Here's a Dumble Patch similar to live mixed sound for Ford/Carlton

austinbuddy

austinbuddy

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Hi, am a long time Dumble sound fan. My AXE FX II keeps me happy.

Here's a little bit of tweaking done to Cliff's standard factory Dumble "ODS-100" patch. I own a Bludotone Ojai version of the Dumble amp, and of course nothing gets 100% to that amazing amp sound, but this is pretty good -- and sounds big in recording guitar lead material. Caveat is that I mixed at lower volumes on smaller speakers (am traveling in a hotel) so some tweaks may be necessary...but the DNA is there.

Some key things to know, I use 4 expression pedals. Controller 1 = volume (not necessary for this one). Controller #2 is set activate chorus effect from pedal, goes from no chorus (heel back) to heavy chorus (80%). Controller #3 activates the Wah pedal, which is simply Cliff's standard wah and sounds great.

And my fav trick is in pedal number 4, which is tied to the amount of drive, with a low of 4 (cleaner) to high of 7 (roaring), the patch sounds best/most authentic on about 5. I have put in a series of cabinets to get a combo of near mic and some and farfield (G1265s like Ford uses), and some spacious echoes, with chorus, reverb, and two delays running in parallel.

I have added a slight 125 ms delay on other one cab panned just for some space (just sounded good), and a filter slight boost for solos if need be.

The patch really sounds great on Les Paul bridge humbucker dry (no chorus), it gives something close to that elusive Dumble "pick chirp" when you pick it correctly, and sounds great too on neck pickup (slightly wet chorus)...it responds well to touch/pick attack.... am using a Collings CLX and I-35 for this sound.

Hope you enjoy!

SEE FURTHER BELOW FOR NEWER VER.3 FIRMWARE EDITED PATCH!
 

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  • Buddy's Dumble100.syx
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Add "Y" clean Dumble channel...

added a "Y" clean channel to it, lowered volume slightly on main...here.
 

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  • Buddy's Dumble100.syx
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you can also increase the SAG to get it to sound more like Robben Ford's Ojai Dumble...

Also, Ford uses G12H-65s speakers, but in a 2X12 open back, not in a 4X12 clsoed cab, although there is a 4X12 IR of those if you want to to try it and tweak with bass/treble balance. I read an article some time back that said Howard Dumble really liked the sound of the VOX silver (grey) speakers, and I thought they worked here pretty well...
 
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UPDATED PATCH FOR NEW FIRMWARE

-- ADDED NEW VERSION FOR NEW FIRM WARE.

This is tweaked differently, and uses Amp X/Y plus choice of cabs X/Y as well. I like to use an RC Booster or Klon before it depending on the guitar.. I am getting some low level clipping so careful with that axe Eugene....


Also, I config'd the effects differently than described in original post -- sorry for any confusion

(IN CAB Y, USING Redwires MK II EVL TC-30 MIC 0" for one of the speakers)
 

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  • Bludotone Clean & DIRTYOjai rig.syx
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Holy crap balls! This preset kicks major league buttocks! Thanks for sharing 8). My Strat is in love with this preset
 
in Axe EDIT, play around with the Amp1 X/Y block to go from clean to dirty...I trigger it from MFC but you can do from unit, and then try Cab 1 X/Y for different cabs. Cab Y sounds a little brighter for the Amp Y sound, but they can all be mix and match. I dialed all this in with my Collings Les Paul and Lollar low-wind humbucker pickups, so for Clean amd using neck and for leads using bridge pickup... The effects in this presets are also controlled with foot controllers, the rotosphere is variabel and so is the Univibe. Last, I simulated a the Dumble FET input jack in front to boost the low output pickups, that's the FET in Drive setting but it has X/Y too (I think) and experiment with it on or off... if you have high out put pickups you may not need the FET at all..
 
austinbuddy said:
in Axe EDIT, play around with the Amp1 X/Y block to go from clean to dirty...I trigger it from MFC but you can do from unit, and then try Cab 1 X/Y for different cabs. Cab Y sounds a little brighter for the Amp Y sound, but they can all be mix and match. I dialed all this in with my Collings Les Paul and Lollar low-wind humbucker pickups, so for Clean amd using neck and for leads using bridge pickup... The effects in this presets are also controlled with foot controllers, the rotosphere is variabel and so is the Univibe. Last, I simulated a the Dumble FET input jack in front to boost the low output pickups, that's the FET in Drive setting but it has X/Y too (I think) and experiment with it on or off... if you have high out put pickups you may not need the FET at all..
Click to expand...

Sorry if I am showing my ignorance.
When I load into AXE Edit- I have one amp (ODS 100 Lead). The Drive control on it is locked ( I am assuming this is controlled by a pedal).
One of the Drives is active (FET Boost) and the COMP is active. The other Drive is by passed (Tape Dist).

Sounds great for sweet organic midgain. Maybe best Dumble I have used on an Ultra or AXE II.

But- When I go to AMP block and hit Y on the X/Y selector- I get a 59 Bassguy. :)

I am probably just clueless here.
 
Hmmm...if you are using Axe II and latest Axe Edit it should be ok? X is Clean and Y is Overdrive. Wonder if uploading corrupted it? I don't use exp pedals to control drive although I do trigger X/Y drive settings from MFC. The FET boost is real important, that warms up the sound...the compressor is not essential but helps with sustain...

Correction: I used to have the amp gain tied to exp. 4 with different ranges for clean (lower) and for dirty (higher), but the problem is using same pedal affects BOTH X and Y amp gain settings (not independent) if switching back and forth in ways that don't work compatible for tone, so I just turned it off/set tone.
 
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Thanks Stratman68! It's one of those patches where you can put on a Robben Ford record and play along with it (low-wind humbucker, or Tele bridge) and "feel" like you are pretty damn close...
 
Austin,
It's 2:00 am and I was trying to drag myself away from this black box and get to bed when I thought, what the heck, let me try this Dumble patch. I'd not had much luck with the Dumble in the past. Holy smokes, this patch is awesome. When I starting peeking behind the curtain, I could see you did a ton of work putting that together. EQ, power tube hardness, triode hardness, PEQ's, and a slew of FX tweaks and goodies.

All I can say is it sounds stellar. I'm running my PRS Custom 22 and a K12 wedge. The clean tone with my pickup selector in the middle position is scrumptious. Lot's of detail, dynamics, harmonics, very articulate and musical, sensitive to the touch. Just lovely.

When I kicked on the 'Tube Drive' whoa! A whole new animal. Kicks ass. Roll off the volume a bit and it changes colors completely. A very very versatile patch. I've saved it, named it, and programmed my MFC to call on it. :) Interestingly, all the blocks with controllers defaulted to my pedal controllers so I didn't have to change a thing.

It's a keeper! Thanks. :mrgreen
 
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Big Joe Daddy -- so glad you like it! I'll keep refining it but it is closing in for sure. Now we just need a good 2X12 CAB IR oval back with G12-65H's in it (smile).
 
Hi Austin Buddy!
I just installed v3.03 firmware and so far so good. It does change some of the parameters on presets, like triode hardness and tube hardness I noticed get changed in the process. I made a note of them on your Dumble before the v3.03 upgrade so I've since put them back to where you had them. I'm not sure what other parameters get changed.

To my ears, the v3.03 changed your Dumble sound a little. Maybe it's just me but it sounds just a tad more shrill to my ears. Not quite as pleasant. Before I start tweaking it, I thought I'd like to get your input on it. It's just such a lovely tone you created.

Also, I've studied your PEQ's on the same Dumble patch and I'm only using the PEQ1, but what a great job it does with the tone. I just leave PEQ1 on all the time. I was wondering if you could give us a brief description of your thought process that went into that. I've not messed with PEQ's at all up to this point, and from studying yours, it's obvious I need to learn them. Just too good to ignore. So if you have any tips on how you set up your PEQ's, I'd sure appreciate it.

Thanks!
BJD

Love that Dumble!
 
PEQs are your friend....heres'a Plexi example

Big Joe Daddy:

Agree, FW 3.30 changed the sound some, it's actually a tad darker to me, Cliff was refining how low end responds in this latest FW I believe....have not yet had time to tweak it back into alignment ....Once I do, will re-post.

PEQ1 is what I had to do to get that "skyline EQ" "lift" of the mids and make the amp more present sounding in mids, and pulling out low and high helps accentuate it. (That same curve sounds great on a Mesa Boogie Clean too). The Dumbles really are incredibly well voiced amps with musical mids, but PEQ Pulls them out further in front. I added just a tiny bump at high end of curve, it sounded right and I wanted some of that "pick chirp" Dumbles do.

The second PEQ2 is to try and emulate what the "mid-boost" pedal does on a Dumble (or at least my Ojai by Bludotone) and I did not spend enough time with it, useful for solos although Ford and Carlton both actually leave it one for Clean sound I'm told.

In generally, PEQ is a huge secret weapon for tone shaping, and a lot of your fav albums had the board folks PEQ'ing guitars to "sit in the mix better" which is often forgotten in patch programming...

I have a PEQ I use with my Plexi settings that totally smooths Plexi's sound out for me. I dialed all this stuff in, both Plexi's and Dumble clones, by doing A/B box jumping back and forth between amps and Fractal, and usually to get it those last best 10 yards into goal line I reach for PEQ. BUT I just sold my A/B Box and my pedal board too!


Here's a Plexi EQ to try

PEQ1 - leave Bands 1&5 alone

band 2 Freq. 397 Q 4.196 (wide) drop - 9.26 (this pulls a big hunk of mids out

band 3 Freq. 1602 Q 1.575 -0.83 this just pulls a little pick attack out and smoothes the curve coming up into the highs above 2K

band 4 leav along

I drop -1.0 db as well

See what you think about that behind a plexi amp before the cab...attached a preset I've been working on that mimics a jumpered Marshall...check the sound out with and without PEQ.
 

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  • Jumpered Plexi.syx
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Austin,
Thanks for the info. I've saved it to my 'How To' section. I'm gonna get some mileage out of that one.

I saved and auditioned the 'Jumpered Plexi' patch. I'm curious about some of the settings you have going on in that one.

1. I noticed that on both amps, (plexi normal & plexi treble), you had both master volumes cranked to 10 and only minimal drive levels. That's got me stumped. I'm so used to pushing the drive and setting the MV at noon or less. (except for the non-master volume amps which I run at 10). I ended up setting it at about 6.0 for drive and 6.85 on master volume.

2. The other thing that confuses me is that the 'Basic' EQ settings on the Jumpered Plexi patch both have the Mid EQ value pushed to near max, and then the PEQ is scooping out the 397Hz range.

Anyway, with a few minor adjustments, that is one angry combination. It sounds very good. I'd just like to know how the clock was built. ;-)

Thx,
Joe
 
BJD: Confession: sometimes they are by happy accident (LOL) and not design, intention aside. I was going for an Aerosmith "Rocks" tone but it morphed a little into other territory with EFX (some Zep style stuff).

But on vintage amps like Marshalls (and vintage Fenders too) I like to use power amp volume very high for the "gain" which darkens up the sound and helps cut some treble rasp, and then slowly dial in the "gain" dial. That's just me, but I find heavy gain patches sound bad at high volumes. Some of this is about EQ going into something that may be high and then taking it out in different spot in chain, which is certainly arguable. Also, to me, it seems like Marshall bright cap values or having high (or low) mids can affect how gain "performs" inside the amp block for notes and sustain and distortion characteristics with the guitar, but PEQ can remove some harshness thereafter which does not affect how note is responding "in the amp" if that makes any sense.

Think about it -- the amp is recorded loud in a room Plexi style, but THEN the engineer has to get it to sit right in the mix -- so he PEQs to pull out some lower bottom muddy/boxy end and now it blends really well with drums, bass, etc in "its' own space." A lot of guitars mixed to sound really good ALONE sound terrible with a band setting, because they conflict with bass/bottom etc.


Today I am pulling that Jumpered Plexi patch to the test LOUD and it may fail in which case will tweak some more. Would note surprise me in the least if Cliff or someone chimed in and said I don't know what I'm talking about, but I do everything best I can by EAR and not EYES, which is something Scott Peterson really taught me, use your ears for what sounds good.
 
I played the (Dumble) Ojai patch today posted above with Atomic wedge powered monitors on noon... The X channel clean was pretty good but had lost a little top sheen, and I agree with you Big Joe Daddy, the dirty Y channel sounded better before this latest Firmware, although a number of my patches like Tweed sound even better. The Jumpered Plexi patch I posted does not hold up to snuff as I'd like under loud volume, but was good for recording at low level I found.
 
Hey Austin,
That all makes sense. It gets my head spinning a bit when I think about how many different ways the Axe FX offers the ability to do something. Nevertheless, as time goes by, I find myself getting more and more comfortable and proficient at squeezing the tones I like out of it.

Presets like the Dumble you created are a valuable learning tool for me because you have a rather complex signal chain compared to the basic setups I've been creating. So keep 'em coming! :) You've got a great ear.
Thanks,
Joe
 
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