Radial Tonebone Classic Trimode Owner`s Manual

1638 Kebet Way, Port Coquitlam BC V3C 5W9
Tel: [phone] Fax: [phone]
email: [e-mail]

www.tonebone.com

Radial Engineering is a division of C•TEC (JP CableTek Electronics Ltd.)

CLASSIC

T R I M O D E

™

Owners Manual

™

®

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

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 op­eration. 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 an­swers from questions that come from users. If you cannot find
the answer to your question please feel free to send us an email
at [e-mail] 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!

1

Classic Trimode

True to the Music

Radial Engineering

INTRODUCTION

The Trimode’s tone and distortion philosophy follows the Ameri­can 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 ulti­mate 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 differ­ent 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 channel­1 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 ef­fects 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!

True to the Music

2

Radial Engineering

Classic Trimode

FEATURES AND FUNCTIONS OVERVIEW

1. Guitar input jack

1/4" jack connection for guitar input.

2. Intermediate drive gain control (on side)
Used to fine tune the distortion of rhythm channel-1. Works
in conjunction with DRIVE GAIN switch, DRIVE-1 and
LEVEL-1 controls.

3. Drive-1 control
Used to adjust the amount of input gain & distortion for the
rhythm channel-1.

4. Drive gain switch

Used to set the overall amount of distortion.

LOW = 0dB, MED = +9dB, HIGH = +20dB.

5. Drive-2 control

Used to adjust the amount of input gain & distortion for the
lead channel-2.

6. Mid boost 1 and 2 switches

Separate switches for rhythm channel-1 and lead channel-2.
Used to fatten up the sound for more cut and sustain.
Channel 1 High: Boosts +8dB @ 390Hz
Medium: Boosts +4dB @ 390Hz
Out: Flat, no boost

Channel 2 High: Boosts +12dB @ 390Hz

Medium: Boosts +7dB @ 390Hz
Out: Flat, no boost

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7 1

4

3 2

1314

15

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1718

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5

9

101112

Classic Trimode

True to the Music

3

Radial Engineering

7. Filter control
Anti-presence gently reduces high frequencies to
compensate for overly bright amplifiers.

8. Low frequency control
Active ‘post-distortion’ tone control. Boost or cut ±14.5dB at
100Hz. 12 o’clock position equals zero boost/cut.

9. Top end switch

Shapes the Trimode's overall high frequency response.

BRIGHT: +6dB @ 10kHz, adds sparkle and character.
FLAT: switched out of circuit, no boost or cut.
DARK: -6dB @ 1.8kHz, compensates for bright-sounding

amps.

10. High frequency control

Active ‘post-distortion’ tone control. Boost or cut ±10dB at

4.3kHz. 12 o’clock position equals zero boost/cut.

11. 12AX7 vacuum tube

The Trimode combines solid-state circuity with a tube
(valve) to create a wide range of distortion from slight over­drive to bone crunching saturation.

12. Level-1 control

This is used to adjust the overall output level of rhythm
channel-1.

13. Level-2 control

This is used to adjust the overall output level of lead
channel-2.

14. External power supply connection

15VDC (400mA) PSU connection.

15. Effects loop insert jack

1/4" TRS insert jack allows effect pedals to be placed in the
lead channel-2 signal path. (Tip=Send / Ring=Return)

16. Guitar output jack

1/4" jack connects to amplifier's input.

17. True-bypass footswitch with LED indicator

When the Trimode is bypassed, the guitar signal passes
straight through without any effect. The full size LED
illuminates when in true-bypass mode.

18. Channel toggle footswitch with LED indicators

Toggles between rhythm channel-1 and lead channel-2. Full
size LEDs indicate the active channel.

4

True to the Music

Radial Engineering

Classic Trimode

MAKING CONNECTIONS

As with any pedal, make sure your amp is off and the volume
turned down before making connections. Connect your guitar to
the input of the Trimode and the output of the Trimode to your
amplifier. There is no power switch on the Trimode. Connecting
the 15VDC power supply automatically activates the Trimode.
The Trimode is designed to stay on for long periods and leav­ing it on will exert very little wear and tear on the tube. Like a
tube amplifier, the Classic Trimode should be allowed to warm
up for a few minutes so the tube can reach a stable operating
temperature.

USING THE TRIMODE

The Trimode is now ready for operation. Turn on your amp and
bring up the volume slowly to ensure proper connections have
been made. To start, set your amp to a clean sound so you can
hear how each of the Trimode functions work.

Footswitches

The Trimode features two footswitches. The first footswitch is
labeled TRUE-BYPASS and selects the clean sound of your
amp. When in true-bypass mode, the bypass LED will illuminate,
signaling the Trimode is switched 'OUT' of your signal chain. The
second footswitch, labeled TOGGLE, selects between the two
Trimode distortion channels. Each channel has its own LED to
indicate the Trimode’s channel status. The cool thing about true­bypass mode is you can still toggle between the rhythm and lead
channels to prepare for the next sound. Try it! Activate the true­bypass footswitch. Now switch between the Trimode channels
by stepping on the channel TOGGLE footswitch. The channel
LEDs will alternately light up but the Trimode will remain in by­pass mode until the true-bypass footswitch is depressed again.

Control Panel

The Trimode is extremely versatile and easy to use. To get
started, we recommend setting the Trimode up as follows:

Note the tone controls (HIGH, LOW and FILTER) are set at
12 o’clock in what is commonly known as ‘flat’. Begin by set­ting the DRIVE GAIN switch to the MEDIUM position and set
the DRIVE-1 control to 9 o’clock and the DRIVE-2 control to 3
o’clock. Now, adjust the output LEVEL controls for each channel
to your desired listening level. With these settings, the rhythm
and solo channels will sound quite different. You are now ready
to start experimenting.