Dude owner here who lives in the noble #Lowgainland. Each box is a different flavor of the same soup, so here's the diffs as far as I could spot em. The Dude has an excellent clean:drive blend a la Klon (Ratio knob) so it excels at both low and high gain tones. Unity volume on V1 is 9 o'clock so it'll push your amp to 11. If you ever bought a compressor (or even a Big Muff) looking for sustain but didn't get there tastefully, try The Dude with the Ratio between 8-11 o'clock. It sustains like a clean fuzz if that even makes sense. No, it does not sound like an OD signal on top of a clean signal, like many complain about bass dirt boxes or the Sparkle Drive. It does get bassy, so I keep the Deep between 9 and 11, and compresses more and more the higher gain you go, getting into vintage Tweed/Rat-esque distortion (think Joe Walsh) imo. It sounds big on my 5W and 15W Silvertone and Vox amps, so I imagine it would sound massive on a high headroom amp. HRM will sound and feel like a more present Dude (at the cost of being a straight ugly pedal). It has that bold Marshally hi mids bite (think presence knob or bright circuit on a JCM) to it that would benefit a dark amp/guitar combo. I can hear essence of EJ in the HRM. The Zendrive comes in many flavors itself and appears to be the darker EQ'd, yet fizzier top end, of the bunch, likely benefitting brighter amps/guitars. Hard to tell secondhand, but the Zen appears to be the most touch sensitive. Overall, this shootout has affirmed my contentedness with The Dude, although I wouldn't mind trading in my V1 for a V2 (They raised unity volume on V2 if you're wondering).
The best Dumble in a box tone I have found is the Ethos. However, it’s WAY too big for my pedalboard, and costs a lot. So a better compromise for me has been the Vertex SSS-SRV. It sounds almost as good as the Ethos, has really good low and high gain tones that are really close to the original, and is in a normal pedal size and price.
I had that Black Zendrive for a while and I have to say I regret selling it. It had a better amp feel to me than the standard zendrive. Felt great to play and sounded good but it was just a bit dark. If it was a tad more open sounding it would be perfect.
For me, I’m going to buy The Dude tonight or tomorrow. The overdrive is so smooth yet dirty at the same time. I could here every note played on The Dude compared to the muddy overdrive of the other two pedals
I have an original zendrive made by Alfonso and love it. If it's good for Robben Ford it's good for me. Love it with all pickups. Really good to take fuzz also!
Great vid and comparison. I have an early Zendrive that sounds a little different from the one you are using and have their Dude but not the Monkey. The Dude and Monkey to me sound very similar if you tweak the settings right. The Zendrive different. All great. Depends on the amp. Not sure if I like my Zendrive or Dude better, both, Zendrive seems to have more clarity but the Dude rocks. If I had none then probably the Dude.
Great per usual and all three sound good-especially the zendrive when you’re on the Ibanez doing the single string stuff w/the reverb/delay. Hope you’re well, talk to ya’s soon 😘.
The dude seems the most predictable in terms what sonic qualities. The other two felt a bit loose/fizzy (some might call it open) and probably require something else in front or behind it.
Glad you mentioned that its a Black Magic Zen Drive in the video. May want to change that in the title. The black magic and regular zen drive are actually quite different pedals internally in how their gain stages work. Would be fun to find an original zen drive and do a shoot out between the two to see how they are similar/different.
The problem with all of these dumble style pedals is that as you turn the gain up, you get too much low end, and they become flabby in the bass, especially with rythym chording on a bridge pickup.
It should work well...the amp we used is a 15W version of a clone of a Matchless DC-30 - which is basically a slightly modded Vox AC-30...so the amp we used is somewhat similar to yours...your LP would sound a little fatter than my Ibanez 335 style guitar I used in this video...that should hopefully give you rough idea as to what it would sound like! I think it would work well!!
One thing that I did notice which I though was a bit odd (and maybe a negative) on the Zendrive the power supply is on the right hand side rather then the top for me personally would make things a bit more difficult when lining up multiple effects next to each other.
so glad I have the Dude v1, cause I had the V2 and the knobs just shine..., bought my V1 from a lovely young lady who put white markers on the black knobbies, thank you..., I use both of these pedals just for a slight thickening for my Yam Pac 112V neck pup, my first in chain is the mighty Simble...
The cheapo Joyo R-Series Tai Chi does a great job at dumbling, too. Wide freq response, nice warmth, and really quiet, too. Interwebs say it's a clone of the Zendrive. Another use for a dumble pedal is plugging it into your send-return jack and bypassing your amps preamp stage. You can practically use these as amp emulators running straight the board or DAW as well, but you'll want to further contour the EQ on the board/DAW.
Dude owner here who lives in the noble #Lowgainland. Each box is a different flavor of the same soup, so here's the diffs as far as I could spot em.
The Dude has an excellent clean:drive blend a la Klon (Ratio knob) so it excels at both low and high gain tones. Unity volume on V1 is 9 o'clock so it'll push your amp to 11. If you ever bought a compressor (or even a Big Muff) looking for sustain but didn't get there tastefully, try The Dude with the Ratio between 8-11 o'clock. It sustains like a clean fuzz if that even makes sense. No, it does not sound like an OD signal on top of a clean signal, like many complain about bass dirt boxes or the Sparkle Drive. It does get bassy, so I keep the Deep between 9 and 11, and compresses more and more the higher gain you go, getting into vintage Tweed/Rat-esque distortion (think Joe Walsh) imo. It sounds big on my 5W and 15W Silvertone and Vox amps, so I imagine it would sound massive on a high headroom amp.
HRM will sound and feel like a more present Dude (at the cost of being a straight ugly pedal). It has that bold Marshally hi mids bite (think presence knob or bright circuit on a JCM) to it that would benefit a dark amp/guitar combo. I can hear essence of EJ in the HRM. The Zendrive comes in many flavors itself and appears to be the darker EQ'd, yet fizzier top end, of the bunch, likely benefitting brighter amps/guitars. Hard to tell secondhand, but the Zen appears to be the most touch sensitive. Overall, this shootout has affirmed my contentedness with The Dude, although I wouldn't mind trading in my V1 for a V2 (They raised unity volume on V2 if you're wondering).
The most important part is to have both bass and treble controls. With that you can dial in a great sound regardless of the amp you have.
The best Dumble in a box tone I have found is the Ethos. However, it’s WAY too big for my pedalboard, and costs a lot. So a better compromise for me has been the Vertex SSS-SRV. It sounds almost as good as the Ethos, has really good low and high gain tones that are really close to the original, and is in a normal pedal size and price.
I’m late to the party, but just wanted to say I’m really enjoying the podcast! The 3 dumble inspired pedals sound great too:) cheers guys.
I had that Black Zendrive for a while and I have to say I regret selling it. It had a better amp feel to me than the standard zendrive. Felt great to play and sounded good but it was just a bit dark. If it was a tad more open sounding it would be perfect.
I prefer to blend in a clean-ish signal (channel) to an OD channel (circuit) when I can't use two not quite identacle amps.
Stumbled across this video, and then bailed when I realized you were completely unprepared. "What does that control do?" RTFM
I got bored. Too much imprecision and waffle for me.
For me, I’m going to buy The Dude tonight or tomorrow. The overdrive is so smooth yet dirty at the same time. I could here every note played on The Dude compared to the muddy overdrive of the other two pedals
Read an article from Premiere magazine online on Robben Ford. He says he takes a Hermida Zendrive with him when cannot take his Dumble with him.
I have an original zendrive made by Alfonso and love it. If it's good for Robben Ford it's good for me. Love it with all pickups. Really good to take fuzz also!
Great vid and comparison. I have an early Zendrive that sounds a little different from the one you are using and have their Dude but not the Monkey. The Dude and Monkey to me sound very similar if you tweak the settings right. The Zendrive different. All great. Depends on the amp. Not sure if I like my Zendrive or Dude better, both, Zendrive seems to have more clarity but the Dude rocks. If I had none then probably the Dude.
Thanks 58lp2002 ...I’ve never tried one of the older Zendrives...I need to keep an eye out for one!!
Great per usual and all three sound good-especially the zendrive when you’re on the Ibanez doing the single string stuff w/the reverb/delay. Hope you’re well, talk to ya’s soon 😘.
Thanks Aaron!!
Love that 81 Ibanez, I have a couple three Artists 81s ... great year.
I like The Dude... ❤️ Hi from ITALY 🇮🇹
Nice! I always wanted a Zendrive but they were so expensive. Now I have a Vertex Ultraphonix. 🤷♂️
How do you like the Vertex compared to the Zen?
@JHKNVY02 I still havent tried the ZenDrive but I still have the Vertex!
I think I'd pick The Dude. All sound great though
The dude seems the most predictable in terms what sonic qualities. The other two felt a bit loose/fizzy (some might call it open) and probably require something else in front or behind it.
Which pedal show? 😊
Glad you mentioned that its a Black Magic Zen Drive in the video. May want to change that in the title. The black magic and regular zen drive are actually quite different pedals internally in how their gain stages work. Would be fun to find an original zen drive and do a shoot out between the two to see how they are similar/different.
I've been trying to get an old Zendrive to compare the two...would be very interesting!!
It starts at 2:55
and the winner is , the Unobtanium by Crazy tone cirquits .
The Unobtanium is great…this was filmed a while before it was released…maybe it’s time for a Part 2
The Unobtanium sounds STUPID good!! It's so rich and creamy!
The problem with all of these dumble style pedals is that as you turn the gain up, you get too much low end, and they become flabby in the bass, especially with rythym chording on a bridge pickup.
Just ordered a Black Magic Zendrive from Reverb!!!
I have an AC15, how do you think "The Dude" would sound paired with it and a Les Paul Standard?
It should work well...the amp we used is a 15W version of a clone of a Matchless DC-30 - which is basically a slightly modded Vox AC-30...so the amp we used is somewhat similar to yours...your LP would sound a little fatter than my Ibanez 335 style guitar I used in this video...that should hopefully give you rough idea as to what it would sound like! I think it would work well!!
One thing that I did notice which I though was a bit odd (and maybe a negative) on the Zendrive the power supply is on the right hand side rather then the top for me personally would make things a bit more difficult when lining up multiple effects next to each other.
For me 1) zen 2) hrm and 3) dude
They sound SO close to my 3 Dumbles, I'm gonna sell the 3 of them and plug those 3 pedals into my Squire 10 watt solidstate practice amp.
Hahaha
They all sound pretty much the same to me, but did sound better with the humbuckers.
HNY gentlemen!
Happy New Year to you too Sassy Cat!!
Im new to the party! Love the show!
have the HRM and the DUDE V1, so no need for ZEn...
so glad I have the Dude v1, cause I had the V2 and the knobs just shine..., bought my V1 from a lovely young lady who put white markers on the black knobbies, thank you..., I use both of these pedals just for a slight thickening for my Yam Pac 112V neck pup, my first in chain is the mighty Simble...
I really want to try a Simble...I hear nothing but good things about it!
how do they differ? which is best for fuzzy blues? which is your favorite? thanks a lot!!
my vox Cambridge 50 does a great dumble sound. dumbles are for corksniffers.
The cheapo Joyo R-Series Tai Chi does a great job at dumbling, too. Wide freq response, nice warmth, and really quiet, too. Interwebs say it's a clone of the Zendrive.
Another use for a dumble pedal is plugging it into your send-return jack and bypassing your amps preamp stage. You can practically use these as amp emulators running straight the board or DAW as well, but you'll want to further contour the EQ on the board/DAW.
I'll just say it. Vertex makes the best "on purpose" Dumble pedals. The Black Magic Zen is just a badass pedal. Period.
Got to say to my untrained ear to me all 3 of these sound totally the same especially when switch from one to the other with the settings aligned.
Gradual Gain ffs
Guys put an Eternity in front of the black zendrive and well you'll be happy gentlemen
Need lovely 😍💋 💝💖❤️
OMG 😍💋 💝💖❤️
Dude!