I recently picked up a Tomahawk Deluxe overdrive pedal from Greer Amps.
What do I think of it? Read on for my first impressions.
What Did You Buy?
I bought a Tomahawk Deluxe Drive pedal, made by Greer Amps in Greece. I got mine from the second-hand market.
Greer Amps describe it as a medium gain overdrive with an EQ shift that firmly puts it into tweed-tone territory. They describe it as producing a “big box” tweed sound.
What Does “Big Box” Mean?
Whenever I see “big box” tweeds, I think of the 5F8-A Twin Tweed (also known as the High-Powered Twin Tweed or HPTT for short). Big, powerful amps in 2×12 enclosures.
I haven’t seen folks using “big box” to mean (say) a 5e3 Tweed Deluxe, or really any other tweed-era amp from Fender.
So I am confused by the pedal’s name. Why add the ‘Deluxe’ name to a tweed-tone pedal if it isn’t chasing the sound of a Tweed Deluxe amp?
[Update: looking at the official demo – linked below – it appears that the Tomahawk Deluxe does chase the sound of a Tweed Deluxe when run at 9v.]
Why Did You Buy It?
I collect tweed-tone pedals. Tweed tone is my thing, and I’d love to try as many takes on this pedal genre as possible.
The Tomahawk Deluxe, though … I must admit that it’s a pedal that’s completely flown under the radar for me for many years. I have seen it get mentioned on various lists of tweed-tone pedals, but that’s about it. Even though it launched fairly recently (early 2018), it doesn’t seem to have been demoed widely on YouTube.
I’m not sure if it’s a rare pedal or not. It doesn’t seem to be stocked by any of the usual guitar stores here in the UK (even the ones that stock other Greer Amps pedals), but it’s still in production.
This one turned up on eBay at the right time for me. So I’ve got it, and I’m looking forward to hearing what it can do.
My Signal Chain Today
Today, I’m playing:
- my Fender Telecaster (aka Mirage)
- into the Axe-FX 3 (mostly for the excellent tuner)
- out to my pedalboard
- back into the Axe-FX 3 (for amp, cab, delay and reverb)
- out to my audio interface
- and into my DAW
On the Axe-FX 3, I’m running my (pretty much finalised) 57 Vintage pedal platform preset. The 57 Vintage is specifically designed to make tweed-tone pedals sound as good as I can.
On the pedalboard, I have the Tomahawk Deluxe, MXR Duke of Tone and Lazy J Cruiser Deuce in their owns loop on my Gigrig G2. When I’m not using a pedal, it’s completely out of the signal path, so that it cannot colour the tone in any way.
All the delay and reverb that you hear is coming from the Axe-FX 3. I’m not adding any effects in my DAW. The only post-processing that I’m doing is to level match all of the demos. You can read more about my level-matching process here.
How Does It Sound?
On Its Own, A Low Gain Overdrive
I’m starting with just the Tomahawk Deluxe, and using it as the primary source of dirt in my signal chain. I was surprised at just how low-gain this pedal is.
To demonstrate what I mean, this is how my Tomahawk Deluxe sounds with the drive control at 12 noon. I’m using the bridge pickup of my Telecaster, into the ’57 4 Most Guitars’ scene of my ’57 Vintage’ preset.
In the room while recording the audio, that sounded very clean. Listening back to the recording, I can hear that there actually is a bit of breakup.
I’m surprised, though, that a medium-gain pedal is that clean when the drive control is at 12 noon.
So how much gain does the Tomahawk Deluxe have? Here’s how the same setup sounds with the Tomahawk Deluxe’s drive control maxed out:
That’s more like it!
A Good Tweed Tone Sound
I think the sweet spot for the Drive control is about the 3 o’clock mark – at least, with my Telecaster. When I dial that in, this is what I get.
To my ears, that’s a very good tweed-tone. It’s got the low-mids foundation, that raspy breakup, and that upper-mids energy. That’s why I like these pedals.
The one thing that isn’t quite right for me is the note attack / note transients. The note attack sounds too sharp and the transients sound too prominent for my tastes. And this is with a Telecaster that’s pretty mellow as Telecasters go.
I’d prefer it if the note attack was slighted rounded, and if the pedal compressed the transients just a little bit.
It’s just my personal preference. If you’re someone who wants the tweed-tone mid-range with snap and attack, this might be the pedal for you.
As A Second-Stage Overdrive … Hrm
I’ve been thinking about how the official website describes this pedal as a “medium gain ‘second stage’ overdrive”. Does Greer Amps mean stacking another pedal in front of it, to get into medium gain territory?
If this pedal works well in that setup, that gives me a nice option to explore in the future.
I’ve added my MXR Duke of Tone (DoT for short) to my board. The DoT is based on the Analogman King of Tone (KoT for short), and the KoT is designed to add extra drive to an amp (more than being a standalone drive pedal into a clean amp). It should be perfect as the first-stage overdrive.
Before I stack them, this is how the DoT sounds on its own. I’m running the DoT in OD mode; Volume and Drive controls are around 2 o’clock, while the Tone control is around 3 o’clock.
Even at these settings, the Duke of Tone is so much more overdriven than the maxed-out Tomahawk Deluxe!
(As an aside, the MXR Duke of Tone is the pedal that convinced me to buy this particular Telecaster. This guitar and this pedal always sound great together. I really should use them together a lot more.)
Next, I’m stacking the Duke of Tone into the Tomahawk Deluxe. I’ve rolled the drive control on the Tomahawk Deluxe back to about 12 noon, and left all the controls on the DoT the same as before.
Here’s how that sounds.
I found that quite painful to record. Very sharp and cutting, with almost no low-end at all. And where did the low-end go? 😭
I’m declaring this first attempt at stacking something with the Tomahawk Deluxe a total failure.
What Am I Doing Wrong?
Comparing Against The Official Demo
Here’s the official demo from Greer Amps themselves.
With my Telecaster, I can’t get anywhere near the same level of drive at the same settings from the Tomahawk Deluxe Drive that I have.
For example, if I take the settings from 45 seconds into the video (Volume above 1 o’clock, Drive down at 9 o’clock, Treble at noon instead of below 11 o’clock) and then throw a 9 dB boost in front, this is all I get:
It’s a nice sound, and one I think I could use, but to my ears it’s a lot cleaner than what the official demo achieves.
I would have thought that a 9 dB boost would have made up for any output difference between my Telecaster’s bridge pickup and the guitar used in the official demo. Maybe I’m wrong about that? Definitely could be!
I’ve got one last thing to try …
When In Doubt, Boost With The Lazy J Cruiser Deuce
Lazy J make some of most respected tweed amps around. (One day, I will have one!) They also make a pedal called the Cruiser Deuce, which is specifically designed for boosting tweed amps.
So let’s put the Cruiser Deuce in front of the Tomahawk Deluxe and see what I get.
For this demo, I’ve got the Tomahawk Deluxe set like this: Volume above 1 o’clock, Drive down at 9 o’clock, and Treble below 11 o’clock too. I’ve set the Cruiser Deuce like this: Gain above 1 o’clock, Drive at 12 noon, Sat at 3 o’clock, Vol at 9 o’clock, and the external toggle switch in the middle position.
Here’s how that sounds.
Finally!
Can you hear how the note attack is nicely rounded off, and the transients are also compressed? That’s what was missing for me before. The mid-range is more saturated too, even though the palm-muted single notes don’t sound much more overdriven.
If the Tomahawk Deluxe could achieve that on its own, I think it would be an outstanding tweed-tone pedal.
Final Thoughts
I’m left with mixed feelings.
It is a good pedal. It definitely does the tweed-tone thing. I got some nice sounds out of it. And it gives me a low-gain option that I might not have from other pedals.
If I could get the Tomahawk Deluxe on its own to sound like the Tomahawk Deluxe & Cruiser Deuce pairing, then it would be right up there as one of the best tweed-tone pedals I’ve tried so far.
I’m just a bit frustrated that I need to throw what is (let’s be honest!) an esoteric and very expensive pedal at the Tomahawk Deluxe to get there.