JHS has announced it is discontinuing its new build-it-yourself Notadümblë pedal after founder Josh Scott discovered he had copied the wrong Dumble pedal for its clean channel.
The two-channel amp-in-a-box pedal is the second of the firm’s IKEA-like flatpack stompboxes. It arrived earlier this month following rave reviews of its budget Klon copy, the User.
Notadümblë was billed as a two-faced design, offering Dumble’s esteemed “violin lead tones” on the red channel — as adored by Joe Bonamassa, Eric Clapton and a litany of other prestigious guitarists — and John Mayer’s obscure A Box Later pedal for its cleans.
The idea for the pedal came about in 2019 when Scott went to a John Mayer rehearsal with the intention of turning two of his Dumbles into JHS pedals.
“In 2019, I left a John Mayer rehearsal in Los Angeles with two extremely rare Dumble units in my backpack to reverse engineer,” he says in a new YouTube video announcing “the biggest mistake I’ve ever made.”
“The first of these is the Dumble BBC1, which I turned into the (as yet unreleased) Basic Boost. The second is the A Box Later … and I turned that into the Box It Later.”
A Box Later was a one-of-a-kind creation from the mind of Dumble founder Howard Alexander Dumble; a simple two-dial external effects loop that also acted as a clean boost. JHS’ take on the design made its way onto Mayer’s pedalboard in time for his 2021 shows with Dead & Company.
Scott says his Box It Later circuit was intended to become the clean channel of the Notadümblë.
“But,” he continues, “two weeks after the release, I realized I made a huge mistake: I accidentally used the more rare Dumble BBC1 instead of the Box It Later.”
Scott says he learned of his error on May 11 as he prepared to create a demonstration on how to give the Notadümblë a few mods requested by customers, including a second foot switch in place of the channel switcher.
“I also wanted to put a TRS effects loop, just like the A Box Later has, so that if people wanted to experience the effects loop they could,” he explains.
Consequently, he emailed JHS’s head engineer asking for the schematics used for the Notadümblë.
However, he says, “upon reading the end of that reply, I immediately froze knowing something was horribly wrong.”
“The A Box Later has a very clear send/return,” he says, which was absent from the pedal’s schematics. “So I realized in that exact moment (the engineer) was looking at a very different circuit.
“I began to go, ‘Oh no, what have we put in the Dumble?’”
Apparently, the two designs Scott walked away with in 2019 were incorrectly labelled. Under the circumstance, he says his only option was to pull the pedal from his website.
“I do not take lightly your choice to buy our products,” he says, “and honesty and transparency are absolutely more important than how many of these pedals sell or don’t sell.”
Both Dumbles are rare, and many players may be more excited to hear this version of the pedal actually draws from the BBC1 rather than the A Box Later, but Scott stands by his decision as a matter of integrity.
The pedal was intended for a run of 15,000 units, but that has now been halved, with 2,500 units made available on its website as of Friday, May 23. A further 5,000 pedals are available as pre-orders with the expectation that JHS will produce around 1,000 units each month.
The pedal with the BBC1 circuit is likely to fetch some lofty prices on the second-hand market in the future, given its uniqueness.
Scott confirms plans are afoot to offer the pedal as it was originally intended. However, he is unable to confirm when that will be released.
Customers who bought the Notadümblë and would like a refund can do so by emailing [email protected] by the end of June.
In related news, former Alice Cooper guitarist Orianthi has revealed how playing some of Alexander Dumble’s amps inspired the sounds of her signature Orange combo.
Mark Tremonti also pulled from the infamous Dumble tone book while crafting his signature PRS head, while Bonamassa has explained why he sold all his Dumbles only to buy more than he’s ever had just a few short years later.
Universal Audio’s take on a Dumble amp-in-a-box, the Enigmatic ’82 Overdrive Special has received rave reviews with Mayer also a fan of its ever-growing pedal line.
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