Dumble Doohickies.

[KH Guitar Freak]

10 hours ago, django49 said:

A long time Mesa fan here too.

Someone may be able to explain it better than me.And the answer may differ depending upon the specific amps in question. But (generally) what I think differentiates them is that Mesas tend to have the clean channel drive the gain channel. Here I am speaking of the original Mk series, which were really NOT 2 channel amps. Dumble-types, by contrast, SEEM to have a separate drive module that then can be BLENDED with the underlying tone. To my ears, that creates room for a more "distinctive" overall tone. I suppose you might call it girth(?).

BTW, the Ethos pedal in front of the Mesa Blue Angel is not as good as the Fuchs ODS-30 in terms of my favorite tone. But the former is close enough and only cost half as much, (My personal preference would be to get the fully loaded Ethos Overdrive with switchable HRM post-OD tone shaping for even greater flexibility, but the pedal does get pretty pricey, esp as you add the options.....But before I would jump on the Ethos Overdrive, I would check on availability of the new version that will seemingly leave the original one in the dust).

I love those Blue Angels as well, but they are hard to come by over here with 240V compliance. Also, I've been told they can be rather noisy when turned up?

[django49]

1 hour ago, KH Guitar Freak said:

I love those Blue Angels as well, but they are hard to come by over here with 240V compliance. Also, I've been told they can be rather noisy when turned up?

If you were ever in the 'hood and able to cart one off and down under, I just might have a spare.

They do tend to be a bit noisy, but only noticeable when you are not playing. There is a whole longer story about the BA's "mojo module" (strangely reminiscent of Howard Dumble in a way) that can go bad and, if then bypassed, changes that noise structure.

[triodecr]

17 hours ago, django49 said:

.... Dumble-types, by contrast, SEEM to have a separate drive module that then can be BLENDED with the underlying tone. ...

The ODS overdrive section is cascaded with the clean section.  The ratio control is an output volume for the OD section.  The clean volume, drive and ratio control are all volume controls for various gain stages of the amp and control the amount of distortion.  

[Carl_Tone]

On 2/18/2017 at 3:45 AM, Ting Ho Dung said:

That's a lot of stuff. ...

Just a small fraction of what the purchase price of Dumble would cover though right? And the tone is as close as I would ever care to be

[HSB0531]

On 2/8/2017 at 9:08 AM, MCChris said:

The Electro-Harmonix Soul Food pedal that Tom has/had for sale on the FS board is another Dumble-style pedal. The D-word really just means a smooth, creamy overdrive character. The antithesis of the bite and bark of a Marshall.

Limited availability combined with some high-profile users (SRV, Robben Ford, Larry Carlton) are what sent values of these amps into the stratosphere. You can't overestimate the value of big names using your stuff. It's one of the things a lot of us harp on when discussions of Hamer's failures come up.

So does each limited availability Soul Food pedal sound different just like Dumble amps?