Free The Tone OVERDRIVELAND

The Free The Tone OVERDRIVELAND is an overdrive pedal built around the sound of a specific amplifier: the late model of the Dumble Overdrive Special, an amp that Free The Tone describes as now difficult to obtain. The company says the pedal was born to express a player's individuality with the glossy, commanding character of those amps¹. Guitar Pedal X calls it a two-channel Dumble overdrive with Normal and Drive sections².

What makes the OVERDRIVELAND different from a single-knob overdrive is its structure. It is built as two sections: a Normal channel circuit and a Drive circuit. In the Drive channel, the signal flows through the Drive circuit first and then through the Normal channel circuit, so the drive stage feeds the clean channel rather than replacing it³. Delicious Audio describes this as featuring the amp's clean channel and letting you overdrive it by inserting an extra drive circuit before it⁴.

A Dumble-style dual channel overdrive

The reference point matters here. Free The Tone states plainly that the amp studied for the OVERDRIVELAND's development was the later type of the Dumble Overdrive Special¹. Delicious Audio notes the circuit was inspired by the latest model of the Overdrive Special, which the site says differs from earlier versions⁵. For a player, that means the pedal aims at the later Dumble voicing rather than a generic "Dumble-style" approximation.

The two channels work the way the amplifier's channels do. The Normal Channel encompasses the Tone circuit, with its EQ ON/GLASS switch, and gain adjustment via the ROCK/JAZZ switch⁵. The Drive Channel sends the signal through the Drive circuit, activating the Push and Drive knobs and the Hi Cut filter, before returning it into the Normal Channel circuit⁵. RockBoard's PedalPedia entry summarizes the design as separate Normal and Drive circuits with extensive tone and response controls, including the EQ On/Glass and Rock/Jazz switches⁷.

The pedal also carries Free The Tone's HTS (Holistic Tonal Solution) circuit. The company says HTS differs from a conventional buffer: it performs impedance conversion while drawing out the guitar's sound character, prevents sound quality degradation when the effect is off, and outputs in phase with the input⁶.

The controls

The control set splits between the two channels. On the Standard version, Guitar Pedal X lists the Normal section as Nor Level, Tone, Gain, Dry Level and an EQ switch with On/Glass positions, and the Drive section as Push (Mids), Drive and Hi Cut, alongside the On/Off footswitch and the Normal/Drive footswitch².

The ROCK/JAZZ switch works as a voicing choice for the clean side: Delicious Audio reports that ROCK increases gain while reducing low-frequency gain, while JAZZ decreases overall gain and accentuates low-frequency richness⁵.

The EQ ON/GLASS switch is the other Normal Channel toggle. Set to EQ ON, the TONE circuit operates; set to GLASS, the TONE circuit is bypassed, which Free The Tone says delivers a glassy tone like a blackface Fender Vibroverb with its Bright switch on¹. Delicious Audio describes the GLASS position as a crystalline tone reminiscent of engaging the Bright switch on a Blackface Fender Vibroverb⁵.

The Push knob is the link between the two sections. It adjusts the level sent from the Drive circuit into the Normal Channel, and Free The Tone says it is how you control the sense of sound pressure³. Because the Drive channel's signal always passes through the Normal Channel circuit on its way out, Push sets how hard the drive stage drives everything downstream of it.

Designer and versions

The OVERDRIVELAND was designed by Yuki Hayashi, Free The Tone's representative⁴. The company says Hayashi has serviced and repaired more than 20 Dumble amps and owned several himself¹, a background that explains the specific late-model Overdrive Special reference. Delicious Audio calls him a veteran engineer⁴.

The pedal exists in several versions. The Standard ODL-1 carries the control set listed above with a DC9V/DC14.5V selector switch¹, and Guitar Pedal X notes it comes in a fetching tone of blue². The Custom Shop versions, the ODL-1-CS and ODL-1A-CS, replace the fixed DC14.5V option with a DC9V/VARIABLE switch and a voltage adjustment trimmer, letting the player set the internal voltage directly³⁶¹. Guitar Pedal X also notes that on the Custom Shop version the two Drive knobs are a different color from the three Normal Channel knobs, visually demarcating the channels².

Power is flexible. The pedal can run on a 9V battery (006P type)¹, or through its DC9V input jack with a regulated center-negative adapter; Free The Tone names its separately sold SP-9, FA-W0905-DJA and FA-0905D-JA adapters as compatible⁶.

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