“The pedal is scary good. I haven’t met a guitar player yet who disagrees." Does the new Universal Audio Enigmatic ’82 Overdrive Special Amp pedal capture that Dumble magic? We compared notes with Dumble aficionado Ben Harper

“The most elusive amp ever made?” Well, yeah. It’s not hyperbole for Universal Audio to refer to the Dumble Overdrive Special as such, and even though they don’t ever use the D word for obvious legal reasons, there’s no question about the reference. The amp is practically unobtainable. And now that it's promised as an amp-emulation pedal you can buy for a few hundred bucks — what player wouldn’t be interested?

Of course, no pedal can ever truly be an amp, but on the other hand, no vintage tube amp can offer the convenience, programmability and affordability of a well-done modeler. For that matter, no company is crushing the modeler market quite like Universal Audio’s effects processing division, UAFX. Having significant experience with the unbelievable Dream ’65 Reverb Amp Fender Deluxe modeler and the ferocious Lion ’68 Super Lead Amp Marshall Plexi modeler, I’m finally drinking the digital Kool-Aid. If those amps can be cloned to such an intimate degree, perhaps anything is possible.

So, when UA and GP got together over breakfast at the NAMM Show in 2024 and UA captain Bill Putnam Jr. asked, “What amp would you like to see us to model next?” my immediate answer was, “Dumble.”

After all, those amps hold Holy Grail status, and very few guitarists will ever get a chance to play one, let alone buy one. In the wake of Alexander “Howard” Dumble’s passing in 2022, the already sky-high prices for his boutique beauties went right past the roof and on to the heavens. I remember Ben Harper telling me in 2008 that I would be wise to sell everything I own and pay the $25,000 for a Dumble that was for sale online at that time. I laughed it off as impossible, but as it turns out that would have been quite the investment. In 2022, Jason Isbell reportedly paid a whopping $175,000 for a 1995 Overdrive Special from producer Dennis Herring via Reverb.com!

When I mentioned Dumble at that NAMM conversation, my colleague at Guitar World, Paul Riario, laughed. “What would that sound like?" he asked. "Everybody knows what a Marshall sounds like, but every Dumble is different.” Speaking to UAFX sound designer James Santiago at this year’s NAMM Show, he echoed that sentiment, saying that some he’d played were magic, and some were duds for his playing style. When I spoke with Jackson Browne, he recalled commissioning Dumble to build another amp exactly like the one his lead players were always fighting over. But even Dumble himself couldn’t replicate it.

So there you go: The Overdrive Special is an enigma. But what if you weren’t trying to replicate one but rather a bevy of Dumble-esque tones ranging from ultra-crisp and clean to gritty bluesy breakup, and on through to the brink of sonic boom?

Enter the Enigmatic ’82 Overdrive Special Amp, potentially the Holy Grail of amp-emulation modelers.

Does it deliver? Hell yeah!

But what does it deliver?

Well, as the title suggests, it’s enigmatic, meaning mysterious or somewhat difficult to put your finger on. But when one does put fingers on the malleable and programmable Enigmatic, it quickly becomes apparent that this pedal can create a vast range of sounds from ultra-cool and clean to explosive.

Everything is at your fingertips via six knobs, a trio of three-position mini toggle switches and a pair of foot switches. The controls are so dynamic that you can completely change tonal characters in a variety of ways.

And once you get the gist of how to use the controls, many of which have alternative functions, there’s another ocean of possibilities accessible via the UAFX Control Mobile app (iOS and Android). The user can activate and manage factory and user presets, download artist sounds, edit amp tones or change foot switch functionality. Like the real deal, there’s a deep rabbit hole to go down. Also like the real deal, customization is inherent to the Enigmatic Overdrive Special Amp.

To my ears, the Enigmatic excels at at the most elusive tones that fall somewhere in the sweet spot between a glassy Fender and a dirty Marshall. You know how when you’ve got your perfect Fender tone dialed in that’s super clean when you play soft and then breaks up when you push it? Go a step or two beyond that to where single-note runs sound and feel as if there’s a steel girder supporting them, rather than the way they seem to fall away on the Fender. But not so much as to sound boxy, like the more square-wave kind of tone inherent to a Marshal plexi.

Part of the mythical nature of the hallowed D tone has to do with volume. I once asked Carlos Santana to describe the essence of Dumble magic, and I’ll never forget his reply. I’m paraphrasing, but he essentially said, “You know how when you turn a good tube amp way up loud, the notes start to sound like balloons filled all the way up, compared to the weak, half-empty sound when it’s turned down? Well, Dumble’s got full balloons at any volume.”

That’s a big part of the appeal here as well. Line-in to your favorite DAW in the office or bedroom on a home computer, and even at whisper volume to the outside world, you can dial in copious overdrive to get a searing sound like David Lindley’s lead on his most famous solo tune, “Mercury Blues.” It’s same kind of tone Ben Harper and Sonny Landreth adopted for their sizzling slide tones, sparkling with rich harmonic overtones.

How about live?

Yes, you can line-in to pretty much any decent sound system and get great tones at low volume onstage as well. But without a great monitor, it’s going to fall flat compared to the three-dimensionality of a real tube amp.

So, which FRFR (Full Range Flat Response) speaker cabinet does that well? I found that the Fender Tone Master F-12 does a great job of making any modeling amp pedal sound more like a real tube amp onstage. But you do have to turn it up past noon to start getting true dimensionality. Once you get to about three quarters of the way full, it truly starts to fill up those sonic balloons. There’s a bit of noise, especially at higher gain settings, but shoot, isn’t that a part of the true tube amp experience? When I asked UA’s James Santiago which FRFR he felt did the best job making his modeling amp pedals sound and feel like the real deal onstage, he agreed on the Fender Tone Master F-12.

When I asked Santiago if he was able to get his hands on any actual Dumbles for this sonic adventure, he confirmed that yes, indeed UAFX did get its hands on a few. Interestingly, some were models created during Dumble's early amp-making days in Santa Cruz, California, which is very near Universal Audio headquarters. Clearly UAFX extrapolated from there, listening intently to a range of famous Overdrive Special tones from SRV’s pristine clean to Robben Ford’s bold, breaking-bad blues, to the flamethrower tones of Lindley, Harper and Landreth.

Despite the pedal's depths of programmability, there is the issue of switching presets quickly and seamlessly onstage. The presets are on my phone, my hands are busy with the guitar, and besides, I use the phone for recording . Fortunately, you can easily toggle between current control settings in Live mode and a favorite preset via the left and right foot switches, respectively. Beyond that, I’m more of a set-it-and-forget-it type of player anyway, the type that would rather click on another pedal or three to flesh out a tonal range rather than trying to get absolutely everything out of a single unit.

I’m still finding and saving favorites on the Enigmatic, but I’ve discovered that while it’s tempting to go for pure fire, pulling back on the overdrive allows the unit to be pushed by other pedals that can work wonders as well, like a real tube amp. I got incredible results using another Dumble-style pedal, the Vertex SSS Double Preamp, as well as the UAFX 1176 Studio Compressor to send the Enigmatic from a more serene state into grittier, downright explosive stages. I placed the Enigmatic on my pedalboard between UAFX’s Dream ’65 Reverb and the Lion ’68 Super Lead. With the Dream set super clean, the Enigmatic searing, and the Lion roaring, it’s all I need with more delicious sonic flavors than I’d ever imagine right under my feet.

Ultimately, the UAFX Enigmatic ’82 Overdrive Special Amp is one of the most remarkable pedals I’ve ever encountered. It’s completely unique among amp emulations. Ben Harper agrees and says, “The pedal is scary good, and I haven’t met a guitar player yet who disagrees. Though Dumble adjacent, it also has sonic characteristics all its own.” Kudos to Universal Audio for doing the impossible—again.

SPECIFICATIONS

Enigmatic ’82 Overdrive Special Amp

CONTACT uaudio.com

PRICE $399 street

CONTROLS Volume (doubles as room reverb), overdrive (doubles as ratio), output, bass (doubles as deep/mid), middle (doubles as presence), treble (doubles as bright). Switches: Cab (GB25, D65, EV12); Alt (amp, store); Tone (rock, jazz, custom)

FOOT SWITCHES On/off, preset

I/O Stereo inputs and outputs, USB-C, Bluetooth pairing, 9VDC jack (adapter not included)

EXTRAS UAFX mobile app, 4-cable mode (Use with any amplifier that has an effects loop for switching between the amp’s preamp section and sounds in the pedal, with 4-Cable mode being one of the foot-switching options)

DIMENSIONS 5.55" x 3.62" x 2.56" (LxWxH)

WEIGHT 1.24 lbs

PRO Fabulous tube tones, real feel, deep versatility and functionality

CON High gain settings can get a bit noisy. Isolated 9V/400mA power adapter not included requires slightly more minimum voltage than common 9V/100-300mA

Unlock the Secrets of UAFX Enigmatic '82 - YouTube

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