Celebrating the Works of Ramble FX's Tim Krueger
I was sad to read that Tim Krueger - the man behind Ramble FX passed away prematurely on July 2nd 2022. Everyone who knew him spoke very well of him as a gracious, kind and generous soul. And my good friend Joe Light of Joe’s Pedals has very fond memories of his dealings with Tim and their extensive correspondence over the many years Joe served as UK dealer for Ramble FX.
Before his passing I had but one of his pedals in my reference collection - the fantastic Twin Bender - while I always wanted the other two - the Kismet 4-Preset Analog Distortion, and the Marvel Drive Marshall Plexi style box. So in the process of doing this ’In Memoriam’ feature I picked up the two I did not yet have - of course courtesy of Joe. Where I have the Marvel Drive in fetching red colourway - which really suits the composition of this article too!
Tim wasn’t necessarily the most prolific of builders - but he was incredibly meticulous with his designs - and both the Marvel Drive and Twin Bender in particular have been refined several times over the years. Each of these is really beautifully made inside and out, and a killer pedal for the genre it represents. I think everyone would be delighted to own any of these - and I am glad I managed to complete the set - as these certainly deserve to be in my extensive reference collection.
Each is perfectly honed towards its purpose and has some additional smart controls not typical for that genre type. I know Tim has numerous fans and well-wishers out there, and it seems fitting to commemorate his impact on the pedals sector in this manner.
Tim would seem to be a very private man, as I was unable to source any pictures of him. The doubly sad impact of this is that Ramble FX is no more - the company won’t continue without Tim at its helm. This is in distinct contrast to the Dwarfcraft Devices and Fulltone brands - which I’m hoping are just on hiatus.
Tim and his output will surely be missed - he leaves an amazing legacy - our thoughts are of course with his nearest and dearest.
And here follow the individual pedal details :
Twin Bender UnProfessional MK I.V / II (Tone Bender) - $200
Controls - Level, Attack, Impede, Mode : MKII Pro / MK I.V, EQ : Mids / Stock / Fat, Bias.
I believe this was one of the first, if not The first Tone Bender style pedal which mixes up both MK I.V and MKII voicings - a format that has been copied many time since. It makes use of 3 really great sounding NOS Soviet П402 Germanium Transistors in my edition.
You also have the full roster of extended range tone controls - which further take this pedal beyond most other similar Tone Benders - an Impedance control to help with pedal placement, and then EQ toggle, and external Bias - everything I look for in a Germanium fuzz.
It totally gets that essential and core Tone Bender Character - with a rich and full flavour. Several agree that this is on of the best Benders out there - it comes highly recommended.
Kismet Analog Distortion with 4 Presets - $250
Controls - Volume, Gain, Bass, Mids, Treble, Preset : Toggle (Live<>Preset) / Cycle, Preset Memory / Expression Toggle, Expression Sweep : Linear / Log), Toggle / Cycle Footswitch, Engage/Bypass Footswitch.
Tim is a man of innovation and a first-mover in so many different areas. His Kismet was one of the first Overdrives to pair core analog circuitry with digital microprocessor controls. So you get a magnificent sounding wide-ranging Distortion where you can preserve 4 of your favourite sweet-spots onboard, 100 if you make use of MIDI. With the Live / Manual settings you have 5 different flavours at your immediate disposal. You can then quickly cycle round form Live - through the 4 Presets and back to Live again. The Preset option switch allows you to Cycle through the full range of Presets or simply Toggle between a single Selected Preset and the Live Mode.
It also has a really cool implementation of Expression control where you can vary the curve of the control - straight up linear or exponential logarithmic!
The Kismet is actually a really elegant pedal in use - and while it doesn't extended quite to Metal / Extreme Distortion it certainly gets you into a pretty considerable level of Distortion - just edging into Hard Rock - while maintaining a beatifully rich and textured distortion - without any sign of harshness.
The expansive Gain Range plus the 3-Band EQ - makes for an exceptionally flexible Gain pedal - which goes as low as a somewhat dirty boost - up to a really deep and rich full-fat distortion.
Marvel Drive 3 (Marshall Plexi) - $180
Controls - High Treble (Treble-Heavy Gain), Normal (Bass-Heavy Gain), Master (Volume), Headroom : 18V / 9V, Presence (Master Treble Control).
And finally probably the most suitably looking Marshall Plexi style pedal - with the gold Marshall Amp knobs and accents. I was in two minds as to whether I wanted the pedal in Black or Red enclosure. As luck would have Black was sold out at Joe's and Red was a more suitable reference really for the main visual - as relates to the Ramble FX branding. It also serves well for my 'Red means Marshall' campaign - where there are a lot of MIAB pedal in red enclosures. Although probably Black and Gold is the classic. The Red is a touch more iconic - and it nicely matches the Status LED too!
The Marvel Drive copies the Parallel Gain Stages topology of the 4-Input Marshall Amp it's based on - and where one is often called 'Bright' or 'Treble' (High Treble in this instance), and the other 'Normal'. The Tsakalis Audioworks Room #40 works in a similar manner - as to several similar takes on the MIAB concept.
I typically look for 3-Band EQs on my Marshall Pedals - but Tim has calibrated his Marvel Drive so well that I don't miss that on this occasion. Those 4 controls give you everything you need, and you have a further bonus of a 18V / 9V Headroom switch - where 18V delivers a louder output with a sharper attack. 9V is typically more lower frequencies enriched as such!
It's for sure a really cool and beautifully designed pedal of its type - where the output certainly matches the quality of the finish!
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