Dumbleator completed

[Harris]

I finished up my HRM ODS, I'm guessing about 3 months ago. I've been very pleased with it. Without any doubt, it is the best overall sounding amp out of the 15 or so that I've built over the years...and some of the others sound pretty good if I do say so myself. However, I never really felt that my ODS clone had reached "grail" status.

Over this past weekend, I fired up the soldering iron for the first time in awhile and built a Dumbleator. I am blown away by how much improved the tone of my amp is by using the D'ator. It really warms up the verb or the delay and/or adds a nice bit of gain if you want it. I'm still not gonna say that I've got the grail tone, but its a lot closer than it was.

Lastly, I popped a 12au7 in the D'ator after trying a 12ax7 for the first hour or two. At this point, I'm thinking the 12au7 sounds better. Cleaner and more focused...more "complex"

[Bob-I]

Do you have a layout? What about voltages? I'm thinking of next projects and this may be one of them.

[groovtubin]

I finished up my HRM ODS, I'm guessing about 3 months ago. I've been very pleased with it. Without any doubt, it is the best overall sounding amp out of the 15 or so that I've built over the years...and some of the others sound pretty good if I do say so myself. However, I never really felt that my ODS clone had reached "grail" status.

Over this past weekend, I fired up the soldering iron for the first time in awhile and built a Dumbleator. I am blown away by how much improved the tone of my amp is by using the D'ator. It really warms up the verb or the delay and/or adds a nice bit of gain if you want it. I'm still not gonna say that I've got the grail tone, but its a lot closer than it was.

Lastly, I popped a 12au7 in the D'ator after trying a 12ax7 for the first hour or two. At this point, I'm thinking the 12au7 sounds better. Cleaner and more focused...more "complex"

I`m using a RFT ECC-81 w/great success as well, the amp will still DO its thing even w/less gain in the D`ator, i have a period correct HRM amp as well.. i AGREE, that def gets us CLOSER to THAT holy grail thing!! THANK GOD!!

[Darkbluemurder]

Hmm, very interesting. Sounds like I should nuke the vibrato in my (already hacked) Bandmaster in favor of a D-lator and buy a vibrato pedal instead.

I also thought about changing the Concert's effects loop to a D-lator but actually it works well as it is.

[Harris]

Bob, I'll check the voltages this evening and get them to you. I'm using a hammond 190-0-190. I'm thinking my voltages aren't quite as high as what's on the Dumbleator schem, but it works.

I don't have a layout. I used terminal strips and didn't even really put a lot of thought into the layout before I started soldering. Its a pretty simple circuit. If you've built a Dumble, the Dumbleator is no problem.

[Bob-I]

I drew up this layout. Untested of course but I'm starting to breadboard this using my preamp power supply. It uses the Hoffman torid and a 12VAC wall wart.

EDIT: Corrected a mistake.

[Icetech]

Damn, i need to try making one of those:) i thoght there was alot more too them (of course i never looked though)...

[Icetech]

P.S. is this something that HAD actually ever made as a stand alone unit?
And i take it the send/recieve are just a effect loop? Will work fine without using that?

[Luthierwnc]

FWIW, I love mine. Of all the noises these D-amps make, this is the most useful for me. Here are a couple things to consider in the build:

make it footswitchable. This is a bona-fide effect that you can pull in and out of a single song. With a 12vac input, you just need a parallel voltage regulator for the relay.

add the guts of an Alesis Picoverb sticking out the front. Instant parallel fx source. They aren't supposed to be anything special at the instrument level but great at line level. Very small too.

Put the input and output jacks in the back. You are taking the feed from the back of the amp and returning it to the same place. Keeps the cords short and out of the way. My send and return jacks are there too.

Good luck, Skip

[dogears]

Keep in mind that the absolute phase will change when switching the loop in and out. There is a noticeable difference IMO, and it may be very noticeable in a band setting.

FWIW, I love mine. Of all the noises these D-amps make, this is the most useful for me. Here are a couple things to consider in the build:

make it footswitchable. This is a bona-fide effect that you can pull in and out of a single song. With a 12vac input, you just need a parallel voltage regulator for the relay.

add the guts of an Alesis Picoverb sticking out the front. Instant parallel fx source. They aren't supposed to be anything special at the instrument level but great at line level. Very small too.

Put the input and output jacks in the back. You are taking the feed from the back of the amp and returning it to the same place. Keeps the cords short and out of the way. My send and return jacks are there too.

Good luck, Skip

[Bob-I]

Keep in mind that the absolute phase will change when switching the loop in and out. There is a noticeable difference IMO, and it may be very noticeable in a band setting.

My thought is to switch the effects loop in and out, leaving the Dumbleator in the signal path.

I've just completed breadboarding the Dumbelator myself, no bright switches and no LNFB. It sounds excellent!! The cleans are more open and shimmering, the OD seems less... um... distorted and more smooth/singing. I like a JAN Phillips 12AT7 in it. I've tried it with an Alesis Microverb, an old Ibanez digital delay and a Digitech GSP5 rack effects unit, as well as with nothing in the loop at all. It improves the overall sound no matter what's in it.

Now the question is what type of enclosure to put it in. I'm looking for an enclosure about 12" x 4" x 2" that I can mount in the bottom of the head cabinet.