Hi there, before purchasing the Rude pedal plugin, I wondered whether there are any free plugins which come close to producing similar low gain tones to the Dumblesque tones of the Rude pedal? I have external pedals which can do the job, but I’d like to see whether I can do everything within my Mod Duo X without needing to add any external pedals to it - call it an experiment in minimalism if you like.
Hi @dscb57, IMHO the Rude pedal has something special about it that is hard to replicate with the rest of the lineup. I shelled out the few bucks for it… also helps to keep the platform alive.
Yes, you’re quite right, being based on the Dumble ODS preamp, all pedals belonging to the ‘Dumble-in-a-box’ genre such as the J. Rockett The Dude, which the Rude plugin simulates, which in turn are mostly variants of the original Hermida Zendrive, which is the de facto go to pedal for the Dumble sound. So each of these will have a slightly different take on the Dumble ODS tone stack and gain staging, so they are very different from the typical TS based overdrive most players use.
But bear in mind that I have already had to shell out for the physical counterparts, and don’t want to unnecessarily spend more on the paid plugins since I have other financial obligations which limit the amount I can spend on things like this.
My contribution has been to purchase the Mod Duo X, and I am certainly not going to start purchasing all the plugins available before being very sure that this platform is going to really work for me.
I have quite a lot of gear which I have either outgrown or which simply does not work for the type of tone I am going for, so I have already invested a considerable amount over the years and have learnt to be frugal rather than continue to fall prey to the ubiquitous G.A.S. most players seem so proud of.
So, back to the question I raised. In the real world there are many different types of approaches to achieving this type of tone, such as the Boss BD2, SD2, and any number of different takes on that type of circuit, so I am looking for similar plugins which I can experiment with in different combinations. In the real world I get very close to the range of tones I am looking to reproduce using an RC Booster into a Vox Silk Drive into a Lovepedal Eternity Burst, so I have been experimenting with ways to combine different plugins in the same way. The Silk Drive does the job admirably, and I imagine that the Rude overdrive will sound pretty similar, but there are a plethora of Youtube videos with demonstrations of hundreds of ways to obtain this magical tone, and I am pretty sure that the existing plugins on this platform can offer the same results. But being so new to this platform it’s not easy to identify these specific plugins aside from those which are named very similarly to their namesakes in the real world. So that’s really what I’m asking about.
Thanks for your reply! I understand where you are coming from; I am also more on the minimalistic side of things.
AFAIR the Rude pedal should have a trial mode like the other paid plugins. If it does not, we should inform #teamMOD.audio. Isn’t the test mode sufficient for your needs?
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It’s good to find a kindred soul who understands the subtelties of tone 
I actually didn’t know that that particular plugin had a test mode - being so new to this platform. Right now I am tied up trying to get my MVave Chocolate working with my Mod Duo X - without much success, it must be said :(, so that’s taking up the time which I should be spending on trying out plugins and setting up more pedal boards.
I’ve never been good with midi controllers, just not my area of expertise I suppose.
By the way, I started a thread a while back which may be of interest to you, if you are interested it would be great to have you on board:
The older I get, the more I find that tone is extremely subjective. Even the ones with arguably a big fan base (e.g., Mark Knopfler, David Gilmour) are not unanimously considered “great”. Good luck on your journey with MOD devices!
It’s been a long time since I hooked up my Duo to a MIDI signal. If I remember correctly, everything worked perfectly out of the box with a Yamaha keyboard.
The MOD devices are fantastic, and the people, too. Just beware of having any expectations! There will be improvements, there will be new features, but when and how is written in the stars. The pedal board design group looks like a useful in-between step! I am not much into sharing or using other people’s boards, though.
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Point taken, I get your point about expectations, and of course you’re quite right.
I’m also becoming reticent about sharing what amounts to hours of hard work and trial and error before coming up with something worth sharing. But the objective was to work together as a group venture to create a series of genre specific pedal boards and share and explore new and different approaches to creating different rigs.
Unfortunately although the topic does seem to have garnered some interest, I am the only one who has actually contributed any pedal boards, so my initial enthusiasm has started to cool off as I focus on creating the range of sounds I need personally, whilst trying to expand my understanding of how this platform works. It’s quite a steep learning curve, it must be said.