JHS Pedals NOTADÜMBLË Preamp Overdrive DIY Pedal Kit

Not being an engineer, or particularly skilled in the ways of electronics creation, I have never built an effects pedal. I love how they sound and what they can do, but their innerworkings completely baffle me, and I’m not alone. For all of us who want to tinker and experiment a little, without having to do too much actual work, Josh and the JHS Pedals crew have created the NOTADÜMBLË DIY kit, a boost/preamp/overdrive based on a classic and extremely expensive line of amplifiers, but one that you get to put together yourself, like their NOTAKLÖN before it. It sounds like fun, and guess what?? IT IS!!

JHS Pedals are excited to announce the latest release to their NOTA-DIY line up – the NOTADÜMBLË is a new DIY kit that captures the nostalgia and essence of Howard Dumble‘s best works. It features two different, highly sought after sounds that are accessible by a slider switch on the front of the pedal. In “Drive” mode (slider up), you get the dirty, distorted, violin-like tones you’d expect from Joe Bonamassa or Santana. In the “Clean” mode (slider down), you get a powerful preamp buffer pulled directly from John Mayer’s personal stash of rare and never before replicated Dumble devices.

The controls here offer a wide range of tones, depending on which mode you’re using. The Clean (Boost) channel offers and Output knob, which sets the volume, and an Input knob, which attenuates the treble and input gain at the front of the circuit. Turn this fully right for no cut, or turn left to gradually attenuate the gain and treble. For the Overdrive channel, you have the usual suspects: Volume, EQ and Drive. However, JHS has added in a special internal trimpot that lets you adjust the Presence, which controls the upper-mid range and treble frequencies in the gain stage. Lots of options for a DIY pedal kit!

Just like the NOTAKLÖN, this is a very simple, solderless kit anyone can build. In the demo below, I unpack, build and test the NOTADÜMBLË, which took a grand total of about 20 minutes (minus the internal GOOP having to dry for 24 hours, of course). Right off the bat, this thing sounds amazing, and for just $119, you really can’t beat the great Dumble-esque tone. Head over to JHS Pedals’ website to snag one NOW, and don’t forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel and leave a comment on our demo video, too – cheers!