Guitar Gear

I’m pretty late to the game with the Tumnus, but I wanted a new overdrive. As if I needed more. I’ve got a milk crate full of old overdrives that I don’t use. And we’re talking about some pedals that cost me a couple of hundred bucks twenty years ago. But for some reason or other, I just never bonded with them, so it was off to the next one. And truth be told, I was buying gear left and right and many times, sight unseen. As a result, I have a pile of ’em collecting dust.

Now that I’m technically a senior citizen – shit how time has flown by – I’ve learned to be much more discerning about my gear and gear purchases. I don’t have GAS attacks. I now only replace old gear, or when I think I need to fill a hole in my sound.

After my last gig in which I first used my new BOSS GE-7 EQ, I was totally jazzed by the effect that simple pedal had on my sound. Even still, I left the gig feeling as if there was something missing in my overdrive sound. I’ve been loving playing my Wampler Belle, but the addition of the GE-7 exposed a hole that wasn’t apparent until I put it in my chain, and that is as great as the Belle sounds, it lacks oomph. Enter the Tumnus.

Being a “klone,” I’m familiar with the circuit, having gone through three EHX Soul Food ODs (great pedal, but it doesn’t stand up to the rigors of gigging). What I’ve always loved about that circuit is that when it’s engaged, it gives you more of your sound. The effect is rather uncanny. You still sound the same, but there’s just more of it without a volume change. It’s hard to explain.

What that translates to is a sound that’s more in-your-face. When I compare it to the Belle, if the Belle is like wearing a nice button-down with jeans and a tweed blazer (which looks great), the Tumnus is like wearing a fully tailored bespoke suit, replete with custom fitted Oxfords. They both look great, but there’s just something more to the bespoke suit. And with bespoke suit, one inherently knows it looks sharp, but it’s hard to pinpoint why. And that’s the Tumnus.

I haven’t gigged with it yet, as I just got it a few days ago. But I’ve tested it with my DV Mark Little 40 set up with EL34s, my Fender ToneMaster Deluxe, and my Aracom VRX22 and VRX18 (Plexi clones). It sounds great with all of them, though I’m leaning towards the Plexi tone. But it sounds killer with all of them.

All in all, I’m loving the pedal thus far. As for setup, the pedal has oodles of volume. I’ve been keeping the volume around 9 am and fiddling with the gain. There’s a lot of inherent sustain with the Tumnus, so I don’t feel the need to up the gain much. And it’s so sensitive to the volume knob and attack that I can get my amp into breakup with ease.

What about the Belle? That’s the cool thing. It has a different sound and feel, so I will be switching between the Belle and Tumnus depending on the song, and for solos, these two pedals stack nicely with each other. I haven’t decided which will go first in the chain. Right now, I’ve got the Tumnus before the Belle. I will have to do more tests to determine the order I like.

But no matter what order I decide on, the Bell and Tumnus stack together really well! For stacking, I was using my trusty Timmy, but it just didn’t sound right with the Belle. And before I bought the Tumnus, I went through that old milk crate and tried a bunch to see how they stacked with the Belle. On their own, they sounded great, but not so good stacked.

But the Tumnus? When I first auditioned it, I knew right away that it would stack well. Unlike my other ODs that had a pronounced midrange hump, the Tumnus was smoother. I knew that it would complement the Belle rather than compete with it. Of course, I was a shop, and I didn’t have a Belle on hand to test, but something told me it would work out. And what I found was that not only did it work out, the stacked sound was about the best I’ve ever heard!

The next test will be at a live gig with my band. I’m SO looking forward to using it then!