Tone Monk, Vpicks, Norton Cable TOURBOX

[Mr. Pickles]

Mike at NortonCable has put together a complete tourbox showcasing three Tone Monk effects pedals - the Seed of Life, Vesica Piscis, and Ankh. While geared towards guitarists, the Ankh preamp and Vesica Piscis Pre/Line Driver interest me.

Feel free to send him an e-mail to get on the list. Then we can discuss the effects here in this thread. E-mail:
gibsonguy83@comcast.net

Note - I am not affiliated with Nortoncable, Tone Monk, or Vpicks, or with any of the other products included with the tourbox. I just happened to get first spot on the list.

Mike has a thread on TGP with more info:
http://www.thegearpage.net/board/sho...d.php?t=813449

[Matt Dean]

Very cool... thanks for the heads up. I just emailed.

[warwick.hoy]

I love the imagery.

They should do a Flower of Life pedal that combines all three.

[Mr. Pickles]

Got the Norton Cable/Tone Monk tourbox today to play with until Monday or so. Pics/clips and reviews to follow!

[Matt Dean]

Is there a list, so I know if and where I'm at on it?

Matt

[Mr. Pickles]

Originally Posted by Matt Dean

Is there a list, so I know if and where I'm at on it?

Matt

SLOTS:
1. Mr. Pickles
2. mrscott99
3. iowa
4. funkycam
5. mlweidl
6. u12drag
7. 2tone
8. StuckItToYa31
9. Bloomfield fan
10. The Sound Magazine.

[Matt Dean]

I emailed Mike... but didn't get on the list...

[Mr. Pickles]

That sux, Matt! I know it won't make you feel any better to know that it rox!

Pudding:


The big surprise is that the Seed of Life works very well on bass. There are some voicing toggles that allow for considerably massive low end. I have to e-mail the builder to get more specifics and then I'll do a proper review.

[My name is Mudd]

Are the Mini and the brick part of the tourbox?

[Mr. Pickles]

Originally Posted by My name is Mudd

Are the Mini and the brick part of the tourbox?

yup

[My name is Mudd]

Wow...fancy!

[-Norton-]

Hey guys thanks for all the kind words!!!
I'll ask mr.monk if we can add an extra person onto the list. The only downer about being on the end of the list is, it would probably be about 5-6 weeks before you would have a chance with the pedals figure 3-4 days keep time per person + ship time times 10 people..


A second tour box is in the works including the new tone monk phoenix pedal. Tourbox #2 will be a bit larger as it will need a bigger board (pt-jr). I think maybe in 4-5 weeks time the tone monk compressor will be ready to go! So it would be a 5 pedal tour board.
(I've tried the compressor pedal- without leaking too much info I can say it will kick butt for bass )

Pickles if you need any specs I might be able to help out.
Be sure to try the Dark cable!!!


-Mike

[Mr. Pickles]

First of all, let me say that the tourbox makes for an excellent sampling of products offered by Norton Cable.

V-Picks - I prefer a thin, flexible plectrum when the need arises. Most of the picks included were huge slabs of acrylic -some were ground to a pointed edge and the rest were just like a traditional pick edge. Nothing really wowed me with this product (the leather carry piouch was cool, though). They looked kind of home-made; as if someone just ground the edge of a traingular piece of acrylic material. The V-Pick I chose to use most often was the smallest one with the pointed edge. I like the attack the edge provided - a nice "ping" that was subtle but unique.

3 cables were included - a Johnny Hiland sig cable which was braided and wrapped in plastic. This thing is way overbuilt and will last a lifetime. I like sturdy cables, and this one fit the bill perfectly. The second cable was Canare- which is purportedly "dark" toned. My ear isn't really trained or sensitive enough to hear this, though and I'm fairly sure my recording gear wouldn't capture the nuance, so you'll have to hear for yourself if it lives up to its description. The third cable was a Norton intrument cable - nice and thick and well-built. Nice job on this product. I'd have no issued owning the Norton brand.

The board was a PT Mini with a Voodoo Labs Iso 5, which as most of you know provides isolated power outputs: 3 9v, 12v 300ma, and an 18v outlet. Both are well designed and eminently useful. The Mini needs to be modded if you'd like to mount an Iso underneath, though. The one in the tour box was velcroed on top. The patch cables were massive, just like the JH sig - they may be too big for some users, but others may take the tradeoff of quality over space saving.

The Ankh is a nice pre-amp. The inside is gooped, but it looks like a simple cicrcuit. It provided a nice heft to the bass tone and the notes had breathing room around them - 3 dimension is how the ad copy reads and I would agree. It's expensive, though. It kind of reminds me of Os's Submarine in a way. When I cranked the input, I did hear some second order harmonic distortion - hence the Sub reference. I'll bet this thing kills in front of a tube amp on guitar or bass. No sound samples here, as it's subtle and my recording gear won't really do it justice.

The Vesica Piscis is a line driver/buffer. My ears suck and I can never tell when a buffer is active, so I didn't play with this pedal at all.

The Seed of Life is what really excites me. It is, hands down, the most flexible sounding dirt box I've ever used. Every sound kills on bass. If I were suddenly stripped of all my dirt options and told I would have to use the Seed of Life only, I would have no regrets. It does mild to massive OD; it does synthy, raspy fuzz tones; it does clean boost; it does mid boost; and it does them all well. This is the kind of pedal where every setting is useful (assuming you've gain staged properly as there is a TON of gain on tap). You could randomly turn knobs and flick the toggles and love whatever you find.

I've recorded some Rage and Foo Fighters riffs to demonstrate. Rage is played fingerstyle and Foos with a pick on my Am Std P Bass. No processing, eq, or anything - straight to my MOTU interface and then to SONAR. Each riff is played four times: the first time is with the Form knob at 9 o'clock and the toggle near the word "Seed" to the right. This provides a raspy fuzz like tone with massive low end. Then I flick the toggle to the left for a mid boost for the second time around. The third riff puts the toggle to the right and the Form knob to 3 o'clock for a warmer sound. The fourth riff kicks the toggle to the left again for the mid boost. Then this whole method is repeated for the pick riffs.

Mind you, I never moved the drive knob (it was at 3 o'clock) nor engaged the three position toggle located next to the input.

I hope you dig the sounds I've gotten from The Seed of Life.
Somebody buy my Wooly Mammoth so I can afford this bad boy!

*edit* just waiting for sound cloud to process the file. I'll put the link in my next post. Sorry for the tease.

[Mr. Pickles]

16/44.1k wav:
http://soundcloud.com/mr-pickles-1/seed-of-life

mp3:
http://soundcloud.com/mr-pickles-1/seed-of-life-1

[Matt Dean]

Originally Posted by -Norton-

Hey guys thanks for all the kind words!!!
I'll ask mr.monk if we can add an extra person onto the list. The only downer about being on the end of the list is, it would probably be about 5-6 weeks before you would have a chance with the pedals figure 3-4 days keep time per person + ship time times 10 people..


A second tour box is in the works including the new tone monk phoenix pedal. Tourbox #2 will be a bit larger as it will need a bigger board (pt-jr). I think maybe in 4-5 weeks time the tone monk compressor will be ready to go! So it would be a 5 pedal tour board.
(I've tried the compressor pedal- without leaking too much info I can say it will kick butt for bass )

Pickles if you need any specs I might be able to help out.
Be sure to try the Dark cable!!!


-Mike

If you're talking about adding me to the list, I don't mind the wait... I just would like to try out your pedals.