David Lindley Effects

Paul Awalt · Post by **Paul Awalt** » 28 Oct 2014 3:52 pm

Any ideas on Lindley's sound that would work with pedal steel?

Bill Sinclair · Post by **Bill Sinclair** » 29 Oct 2014 4:46 am

Stay away from the pedals?

Lane Gray · Post by **Lane Gray** » 29 Oct 2014 5:01 am

It's hard to get that tone. Part of it comes from the amp having the right sweet overdrive tone, but most of it comes from his hands and his touch.

Bobby Snell · Post by **Bobby Snell** » 29 Oct 2014 6:51 am

Lots of nice overdrive pedals on the market.

Staying away from the pedals can also mean the volume pedal...sustain is all in the overdrive. "Perfect" intervals work best, along with soaring single lines.

I believe for most of his famous stuff he used straight E tuning, which includes a low E. If you have a D-10, you can get power chords on the C6 neck in that (and lower!) range.

Olli Haavisto · Post by **Olli Haavisto** » 29 Oct 2014 7:16 am

The Simble is really good Dumble-like od pedal, good for a touch sensitive drive ala Mr Dave.
Here`s a demo I did, on lap steel, but you get the idea, I`m sure. Towards the end there`s some phase shifter, too.
Lindley used one every now and then in the 70`s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=req2Rawz700

Matt Elsen · Post by **Matt Elsen** » 29 Oct 2014 9:09 am

Nice demo Olli! That's really sweet sounding.

Jerry Kippola · Post by **Jerry Kippola** » 29 Oct 2014 6:35 pm

I am liking the simble pedal, I got the first two in the usa---shipped from Finland

Doc Hall · Post by **Doc Hall** » 30 Oct 2014 6:16 am

Very nice, Ollie!

Dave Grafe · Post by **Dave Grafe** » 30 Oct 2014 9:52 am

I have worked a few shows with him over the years, and am pretty certain that the famous Lindley lap steel sound is all about the hands, the instrument's pickup and the amp it is plugged into, and very few if any other effects devices.

Bear in mind that his "Dumble Overdrive Special" is not an amp you would want to use for a country gig on PSG...

David Gertschen · Post by **David Gertschen** » 30 Oct 2014 9:46 pm

That was some sweet sounding demo, sir!
Do you mind sharing what tuning you are using on that lap steel??

Olli Haavisto · Post by **Olli Haavisto** » 31 Oct 2014 2:44 am

The Asher is in high bass G ie the bluegrass dobro tuning.
Low to high: G B D G B D.
Thanks!

Chris Boyd · Post by **Chris Boyd** » 31 Oct 2014 4:49 am

Beautiful taste and tone Olli...

chris ivey · Post by **chris ivey** » 31 Oct 2014 6:33 pm

golly olli!
that was nice.

Paul Honeycutt · Post by **Paul Honeycutt** » 2 Nov 2014 12:16 pm

When David was playing with El Rayo-X he was going into a Dumble Overdrive Special amp. His only pedal was a Boss CE-2 Chorus. I know he used an MXR Phase-90 a bit with Jackson Browne.

You can get in the ballpark with a good overdrive like the Simble or ZenDrive. I have a ZenDrive and I find that I get a better tone with a BBE Green Screamer (Tube Screamer type) but YMMV.

The rest is in the playing.

John Macy · Post by **John Macy** » 2 Nov 2014 2:07 pm

A Zen Drive into an Origin Effects Slide Rig compressor is scary close...

Jim Sliff · Post by **Jim Sliff** » 10 Nov 2014 12:30 pm

Bear in mind that his "Dumble Overdrive Special" is not an amp you would want to use for a country gig on PSG...

Have you ever PLAYED one?

OD Specials are assumed to be high-gain or distortion-only amps, which is far rom the truth. It's basically a finely-tuned Fender platform with ultra heavy duty filtering and added features. Each one is unique and "tuned" either to an individual player or to work the best symbiotically among internal components. All have extremely heavy-duty speakers otherwise known for "clean tones" - he gets clean, articulate, tough-sensitive high-volume tones as the primary target - distortion is dialed in by the player.

And an OD Special will play clean at hair-scalping volume levels. Many players use Dumbles for clean tones and Marshalls (or a high-gain amp) for distorted tones; others, like guitarist Larry Carlton, use them both clean and distorted - distortion tone simply requires different settings or use of pedals.

The one thing they don't really do well IMO is sound great at low volume, partly because the speakers used need to be driven harder than vintage-types to hit the same volume level. So, like a Twin on "2" an OD Special on "2" is similar.

From what I understand Lindley is not using his very often, partly because high stage volume is no longer necessary (since almost all clubs are fully mike'd smaller amps have taken over), and partly high stage volume has whacked his hearing a bit. Another logical reason would seem to be that the things have become so valuable as collector's items it's a bit scary touring with one.

Peter Jacobs · Post by **Peter Jacobs** » 11 Nov 2014 12:37 pm

Trying not to hijack or re-route this thread too much, but in 2007, Lindley put his Dumbles up for sale -- probably for the reasons Jim said. Here's the message Lindley sent out (it was posted on a few message boards here and there):

"#2 Overdrive Special: ("The Orange Light") is the second one made. 2 channels/50WATTS but marked 200WATTS, Channel-switching footswitch. It has a separate head and a 2X12" ported cabinet made specially for the head that has the old white Altecs in there. The head is covered in the original K-Mart vinyl snakeskin. The cabinet is black boar's hide vinyl. This amp has been constantly checked and serviced by Dumble over the years and parts replaced as they were needed so it's not so much an artifact as it is a bullet-proof working amp. This amp was the first one he made me. Both the amp top and the speaker cabinet have flight cases.

#8 Overdrive Special: ("The Blue Light Special"). This amp is the 8th Overdrive made. 2channels/50Watts but marked 200WATTS on the back. It is the amp I recorded the "Running On Empty" slide through and countless other studio slide tracks. It is also the amp I used in all the ElRayo-X live gigs for slide. It is an earlier circuit that I wouldn't let Dumble mess with, (upgrade) because it has an other-worldly human voice tone that I've never heard in any other amp. It too has K-Mart snakeskin covering, known as "The Order Of The Python". The cabinet is covered in black boar's hide and I think the grillcloth is a truly ugly beige/gold speaker cloth made for ADVENT.

Both amps are more than fully functional and serviced by the only other amp guy Dumble would trust to repair and work on his amps, Sifu Paul Morte at Technical Services, the only amp guy I use other than Dumble. They never break down or fail. Speakers being blown was a rare occurence. If you're interested drop me an Email with an offer. They're gonna cost, needless to say. And I would rather that they go to a musician/player rather than a collector but I'm open to all offers. Pictures will be available on this website when I can take some. Pleasant dreams. Mr. Dave "

Man, I'd have been all over that #8 if I could have sold my internal organs fast enough. Back on topic: really nice playing and tone, Olli!

Chris Schlotzhauer · Post by **Chris Schlotzhauer** » 16 Nov 2014 3:58 pm

Olli Haavisto wrote:The Simble is really good Dumble-like od pedal, good for a touch sensitive drive ala Mr Dave.
Here`s a demo I did, on lap steel, but you get the idea, I`m sure. Towards the end there`s some phase shifter, too.
Lindley used one every now and then in the 70`s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=req2Rawz700

Sounds great Ollie...I need an good overdrive like that. I'm going to check it out.
Is that delay on there?

chris ivey · Post by **chris ivey** » 25 Nov 2014 11:25 pm

peter...what was mr. dave asking for the amps?

Olli Haavisto · Post by **Olli Haavisto** » 26 Nov 2014 3:03 am

I think I read somewhere that they sold for around 30 grand each.
I saw him live after he`d sold them and he was palying a D-clone called Glaswerks and sounding as good as ever.

http://www.glaswerks.com/

Olli Haavisto · Post by **Olli Haavisto** » 26 Nov 2014 3:12 am

Hmmm... A google search found a discussion where the price was estimated at 125 Gs each. Rumours....

Peter Jacobs · Post by **Peter Jacobs** » 18 Dec 2014 11:47 am

Chris, Olli - I also read somewhere that they went for more than $100K, but can't find anything to back that up.

Stephen Cowell · Post by **Stephen Cowell** » 18 Dec 2014 7:17 pm

Coupla years ago a guy had a booth at the Arlington Guitar Show... just a dude, a chair, and a Dumble head on a table. He was asking 90K. I don't recall a speaker or a guitar to try it with.

Kevin Milner · Post by **Kevin Milner** » 29 Dec 2014 10:41 am

EDIT: I got confused and thought Daniel Lanois, nothing to see here, move on.

(original incorrect comment left below for public shame)

I think a big component of his tone is the lack of finger picks. Almost no transients prevents the harshness of a lot of ODs.

Olli Haavisto · Post by **Olli Haavisto** » 29 Dec 2014 2:37 pm

In most of the pics I've seen of Lindley playing a lap steel or the Weissenborn he's wearing a thumbpick and three metal fingerpicks.
This one is from 1980.