Head's Up on a ... new PEDAL!?!?!

[jseth]

Hey folks...

LONG time guitar player, but acoustic guitar has always just "flt like home" to me, despite growing up n the 50 and 60's in Fullerton/Anaheim , CA.

I do play electric, and have done in a bunch of bands and formats, but really, I know that I'm a "rookie" when it comes to the guys who eat, sleep, live and breathe electric guitar stuff...

Okay... so, there's line of pedals called Tomsline... nice "little" pedals (size of a stick of butter?).

I just picked up a little unit called The Bluesey... and I can not believe it, how easily it immediately got the tones I've been wanting from my Gibson 345 for the past 30+ years! Once I tweaked it a tiny bit, things just got better...

Up to now, I've been that "Luddite/Mean Old Man" who always said - "My favorite tone? My 345 with a straight cord into a Deluxe Reverb at some decent volume..."... short of that, I've had a Ibanez TS-9, but it was always a bit of a struggle to get the tone I wanted from it, and certainly it was more of a "one-trick pony" in my hands, anyway...

This little Bluesey (Oh, did I mention that it's $45!!!), is way more subtle and expressive than the TS-9... heck, I "auditioned one of the original Klon Centaurs (the Horsey) for a few months and this little thing just does way more in way more ways...

Cleans up wonderfully if you back the volume slightly, but it's with your attack that things get so very lovely! Lighter lighter, clean it up; little stronger, little hair; lean in on it? Crack! Just this very smooth, even breakup to the notes...

Not that "heavymetal" pedal type thing at all... but for jazzy/bluesey/r&b tones, this little thing is everything I want. It sounds incredible even thorugh my old Yamaha GL100-112 (solid state)...

FORTY FIVE BUCKS!!!


(sorry to gush... but I've not been this excited about playing electric guitar in a LONG time!)

[Jaden]

Good stuff. Sounds like a good product not using a high price to gain recognition. Thanks for the report.

[Jerry D]

Providing a link would have been nice.

[jseth]

Originally Posted by Jerry D

Providing a link would have been nice.

Oh come on! I SAID I was a "Luddite"... you can't punch in "Tomsline" on your smart gadgets? I bet you can...

I know that I'm not some expert on this stuff... was gratifying today to be in the store, thanking Kurt for all his posturing about this little pedal... and in walks a gentlemen named Chris Arrellano.

Chris "used to be" the guitar guy at another music store in town, Gracewinds. He was the ONE bright spot of guitar knowledge in the store (which gradually shut down a few years ago). Chris moved back to New Mexico to play music.

I had a chance to hear a few of his tunes, both acoustic and electric, just before he left town... I never knew he was THAT kind of player. Suffice to say, he's incredibly accomplished as an electric and acoustic player, singer, and songwriter.

So, Chris walks in - turns out he's gonna be here all winter with some family business... after the usual banter and chitchat, I offered to sell him my Tube Screamer, which of course I'm getting rid of for that little Bluesey pedal. He actually seemed halfway interested, but I couldn't do it. I steered over to where the store owner had the pedals and just said, "You HAVE to try this little thing!"

He sat down and played through that pedal for about 6 bars and his eyes lit up... after 16 bars, he was grinning, jacking around pickup settings and tone options on the guitar, producing these wonderful noises... I walked outside to talk with his band... and pretty soon, Chris came holding this little box!

He was knocked out by the thing; said he paid some serious dough for some custom Wampler pedal that had a lot of different "stuff" it would do... but that the Bluesey just was "there", the minute he put it in the chain..

And this guy's no rookie like me... validating, I suppose.

Anyhow with all this high-priced stuff out there (and a lot of it really GOOD stuff, I know), I just thought a head's up about "this little pedal that CAN" for $45 was too good to let folks know about!

[muscmp]

welcome back(sing the john sebastian song)!

anything that makes you want to play more is always good!

play music!

[Dru Edwards]

Hey Jseth. Great to hear you found a working pedal. I've seen Tomsline online but I've never tried one. There are a lot of great, inexpensive pedals out there now, especially the overdrive pedals like the one you got.

I find a little OD can give you something extra that you just can't get by simply turning up the amp's gain. Have fun!

[KevWind]

Originally Posted by Jerry D

Providing a link would have been nice.

http://www.tomsline.com/products_det...ductId=44.html

for sale on Reverb https://reverb.com/item/4924703-tom-...cts-pedal-2016
Looks interesting and $34.95 is very reasonable
But I wonder about this statement on the web page

"Basedon 70's Marshall Blues Breaker" I have never heard of a Basedon 70's Marshall ??? Maybe the Basedoff Marshall is a bit darker

I do agree with Drew and the OP just a bit of nice OD does sound pretty cool
I have an Exotic Soul Driven AH model that I really like and it was way more money If this sounds anywhere close if could be a great pedal

[Jerry D]

Thanks, KevWind. And for not being a smart a**.

[DavidE]

It looks like a typical Chinese pedal that you can buy with the Mooer (more money for the same thing), Donner and other labels. Though I haven't looked at them recently, I don't remember one with the knob guard.

[jseth]

Sorry, Jerry... I really DON'T know exactly how to put a "link" in something... and I was being a smart a**... kind of my good-natured "what the heck?" attitude these days...

Kev - I don't find the pedal to be reminiscent of a Marshall tone at all... I have heard one of the tomsline pedals called the "Plexi", and it DID sound like vintage marshall tone..

The Bluesey is WAY more capable of subtlety and nuance than any pedal I've ever tried; more touch sensitive than one of the original Klon Centaurs, more natural and "real" sounding than my TS-9, for sure...

Thus far, the actual electric players I've spoken with regarding the Bluesey have all said how "easy" it was to get the tone they wanted from it, right from the get-go...

I don't use but just over half on the gain dial with my ES-345 (Seymour Duncan PAF '58 in the neck, JB in the bridge) into a SF Deluxe Reverb on about 3... and dialing back the volume knob with either single-coil or humbucking, cleans everything up, BUT I can still "lean in" a little and get that little bit of fat grit...

I didn't realize you can get them for 34 frickin' dollars, though!

If a player wanted a lot of high-gain and more overdrive, etc... I don't think the Bluesy is that pedal. It's a lot about touch and feel and finesse. Feels like playing my Deluxe Reverb on about 7-8 in a big room... you know, gives it that "snap!" when you lean in to it.

Oh, the Holy Grail is pretty wild if one wanted a more "serious" distortion box; a lot of the "younger guys" seem to love that one!

[KevWind]

Originally Posted by Jerry D

Thanks, KevWind. And for not being a smart a**.

Well I am often a bit of smart a** but in this case I had never heard of Tomsline so I had happened to have googled it while reading the OP. And then read your post.

As I stated I have the original limited run "Soul Driven" Allen Hinds (AH) by Exotic and really like the subtle boost and or drive effect it can give but It was some $160...... so I was curious about the Tomsline being so inexpensive. Apparently they are made in Hong Kong, which is neither here nor there per se , but no doubt why they are so inexpensive .