2 Cool Dumble-esque Dual Channel Overdrives - the Free The Tone Overdriveland and Mythos Pedals Herculean Deluxe
Both these pedals materialised around the same time - in and around the recent NAMM Show - although the Herculean Deluxe has not been officially launched yet (21st February) - but there is plenty of coverage of it online already.
I thought it made sense to cover off both of these in a single post - as they are kind of competitors to each other - each with its own unique elements. And the Herculean DLX contains that very rare mix of Dumble and Bluesbreaker.
I like the look / sound of both of these - while they both fall onto my nice-to-have wishlist - as I have no storage of Dumble style pedals already in the collection, as well as myriad Blues Breakers of course!
So neither of these will be going into the reference collection imminently - but in a moment of opportunity and if the price is right - I may spring for either of these at some juncture. I’m unlikely to own both I think - while of course ’never say never’.
Both of these are beautifully constructed and calibrated. I like both those knobs types - the Herculean’s sparkle finish obviously offers added appeal - but then the Overdriveland does come in a very fetching tone of blue - decisions decisions ...
The usual individual details follow below :
Free The Tone Overdriveland ODL-1 Standard (2-Channel Dumble) - $279
Controls - NORMAL } Nor Level, Tone, Gain, Dry Level, EQ : On / Glass, DRIVE } Push (Mids), Drive, Hi Cut, On/Off Footswitch, Normal/Drive Footswitch.
There was an earlier Custom Shop version of this pedal in raw enclosure ($425) - which probably had more THT parts and labour put into it, and actually benefitted from the 2 Drive knobs being a different colour to the 3 Normal Channel ones - thus visually demarcating the Normal controls from the Drive ones. I'm no stranger to advanced and feature-rich Dumble-style pedals - and while this has a modest 9 controls, my fully-loaded Ethos Clean-Fusion II has no less than 21 - including Pre and Post 3-Band EQs! - For ultimate Dumble tone-shaping. I typically like the Free The Tone gain pedals - they all sound great - and this is well priced!
The Standard ODL-1 seems to be already in worldwide distribution.
You can read up more about it on the Free The Tone Website.
Mythos Pedals Heruclean Deluxe Overdrive (2-Channel : Dumble + Blues Breaker) - $299
Controls - HERCULEAN } Level, Drive, Clarity (Highs), Bass, Herculean Footswitch, ORDER : Herculean <> Runestone, RUNESTONE } Level, Drive, Voice (High), Runestone Footswitch.
A Deluxe combination of Mythos Pedals' Herculean (Dumble) and Runestone (Blues Breaker) pedals with an order switch and independent footswitches per each channel. There's lots of Double Dumble drives out there (e.g. Cornerstone Gladio), and Dumble + Klon pedals (e.g. Crazy Tube Circuits Unobtanium) - but the Dumble - Blues Breaker combination is very rare indeed!
The Herculean Deluxe officially launches on February 21st at Mythos Dealers worldwide.
Read up more on the Mythos Pedals Website.
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