Dumble/Dumbler pedals?

Karl Paulsen · From: Chicago

Anyone using a Dumble, Dumbler or any of the other pedals that are supposedly related to the ZenDrive?

My Bad Horse died and on at the end of an internet rabbit trail, I ordered an Iset "Dumble". It appears to be the same pedal as the Rowin "Dumbler" but it had a cooler looking case graphic and was on sale.

I think I like it better than the Klon clone Bad Horse. I wanted a mild smooth, clear overdrive that isn't fuzzed out by chords on my steel and it seems to deliver!

Curious to hear if anyone else is using these or similar pedals and what settings they prefer.
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Steve Lipsey · From: Portland, Oregon, USA

I'm using a Golden Acorn Overdrive Special
https://one-control.com/products/golden-acorn-overdrive-special
Read the description...this guy has it right...if you don't overdo the drive knob you get a nice violin sustain...

My ZenDrive was a touch cleaner but I decided to replace pretty much everything with mini-pedals, except wah (ChiWahWah) and Envelope Filter (Analogman), where the minis just didn't cut it.
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Karl Paulsen · From: Chicago

John Ducsai · From: New Hampshire, USA

I like this J Rockett pedal:
https://rockettpedals.com/dude/
Of course I've never played through a Dumble... Very Happy

Jim Robbins · From: Ontario, Canada

Don't know about ZenDrive, but as far as Dumble emulators go, Mad Professor Simble works great with steel:
https://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=269493

I don't think they make them anymore but I've seen them for sale used at good prices. I am among the many who haven't played through Dumbles, but it's a good OD for steel.

John Larson · From: Pennsyltucky, USA

I use one of these and I like it. It's the smoothest OD I've found for steel.
https://aionfx.com/project/azimuth-dynamic-overdrive/

Never touched a Dumble but the Azimuth gets me in the ball park of that David Lindley "Running on Empty" tone so it does it for me.

If you want authentic Dumble it's all about that crystal lattice, haha
https://youtu.be/iVTj08qTwGw
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Walter Killam · From: Nebraska, USA

Every time I step on this pedal (Jetter GS-124) I see people put their phones down to listen to what's sounding so good!

https://store.jettergear.com/product/gs-124/
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Dave Mudgett · From: Central Pennsylvania and Gallatin, Tennessee

I have played through a couple of Dumbles (not mine, this was back when, although not common, Dumbles were not considered literally worth their weight in gold and therefore untouchable at guitar shows). IMO, the first thing that should be said is that different Dumbles are different. That said, I think both the Zendrive and the Mad Professor Simble sound good. That youtube by Olli convinced me to try a Simble when they came out, and I liked it immediately. I have a couple, each on different boards. I also have a Zendrive, it's also very good but it definitely sounds different. It's on yet a different board. Mad Professor also made the Twimble, which is a Simble with a preamp in front of it. A friend got one on my recommendation of the Simble, and he really likes it.

There are lots of pedals that will get you in the general ballpark. IMO, anything beyond that is about knowing how to set up and use one. Another pedal series that I still really like is the Duncan Twin Tube - there's the Twin Tube Classic, which has a bit more of a Marshall flavor, and the Twin Tube Blue, which has a bit more of a vintage Fender flavor. So they are a bit different, but I like both. The biggest disadvantage to these is that they have a large footprint and require a special power supply, not the standard 9VDC negative-tip standard power supply that most pedals use these days. But they are based on sub-miniature vacuum tubes, and not run in starved-plate mode. A step-up transformer brings the line voltage up to realistic tube preamp levels.

A lot has been written about all these pedals on this forum and elsewhere.

Jon Light · From: Saugerties, NY

re: the original post's mention of Dumbler (Dumb and Dumbler?) I've had this on & off my board in the never-ending musical chairs shuffle. I saw a Youtube side-by-side demo with a Zendrive (which I also have). I was sold that you could dial it in to get close enough to emulating the Zen for my ears. I have zero Dumble experience so that's not in the equation.
It comes off the board when my ears are leaning more toward ruder, more rocking distortion. I'd describe it as smooth, refined, compressed, singing.

Bob Watson · From: Champaign, Illinois, U.S.

I have a Tone City Bad Horse and I like it a lot. It's the only overdrive/distortion pedal that I'll play 3ds with. They are built like a tank, so it surprises me that it died on you. Steel Forum member Jim Sliff mentioned the Bad Horse and another OD pedal called a Hotone Grass pedal in a post about David Lindley's tone years ago. I bought a Bad Horse and liked it so much that I bought the Grass pedal about a month or two later. He described the Grass pedal as a Dumble style pedal. It has a heavier OD sound than the Bad Horse and I use it to try to emulate the David Lindley tone, and Duane Allman's slide guitar tone. I like the Grass pedal a lot too. I have to say that if something happened to my Bad Horse, I would buy a knew one. I have always wanted to try the Simble and the Zen Drive, and I have also heard great things about the "Timmy" OD pedal too.

Ivan Funk · From: Hamburg Pennsylvania, USA

Fun thread.
Thanks for reminding me! I forgot I had this pedal.
I have the same pedal as Jon.
El-Cheapo Amazon instant gratification impulse buy.

I never played through a real Dumble but I like this pedal.
I did sound for Kimmock a few times and became obsessed with his sound and we discussed various gear although his magic is mostly in his hands, mind, etc...

I never thought to try this for pedal steel. This thread inspired me to try it out. Very cool.
Surprisingly it is actually true bypass so when it's off, the pickup is going direct to the first preamp tube in the amp which I like. No buffering when off etc...

The touch response is surprisingly good. Can go from clean to overdrive all in how hard or soft you pick.

ajm · From: Los Angeles

About a year ago I put together a cheap/inexpensive pedal board for a friend.
In the process I got sucked into the rabbit hole of cheap clones.
I ended up filling the slots for GEQ, tremolo, flanger, chorus and delay pedals with these types.

There are TON of import/Amazon/etc inexpensive clones out there.
iSet, Mooer, Moen, Donner, Caline, Kokko, Koogo, some Behringer.....and on and on.

Regarding OD/Distortion pedals: For the most part, with some exceptions, there are basically only 3-4 circuit types/designs. You'd be shocked once you start looking at schematics. Like it or not, they're basically all the same.

When I fell into that rabbit hole, to sort things out, I made up an EXCEL spreadsheet of all of the pedals and their clones. Since it has been a year, there are probably even more names added since then.

Youtube will have tons of videos on these.
One guy that does a lot of reviews is a guy out of Australia, "In The Blues". Nice guy, good reviews, but he tends to IMO WAAAYYYY overplay; His videos could be a LOT shorter.

Also, start cruising Craigslist for these. You can often times pick them up a little cheaper.

One downside that I found: Most of them are mini pedals. There's NO room for a battery, so you need an external supply.
Also, I found that one of the compressors tended to have noise/oscillation issues, probably due to either circuit layout or reduced filtering.
I did not have any issues with any of the GEQ, tremolo, flanger, chorus and delay pedals.

The other thing that I'll add: I also found import/cheapo solderless pedalboard cable kits. I sort of discovered them by accident. I ended up ordering two different types and had no problems with them. They were way less expensive than I'd have thought.

Don Mogle · From: Round Rock, TX, USA

What about the Wampler Euphoria or Sarno Solar Flare? Anyone using these? How do you like them?

John Larson · From: Pennsyltucky, USA

Karl Paulsen · From: Chicago

Jon and Ivan,
From what I've read, the Iset Dumble and Rowin Dumbler are probably the same pedal in a different case. Glad to hear you both like yours also.

AJM and John L.
I agree with you guys about the basic structure of so many pedals being very similar, and often nearly identical. My problem was finding pedals that play well with my Steel while staying on the cleaner side of things. Whole classes of pedals including Fuzz face, Big Muff, Tube screamer, Boss OD, were too dirty for me. Only the Klon and ZenDrive style ODs have gotten close to what I'm looking for.

And yeah, Josh Scott is great!

Bob,
I was surprised about the death of the Bad Horse too. M not convinced that the Tone City Pedals aren't the same as the Amazon cheapies, but it did come well recommended. I had hardly used it and never dropped it, but it just died. I'll probably pick up another one or another cheap Klon Clone at some point if just to A/B it with the Dumble.
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Nickel and Steel. Sad Songs and Steel Guitar.
https://www.facebook.com/NickelandSteel

Chicago Valley Railroad. Trainspotting and Bargain Hunting...
https://chicagovalleyrailroad.blogspot.com/

John Larson · From: Pennsyltucky, USA

Alex Cattaneo · From: Quebec, Canada

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