Shnobel Tone DUMBBELL BOOST

The Shnobel Tone DUMBBELL BOOST is a compact, two-knob boost pedal built on what the maker calls a rare Dumble BBC-1 circuit. Where most boosts just make your signal louder, this one uses its Input knob to reshape the character of what feeds your amp: turned left you get a brighter, leaner sound, turned right you get a fuller, warmer sound with the rich harmonics Dumble amplifiers are known for¹².

It is hand-built in the USA with through-hole components, hand soldered, and carries a list price of $179.00 as of October 2026¹². The same boost circuit also appears, unchanged, inside Shnobel Tone's Dumbbell Driver dual pedal, which pairs it with the Daily Driver overdrive³.

What it does to your sound

Shnobel Tone describes the pedal as a rare Dumble BBC-1 circuit in a compact, simple two-knob format¹. The idea is not just clean volume: the Input knob changes the input impedance, which the maker presents as a tone control in its own right. All the way to the left, the sound is brighter and less bassy; all the way to the right, it is a full range sound with rich harmonics, what the maker calls Dumble-like tones¹².

That makes it usable in two ways. With the Input knob turned fully counterclockwise it gives a brighter, less bassy sound, and turned fully clockwise you get a full range sound with rich harmonics and Dumble® like tones².

The controls

There are only two knobs, but the Input knob does more work than its name suggests¹⁴⁵.

The pedal features a true bypass foot switch, so with the pedal disengaged your signal passes through untouched¹. Jacks and the 9V power input are top mounted, which helps keep patch cables off the front of a small pedalboard¹.

Power and build

The Dumbbell Boost runs on a standard 9V center negative supply and draws 50mA¹². There is no battery compartment, so it needs a power supply or a pedalboard power brick².

The maker says the pedal is hand soldered with through-hole components for maximum tone and reliability, and it comes with a 30 day money back return policy¹. International customers are responsible for customs duties and import taxes¹.

The Dumbbell Driver dual pedal

Shnobel Tone released the Dumbbell Driver, a dual-circuit pedal that combines the Daily Driver overdrive and the Dumbbell Boost into one enclosure³⁵. The maker states that the Dumbbell Boost and Daily Driver circuits inside it are unchanged and identical to the standalone pedals³, so a player who wants both circuits can get them in one box without compromising either. The Dumbbell Boost is also available to buy separately as a two-knob pedal⁶.

The Dumbbell Driver layout, as described by Guitar Pedal X's Stefan Karlsson, is⁶:

• Daily Driver side: Volume, Gain, Hi-Cut, Low, High⁶
• Dumbbell Boost side: Input, Level⁶
• Order switch: Drive First / Boost First⁶

The order toggle is the extra piece the standalone boost does not have. Setting the toggle to the right places the Dumbbell Boost in front of the Daily Driver, so the boost feeds the overdrive; with the LEVEL knob you can then push the Daily Driver circuit into new sonic territory, as the maker puts it³⁵. Gearnews described the boost side as adding harmonic complexity inspired by Dumble-style amplifiers, with each side complementing the other⁷.

Guitar Pedal X noted that players who only want the boost can still buy the two-knob Dumbbell Boost on its own⁶, which is the pedal on this page.

Where it came from

Premier Guitar reported the Dumbbell Boost as a recently launched standalone boost from Shnobel Tone, a maker whose Daily Driver overdrive had already built a following⁵. The Dumbbell Driver then followed as a way to package the two circuits together⁵⁷.

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