The elegant preamplifier, overdrive, and much more....

DumBox

CLICK THE PHOTO TO THE LEFT FOR A LARGE HI-RES VIEW OF A DUO OF DUM*BOXES !

This has been a true pleasure to create - a long time coming.

So .... a box based upon the structure of an infamous amplifier? Well, it does have that ,,,,, and a lot more.

It's ......an absolutely succulent tone machine, a pre-amp (plug into a power amp), a direct recording tool, or even a late night headphone practice amp (just for kicks)

FEATURES

ALL DISCRETE JFET CIRCUITRY IN THE "AMPLIFIER"!
FULL AMPLIFIER TOPOLOGY - NO SHORT CUTS
EXTREMELY TOUCH SENSITIVE - GO FROM CLEAN TO OVERDRIVE CRUNCH WITH NOTHING MORE THAN ALTERED PICK ATTACK!!!
FRONT ACCESS BATTERY DRAWER!
CAB SIMULATION CIRCUITRY BUILT IN!

..... AND THE RETROMAN DESIGN AND BUILD QUALITY YOU HAVE COME TO EXPECT -

Lets go through the controls ........................................

PANEL CONTROLS

VOLUME - this is the drive sent to the first 2 gain stages. In addition, this is a Push/Pull knob: "In" is the standard BOLD (ROCK) tone path ..... pull the knob out for the SMOOTH (JAZZ) path.

MASTER - this is the overall output volume. This controls the level going to the amplifier or to the input of the Cab Simulation circuitry .... when using the Cab Simulator, it is advised to keep the master below 12:00 to minimize possible overloading of the input.

BASS - MID - TREBLE - the EQ follows a topology similar to blackface amplifiers with tweaks influenced by the original series of amplifiers by Alexander Dumble. Very interactive! FULL MONTY adds a Pull MID BOOST (on the Mid control) and PULL TREBLE BOOST on the Treble control!!! RIGHTEOUS TONE ENHANCEMENTS!!!

OD GAIN - this controls the level of the signal being introduced into an additional 2 gain stages. This control also fills in as a power switch - turn the control fully anti-clockwise and the power is disconnected from the circuit.

OD LEVEL - think of this as a master volume for the OD stage .... overall output is still governed by the MASTER VOLUME control. FULL MONTY adds a PULL FAT switch on this control!!! VERY, VERY SWEET!!!

DUM BOX PANEL

CAB SIM GAIN - controls the gain/input level into the Cab Simulator circuit. This is very sensitive filtering circuitry, so I have also implemented a trimmer on the board to control the input gain to minimize clipping.

BRIT / CALI SWITCH - Choose the voicing of the output! Use your ears to find the one you like.

CAB SIM OUTPUT - Level of signal to your recording box / power amp , etc.

FOOT SWITCHES

BYPASS - Effect in/out - True Bypass - also controls the input to the Cab Simulation circuit .... either the direct input from the input jack (when bypassed) or the output of the DumBox preamplifier circuitry (when engaged).

BOOST - this, like the works of Alexander Dumble, bypasses sections of the tone stack to give a bolder present tone.

OVERDRIVE - as one would expect, this engages or disengages the additional 2 gain stages of the Overdrive section.

INPUT / OUTPUT JACKS

DC IN - input for 9V DC - filtered and isolated power supplies will give best performance and lowest noise.

IN - Input for guitar

CAB OUT - This is the output of the CAB Simulation circuit.

OUT - This is the output of the DumBox - when this jack is used, the input to the Cab Sim is bypassed.

SOUND SAMPLES

TELE TONES

SG "FORD"-STYLE

A ton of thanks to Jon St. James and Mark Shark for their excellent work on these clips!

Rhythm Guitar on both clips - Gretsch Jet w/ Filtertrons => DumBox => BF Deluxe

Tele Tones Lead - vintage 1956 Tele =>DumBox (Boost on) => BF Deluxe

Slide Part (on Tele Tones) - Tele => DumBox (Mid EQ boosted and OD on) => BF Deluxe

SG Tones Lead - VOS 61 reissue SG Les Paul => DumBox (OD on) => Alessandro Working Dog 6v6

DIRECT CLIPS

These were quickly hammered out using nothing more than a guitar, the DumBox, a bit o' delay pedal, an Edirol a/d box and a computer. No additional boosts, compression or nonsense have been added.

DIRECT - DRY

DIRECT - DB ENGAGED

CUSTOMERS SAY ...

Just wanted to drop a note and thank you for the awesome pedals. It does take some time, but once I got a feel how the pedal really operates(more like an amp than a pedal), I was astonished with the amount of beautiful tones. The Dum-Box makes my tone bigger, fuller, and gives it a more complex sound, but doesn't overwhelm that wonderful Class A vibe. Adding the juice from the boost and the overdrive sections still absolutely floors me every single time. Obviously, you spent a lot of time developing this pedal. This is the best money I have ever spent on equipment to make music with in over 35 years. Congratulations and thanks for coming up with such a great design that delivers the goods, looks awesome, and displays a significant amount of craftsmanship!

I have investigated this electronic marvel and suspect I have only scratched the surface of its capabilities. The construction is flawless, and the unit is very quiet. The best way I can describe the unit's sound + functionality + versatility is: what can't this thing do?

I initially explored the DumBox as I suspect many others might, i.e., as a straight-ahead overdrive unit patched through the 'In' / 'Out' jacks. In this mode, leveraging the flexibility the unit provides, the sound is the best I've heard in any pre-preamp unit. In fact, short of being plugged into a ca. 1966 Marshall 100W lead stack at full bore in a concert hall, this is the best sound I've heard from my equipment, period. Add touch-sensitive dynamics, the very musical tone circuitry, the convenient drop in/out of the 'Boost' circuit, the 'Bold/Smooth' option, and true bypass, and one already has the ideal overdrive pedal (move over Matchless, Tube Driver, et al.). Not since the arrival many years ago of the legendary Tom Scholtz Rockman has an invention made it so evident that 'there's a new sheriff in town.'

"This is the best sound I've heard from my equipment, period. Add touch-sensitive dynamics, the very musical tone circuitry, the convenient drop in/out of the 'Boost' circuit, the 'Bold/Smooth' option, and true bypass, and one already has the ideal overdrive pedal .... The construction is flawless, and the unit is very quiet."

"Many, many thanks for producing a beautifully assembled unit that, at least to this musician's ears, brings forth the variety of controllable sound(s) we've all been hearing and wishing we could capture and use in any environment."

"Wow!!! This thing smokes! It took me some time to understand the layout and gain stages and now I can fully see how versatile the Dum Box is."

"Favorite set up so far is my 61 SG/LesPaul into an Alessandro Working Dog with Mazda 6v6's and Mullard RI 12ax7's. I set the amp for just a nice bit of bite and let the Dum Box do the rest."

"Engaging the DB kicks my amp to a nice full sound making it bigger and more 3D. Then I hit the overdrive for one of the sweetest solo sounds ever heard from a pedal ....... or the boost switched on w/o overdrive gives me bluesy medium overdrive with clarity. For total insanity the overdrive w/ boost is all the gain and sustain you need unless you're only into hardcore metal. And yes I know there are features I haven't yet touched on but already I'm blown away."

"Rangemaster", "Octavia", "foxx tone machine", "Scrambler", "Fuzz Face", "Univibe" and other comparative names are used only to reference the grand products of old. No comparison to any modern product using any of these names is intended nor should be assumed - Retroman wants no association with any products carrying these names nor to any of the owners of the same - Retroman's commitment to you is to not simply clone our favorite tone tools, but improve upon them ... to not merely meet, but exceed your expectations for tone and durability.
"Beano", "Lola", "Sybil", "Wolf Tone Machine", "WTM", "Scram", "ToneZilla", "UberVibe", "Octavious", "HiOctone", "Tone Tuner", "Hiss Buster", "NuFuzz", "KopyKat", "RE-1", "DumBox" and the "got tone?" device are trademarks of Retroman Music.

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