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Goliath FX “TomeBender” Review – The USEABLE ToneBender?
Introduction
We haven’t reviewed many fuzz pedals on this channel, but that is changing today! We have an incredible pedal from the guys over at Goliath FX! We have one of their fuzz pedals, the Goliath FX TomeBender! This is based on the famous MKII Tone Bender circuit, but with a few differences and you could argue improvements.
As always we will go through the Goliath FX TomeBender and its controls then run through sounds and finally go over our thoughts and review of the pedal, and boy, do we have a lot of things to say about this pedal!
Goliath FX TomeBender
The TomeBender is Goliath FX’s take on the famous ToneBender circuit but with a few modifications. The pedal is shaped in a “cheese” like triangle case, with 3 controls a foot switch and an LED! It is powered with standard 9v and all the inputs and outputs are top-loaded.
Control-wise, it is the same as a ToneBender. Just three simple controls! Top left we have a “Volume” control, controlling the output of the pedal. On the top right, we have a “Gain” control, which controls how much clipping and gain the pedal adds. The bottom middle is the “Bias” controls which control the voltage to the chip. However, Goliath has done something different, and turning the bias fully clockwise will “overload” the circuit and push it even further.
The pedal can be purchased directly from Goliath FX, through their Instagram or Website. They can come in various formats and case sizes and styles, but for the pedal I have here they retail at £120.
The Sounds
For sounds, we start with a demo song that o put together. I don’t know why but this pedal made me go for an early 2000’s new metal kind of vibe! There are two main sounds, one is with the bias all the way to the left and the other is all the way to the right. All sounds are recorded using LT custom Strat into the front end of my Revv D20.
After that, we run through some sounds that you can get with this pedal! Mixing it up with a few other pedals in the chain as well to show how it stacks and sounds with other overdrives. Again, all recorded with my LT Strat into the front end of the Revv D20.
What are my thoughts?
So what are my thoughts? Well First, let me start off by saying that Goliath FX loaned me this pedal, however, after playing it, I bought it from him! That’s how much I have enjoyed it! However, let’s start with the looks, design and build quality! They are all fantastic! I think we can all agree that this pedal looks amazing! Very different, unique and one-of-a-kind! The shape of the case is a little nod to the original ToneBender and his look at the paint job!
A stunning black and gold crackle gives a very interesting and eye-catching look when paired with the gold control knobs. Build quality-wise is excellent, no issues or flaws that I can see or hear! No pot crackles or anything! Perfectly built! The inputs and outputs are all top-loaded, As we all know, We love that here at Gigs & Guitars! Makes for a compact pedalboard!
More Thoughts!
Anyway, what about sounds? The Goliath TomeBender sounds huge with single coils! If you find you struggle to get a good overdrive or mid-to-high gain sound with single coils, just buy this pedal! It makes any gain sound with single coils that sound huge, fat and thick! Yeah retaining that spark and funk we love about single coils! However, roll down the guitar’s volume and you get sparkly and crystal cleans! Perfect if you only have a small pedal board and need a range of gain sounds!
Speaking of the gain sounds, using the bias control you can go from spitty and almost broken-sounding fuzz to thick and forceful fuzz! Using the gain control to control the gain and keep the high end in the sounds for clarity. If you find you need to punch through the mix, well, this pedal has buckets of volume! So you will definitely be able to get those walls shaking with the amount of volume this pedal has!
Goliath FX TomeBender Continued
Something else I have been doing is running this in front of my JSA Hot Toddy (Review Here) as part of a gain-stacking process. The Goliath FX TomeBender works well on its own but also works with other pedals can slide onto anyone’s pedalboard and is just usable! Rare to find a useable fuzz pedal!
I don’t have many complaints about the Goliath FX TomeBender, but the pedal doesn’t have traditional labels, there are letters on each of the Knobs, Which due to the colour of the pedal, knobs and engraving can make them tricky to read at first. However, you quickly learn what each one does and don’t need them at all. So isn’t a huge point at all. Also, This isn’t a negative but what this pedal has made me want to do is try an actual ToneBender and see how I get on with one.
Final Thoughts
Overall, this pedal is amazing and if you are looking into trying out Fuzz I would definitely give this one a go! The huge upside is that It is crazy good value for a hand-built pedal! At just £100 built for you. You also have the option to design the paint job and have anything you want on it (Check out their Instagram for examples of this).
Conclusion
That is our review of the Goliath FX TomeBender! A hand-built in the UK fuzz pedal! As I said this is a fantastic fuzz pedal and works well amongst other drive pedals giving you a host of gain options! Speaking of gain options, we have another Goliath FX pedal coming to the site very shortly! If you want to purchase your own or check out the pedal further you can find Goliath FX’s links below!
Now, I want to say that Goliath FX sent this pedal across for me to try out. However, all the thoughts in this article are my own! The agreement when we arranged this review was that he was going to send the pedal, I was gonna try it and then I was going to send it back! However, after trying the Goliath FX TomeBender and using it in various demo songs for reviews, I ended up buying it from him and keeping it and can see it staying on my board for a long time!
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