Aclam Guitars The Woman Tone Effect Pedal Owner’s Manual
- June 11, 2024
- Aclam Guitars
Table of Contents
Aclam Guitars The Woman Tone Effect Pedal
WHAT IS IT?
A tribute in a pedal to one aspect of Eric Clapton’s sound during the Cream days
Product Information
The Aclam The Woman Tone pedal is a tribute to Eric Clapton’s sound during the Cream days. The pedal’s artwork is by Marijke Koger, former member of The Fool, the Dutch art collective that painted Clapton’s Gibson SG. The pedal’s sound combines an all-analogue pickup simulation circuit designed to reproduce the tone of a vintage Gibson PAF humbucker and a Plexi-style overdrive governed by gain and volume knobs. The Woman Tone knob offers the same behavior as the tone control on a guitar, and there is an internal DIP switch that changes the tone capacitor value for a darker tone. The Woman Mode footswitch activates the Woman Tone knob and slightly increases the gain and low-end at the same time.
Product Usage
To use the Aclam The Woman Tone pedal, follow these steps:
- Connect your guitar to the input jack of the pedal using a 1/4-inch instrument cable.Connect the output jack of the pedal to your amplifier using a 1/4-inch instrument cable. Adjust the gain and volume knobs on the pedal to achieve your desired overdrive sound.
- Use the Woman Tone knob to adjust the treble. Roll it back from 10 to take off the treble. If you want a still darker tone, use the internal DIP switch to change the tone capacitor value.
- Activate the Woman Mode footswitch to activate the Woman Tone knob and slightly increase the gain and low-end at the same time for an authentic “woman” tone.
Note that adjusting your guitar’s knobs can achieve similar results, but the Aclam The Woman Tone pedal provides instant access to the Clapton sound with added practicality.
Cream To A T
Eric Clapton adjusted his guitar’s knobs to get that signature sound, and now it can be yours by stomping on a footswitch
- Words Trevor Curwen
- Photography Olly Curtis
- The pedal’s artwork is by Marijke Koger, a former member of The Fool, the Dutch art collective that originally painted Clapton’s Gibson SG
- The Woman Tone knob effectively offers the same behavior as the tone control on a guitar. Roll it back from 10 to take the treble off. If you want a still darker tone, there’s an internal DIP switch that changes the tone capacitor value to facilitate that
- This Woman Mode footswitch activates the Woman Tone knob and slightly increases the gain and low-end at the same time.
We’ve all heard it, haven’t we?
Eric Clapton’s ‘woman’ tone on Cream songs such as I Feel Free and Sunshine Of Your Love is legendary. Showcased by the man himself in the documentary of Cream’s 1968 farewell concert, it’s a fulsome rounded tone that sings with midrange while still being a touch edgy, and is achieved in part by rolling back the tone pots on the guitar. In the documentary, Eric demonstrates it using his psychedelically painted 1964 SG Standard through his Marshall stack, but Aclam has rightly concluded that we haven’t all got this vintage gear and designed a pedal to get close to the tone – whatever your guitar and amp combination.
What’s more, the company considered that manipulating tone knobs on stage is a bit of a faff, so by including a footswitch that offered a similar effect they’d be creating a pedal that even the ’68 Clapton might have appreciated for freeing up his hands. The pedal’s sound is the sum of two elements: an all-analog pickup simulation circuit designed to reproduce the tone of a vintage Gibson PAF humbucker, combined with a Plexi-style overdrive governed by gain and volume knobs that can take it from gritty break-up to a stack at full throttle, with plenty in the tank for an extra boost.
The knob that fine-tunes the ‘woman’ tone only comes into play when activated by a dedicated footswitch, which also increases the gain to mitigate any decrease in saturation brought about by the tonal shift, and brings in a little extra low-end. Working much like a guitar tone knob, fully clockwise the knob offers full top-end so you can use the pedal as a two-stage overdrive, kicked in purely for extra gain and girth. Rolling it back from 10 towards 0 takes the top-end down until you reach your own sweet spot for the ‘woman’ tone (if you want darker, there’s an internal DIP switch for that).
Does it work?
Absolutely. Your guitar and amp obviously make their own contribution, but we tried it with several different combinations and got pretty consistent results – that instantly familiar, smoothly sustaining distortion sound was always there in full voice.
Verdict
In basic terms, this is a quality M-flavoured overdrive pedal with the added practicality of a switchable tone preset. But, more specifically, if you want to recreate that Clapton flavour, this will give you instant access. G
THE RIVALS
There are no other pedals designed to specifically give you this sound as far as we know, but there are plenty of Marshall Plexi-style overdrives that you might want to pair with an EQ pedal to simulate the effect of a guitar tone knob. Look to something like the Source Audio EQ2 Programmable Equalizer (£299), a combination graphic and parametric equalizer with presets, or the Wampler EQuator (£185), a simpler parametric EQ. For that Marshall sound, try the Carl Martin Plexitone (£188), Wampler’s Plexi Drive Mini (£139) or Plexi Drive Deluxe V2 (£249), or the recently reviewed (in Guitarist 485) Gurus Double-Decker MkII (£319).
- Combine this straightforward EQ from Wampler with a Plexi-style drive for ballpark ‘woman’ tone.
PROS
- Classy artwork; solid build quality; Marshall-style drive sound; foot-switchable tone alteration for authentic ‘woman’ tone
CONS
- No complaints about the pedal, but adjusting your guitar’s knobs costs a lot less!
Specifications
- PRICE : £299
- ORIGIN: Spain
- TYPE: Tone and drive pedal
- FEATURES: Relay true bypass, Smart Track pedalboard mounting
- CONTROLS: Gain, Woman Tone, Volume, internal DIP switch (darker tone), Woman Mode footswitch, Bypass footswitch
- CONNECTIONS: Standard input, standard output
- POWER: 9 V DC adaptor (not supplied) 40mA
- DIMENSIONS: 137 (w) x 88 (d) x 55mm (h)
Contact
Aclam Guitars
- (+34) 931 701 767
- www.aclamguitars.com