They all sound great but there are two stand outs - 1) the cornerstone - the only pedal in the lineup that has the “bloom” into pre-feedback that dumbles are known for 2) the harlot - has the high end sizzle that dumbles have and pedals can’t seem to reproduce. Probably because the harlot has a 12AX7 in the circuit, so it gets those natural harmonics that get squashed in a Crystal lattice, to quote the man himself.
What I like most is… You “get it” With all the pedals you were able to get in the territory. That sorta barking, and yelling at you, slightly blooming cry. Pretty dang awesome, Michael!!
I’ve come to the conclusion that in order to get the Dumble tone you need either G12-65’s or EVM12L’s depending on the Dumble tone you’re looking for. The G12-65’s for Robben Ford tone will saggy low end that Robben gets and I haven’t found another speaker that does that. The EVM12L’s are suuuuper smooth and creamy. Other speakers just don’t get you that signature Dumble tone. Robben’s backline rig is just a regular old Fender Twin that his tech swaps G12-65’s into and he runs a Zendrive into. It would be interesting to try this same experiment with a Twin with G12-65’s. I bet you would get infinitely closer than with the Bogner.
Depending on what you want, they all sound great. I like the Zen Drive for a darker tone, the little iSet sounds really good and overall my favorite, the Gladio sounds fantastic too.
I did this completely blind for fun. The tilt was first and the zendrive was second. They were the only two that truly retained the clarity of the notes, without muddying up the low mids. The nobel screamer, nobels, and Suhr were all close for 3rd/4th/5th, too. The one that really surprised me was the Kingsley Harlot. That really muddied up the low mid definition.
Now you’re obliged to make a full Bogner 3534 50W video in a true Michael Nielsen fashion, we all know this was just a teaser for that!😉 thank you sir!🙃
On the Wampler it’s best to start with the bass on zero and add from there. Brian made video about it. Bass on zero is the neutral tone which having it to high can give moore wooly/fuzzy tone. Great comparison and playing as always.
Great video again, Michael. Yes, all good pedals. Cornerstone pedals are really really good. Anyway, before a Marshall or EL 34 style amp , please try also the Crazy tube Circuits "Crossfire" pedal and thank me later, that pedal gives you really cool ( not Dumble but ) Fender tones out of an EL34 amp.
I'm not a Robben-o-phile per se, but the most musical sounding ones to me were the ODR-1 and the Shiba, which I guess must not sound like Robben because no one else in the comments likes them lol. The Tilt also seems to have a lot of usable tones, and lord the Harlot sounds a lot better with the settings in round 2.
I keep hearing that. In what way do they sound different / better? I have a Kingsley Harlot that sounds pretty amazing. Like a more 3D more vibrant, fatter version of the Zendrive. But if I can get that in a smaller solid state pedal, I'd be into that.
Way bigger and fatter , much fuller frequencies all round and there seems to be more gain on tap also than the lovepedal zen that I have. The old ones aren’t cheap now though!
@@BigHairyGuitars Ithanks for the video. have 2008/9 ZD, direct from Alfie at the time. I also have a Red and a Black Lovepedal ZD. The original stays on the pb, if only for the rich creamy lead tone. My favourite ZD tone is to up the Voice to push the Neck pup through the mix. It does its thing with the double stop/ triad thing, rather than full range chords. Articulate and irreplaceable for me. It stacks really well with Klon style pedals!
Outside Zendrive and Harlot, none of the pedal get even close. To my ears and how I envision the Robben Fords tone (like Talk to your daugher, Tiger Walk etc).
Talk about going down the rabbit hole! I didn't know the Nobles ODR-1 could be considered a "Dumble" pedal. Was the short screen time spent on certain pedals because they nailed it quickly or were way off the mark? For example, there was a very small amount of the Wampler Ecstasy/Euphoria...
Demo on the 50w is coming next month. I'm really enamored with the Gladio. But I really only would use the left side, so I'm gonna get the single channel version. Also, I kinda re-fell in love with the Tilt Overdrive.
