30 Pedals in 30 Days 2015: Radial Tonebone Texas Dual Mode Overdrive

trushack | Nov 12, 2015 | Comments 0

Canada’s Radial Engineering may be best known for their intuitive, problem-solving devices that can be found in the racks and road cases of some of the biggest touring acts on the road today. Radial switchers, DI boxes, re-ampers, splitters, and interfaces have a sterling reputation for ruggedness, flexibility, and, most of all, sound quality.

Radial is also parlaying it’s audio expertise into the Tonebone line of effects pedals. As you would expect from a leader in pro audio, the Tonebone pedals are designed for versatility. For 3P3D, TheToneKing.com is taking a look at the Texas Dual Mode Overdrive.

As you may have picked up from the name, the tonal heart of the Texas Dual Mode Overdrive is the dirty clarity of electric Texas blues guitar tone. Naturally, Stevie Ray Vaughn and his TS-driven rumble is held up as the prototypical example of this sound, and the Texas Dual Mode Overdrive’s tones are very familiar in that sense.

But Radial has added some awesome twists to that time-honored recipe. The Texas Dual Mode Overdrive has two other tonal options on tap; one influenced by a renowned modern boutique overdrive for browner, more driven tones ala Eddie Van Halen, and a third that soaks the tone with rich, thick gain, evocative of a TS on steroids. In the Texas Dual Mode Overdrive, Radial took the TS blueprint, already a versatile and respected sound, and essentially opened it up further.

And, like Radial’s pro sound products, the Texas Dual Mode Overdrive is built to respond to the ever-changing needs of the player. With two independent channels, selectable via the “Toggle” footswitch, the Texas Dual Mode Overdrive can be set up with two distinct yet complementary tones to cover all of the tonal range you may need in the studio or on stage.

A single channel amp quickly and easy becomes a three-channel tone machine; bypass for clean, Radial channel one for, say, crunchy rhythm, and Radial channel two for fat, sustained leads. Or, configure each channel for different guitars with different pickups. Maybe channel 1 serves up a blues-y, transparent boost that’s perfect for your SRV tribute gig, and channel 2 for the harder tones you need for your Sabbath-inspired side project.

Radial’s Tonebone Texas Dual Mode Overdrive encapsulates well the range of musical styles that have comes from the Texas music scene. The smooth, soulful punch of electric Texas blues; the broken-up, beer-soaked grit of ZZ Top; the powerful, punishing grind of Pantera. Each of those styles is within easy reach with the Texas Dual Mode Overdrive on your board. Check it out, y’all!