Crazy Tube Circuits Mines Rare Elements with its new Unobtanium Dual Drive

When one door closes another one opens they say, and it’s incredible timing here that just around when Corrnerstone announce the retirement of their Gladio Dual-Channel Dumble style Preamp, we have a new interesting contender to fill that gap.

Christos at Crazy Tube Circuits has done a fantastic job of exactingly combining two of the most-loved overdrive circuits into one formidable package.

The first Channel consists of a superb Klon style replica - with all the precious parts intact including those legendary Germanium Diodes and Bypass Options. The slightly mid-humped profile overdrive combines beautifully with the different frequency profile of the Dumble style voicing - and you also get a smart Modded Clipping option which delivers an elevated Gain Structure.

First Channel Controls - Volume, Gain, Bypass : Buffered / True, Active Treble, Clipping / Compression : Stock / Enhanced Gain and Headroom

The Dumble side of the pedal has a voicing switch for both Overdrive Special and Steel String Singer Dumble Amp style Voicings / Mode.

It also has a cool 4th Emphasis knob which helps you add more zing to the output - as is typical for many of this ilk - on some pedals this type of control is labelled Accent or Bite even and it really helps you to sharpen the character of that circuit’s output.

Second Channel Controls - Volume, Voicing : Overdrive Special / Steel String Singer, Gain, Tone, Emphasis.

These two rare elements are known to combine superbly - but you rarely if ever get them sat side-by-side on the same pedal.

You really get the most magnificent of tones from this smart combination - which can be clearly heard on all the demos.

The pedal also comes with a Send / Return FX Loop so you can insert other pedals in-between the two channels. Or you can wire the pedal up so as to fully separate and run each side independently - another really smart touch by Christos.

I feel the enclosure could have been a bit more ’precious metals’ in style - to go with the Unobtanium moniker - but that’s a really minor quibble for a properly perfectly executed pedal design.

This is for sure something I would look to investigate further in the new year - as I’m a huge fan of both the circuit types onboard and indeed a huge fan of Christos’s circuit designs.

It’s pretty reasonable priced all-round at €289 and available right now via the Crazy Tube Circuits Webstore and leading international dealers.