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Tone Sovereign - wow


MarshallArts
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Just a quick "thank you" for adding the Tone Sovereign to the 2.8 update. A clone of the KOT was my last analog pedal on my board and has been the source of my main crunch sound for a couple of years up to now. I did an A/B with the Tone Sovereign and while there is a slight difference, I cannot tell which one is better (and forgot which one I was on after some playing).

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I was messing with this one last night, and I still love it.  

 

The whole host of drives in the Helix is perfect in my opinion. Is there a vital one missing?  

 

I can't think of it. Occasionally I read people say they're disappointed with the Helix's drives and I have a serious WTF moment. Then I go eat a sammy and down a Coke to forget about how crazy life is. 

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I think the Tone Sovereign might be the most versatile of the distortion/overdrive pedal models.  2 stackable gain stages, each with 3 modes, 2 tone controls for each, a voltage control, and a fairly natural type of drive that can still instill its own character into whatever amp model is used.  I've found myself using this one A LOT more than I expected. Oh, and not having a 2 year wait time to buy one is pretty nifty, too.

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I feel the same way about the Tone Sovereign @MarshallArts. I was expecting it to be good, but not expecting at all for it to essentially take the place of the venerable Hedgehog D9 and the various boosts and compressors I put in front of that pedal.

 

The Tone Sovereign has completely redirected my tone chasing, as I - GASP! - find myself using a compressor less and less (virtually a cardinal sin as a Tele player ;)), and removing pre-pedal gain boosters.

 

It's a high-gain pedal without being pigeonholed as a metal pedal. After listening to Jim Weider's various projects, I can see how the King of Tone came to be as a result of Jim collaborating with AnalogMan.

 

And I haven't even begun to mess around with using it in a preset and setting up different Snapshots. I just happened on a setting I really, really, really like and get everything I need with a twist of my Tele's volume knob and changing up picking techniques and intensity.

 

Stunning, and as @JimGordon mentions, not having to wait to get one until I have even more gray hairs is a nice plus. :)

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19 hours ago, Kilrahi said:

The whole host of drives in the Helix is perfect in my opinion. Is there a vital one missing? 

 

I'm actually not all too happy with the fuzz ones (and yes, I tried at all input impedance settings, getting better at lower values but also impacts the rest of the signal chain, even if set to "auto").

I really like the fuzz in my Atomic Amplifirebox, even if it does cause some artefacts on ringing out notes or very lightly struck ones - but the general character is pretty nice.

Fortunately, I don't exactly need fuzz tones, but I wouldn't mind a bit of a Mike Landau-ish woolyness that yet cleans up well.

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1 hour ago, SaschaFranck said:

 

I'm actually not all too happy with the fuzz ones (and yes, I tried at all input impedance settings, getting better at lower values but also impacts the rest of the signal chain, even if set to "auto").

I really like the fuzz in my Atomic Amplifirebox, even if it does cause some artefacts on ringing out notes or very lightly struck ones - but the general character is pretty nice.

Fortunately, I don't exactly need fuzz tones, but I wouldn't mind a bit of a Mike Landau-ish woolyness that yet cleans up well.

 

Yeah I've heard that from more than a few people. I have messed around with a few songs with fuzz tones and A and B'd it with the classic Big Muff Pi . . . and I couldn't tell a difference. 

 

BUT . . . I have to admit I am not a huge fuzz fan, and I've read your complaint from enough fuzz lovers that I do wonder if there's room for improvement in this area. 

 

To be clear, my earlier comment doesn't mean I'm opposed to more examples (particularly in the fuzz realm), just that for me personally I'm satisfied. My hope and wish list would be for more areas in modulation, pitch, synth, etc. (Freeze Pedal, Drop Pedal, bizarre weird crap like the Mel 9).

 

More fuzz is fine though!

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1 hour ago, Kilrahi said:

My hope and wish list would be for more areas in modulation, pitch, synth, etc. (Freeze Pedal, Drop Pedal, bizarre weird crap like the Mel 9).

 

In all honesty, even if I'd like some new toys just as everybody, I'd rather love to see some handling improvements (and there could be quite some). But I certainly wouldn't mind some crazy synth-ish stuff, either.

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Tone Sov / KOT is brilliant, no doubt. But don't forget in all the excitement to try the Heir Apparent. After some careful thought, I swapped out the TSov for the HA on several patches. Sometimes less is more. Sometimes not :-)

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1 minute ago, BBD_123 said:

Tone Sov / KOT is brilliant, no doubt. But don't forget in all the excitement to try the Heir Apparent. After some careful thought, I swapped out the TSov for the HA on several patches. Sometimes less is more. Sometimes not :-)

 

Defenitely true for me in this case, simply because all the relevant controls of the Heir Apparent are visible on one screen, which makes finetuning it during soundchecks/gigs a lot easier.

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