixing board with Focusrite Platinum Trackmaster as a insert. Effects include, Lexicon MPX-200 and Yamaha on Board effects through the loop. Stereo outs from Yamaha mixer into M-Audio Omni Delta-66 breakout box into computer using Cubase VST 5.1 recording software.

No Opinion, haven't had it long enough.

No Opinion, haven't had to contact them.

I play Rock/Fusion, been playing for 30 years. I have owned alot of gear over the years, Marshalls galore, Boogies, Laneys, Fenders, Rolands, Peaveys, Rats, Tube Screamers, POD'S, MXR'S etc. etc. etc.
This pedal meets or exceeds the sounds I was able to achieve through all of my previous units, "You just have to be reasonable and realize what you need to make it excell". I do wish it had patch storage though, sorry my POD spoiled me on that. The TONEBONE definetely gets me excited about playing music. The sustain and singing quality are awesome.

Getting out a good sound of it depends on your skills, and your trained or untrained ear, but basically it's hard to get a bad tone out of it.

Editing is straight forward with it's different switches, and the Knobs are very sensitive and responsive, and it's simply fantastic.

The Manual is pretty short of good like all manuals, it tells you what you need to know basis.

I used this with my Framus Renegade Pro guitar.
It ain't making more noise than other pedals out there.
I usually used with one or two effect pedals , chorus and delay.

I don't use Fender type guitars or pickups so for that matter,
it sounds incredible with Humbuckers, a lot of crunch, power, and clarity, it ain't muddy like other stuff I've heard.

It's built solid indeed.
The only issue though is that sometimes for very unknow reason the input jack gets little loose, a few turns and it's firm again,
not a problem really.

I'd definitely use it in a gig without backup, it's got great tone and makes every medium Amp to sound like a very good Amp.

My local dealer is very helpful and reliable so No worries there.

My music played is 80's rock so this thing is a match in heaven for that brand of music.

I'm a musicians for 14 years now, and arrangements and production is what I do mainly.

I no longer own it, I sold all my pedals and Amp as well, Had to cut budget,If I ever get the chance again, Not sure I'd go for it,
I think I'll stick to Rackmount Formula.
If It got stolen I'd be mad as hell!!! I wouldn't be able to afford another one... sigh...

I compared it to many pedals before I decided that's the one for me.
I tried Boss Pedals, Marshals, Line6... you name it...
The only thing I wish it had is maybe little more Gain, that would be fantastic for soloing, but it's great as it is.

It's a very good and important tool, inspiring indeed,
I highly recommend this to anyone looking for a different tone.

This pedal nails a great controllable distortion for almost any player who digs older heavy rock ala VH and Racer X Yngwie Malmsteen you can dial these tones in almost immiediately. With a very informative manual for tweaking tones and performing a tube change if neccessary i would say its all encompasing.

I'm using my own handbuilt super strat outfitted with a floyd rose and dimarzio pickups specifically a evolution in the bridge and a fastrack 1 in the neck i'm playing it through a peavey 5150 with a behringer four twelve with 100 watt jensens. The great thing about the pedal is that it totally reacts to your position with the amp making it easy to control feadback and noise. With the true bypass you cant go wrong with this unit. Once again great for Racer X van halen and yngwie. The ultimate overdriven sound for me!

Built solid with the steel chassis and has very long tube life as well.

I have heard they back up there products well but the durability and satisfaction has given me no reason to contact them

My playing style is very power metal oriented with some prog influences of early dream theatre i like to play racer x and yngwie stuff as well and this pedal meets me needs much better then the regular distortion of my 5150 and my GT-6 and my MT-2. The true bypass was the make or break for me when buying it because i i realy wanted that in my setup and the tone speaks for itself. If this pedal were stolen i would but another one because it has become a part of my playing and its extremely veratile.

Easy interface if you think not then well you should get something with just 3 knobs. Some people complain that it has too many controls that you'd never remember the settings you like. Do you remember when you first played a guitar and had no idea what the hell you were doing? Learning applies to amps/effects too. How about windows? You didn't just up and know everything and that's far more complex anyhow. :)

For the guy who picks up radio stations... YES it is a problem with your gear leaking RFI's(radio Freq interference). I had that too on a few pedals...hell even my amp had that problem. Get a good cord to go between your guitar and the amp, but not 20 feet long or something. The shorter the better. Also it's a must to get a power conditioner/filter(furman). Plug all your stuff into that. If you have rack gear which I doubt that is most likley your problem. Never mix balanced and unbalanced cables(get a EBtech device)

The sound on this is super. Someone mentioned it's too dirty at minimum drive... HELLO it's called HOT BRITISH DISTORTION<-note the DISTORTION. Also, someone said it was too noisey for a pedal at this price. The only pedal where you do not have interference/hiss are on FAKE DIGITAL Stuff! Don't get me wrong, I too at times love harsh digital death metal sorta stuff. I'm guilty as charged with a genesis-3. That is brutal as fuck, but serves a purpose and has NO noise. It has a noise gate built in and I use that to abruptly cut off for tight fast palm mutes. That's the only thing I use that for(don't give a shit about the effects and such it has). It blows away even the new line6 uber pedal, the crappy Warp drive, boss MT-2, etc.

Anyone who has real gear has a noise suppressor or gate. It's just a fact. Yes. It sucks to have to plop down money just to make something not hiss. It's like going to the dentist to have him clean your teeth even though you brush everyday.

dont know..didnt have it long enough. Who cares if you have to change a tube in it. It's not brain surgery!!!!

This is one of the best deals in this type of product. Canada makes these and they kick ass.

Easy to use. Lots of presets in the manual. Just start with one of those. I use it with fairly low amount of distortion, but even at its lowest setting, it distorts quite a bit. It has 5 knobs and three switches. So there a lots of options. Just put everything in the middle or look in the manual to get started. It takes some tweaking. The manual is adequate.

I use it with my Blues Jr. Not noisy. The effects sound good. This is the pedal to use if you want your Fender to sound like a Plexi, well almost. Think Eric Clapton "Sunshine of your Love". Lots of others. Best sounding pedal I've heard. It has a tube in it's circuit. Also, it is truely "True disconnect". It disconnects the circuit even when there is no power to the pedal (it doesn't work with batteries, comes with a power supply). So it does not color the sound at all when turned off. Also, no noticible click when activating the pedal with the foot button, (so long as you are not sounding a note). About as good as it gets, pedalwise. They make another pedal for "Fender" distortion, called the Tonebone Classic.

Dependable so far.

Haven't used them, but I hear thay back the product up.

I play classic rock, blues, rockabilly. I am an old rocker. It is a better pedal than my Barber Direct Drive, and the Barber is not bad. The tone is very amp like. By that I mean it sounds like a distortion channel would sound on my Fender, if it had one (it has a distortion knob, but no channel). This is British (read Marshall) distortion. So now I have a two channel amp, and both Fender and Marshall sound! My Blues JR is a great amp BTW. Whatever you do, get a tube amp. They have the TONE!

Relatively simple to tweak. 5 knobs and 3 switches and all sound good with in front of my amp. The annoying thing is replacing the tube, which requires you to disassemble the unit, including taking off the knobs. The manual is straightforward and has settings suggestions for popular tones.

My guitars are Ibanez RG250DX w/ stock pups, Dean Avalance w/ X2N's, and Ibanez RG220 w/ EMG81's. They all sound good through the tonebone. The only other pedal in my setup is an MXR Smart Gate which really takes care of the noise when the Tonebone is on high gain. The unit is a high gain pedal so some noise is to be expected, but mine was a "scratch and dent" item - there wasn't a scratch on it but the tube was loose!!! Shame on musicianfriend.com. I think this may be to blame for some of the noise but I'm not sure. I mean, the tube prongs were slightly damaged. But like I said, the noise is not a real major issue for me since I'm usually playing hard and heavy.

I run this preamp through my cool little Tech-21 Trademark 10 watt single channel modeling amp w/ 10" Celestion and the sound is awesome. With the versatily of the Trademark I can get truly impressive heavy metal sounds. It also does good with rock/blues if that's your thing. I've also tried playing it through a Tech-21 Powerengine-60 (just a 60watt power cab with "transparent" tone) and I get that fat vintage tube tone.

It has 3 very useful switches: Top End (flat, dark, brigh), Mid Boost (out, 7dB, 14dB), and Voicing (out, fat, notch). The notch with cut mids. There's a contour which goes from scooped, bassy to a thigh, midsy, crunchy. When you boost the mids there is a small amount of noise introduced. There are also controls for Bass, Trebble, Gain, and Level. I normally have the gain maxed on the Trademark but on the Tonebone I'll usually go from 0 to about 5. I'm not gain crazy, just tone crazy.

You can't get clean sounds out of this but who cares cause I'm a headbanger and distortion is an everyday part of my diet and this badboy really does deliver. (I guess maybe if you use an EQ to squash the input you can get cleans). What you can definitely get kickass heavy metal rhythm and hot lead tone. Along with the Trademark I can get classic and modern high-gain Marshall, Mesa/Boogie and Fender tones with a unique quality that truly inspires me to play more. I was thinking of buying a Tonebone Classic for leads but decided to order an MXR 10 band EQ instead.

I've tried playing through Marshall (MG, AVT, JCM), Line 6, Johnson, Crate GT, Vox AD60, and I can honestly tell you that my current set up blows them all away. I guess playing through Line 6 is OK if you don't mind bad tone because they are great for variety and versatility but I would much rather hear a high gain tube tone versus a cold harsh digital tone.

I'm giving it a 9 because I'm just never quite satisfied, but like I said, this unit will enhance your sound better than most units out there.

I don't play live but it seem like it could take some punishment. It's a solidly built steel casing that seems sturding enough. I haven't had any problems with it.

I play thrash/death/black metal and this pedal makes me cream my pants everytime I play it. It can achieve very creamy, warm tones or crunchy, heavy tones for psychos like me. AC/DC or Zeppeling, Metallica or Slayer, The Haunted or Arch Enemy, Hendrix or Satriani, and even death metal sickness like Cryptopsy and Immolation. Again, I can do this along with a Trademark amp (which gets a 10 on its own, by the way). If lost or damaged I might try the Tonebone Classic first before buying another. I hate nothing about it except that I think it should have two channels and then we'd really be in business. But, as-is, it's just great and I have no complaints.

The manual outlines most of the popular settings. The user can tweak from there to get their own sounds. This pedal is pretty intuitive.

Custom LH Strat with SD hotstack, Jem LH 555 (only model for leftys), Schecter C-1 Plus, Ibanez LH RG 550, etc... I run this through a THD Univalve (w/Avatar 2x12) on the clean (roll) channel. It doesn't matter what guitar you play, this pedal will sound excellent with tweaks. This is a specific pedal, so expect British type distortion (duh). This is by far the best distortion pedal that I have played. It is noisy when dimed, but quiet on most settings. Also, please note that you need to plug into a quality amp. I have found that this pedal will not make a crappy sounding amp sound like a British Stack. Start with a descent amp, and you will hear the true ability of this pedal.

I have had this thing for around 6 months and dropped it a couple of times. The pedal works like new. Not sure how long the tube will last, but the unit looks very well made.

If you want a British type distortion and don't want to spend the $$$ on a Marshall stack, this is THE pedal. I play mostly rock, so this pedal is a staple for me. Played through a good amp, this is the best British type distortion pedal on the market. Try it you will see/hear the difference. If this thing were stolen, I would definitely get another one. I bought one because of these reviews. This pedal is that good!

Basic distortion pedal: Level, high, low Contour (mids character) and drive. There are also several filter switches that can drastically change the character of the sound. one button, on or off. Any mumbleoid could figure this out.

I am using this box with 2 schecter avenger 7strings with seymore duncan invader and distortion pickups and a Gibson les paul Goth with EMGs. The amp is a Ashdown peacemaker 40: 4 12ax7s, 4 EL84s, Celestion vintage 30 speaker. Every cable is Monster or Planet waves.

The sound:
THis IS the closest thing I have ever come across that sounds like a marshall stack in a pedal. I A/B'ed it against my MetalZone and the Boss was laughable by compairison. Be forewarned that this is the "marshall sound". If you are looking for a Nu-Metal Mesa sort of crunch this aint the pedal for you. THis pedal does perfectly pull off Randy Rhoads tone from the live "tribute" album perfectly! You can also get dead on over driven Plexi tones from it. You know, where it sounds like the speaker has grown hair.

However, I am using this pedal to push a class A tube amp. I have not yet put it through my Peavy Bandit 112. Probably wont ever. it sounds great where its at.

Cons:
Slight noisiness from the pedal at higher drive levels and when the High is turned up. a Boss noise suppressor should stop this.

IT takes some tweeking for the low B on my 7 strings not to come out as total mush. it can be done though.

Built like a tank. there is a tube in it, so as long as I use some common sense it will be cool.

This pedal is more than double the price of any boss distiortion box. You better expect something special, right? This pedal is so fuckin dope you could smoke it. how that for an endorsement.

I play a variety of music ranging from the styles of deathmetal and nu-metal to fusion and classic rock. I am a guitar teacher and have spent a couple years working in music stores, particularly the "big guy". I have become a total Tone Snob. This pedal is great but WARNING!: THIS IS NOT A "DO IT ALL" PEDAL! This is not the Ideal distortion for anything detuned and fast as hell. The distortion has a loose feel and absolutely Killer Tone! But is not a Bogner Uberschall. That being said, I can rave about what this pedal IS.

If you are a fan of the "marshall sound" you need this pedal. I love that sound. Through the years countless guitarists that have inspired me have used this sound. Now I have it! The Hot British (with tweeking) can emulate the tones from a JCM 800, 900 and Plexi better than anything I have heard to date. Enough said.

This pedal is fairly simple to use. Lots of options.

It's hard to believe this is a pedal. The distortion rivals many preamp devices. I thought the Triaxi's distortion was good but this is better.
I gigged with this last weekend for the first time. The feedback got out of hand a bit but I was playing very loud. I really liked the sound. I had flashbacks of early EVH tone. I did my usual "Eruption" piece in the 3rd set and it really made my playing smoother.
I really don't like pedals but I think of this more as a preamp section. This purchase was a no-brainer.

Only had this 2 weeks

no comment

I've owned many amps and pedals over my 28 years of playing and gigging. Yep this one's a keeper.

This pedal is incredibly easy to get a GOOD sound out of it and with a little tweaking (it is a tweakers dream) you can get INCREDIBLE sounds out of it. Subtle overdrive tones similar to a TS808 all the way to Dimebag Darrell over the top scooped tone and all points in between. There are enough tone shaping options on this pedal to get just about any sound you want out of it! A basic understanding of tone shaping controls will make it easy to use but some people might get confused (like i do trying to use computer recording software) and that is why i rated it as i did.

This pedal absolutely SCREAMS!!!! I have had it for two years and still honestly look forward to plugging into it everytime i play. i bought it direct from the tonebone website using paypal when that was the only way you could buy it. it has great note definition, is amazingly responsive to my guitars volume control, none of the excessive noise that i hear reviewers talking about here but you have to accept a bit of it when you buy a high-gain pedal. also, maybe my hearing isn't as good as it should be...hell i am a guitar player....we love it loud!!!! it also sounds like the best hot-rodded marshall you ever want to hear. Some people don't like the marshall tone...don't buy this pedal!!! I use it with either my music man john petrucci or my PRS single cut. i run it into a morley bad horsie wah and then right into either my 65 twin re-issue (the best sounding set-up) or into my 1959 plexi re-issue. both amps and guitars sound incredible with this pedal (in fact, all the guitars and amps i have tried with it sound incredible) but the 65 twin i have sound the best. great fender clean and then balls-to-the-wall distortion. i keep a fairly simple set-up because i dont like having too many things to trip me while i am on stage. the plexi with it is a great tone too but a bit over the top because of the early break-up in the tubes but still a ROCKIN' guitar tone! i hope i described it well enough. I LOVE THIS PEDAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

when i got it, it was fine for about 3 months and then the switch went bad in it. in the middle of a gig i was having to hit the switch 4 or 5 times to get it to come on. how embarrassing!!!! after the gig my drummer even commented on how crappy it was that it happened. i got the switch replaced and have had no other problems. i contacted radial engineering/tonebone and they said that the bug has since been worked out. i rate it based on my experience.

only had to deal with them once (see above) and the owner responded quickly to my email about fixing it but i took it to the local shop because shipping to canada and back was more expensive.

I have been playing for about 18 years. I, like most guitar players, am a certified gear junkie. Certifiable is probably a more appropriate description of me... Anyway, i have several guitars and several amps-mostly high end stuff but not boutique. i used to swear by the boss ds-1 and since this pedal i cannot even stand to look at a ds-1. i prefer to play hard-rock/heavy metal, i have played in a full-on disco showband, top-40, blues, even country (i guess i am a musical whore). i feel fairly well versed in most of it but always go back to grinding (zakk wylde style!!) and whatever i play i have a very useable tone fro anything. again, it is incredible and very versatile (remember...all the knobs) and since i got the switch fixed i have not had a single problem with it. i am going to buy another very soon and if they both get stolen i will buy two more after i get out of jail for assault!!!!!

5 knobs:level,low,high,contour,drive.
3 switches:top end,voicing,mid boost.
It may take a little more time to find your sweet spot with this one
than say a Digitech or Maxon but once you are there,you will be more than happy.One point off however because of the 15v wall wart needed to power it up.

After 2 years of extensive use as my main distortion box,here is my opinion of this Canadian-made beauty,i will make it short because it has all been said before.

PROS:
-Super beefy,hot-rodded,classic metal tones(ala Maiden,Priest,VH...)
-Very smooth and natural-sounding,does not sound like a pedal.
-Sounds great with tube or solid-state amps.
-Reliable and easy to service,high quality pedal.
-SOUNDS MUCH BETTER THAN ANY MARSHALLS I HAVE EVER HEARD OR TRIED,
HEADS OR COMBOS,TUBE OR SOLID-STATE OR HYBRID,AND THE JACKHAMMER
PEDAL-WHAT A JOKE!

CONS:
-The wall wart.
-Too dirty at minimum drive setting.
-A bit noisy at maximum drive setting.
-Hefty price tag(two crappy BOSS pedals for that price).

I'm giving a rating of 9 for that truly great pedal(nothing is perfect).You want the old Van Halen sound?TONEBONE HOT-BRITISH.

Very reliable.Strongly built.It comes with a Tesla 12ax7 tube.Good.
I always take care of my Tonebone because i love it.I will keep it
for as long as i will be playing the guitar.Only one thing though:
The wall wart provided with the pedal looks kind of cheap.Also,tube
failure can happen,but my Tonebone still sings with the stock tube after two years.No problem.

I sent an e-mail one time asking if i could change the 12ax7 for a
12au7 in order to bring the aggressiveness down a bit.They replied
the next day telling me to only use a 12ax7 tube to prevent damage
to the pedal.I think they are ok.I bought my Tonebone Hot-british at
Musique Gagne et Freres in downtown Quebec City,a good place to buy
by the way.If you go there,ask for Steve:"BIG GUY GENTLEMAN".

Plugged between my LesPaul Classic and Ampeg 15w tube amp,the Tonebone Hot-British really helps me to capture the sound and feeling
i love when playing guitar.To me for the kind of music i like to play,the Hot-British hits the bull's-eye,nothing compares.
If you are into hard-rock and classic metal of the 80's -all those
great bands that were there 20 years ago and are still rocking today
(Iron Maiden,Judas Priest,VanHalen,ACDC,Dio etc...)-i really suggest
you should give the Tonebone Hot-British a try.If you are into blues,
country or speedy-thrashy musics,don't waste your time.

Very easy to get a good sound; just plug it in & turn the dials. Great for those who like to play around & adjust; maybe not so great for those who don't like to tinker.

I use a SRV Strat (with Joe Barden pups) > '72 Fender Silverface Deluxe Reverb (that's been professionally blackfaced). The Hot British (like the Classic Distortion) is very quiet & has a great range of tones. Very "British" like the name implies - much more "Marshall-ish" than say "Vox-ish". This pedal does have about 30% more gain than the Classic.

Very sturdy construction. Quality components. No issues at all (see my rating on the Classic Distortion).

I emailed Radial regarding Dealers in Canada & they were very prompt (1 day) in responding

I actually took both the Hot British & Classic Distortion home to try out & ended up in keeping both! I play blues, blues-rock & classic rock. I really thought (note past tense) that this pedal & the Tonebone Classic were THE overdrive pedals. I've been through some great pedals - Klon, Keeley-modded TS-9/TS-808, John Landgraff Dynamic Overdrive & I really thought the Tonebones were the ones. That is until I tried a Stephenson Amplification Stage Hog. The Stage Hog does ALL the tones of BOTH the Classic & Hot British PLUS WAY more. The Stage Hog doesn't color your amp, gives you fantastic string definition, and interacts with your guitar's volume & tone controls in a fantastic way. Plus, with the Power Scaling feature you can enjoy cranked, thick overdriven tone at whisper levels. Check out the Stephenson Amplification website -http://www.stephensonamps.com/stagehog.htm Mark Stephenson is an amp guru! He has fantastic customer service & knows tone. I can't recommend his products high enough! The Tonebones - well I dumped both of them within a week after getting the Stage Hog. If you have any questions about the Stage Hog I would be more than happy to reply. And no, I am not affiliated with Stephenson Amps in any way; I just really believe that Mark Stephenson has products that deliver "the tone" that guitar players have spent hundreds (thousands) of dollars searching for. I strongly encourage you to check the Stage Hog out!