Brazil's Tone Ink Makes a Quintet of Highly Compelling Extended Range Overdrive, Fuzz and Distortion Pedals
I can’t recall exactly where I first clocked this brand - whether on Facebook and Instagram, but for sure as part of an intriguing pedalboard setup where I did not recognise those green and red pedals - those turned out to be the Tone Creamer Overdrive (TS808/ Boost) and Red Briton Distortion (MIAB - GUV/BB/ANGRY). Both those pedals had an extended range of control - including 2 x 3-way Payback Mode toggle-switches - often Mid Character and Compression. I am well known for my love of pedals with extended-range voicing switches - and these seem very smartly engineered indeed.
This article features 5 of Tone Ink’s pedals - I’m not really a fan of the horizontal compact format - so I’m skipping Tone Ink’s 2 preamp pedals for now. While I find much to love about each of its 5 compact vertical editions - Tone Creamer and Red Briton as already mentioned, and then Cold Shot Overdrive (Dumble/BlueBreaker/FenderTwin), Face Breaker Fuzz (Bender/Face), and Raven Brute & High Gain Distortion (Rectifier/EcstasyRed/5150).
I’m trying to encourage my dealer buddies to stock these to give me easier access - but until that happens I may have to go direct to the Tone Ink Webstore - where right now most of these are on special offer from R$537,00-R$599,00 (c$103-$115).
Here follow the individual details on each :
Cold Shot Clear / Transparent Overdrive (Dumble/BluesBreaker/FenderTwin) - Now R$539; usually R$649 ($124)
Controls - Active Bass, Active Mid, Active Treble, Gain, Mid Cut (Dumble 200Hz / Marshall 700Hz / FenderTwin 500Hz, Volume, Compression (Klon/MorningGlory/TS808).
Very much Tone Ink's take on a Transparent Overdrive with some further extended range features. Essentially you get 3-Band Active EQ, with a 3-way Range of Mid Cut approximating Dumble, Marshall or Fender Twin frequency profiles. And then you get to apply 3 variations of Compression - for more of a Klone sound, or Morning Glory, or more TS808. This has significantly more range and versatility than the typical transparent / organic overdrive and sounds suitably impressive with it!
Tone Creamer Overdrive / Boost (TS808/BluesBreaker/KOT) - Now R$537,00; usually R$649 ($124)
Controls - Active Bass, Active Treble, Gain, Heat : Red (Gainier) / Clear (Glassy) / Green (Classic TS808), Volume, Cream : BB (BluesBreaker Soft Clipping) / RC (XoticRC Max Headroom) / COT (KOT Hard Clipping)
The Tone Creamer is an extended-range sort of TS808 with Active 2-Band Baxandall EQ, and 2 x 3-way Playback Options which take you into a variety of adjacent areas including a variety of Tube Screamer and Blues Breaker tones. Really smart control topology here which gives you added flexibility and versatility.
Face Breaker Silicon Fuzz (Bender/Face) - Now R$569,00; usually R$699 ($135)
Controls - Volume, Tone, Gain, Plexi (Body) : Super Bass (Fat) / JTM45 (Regular), Mid : Muff / Full, Punch : Bender / Face.
This comes across like a somewhat extended range version of a Boss FZ-3 - which also straddles Fuzz Face and Tone Bender. You start with 3 simple controls - Volume, Tone and Gain, and then adjust body via Plexi toggle, overall EQ profile via Mid toggle, and overall voicing via Punch control. This does a fantastic job of having a foot in each of the Fuzz Face and Tone Bender camps - like I said - like a more feature rich version of the Boss FZ-3 in many ways!
Red Briton Distortion [MIAB] (Guv'nor / Blues Breaker / Angry Driver) - Now R$579,00; usually R$680,00 ($130)
Controls - Active Bass, Active Mid, Active Treble, Gain, Punch (Mid Punch) : Guv'nor / BluesBreaker / AngryDriver, Volume, Compression : 50W / 100W / 25W.
A classic 'Marshall in a Box' distortion spanning everything from JTM45 through to JCM800. We have 3-Band Active EQ, and two smart 3-way toggle-switches - the first of which targets Mid Punch, and the second of which targets different speaker stack Compression values. That part seems to be sort of borrowed from the JHS AT, while everything else here is distinctly Tone Ink in makeup- although it does allude to other pedals - Marshall BluesBreaker and Guv'nor, as well as the Boss Angry Driver. A really cool extended range Marshall-style distortion which many seem to love.
Raven Brute & High Gain Distortion (Rectifier / Ecstasy Red / 5150) - Now R$599,00; usually R$749,00 ($145)
Controls - Active Bass, Active Mid, Active Treble, Gain, Punch (Mid Punch) : Red / Blue / Dark (progressively more aggressive), Volume, Compression : Rectifier / Ecstasy Red / 5150.
And here we have Tone Ink's Monster High Gain pedal which coves 3 heavyweight Metal Amps - the MESABoogie Rectifier, Bogner Ecstasy Red Channel, and EVH 5150. I assume 3-Band Active EQ as is usually the case for Tone Ink, and you have the usual 2 x smart 3-way toggle-switches - the first for Mid Punch in ascending levels of aggression - presumably Blue, then Red, then Dark. The Compression switch approximates Rectifier, Ecstasy Red, and 5150 values. A really thundering heavyweight distortion which provide some very healthy completion to the REVV G3 in particular!
Final Thoughts
I am obviously already well covered for all these types and genres, but still am very sorely tempted - at the very least to check these out and benchmark them against established standards. Readers will know that these sorts of pedals are very much down my alley as it were. I will likely look to acquire several if not all of these!
I am currently trying to persuade one of my dealer buddies to stock these - to give me easier access, but I have no qualms about going direct too if they don't wish to get involved. Now is a very good time to buy Tone Ink pedals as all of these are currently on sale. You can of course buy direct from the Tone Ink Webstore. I'm not clear on who else sells these at the moment as there doesn't seem to be a dealer / stockist page for that - also no presence on Reverb.com to-date.
How about you dear readers - has anyone else like me taken a fancy to these - or were some of you aware of them already? In fact does anyone have some of these on their pedalboard?
