Pedal Newbie Question: Is the Hermida Zendrive 2 the best dumble in a box?

Chalky

There's one on Ebay for £180 and the youtube demos sound great to me. Would be using it with a selection of all tube 6L6 based amps.

Any contenders that I must consider?

crunchman

Shouldn't you be on The Gear Page with a question like that?

Chalky

Ouch!

Moss

It's just a modded Tubescreamer clone

Chalky

The lack of advisory responses make me feel like I just farted at a funeral. Is it that bad to ask such a question?

DrJazzTap

Wampler euphoria or ecstasy can be bought for around £120 on ebay.

Megii

I don't think it's bad to ask the question, I'm interested myself. I'm hardly an expert on pedals in any sense, but I do like that smooth  "Dumble" kind of overdrive tone. A while back I got a second hand Big Knob "Zed Drive" on the forum (£35 IIRC) - it's a decent quality british made Zendrive clone. And I have to say I do prefer it to any of the few other overdrive pedals I've used - as pedals go, it does seem to get into that general Robben Ford/Larry Carlton kind of tone, although I doubt it's the last word in such things. I like the look/sound of the Mad Professor Simble overdrive:

Brad

Seriously consider the Everything Zen or Black Lotus by Dopefx, £60 on eBay. Better than the Zendrive in my opinion.

Whether it does the 'Dumble in a box' thing I don't know. I just liked the sound of the pedal in its own right rather than worry about if it sounds like a Dumble...

John_P

I suspect not many people have tried the zen 2,   I love my original zendrive, but I've not seen many 2's for sale.  I'd be interested to try one and compare them.

juansolo

Could someone please explain to me what a Dumble amp actually sounds like? I'm genuinely interested. Because if they sound like a Dumbloid pedal they sound shit and have a fizzy decay, and if they sound like a Zen Drive they sound like a fairly generic op-amp OD/distortion...

Finally let's not forget that 'electrons cannot survive in a crystal lattice', so emulating a Dumble's sound with silicon is surely futile!

Please do not turn this place into TGP...

Heartfeltdawn

juansolo said:

Please do not turn this place into TGP...

I'll say a special prayer for you before P&W band practice this weekend. 

monquixote

I have no idea what a Dumble sounds like, but I have owned a Zen Drive. 

I thought it was a fairly generic overdrive and I much prefered many of it's rivals like the AC Boost, Badass OD, Fulldrive, Prince of Tone, Euphoria, Hardwire OD, etc. 

juansolo

Heartfeltdawn said:

juansolo said:

Please do not turn this place into TGP...

I'll say a special prayer for you before P&W band practice this weekend. 

Use lots of reverb.

Megii

I think "Dumble" as applied to overdrive pedals has really just become a general way of describing a certain kind of general tone. I don't think anyone really thinks such a pedal can convincingly emulate a Dumble amp - it's just a general descriptive term. Well OK, maybe they actually do think like that TGP, but I don't go on there. I've not heard a Dumbloid, but I do like my Zen clone - it may be the fairly generic thing you describe, but it has got me an overdrive tone I prefer to anything I've had previously. Anyway, just chatting really - no intention of tuning the forum into another TGP.

juansolo

Nothing wrong with a Zen. Great OD. Just sounds nothing like an amp to me, it sounds like an OD...

dindude

Why the constant derailment of threads asking about any pedal that isn't a Boss? There is no danger of this place turning into TGP for those who are worried.

darcym

the zen drives (I've got a 1 and 2 by both the original and love pedal) really depends what amp and what style you play.
I think they are a great pedal, I liked the zen drive 1 better than 2 the value driven drive didn't work great with my amps (although it did work well with a friends vintage marshall), it's not a black and white question, really think it depends on your gear and how you play what sound you get out of them

Megii

juansolo said:

Nothing wrong with a Zen. Great OD. Just sounds nothing like an amp to me, it sounds like an OD...

That's absolutely fair enough, I wouldn't want to argue. I decided to get one after listening to various pedal demos on Youtube - despite the variable quality of such demos, I did get the general impression that a Zen would be to my taste, and so it has proved.

DrJazzTap

My ecstasy pedal is closest I've come to matching the tones from my overdrive special. Well i mean my rebranded fender amp or picture of the mythical Dumble. Good job I've still got my 59 burst.

MattG

for those sort of smooth gain tones that the dumble seems to be associated with the providence stampede SOVs take some beating.

Chalky

Ah thats better gentleman - some considered responses! Many thanks. I can't vouch for what a Dumble sounds like. But I've seen the YT vids of various amps and pedals claiming to be its sonic siblings and I've quite liked the sound.

As to whether it sounds like an amp or an OD, I couldn't give a fart. When I play my synths I rarely find myself considering whether a particular sound is more or less like a particular acoustic instrument or two or more instruments in unison or a combination of an acoustic instrument and a synthetic timbre - I just decide whether I like the sound One can over-analyse these things you know