Robben Ford Discussion

[sammo]

I have had a Zendrive for the last two years. I found a pedal
that in my humble opinion delivers more of a Robben/Dxmble tone. A Jetter Gain Stage
Red has bumped my Zendrive.
The Zendrive struggles with single coil pickups when compared to the Jetter. The Gain Stage Red has more bloom and expressiveness and
more natural low end. The low end on the Jetter is huge but stays
together. Do a search on: http://www.thegearpage.net/board/index.php
search Jetter
The Jetter has little or no waiting list and is clearly the best of the
D-tone pedals I have tried (xoticBB, HAO Rumble mod, Howie, BurnUnit,
Small Fry, Zendrive)
The clips on the Jetter Gear site will give you an idea of what to expect
I am sure Robben would LOVE this pedal !

[Ron S]

Welcome to the board Sammo, this forum is one of my most visited sites on the net and the people who live here are some of the nicest people I've encountered, I hope you stick around to chat "Robben".

Also speaking for myself (I'm not a moderator) I think you can appreciate how your post looks. You say you've had a zendrive for two years and I would assume you're into Robben Ford from the 'tone' of your post. I would question why you joined only yesterday simply to post a glowing testament/advertisement to an overdrive unit that in your words "delivers more of a Robben/Dxmble tone" (than a Zendrive).

You should also know that Alfonso who developed the Zen is a poster on this forum. Not that Alf is blind to competition in his field I'm sure but the comments you make regarding his pedal and the Jetter are purely that, just your comments, they are not fact yet you do state them as such.

A simple "in my honest opinion" would have made your post immeasurably easier to stomach-

I should say at this point that I am not a Zendrive owner, though many members here are and feel strongly about their magic. Having seen Robben live with telecaster and Zen I certainly never felt he was struggling with his single coils, but then again if I tried out the 2 pedals I'm sure I could make a Zen and a Jetter sound equally as bad with my tele.

That said if you are a Robben fan and not here for spam/advertisement then I hope my comments won't put you off staying and talking about Robben related stuff, and again welcome to the forum.

Ron

[sammo]

Hi Ron,
Thanks for giving the benefit of the doubt and your welcome
I did not want to spam ,only inform. I am in no way connected to
Jetter products . I just want guys who have the same interests as I
to be well informed. I am very thankful that Alf and others are furthering the state of the art with respect to Dxmble tone in a pedal
Robben Ford will sound good thru whatever he uses. I however welcome
any pedal that makes it easy to achieve his type of tone. It is not a static world, things evolve. The Zendrive is a pioneer and a great pedal but
I for one am happy that the evolution does not end here
The Menatone Howie has been recently redone. The Ethos pedal is
readying for release. The Fuchs pedal is in the works.These are exciting times for those wanting Dxmble tone in a pedal.
All I am saying is there are great choices out there and if the Ethos
or Fuchs pedal does a better job of the D-tone I will bump the Jetter
and extoll the winner
Best Wishes
Doug

[frank0936]

Hi Doug,
Welcome to the forum and thanks for clearing that up! We have a great group of people here and we look forward to hearing more from you.
Frank

[Millibobs]

Interesting dialogue regarding the Zendrive. I waited over a year for mine, grumbled regularly at Alf who remained good natured and reasonable throughout! I use mine alongside a Fulltone OCD and IMHO they are both wonderful pedals but with quite different personalities.

The OCD is simpler to use out of the box but the Zendrive is a more complex and potentially more rewarding beast that just takes time to adapt to. What I have found is that if I stack them, I get possibly the most sublime, saturated tone I have ever heard through my Bassman Re-issue. The Zendrive also loves my Burstbuckers.

I think the Zendrive is more of a pro player's pedal for people who can take advantage of its rich and fruity textures at volume, through an amp that is working hard. I checked out the Jetter site and it reads up pretty well but the sound clips don't sound much different to the ones I heard via Alf's website (Scott Lerner's in particular are beautifully played). This said, the Jetter pedals do sound mighty fine.

I've realised after some extensive (and expensive) twiddling that you can get some very similar sounds from quite a range of stompers if you know how to use your fingers and your volume/tone controls. My own current style actually suits the OCD but for my little visits to my classic rock roots and some areas of blues, the Zendrive takes pride of place. Like I said, it also provides an invaluable kick up the pants for the OCD for those little solo expeditions.

Yeah, I could buy a Jetter and spend even more time and money recreating the sounds that Robben and some others have achieved but I think in reality I have all that I'll ever need (including a lovely Boss DS1 with the Steve Vai mod, a la Keeley). Mind you, if I have some money spare, I'll probably buy one to feed my GAS habit......

As for Alf, it is rare that one encounters someone whose 'mystique' and reputation makes no difference to the man himself. Again IMHO, he is the most self-effacing and balanced guy I've met and he NEVER knocks the competition!

[Millibobs]

by the way, last week I was actually thinking of selling the Zendrive but us guitarists are known for our bouts of schizophrenia......

[Aeolian]

The thing with the Zen (or my Fuchs amp FWIW) is the feel of it. It feels very much like my amp. Plug it into a Twin (like I did at the GC blues contest) and it feels familiar.

Funny thing, the guy who won the store finals in that contest is an entirely different sort of player and into vintage Strats. He fooled around with the Zen afterwards and got entirely different tones. Kind of sounded like the SRV wall of various Fenders. Definitely sounded nothing like Robben, even when Robben plays a Strat.

And the country guys like Brent Mason and Brad Paisley who are playing them are not trying to sound like Robben either.
_________________
There are no such things as wrong notes, there's only the look on your face.
My Stuff: www.stevekirbymusic.com

[Millibobs]

I tried to recreate the Brad Paisley sound with my Tele, Zendrive and Bassman and got nowhere! All part of the fun..........Now there is one mean picker......

[billt]

As a totally unrelated, but related side bar....some of the clips on the Jetter site are done by Chris Blackwell here in Atlanta. This cat is dangerously talented!
Oh yeah, welcome to the board
Bill

[Strongpersuader]

This is what I think a forum is all about. Exchanging experiences and points of view about gear, tone, technique, everything is really worth.

I am still waiting for the e-mail from Alf telling me that my Zendrive II is ready for shipping, even though more than 16 months have passed ever since I placed my order

Anyway, a friend of mine has recently received his Zendrive and we both were able to test drive it with our personal gear. The fact that is undeniable is that the Zen is really outstanding for 'buckers equipped guitars. However, using a Strat leaves much more to be desired. As soon as we plug a Strat we find out that the low end is drastically lowered and this is something that bothered me a little.
Considering that the pedal still needs some time time to be tested and to find out its whole potential, the veredict is on the air.

I will surely check this Jetter site and maybe this shall be the kind of pedal that will fulfill my needs in a more better way, even though right now I am very satisfied with the tones I can achieve with my Strat and my Xotic BB Preamp.

[PierreL]

There are other contenders now, along with the Jetter Gain Stage : the Menatone Howie version 3, and the Ethos pedal.

[AlChuck]

A couple of weeks ago I had an opportunity to play my Strat through a Zendrive and into a Fender Deluxe Reverb at a coastside jam session... and I thought I got about the best sound I've ever gotten from any combination of gear. I'll have to try my L6-S next time and see if that's even more inspirational.

As far as getting one of my own, I'm still on the waiting list to be able to get on the waiting list...

[yebdox]

Like a lot of players, I am unlikely to ever play through a Dumble in my lifetime. Having said that, I am always interested in what pedals and amps people are playing with currently, in an attempt to get Robben's (or anyone else's) tone. So, I have an unusual recommendation to add to the mix for all you Robben tone fans.

I have tried a bunch, though certainly not even a large percentage of pedals, looking for that smooth breakup characteristic of Robben's playing, as well as Holdsworth, Scott Henderson, Allen Hinds, Eric Johnson, etc. Though all of these tones can be quite different and distinctive from each other and are almost instantly recognizable (there's that "touch" factor, again!) what I think I hear in them all is an evenness of breakup and generally less midrange, or at least not middy without much bass (thinking stock Tubescreamer sounds, here.)

I've waited months for the OCD when it first came out, as well as the Banzai Fireball II; have tried Maxons, AnalogMan TS9s (silver mod) nearly every Fulltone distortion or overdrive (not the fuzz units, though); a Barber Burn Unit, most stand alone Boss pedals, Sans amps (all styles) ToneBone (american only) V-Stack(Classic? - don't recall) Xotic RC and AC and others I've forgotten. Certainly not exhaustive, but a few. What I've always come back to ( and I do get pretty consistently good comments on my tone, regardless of what style I'm playing, FWIW) is my trusty old Marshall Shredmaster!

The name is deceiving. Even calling it a "Marshall in a box" doesn't do it justice. Though its output is probably half of some of the pedals (I'm thinking Fulltone OCD, Fulldrive 2 or Banzai Fireball - all incredibly loud!) it has the most versatile tone stack without ever losing the warmth, fatness and clarity that I for one, am looking for. Crank the gain down, and it's better than most Tubescreamers, in my opinion, and still sounds great with single coils (although I often use the RC booster in front of it.) Turn it up to about 2 o'clock, and, well, it may not be the elusive Dumble tone we all claim we are looking for, but it is really a magic pedal. Sounds equally good through my VHT St-50 with 2x12 cab ( Lead 80/Alnico Blue Dog, 50 watts, El34s) and my Allen Old Flame 1 x 12 combo ( Lead 80, 40 watts - like a one channel Super Reverb). Maybe a bit better with a closed back cab.

I'm just sorry they don't make them anymore. They keep going up in price on eBay, and I need to break down and buy another... mine still works flawlessly afte 14 years or so, but you never know.

I did talk to Mike at Analogman one time about possibly cloning this pedal, since there's nothing in his line up that can do what this does (although I haven't heard the KOT pedal yet - more wait time.) He was very interested, but had other things to finish first. He wouldn't be getting mine, though:)

Anyway, for those of you waiting for a Zendrive (did someone say 14 months? Wow, that guy needs some help with production!) you might see what shows up on eBay and take one for a spin - if you buy one in good shape (and they are rugged) you will always get your money back out of it.

I agree, this is what the forums should really be about: an exchange of experience, like a tailored version of Harmony Central. Thanks, guys.

[Strongpersuader]

Hi yebdox!

You have really made some good points in your post. One that I think is really interesting is that you always use a RC Booster in front of the Shredmaster to achieve the good tones you look for. I have also found out that this little booster pedal is the key to enhance and improve a lot of different overdrive pedals.

Regarding my reduced experience with my friend's Zen, all I can say is that whem using a Strat I prefer by far the tones I get with the BB Preamp than those achieved with the Zen. The loss of low end for a single coil guitar is something that makes you lose the punch you need in most of the leads situations. The BB in opposition, lets you keep your stock tone untouched without losing anything even though giving you the gain and girth that you need. I highly reccomend a test drive on this pedal.

[Millibobs]

Strongpersuader, can you expand a little on the BB Preamp for me please? Sounds interesting.