One of my personal litmus tests of any compressor
is the McGuinn drill—seeing to what
extent I can achieve the even sustain and snap
that the Byrds’ Roger McGuinn got out of his
Rickenbacker 360-12 running straight into a
board and studio compressor. It’s never a fair
challenge for any pedal, but the Tumbleweed
impressed me with how well it could approximate
the tight, but sustained and still-ringing,
qualities of the 12-string on those old Byrds
sides. And my own Danelectro Hodad sounded
lively and focused enough for lead work—a
subtle, but very effective shift in dynamics you
can get by really squeezing the level and sensitivity
on the Tumbleweed and backing off the
guitar volume a touch. In this setting, too, the
Tumbleweed did a beautiful job of increasing
touch sensitivity.
Though the compressor on the Tumbleweed
is first-class, it’s the boost function—and the
ability to use them together—that really sets
the pedal apart. Using the same settings and
setups I used for the Telecaster and McGuinn
tests, I used the boost and attentive use of
the guitars’ volume controls to lend more
girth, attack, and—with the guitar volume
maxed—a range of higher-gain tones that
resulted in a controlled harmonic bloom or a
very musical and manageable feedback.
The Brit and Cali switches colored the sound
even further. The Brit in particular really
extended the range of the pedal, giving me
the bandwidth to kick the Telecaster into a
very cool sound reminiscent of Yardbirds-era
Jeff Beck riding the volume knob while
leaning into an AC30: I got a combination of
biting, snappy lead notes and bends teetering
on the edge of feedback. Plugged into
a larger Fender Bassman 4x10 reissue, the
effect was much bigger, though it remained
very controllable. And when I did crank up
the gain, the bigger amp working with the
Tumbleweed brought out a rainbow of harmonic
overdrive and controlled feedback
that made slow, stabbing leads a blast.
The Verdict
You have to love any pedal that gives you this
much dynamic range in a single box. With
both low- and higher-wattage amps, the compressor
can help you get traction and bite for
a lead or rhythmic hook when the band isn’t
going full throttle. And when the band kicks
into overdrive, the Tumbleweed’s Boost and
switchable voice functions give you the potential
to get singing, hot, or squirrelly, depending
how you use your guitar’s controls. Used
individually and then together over the course
of a song, the Tumbleweed gave me incredible
range to lay back and create a detailed and
present arpeggiated bed that didn’t dominate
a mix. It also gave me the ability to cut into
leads in the truest sense. Any single pedal that
gives you that much room to roam is certainly
worth a look.
Buy if...
you need a pedal to corral an overly
rich rhythm sound and to create
controlled-feedback mayhem.
Skip if...
the silence between Ramones jams
is as dynamic as your playing gets.
Rating...
