Are Dumble style amps pedal friendly?

[slopeshoulder]

I see Mayer using to various dirt boxes with his Dumble and Two Rock amps. Hmm...
But I've been told several times that a blackface style amp (mine's a Bruno) is going to be much more pedal friendly than any Dumble-style amp, that D's aren't so friendly to overdrives, fuzz, distortion, treble boosters etc. I LOVE the D lead sound, but I like to have many dirt boxes available (with only one amp) for a wide variety of color to use in the clean channel. (I like menatone, hermida, and I'm getting to know wampler and mjm). The funny thing is that I have a Menatone Howie "always on" on the "clean" channel and hit it with many pedals.
So people who OWN Dumble style amps, are they pedal friendly? best choice? what's your experience and advice?
Thanks!

 

[lukeII]

I have a Two Rock Classic Reverb, which the advertise as being their most pedal friendly amp. It is extermely pedal friendly and takes fuzz, od, boost and distortion extremely well. I have tried a TR custom reverb but the classic takes pedals better and at every bit as well as a Fargen Blackbird I had. The Classic Reverb doesn't have a lead channel though.

 

[GuitarsFromMars]

Dumble amps and their ilk, take pre-amp or gain style pedals through the front end. They do work. Time based effects are where one gets into trouble/jammed up. With out a loop/Dumbleator, time based effects only work when the amp is set for the front channel. When you kick in the second channel everything becomes distorted, and does NOT give the time based stuff any possibility of providing a useable signal. The distortion is an intentional part of the circuit.

 

[traviswalk]

Very much so from my perspective. To reference your question in the Mayer thread Dumbles like Steel String Singers and the related family (TR Classic Reverb, JM Sig, Sterling Sig, Fuchs Clean Machines, etc.) are unbelievable pedal platforms. Plus I would use pedals to boost my Emmy Pro in a wide variety of directions. True, I don't engage a Zendrive with the Emmy Pro to get RF tones (the amp already does!), but things like a boost or a fuzz will make d-style amps sing even more!!

 

[odourboy]

My experience with the the D-Clones that I've built or used is that they are quite pedal friendly. In fact, I routinely 'stack' dirt pedals with the OD routing as well for added flavor.

As GuitarsFromMars mentions, many D-clones do not have a buffered effects loop (pre-out and main-in are straight off the preamp and straight into the PI section). Since you'd normally want your time-based effects in the effects loop, a loop buffer/dumblator is a must, otherwise you risk overloading, possibly cooking the pedal. I learned my lesson the hard way when I cooked a reverb unit that way.