opinions for a pedal build for dobro player

swelchy

swelchy

Well-known member
Got a request to build a preamp pedal for a dobro player that uses a passive pickup... plugs into a direct box>FOH. Says he looking for something to boost his signal with a separate gain/volume. I was thinking some sort of boost build with an EQ section or possibly the unicab or EMU? Neither of these i've ever built... Thoughts?
 
I've been contemplating cobbling together a SHO with a Baxandall tone stack. The SHO has plenty of headroom with the gain low, and in my experience (which doesn't include a dobro), adds some very nice clarity.
 
I feel like boosts fall into a few categories.

-just louder - usually I go op amp, maybe a bit sterile but great if you already like your tone.

-tone changer/enhancer. EP style are popular, like secret preamp. The EP ones Usually sounds a bit thicker. These tend to get talked about in magical/mojo/subjective terms.

-treble boost, usually for boosting a pedal or amp that’s clipping. Clean, I find they cut too much bass.

EQ like that Ginsly or BoxAndAll can do the op amp boost plus the Eq options.
 
phi1 said:
-treble boost, usually for boosting a pedal or amp that’s clipping. Clean, I find they cut too much bass.
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I'm a treble junky, and even I find treble boosters to be extremely shrill unless they're feeding significant dirt.

That said, anyone who goes to a neck PAF without a treble boost should be prosecuted for crimes against humanity.
 
genXslacker said:
I'm a treble junky, and even I find treble boosters to be extremely shrill unless they're feeding significant dirt.

That said, anyone who goes to a neck PAF without a treble boost should be prosecuted for crimes against humanity.
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I'm with you on the treble boost.... I have a Rangefinder on my board that is always on ... and I'm a single coil guy.
 
Looks like GOTA is giving the stink eye..... He might be a neck bucker player with the tone knob rolled down for those extra dark vibes.
 
swelchy said:
Looks like GOTA is giving the stink eye..... He might be a neck bucker player with the tone knob rolled down for those extra dark vibes.
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I play a marshall amp, single channel. I have a boost for lead/higher gain push. Bridge is for all drive tones from the amp pushed hard. Neck is rolled down for clean tones. No mudd, ever. Marshalls are not dark and neither are low wind PAFs. I don't know where this dark stuff originated 🤷
 
Guardians of the analog said:
I play a marshall amp, single channel. I have a boost for lead/higher gain push. Bridge is for all drive tones from the amp pushed hard. Neck is rolled down for clean tones. No mudd, ever. Marshalls are not dark and neither are low wind PAFs. I don't know where this dark stuff originated 🤷
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Just joshing… I’ve always been a strat or tele guy… I recently got a Les Paul standard and the neck pickups feel super warm and much darker than my Strats or teles…. If you roll the tone back on my Les Paul it gets crazy dark sounding… I still haven’t fallen in love with humbuckers yet…. But then again do not play heavy stuff where they really shine… Heaviest I get is what some would consider southern rock… Like black crows or something like that
 
Guardians of the analog said:
I play a marshall amp, single channel. I have a boost for lead/higher gain push. Bridge is for all drive tones from the amp pushed hard. Neck is rolled down for clean tones. No mudd, ever. Marshalls are not dark and neither are low wind PAFs. I don't know where this dark stuff originated 🤷
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Slash plays '59s through Marshalls, mostly on the neck pickup, and it always sounds way too dark for me. He might be using overwounds, I don't know. I do know that it would be objectively bad and wrong to take original PAFs out of a '59 LP.

It's a shame because, despite my aversion to Maybelline metal, I think Slash has great taste when it comes to building melodic solos.

I agree 100% that Marshalls are not dark.
 
swelchy said:
Got a request to build a preamp pedal for a dobro player that uses a passive pickup... plugs into a direct box>FOH. Says he looking for something to boost his signal with a separate gain/volume. I was thinking some sort of boost build with an EQ section or possibly the unicab or EMU? Neither of these i've ever built... Thoughts?
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I have done a few versions of this one for my Dojo, which is a banjo/dobro hybrid with a piezo on the resonator plus a magnetic pickup: https://github.com/Passinwind/PW3B-LPF

Since my design is all modular there are plenty of options to tailor to your use case.
 
genXslacker said:
Slash plays '59s through Marshalls, mostly on the neck pickup, and it always sounds way too dark for me. He might be using overwounds, I don't know. I do know that it would be objectively bad and wrong to take original PAFs out of a '59 LP.

It's a shame because, despite my aversion to Maybelline metal, I think Slash has great taste when it comes to building melodic solos.

I agree 100% that Marshalls are not dark.
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I think Slash's tone is dark. He's using 9k Seymour Duncan pickups with A2 magnets that are voiced warm, compressed and mid focused. And his amp of choice is the silver Jubilee which in turn is a darker Marshall. His playing and tone is very recognisable but I'm not a fan of that tone myself. Its very smooth and polished sounding and really compressed. I prefer the more raw super lead and 2203 tone. My pickups are unpotted 7k-8k with A4 magnets into a modified 2203 circuit. My sound is more raw, open and bright.
 
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