Chris Brown wrote: ↑Fri Apr 08, 2022 4:41 pm
On another thread Gil Ayan mentioned some comments Vertex Effects had made about Dumble amps as a pedal platform and Dumble saying that his amps aren't meant for pedals. My first thought was the Henry Kaiser video
Generally I am just an amp+reverb/delay guy, but my amps have performed well with everything I can throw at them. I have had nothing but great experiences with od/fuzz/comp/envelope/univibe etc etc into the front of my builds. Also, we all know that with a Dumbleator, the time based stuff in the loop also sounds fantastic. Side note, I have been running a strymon volante in the loop of my 50W 102 with no Dumbleator and it's great.
What do y'all think?
I posted a comment on the video and in their reply they seem convinced that these amps don't play well with pedals, as you can see:
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Is this marketing? Are they missing something? Am I missing something?
Have any of you come across something that works well with other amps, but just doesn't do it's thing with an Overdrive Special?
Mason needs no introduction for reasons that I believe are known to at least most everyone here. Even if we were to not hold anything he's ever done in the past against his credibility, I sometimes get the feeling this man lives in an parallel universe. The claims made in the video in question and the response to Chris' comment basically contradict my experiences, as well as those of everyone else I know. Is it marketing? Mason's past shenanigans were all about marketing, right? How about this other video, by the theatrical, self proclaimed rig doctor:
clown.jpg
Maybe he has a great sense of humor and enjoys fooling people by making them think he's being serious about stuff like this? Who knows. Another crown jewel of his is the The Secret to Clapton's 80s Tone video. He picks EC's "Forever Man" off the Behind the Sun album, which was recorded in 1985. That was the last year EC used his actual Blackie guitar through a Marshall JCM800. In the video, Mason talks about the tone of the signature Strat with Lace Sensors, a couple of Bradshaw racks and two Soldano SLOs, which as far as I know would not be adopted until a year later. He describes the SLOs as scooped sounding amps... OK, what's in an adjective after all, right? The rest of the video conveniently concludes that, irrespective of whatever equipment was used on that EC album (either the million dollar Strat and the Marshall, or the $100K rig and a prototype signature guitar), a couple of his pedals, for example, will get you there. Marketing?
For those who use ODSs as pedal platforms, I have historically done what Tony described and put my entire pedalboard in front of the amp's clean channel. That has worked really well for me and unless the volume can be turned up enough, I prefer the pedals -- smoother at lower volumes, but with a lot less headroom and the sound can sometimes get too squashed. One other thing that I stumbled on by accident, and that can be done to make the sound a bit smoother in the top end and with less lower mids -- my amps are Skyliners -- is to basically dial the clean channel the "normal" way, whatever that is for you. Then, switch to the OD channel with the "Level" (or "Drive"control) barely cracked open to where you can get enough volume out of the amp. It sounds really, really good, super smooth in an EJ kind of way, and the amp still takes the time based effect on the front without messing things up. I have never used this setting on a gig before, but I'll give it a try on Sunday during sound check and if it goes well, during my band's show too -- kind of looking forward to seeing if it works at loud volumes.
Last but not least, and not to highjack this thread, the other day I stumbled on this video. I think this amp sounds super cool, talked to Tony about it and neither one of us knows either the builder or the owner. About as good as anything else I've heard, to be honest:
https://youtu.be/u3dsJGgKM3Y?t=112
G.
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It also depends on the gig!. I find for some gigs pedals work better for me in smaller rooms and low volumes are required and ditch the OD side. If the room is good size and I can run the amp up I prefer to run straight in (impedance wise) and the time based effects along with the D-Lator on the back end and use the OD inside the amp 
