Toneconcepts / Nels Cline Goo Distortion

I’ve been a fan of Nels Cline for a long time. I would have to say he’s probably the most diverse guitar player out there. And I like that his diversity is “weird” and artistic. He truly plays guitar as an expression, and because of that, his playing is super fun to listen to. His style is very unpredictable and rides that line I love – the edge of awesome and train wreck, except he never wrecks, but you feel uncomfortable hoping it doesn’t lose control – and it just rides that intense pocket.

I was very excited that Nels collaborated with a pedal company to develop a new distortion pedal!

Toneconepts GOO distortion

In a world filled with fuzz boxes and overdrive pedals and very few distortion pedals, I wanted to create a distortion pedal that is creamy, full rich, but also loud and versatile with a lot of sustain and plenty of gain.

GOO is the most expressive, touch sensitive, and responsive distortion pedal I’ve ever experienced.  GOO will rock your socks off, and then its singing sustain will envelop you in sonic viscosity and consume you in creamy, dreamy distorted bliss.

– Nels Cline

So Toneconcepts worked with Nels Cline to develop a new pedal in their Icon Series called GOO. What came of this is something that I can really appreciate – a pedal that is really simple (gig-friendly design) and unloads the goods. Controls (which are glow in the dark – cool) are Volume, Shininess and Viscosity – translated Gain, Tone and Sustain – the holy trinity.

Check out this performance demo…

Here is the breakdown of settings in the video:

0:00 to 0:22: GOO OFF! Clean Amp sound
0:22 to 0:50: GOO ON! GAIN: 1 o’clock TONE: 11 o’clock
0:51 to 1:48: GAIN 4 o’clock = SUSTAIN, SUSTAIN, SUSTAIN!
1:49 to 2:23: GAIN halfway, TONE 3 o’clock = CRUNCH!
2:24 to 3:23: GAIN 2 o’clock , TONE  1 o’clock

Want to learn a bit more about Nels? Check out this Toneconcepts interview:

The GOO is $289 and only available for pre-order. Additionally, this is super limited. Only 250 pieces are going to be made. To get in on the pre-order, go here.

Let me know what you think about this pedal or your thoughts about Nels by commenting below. Love to hear your thoughts.