I used to want one of these but could never justify the cost. Now I see that they are being made by another company, & prices have dropped.Still high enough that I want to make inquiries & watch a few videos before I spend my money.
Anyone familiar with these particular pedals?
I've had two over the years. They both sounded the same, despite being purchased probably seven years apart, and that sound was absolutely gorgeous. It was the kind of overdrive tone that makes you want to play all day long. The discussion of whether or not they were Dumble-like aside, the tone was extremely reminiscent of Robben Ford or Larry Carlton in their Dumble phases.
Then you play one at a live show...
Lacking any mid-bump, and emphasizing (and removing) the frequencies that they do, I found that both utterly disappeared onstage, unless I turned them up so loud that it wasn't playable. (Literally the only time my sound people told me that they couldn't hear my solos onstage, as opposed to, "Oh my God can you please turn down?!?!?")
I bought the second one in hopes that with a two-amp rig and a boost pedal kicked on at the same time, it would negate the problem. It did not. Very disappointing both times, because I would have loved to have that overdrive sound in my live rig, but, I couldn't make it happen.
I had one years ago and didn't like it enough to keep it. I never tried it live.
The newer ones were made by Lovepedal and they're not making anything right now.
Well that's not what I wanted to hear
Lol
But Im relieved I inquired first before laying out a bunch of money.
Pete, how do you suppose Robben Ford makes it work? Can he just afford to be louder & take up a lot more sonic space since he mostly plays in a trio?
I kept wondering the same thing! My thought is that when pros play live, even in a smaller club, everything is tightly controlled by the sound engineer, with (usually) in-ear monitoring. Robben can get any mix he wants in his ears, and the sound person can make sure the guitar is on top of the mix by adding mid-boost at the board, etc. Both of the times I added one to my board were in the days before we were using IEMs and a more pro-level sound rig, playing a lot more bars than weddings in those days.Originally Posted by Cogs
I also think you're right on both counts, and, Robben seems to agree that he was usually playing really loud, in this brief Instagram post about his gear:
Robben's Pedalboard 2020
That video also shows his Zendrive settings.
EDITED to say that I was also only playing a Strat or Tele back then; I bet if I had tried a LP, it might have been a different story.
Interesting thought, but still- I'd want it to work across the board (no pun intended). I wouldn't want a pedal on my board that wasn't versitile enough to use with whatever guitar I happen to want to play.
Cool video though
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