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Radial is a division of JP Cabletek Electronics Ltd.
Specifications and appearances subject to change without notice.
Radial Tonebone™ owners manual V1.0 - Part #: R870 1110 00
Radial
®
Classic Trimode
™
Owners Manual
Table of Contents
Page
Introduction ...................................................................... 1
Feature Set ...................................................................... 2
Making Connections ........................................................ 4
Using The Trimode .......................................................... 4
Changing The Tube ......................................................... 8
FAQ ................................................................................. 10
Example Settings ............................................................ 12
Settings Record Chart ..................................................... 15
Warranty ....................................................................Back cover
Classic Trimode
True to the Music
Radial Engineering
www.radialeng.com
www.tonebone.com
Congratulations on your purchase of the Radial Tonebone
Trimode distortion pedal. Based on the original Tonebone
Classic tube distortion, the Trimode gives guitar players instant
access to the three most essential tones at once: clean, rhythm
and lead. These three tones form a solid foundation from which
to explore new sonic landscapes and spur on creativity.
This manual shows how to operate and maintain your Tonebone.
To take advantage of all of the wonderful features that have
been incorporated into the Trimode, please read through this
manual before using it. This will give you a broader sense of the
Trimode’s capabilities and answer most questions about its op-
eration. Once done, please take time to experiment. You will find
that the Trimode is so well designed it is practically impossible
to make it sound bad!
If you have questions that are not covered in this manual, please
visit the FAQ section on our website. This is where we post an-
swers from questions that come from users. If you cannot find
the answer to your question please feel free to send us an email
at [email protected] and we will do our very best to respond
as quickly as possible.
With three tones from one pedal, you're ready to TRI-umph!
INTRODUCTION
The Trimode’s tone and distortion philosophy follows the Ameri-
can tradition set by Leo Fender some 50 years ago, the very root
of all the finest tube amplifiers made today.
Like the award-winning Tonebone Classic, the Trimode is a
12AX7 tube-equipped hybrid distortion pedal that combines
the warmth and natural harmonic generation of a tube with the
dynamics and control of our unique overdrive circuit. Activate
the Trimode and toggle between clean "true bypass", crunchy
rhythm and searing lead tones with days-of-sustain for the ulti-
mate live performance pedal.
The Trimode has three operational modes. The first mode is
true-bypass. In true-bypass mode, the clean sound of your amp
comes through without alteration. The second and third modes
are distortion channels 1 and 2. For the purposes of this manual
we will refer to channel-1 as rhythm and channel-2 as lead, as
this is how most players will use the Trimode.
The two distortion channels in the Trimode feature slightly differ-
ent tonal structures that have been voiced for rhythm and lead
use. The difference between the channel voicing is subtle, yet
very musical. The Trimode’s rhythm channel is slightly tighter to
ensure the distinctiveness of each string is retained even when
the tone is highly saturated. For added control, rhythm channel-
1 is equipped with an intermediate drive gain for fine-tuning the
amount of distortion.
The lead channel's voicing offers slightly more mid-range to cut
through and extra sustain. Furthermore, each Trimode channel
has slightly different MID BOOST settings that let you fine-tune
the critical mid-range frequencies. To add even greater control
over your lead sound, channel-2 features a built-in effects loop.
The effects loop allows an echo, chorus or delay to be inserted
into the lead channel and be instantly activated when the lead
channel is engaged. One foot stomp gets you distortion with ef-
fects for solos that stand out from the mix. This is way cool!
The Trimode's EQ is a powerful tool that allows you to make a
subtle change in your tone or carve up the frequency response
for extremes. Both Trimode channels share the HIGH, LOW,
FILTER controls and the TOP END switch for controlling the
overall tone.
Using the Trimode will become second nature as you become
accustomed to what each control does. The best way to get
there is to understand each function, experiment, and above
all, have fun!
