at least through 97, tom was a no pedal dude.
the pic we have from the whiskey show opening for descendents in october 96 shows tom running two VL-1002's, either bridged (like fletcher in PW does with his mesas) or one on clean and one on overdrive.
i assume tom recorded at least parts of dude ranch on one of his VL's because a.) it sounds like something he would do b.) trombino isn't a gear hound like jerry finn was, with dozens of amps around to try c.) they were at a rented at-home studio (big fish, encinitas, CA) that probably wouldn't have much gear anyways.