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  • Fargen Pete Anderson Tumbleweed Overdrive Guitar Effect

    By Chris Loeffler |

    By Chris Loeffler

     

    Ben Fargen has been in the business of building high-end, boutique guitar amplifiers since 1998 and made a name for himself for his attention to detail and ear for classic tones. His amps build on the solid foundation of the most classic and toneful circuits and add stability, control, and an openness the vintage units that inspired them could never hope to attain. A few years ago, Ben founded Sonic Edge with the intention of applying his engineering talents to the world of effects pedals. With nearly a half dozen effects now offered through Sonic Edge, Ben is bringing his newest pedal, the Pete Anderson Tumbleweed, back under the Fargen brand.

    The Fargen Pete Anderson Tumbleweed pedal is a compressor and boost in a single enclosure with Level, Gain, Sustain, and tonestack controls and features true-bypass switching for each effect. The pedal runs on 9v power supply or included 9v battery and is housed in a sturdy steel enclosure with utilitarian graphics.

     

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    What You Need to Know

    • The Fargen Tumbleweed is an evolution of the Sonic Edge Tumbleweed, building on its circuitry and re-tuned based on feedback from Country guitar hero Pete Anderson. The compressor and boost circuits are each controlled and activated independently of each other, effectively giving players access to three unique tones without having to turn a single knob.
    • The compressor side of the Tumbleweed features Gain and Sustain controls to adjust the output volume and compression of the effect. The compression is very natural sounding and extremely quiet with the tightness one expects in Country playing without ever hitting the darker, quacky sonic territory of a vintage Ross compressor. The Sustain control goes from “is it there?” levels of compression to fairly effected and squashed without scooping out the bottom end or obscuring the nuances of pick attack. Above noon, the Gain control takes the output above unity gain and provides a healthy boost to push amps or other effects.
    • The boost side of the circuit, placed after the compressor in series, features a Level control and three modes of tone stack: British, Jazz, and Cali. The British mode has a mid-focus very similar to a vintage Marshall’s EQ, focused and cutting without sounding honky or smothered. The Jazz mode, on the other hand, is entirely transparent and just gives you more of what you are feeding it at louder volumes. Cali is the fullest sounding of the three, thanks in large part to a slightly enhanced bottom end and a touch more sparkle in the upper mids. All three, while subtle, have their own character and even a slightly different tinge of barely-there breakup when cranked or driven by the compressor side.
    • Where the Fargen Pete Anderson Tumbleweed really shines is when both effects are engaged. The compressor adds soft, dynamic compression and sustain that emulates a warm tube amp and feeds into the boost (especially when the Gain control is above unity) to slightly overdrive it, creating the perfect edgy tone for an amp ready to break up. Leads pop out and there’s a musical fullness to the sound that sits perfectly in the mix in a live band.

    Limitations

    • The compression circuit is meant to be a tone enhancer, not a blatant effect… as such, players looking for over the top squash might find themselves wanting for more compression.

    Conclusions

    Typically, artist and genre marketed pedals don’t tend to make their way much beyond a subset of players who are looking for that artist or genre sound. In the case of the Tumbleweed that would be quite a shame. Players of classic rock, jazz, and really any clean to mid-gain genre will find a lot to love about the Tumbleweed. Compression, boost, and even lightly overdriven tones are abundant, lively, and only a footswitch (or two) away.

     

    Resources

    Fargen Pete Anderson Tumbleweed at Musician's Friend ($299.00)

    Fargen Pete Anderson Tumbleweed Product Page

     

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    Chris Loeffler is a multi-instrumentalist and the Content Strategist of Harmony Central. In addition to his ten years experience as an online guitar merchandiser, marketing strategist, and community director he has worked as an international exporter, website consultant and brand manager. When he’s not working he can be found playing music, geeking out on guitar pedals and amps, and brewing tasty beer. 




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