Off the record, on the QT, and very hush-hush

[Droogie]

Irascible amp tweaker trying to keep this shocker from the prying eyes of the public: Umble and a Dirty Little Secret found playing "hide the dirt" on the sly in their matte black Topanga Canyon hideaway! Caught red-handed, DLS tried to play the innocent "There was just so much space in the box after placing the Umble that I just thought what's the harm in crashing here for a while! I didn't know there would be so much distortion!"

John Q Law: "It may have started as a lark, but this little escapade resulted in hours of planning, drilling and way-too-complicated wiring, plus a broken LED leg to boot! There's no telling what kind of havoc these hophead DIYers will loose on the unsuspecting population."

[billstein]

I don't even want to know what was going on in there. Evil, wicked, nasty things.

I'm not sure what I like the most, the build or the build report. Great job on both.

[pickdropper]

I'm actually reading that book right now.   :-)


Nice build and report. 

[jimilee]

Daaaammnnnn

[lincolnic]

This is my favorite build report in a long time.

[alanp]

... I don't watch enough TV to have any idea of what you're on about.

Considering that's a 2-in-1 with non-teeny boards, that's pretty impressive internals

[billstein]

What do you think of the Umble?

[Droogie]

Thanks everybody!

... I don't watch enough TV to have any idea of what you're on about.

Considering that's a 2-in-1 with non-teeny boards, that's pretty impressive internals

It's riffing on LA Confidential—and Dumble's reputation  .
And I really only put these two in the same box because there was space left over, and I have something of an obligation to not let the number of pedals get too out of hand. It was a fun challenge and also a bit of a PITA! Makes me long for a drill press...

What do you think of the Umble?

I'm still playing around with the Umble—interesting tone controls, and tweaking the bias slightly different than the stock 4.5 volts yields some interesting possibilities.  I'll probably leave the back open for a while until I settle on exactly where to leave the trimmers.

I'm actually reading that book right now.   :-)


Nice build and report. 

If you haven't already, check out Cold Six Thousand and the other parts of that trilogy (name escapes me).

[fman7]

Hey,

nice build.

which model DLS is it?

Frank

[Droogie]

It's Madbean's Grapevine etched by Haberdasher. I believe  it's version 1...

[Guitarmageddon]

This is my favourite build report in a long time.

+1 
FWIW, I've built a few Umbles, and have played a ceriatone Overdrive Special for almost a decade.
Stock, the Umble is very gainy, noisy and a bit bright and a tad thin IMO.
In my Umble builds I like to lower the mid cap to around 22n (it's actually 10n in many of the amps), increase the output cap to 47n, tack a 220 or 330 pf cap to ground on the output  (for that Dumble "smoothness"), use a charge pump and regulator to run it all at 15v with Q1 and 2 at about half supply, but Q3 closer to 11v (which lowers the gain and noise) ...Makes a very loud pedal, but it sounds pretty damn close to how my amp does.

[gordo]

It was a fun challenge and also a bit of a PITA! Makes me long for a drill press...

Droogie, I'm in the process of downsizing and unloading most of my guitar and amp building gear so stay tuned.  I have a cool little bench top Riobi drill press that will be in with other stuff.  I'll push this stuff out here in case anyone wants it before I go local and eBay.  In the Chicagoland area.  I've reached the age of mandatory condo move  and giving up my builds is a trade off for cutting 5 acres of grass every week.  Essentially my pedal building activities may go from stupid to atrocious...