Eric Johnson's ODS prototype

[vibratoking]

I certainly don't have a discerning ear, but almost every fuzz pedal I ever played sounded better with a low battery. For the past 35 years I have been saving the mostly discharged batteries to use in fuzz pedals. I thought everyone knew that? For some reason I thought that was basic knowledge.

[ER]

The Dumble OCD special.

[FuzzFaceBuilder]

EJ's ODS is all over the new album.

“Brilliant Room”

“I played a signature Strat through a 100-watt Marshall...The rhythm tones were a combination of the Twin Reverbs for the cleaner layer and a Dumble for the dirtier layer... We got the over-thetop flange sound by first recording DI with two MXR Flanger/Doublers, and then using a flanger plug-in to double-flange those parts.”

“Austin”

“This is a song about how much Austin has changed since I was a kid, and I was going for a Stevie Wonder-type feel, because he is one of my favorite artists... The dirty rhythm parts were done with a combination of Dumble and Fulton- Webb amps, the clean tones are the Twins, and I used a Marshall for the leads.”

[rsalinger]

The Dumble OCD special.

...Ha ha ha! That was funny.

Cheers,
Rob

[greekie]

EJ's an excellent player, and I really enjoy his music.

Fun thing about his tone OCD is that he admits it. I read in an interview once, that it cost him his marriage. And when he was recording an album ("Tones" if I remember correctly) he had to do all the guitar parts over again, as he didn't think they sounded right, and found out that the cable going to his amps had made a loop on the floor.

[T Wilcox]

"Didn’t you have a triple amp setup for a while?

Yeah, I still do that.

Is there still a Dumble amp?

Yeah, I do have a Dumble. It’s at Alexander’s right now, and I’m waiting to get it back."

Above is quoted from an interview in 2010 with EJ

http://jasobrecht.com/eric-johnson-clos ... interview/

[qtone]

It appears to be PRE ODS. Classic eq ?

The Tube driver and 1500 are an interesting pairing.
Perhaps the 1500 has a better sound then the 1000ms Mxr.

I know both 1000ms and 1500 have modulation you can add in some chorus..and depending on delay and chorus it can give the illusion that you have Reverb on when there is none.

My guess is his verb if any on this amp is post mic anyway.
I always paired my tube driver with 1000ms mxr delay or echoplex.
The 1500 I thought sounded better with clean sounds vs dirty...

Of course just because we see the 1500 sitting below the Dumble does not mean that is being used at all on the Dumble.

He could be getting delay and reverb post mic on the Explosion amp..
I know he has it either way and can use either or...

But someone told me he did not use the Verb on his twins it was post mic which makes me think well so too would be the Dumble.

The 1500 has all the same as 1000ms but added upgraded sounds
better modulation sounds giving that far off shimmer.

My guess is that 1500 is in the mixer and can be used on the twins or Dumble and Id bet there is another 1000ms in the house desk also through the board for any amps.

I thought he bounced between echoplex and mxr 1500 for cleans and he could use plex for dirty or leads as well...

I own both the 1000 and 1500 ms units and to my ears the 1500 sounds far superior on the cleans just stellar..

For dirty or lead stuff you can do most all of that with 1000ms delay.
1500 is overkill but there is something warmer about the 1500 vs 1000
thus we see it still in his rack.

Greg how does your latest amp handle the dirty and lead sounds
speaking of Eric and Dumbles...

How does it compete in those areas I sure liked the pab on sound of that amp..

What say ye after she has over 100 hours on her ?

[CHIP]

I certainly don't have a discerning ear, but almost every fuzz pedal I ever played sounded better with a low battery. For the past 35 years I have been saving the mostly discharged batteries to use in fuzz pedals. I thought everyone knew that? For some reason I thought that was basic knowledge.

I agree. I've been checking used 9V's and mark them. My Zen Drive sounds better to me with around 8.2 VDC.
I read Duane Allman used to put them in the freezer for his Fuzz Face. Sounded smoother.

[Max]

It appears to be PRE ODS. Classic eq ?

IMO this one will have been originally built as a bottom loaded version of a 1st generation ODS and with a "pre-classic" preamp and a "pre-standard" OD circuit. Here I've posted why I think so:

https://tubeamparchive.com/viewtopic.ph ... 520#184520

https://tubeamparchive.com/viewtopic.ph ... 589#184589

Up to around #075 AFAIK no ODS has been originally built with a "Classic eq" and a "standard" ODS circuit. AFAIK #075 has the lowest series # of all the ODS (not ODR!) that have been originally built with the "classic" preamp and the "standard" OD.

Today EJ's ODS will have the kind of circuit that EJ and Alexander Dumble decided to be best suited for EJ's present needs - perhaps still the original one from the mid seventies, perhaps a completely different one.

In this thread you find some Odyssey pics: https://tubeamparchive.com/viewtopic.ph ... 268#129268

Here are some pictures of a 100W Small Special from around the mid seventies: http://personalpages.manchester.ac.uk/s ... ial%20100/

In order to provide more place inside the old small chassis for the preamp board of the 1st generation ODS (AFAIK: FET circuit is on the preamp board, too) AFAIK most of the filter capacitors of the 1st generation ODS amps are placed outside the chassis beside the OT under a metal protection cap.

And I've attached some 1st generation pics. ODS #001 is the combo in the middle of the first pic. Picures from Rob's site (AFAIR).

Cheers and a great weekend,

Max

[talbany]

I don't know about anyone else here but I for one am not a bit surprised to see Eric using (what appears to be or possibly modded) earlier 1st generation as both my 1st and 2nd generation builds have been wonderful sounding and for me something rather special (especially with Strats or single coils) ..It is for me great to see these older style 1st and 2nd generation amps gaining in popularity here and elsewhere..
After building my 1st 2nd generation and having discovered it's full potential have to say is now one of my favorite and will never leave me, such harmonic content and pure natural sounding clean tones..
Anyway I think it is great some of us here have migrated past the later Skyliners and the popularity surrounding the Robben Ford tones and moved on to discover what these earlier generation amps have to offer.. Certainly and in my case worthy of it's place in the stable..

BTW..Thanks for the low down.. (Just the Facts) Max..
Tony

What's the big deal?..It's really not that hard to hear a dying battery in a Fuzz face plugged into a 100w plexi cranked..
Oh and don't forget to remove those plastic trem covers from your Strats..

[FuzzFaceBuilder]

Knowing that EJ is a "set it and forget it" kind of player, (i.e. he gets the tone he likes at the amps then EQ's the room/FOH to his rig) even between the two pics provided here, settings are nearly identical. You can see that the starve switch is in the on position and the volume is kinda high. Wonder if the circuit was disconnected or if he likes it on? He is a Marshall guy after all...

In my best estimation, FWIW, the only way an amp with those settings (including PAB, if installed) would be able to compete with his other amps is if his ODS is now a 100 watt amp. IMHO, etc. Thoughts?

[Structo]

You know what else is interesting?

Early on he made several amps that are tubes up.

I think most of us would agree that an amp probably runs cooler with the tubes pointed up.

Then for him to make most if not all the later generation amps with the tubes pointed down is confusing to me.

Maybe something about that arrangement makes for better tone?
Perhaps the temperature is more even overall with the tubes down which would mean more stability.

Anyway, just something I was pondering....

[Max]

After building my 1st 2nd generation and having discovered it's full potential have to say is now one of my favorite and will never leave me, such harmonic content and pure natural sounding clean tones..

Hi Tony,

for your fun I've attached a short clip Charly did send me some days ago:

Here's the "signal chain":

Charly Bonat > '65 Stratocaster (first two phrases bridge PU - then neck PU, guitar volume used to achieve different gain levels) > Usual Neutric guitar cable (no high-end stuff) > 2nd generation Dumble ODS 50W (FET input, OD acivated, Bright off, Deep on, Jazz, Volume 16:00, Treble 15:00, Middle 10:00, Bass 09:00, OD 16:00, Level 10:00, Accent off) > EKO Viscount 2x12" cabinet loaded with 2 Rola Celestion G12-65 speakers > Sennheiser MD 421 > Telefunken V672 > Metric Halo Lio-8 > Logic Pro (reverb: Lexicon plug-in, delay: Logic Pro, no EQ).

All the best,

Max

[nix]

So it appears EJ is running this ODS clean with the Tube Driver for his Dirty Rythm tone (like he did for ACL with the SSS in 84', & 88' ).

The Tube Driver is used with the Echoplex below it, into the Marshal on top of the stack for his lead sound (as it has always been). The Dumble gets fed by a Fuzz Face, Tube Screamer and the 1500 delay.
It seems that he picked this amp up second hand, relatively recently. I love these early ODS amps. Tonally, they have more in common with his old SSS than the higher serial-number ODS models. Probably 6L6 based, as he seems to prefer that in the dirty rhythm spot in his rig.
Can anyone make out each of the controls on the front?

[boldaslove6789]

AFAIK Ej's SSS had a skyliner tonestack so assuming this old ODS has a pre classic, 2nd gen. tonestack then they would sound very different.

It's questionable whether he's using the OD in this amp or just the clean.

The control's on the amp are as follow's:

Pre Level
Bright
Deep
Rock/Jazz
Treble
Middle
Manual/Pedal (for Ftsw)
Bass
Overdrive
Master
Accent (put's a bright cap on the Master Vol)
Starve switch