known Dumble Overdrive Special
owner Robben Ford, and most would
agree that it achieves this end quite
competently. Its credibility is further
enhanced by the fact that Ford himself
often uses the Zen Drive live, through
a pair of Fender Super Reverbs, when
his precious pair of Dumbles must be
left at home (it’s not always practical
or wise to travel with hundreds of
thousands of dollars’ worth of insanely
rare amplifiers). So, if the Hermida Zen
Drive is good enough to play second
banana to Robben Ford’s Overdrive
Specials, then it’s definitely good
enough for the likes of you.
SHIN’S MUSIC DUMBLOID:
This pedal mirrors the Dumble
amplifiers in many ways, and not just
in its tonal resemblance and goopcovered internals. The Dumbloid was
developed by Shin Suzuki, reportedly a
Tokyo-based amp tech who specializes
in maintaining and servicing Dumble
amps. Thusly, we can assume Mr. Suzuki
knows his way around the inside of
these amps like few people, outside
of Alexander Dumble himself, do.
This lends the Dumbloid a great deal
of credibility. This street cred comes
at a substantial cost, however, and
like its absurdly pricey inspiration,
the Dumbloid’s 600 dollar price tag
puts it out of reach of most players
who are not also partners in a blues
law firm. Despite this exorbitant cost,
the Dumbloid is a simple, somewhat
homely looking pedal, and its knobs
and jacks appear to have been labeled
with a garden variety label-maker. The
controls are Drive, Accent, Tone, and
Volume, and the “Special” version also
features a Jazz/Rock voicing switch,
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