Dumble amps are both revered and rare as hens’ teeth — so it was only a matter of time before UA focused their considerable modelling talents on a stompbox emulation.
In the interests of full disclosure, I have to say that the UAFX Enigmatic ’82 Overdrive Special Amp (to give the unit its full title) is the first of these UAFX digital guitar‑amp emulation pedals that I’ve reviewed where I’ve not actually owned and used ‘the real thing’. I’m well acquainted with a number of clones and recreations, but I’ve never played an actual Dumble. But then neither have 99.9 percent of the guitar‑playing world either, so maybe we are all equal on this one. We’ve all heard them, of course, unless you haven’t listened to the recorded tones of any of the world’s greatest guitar players over the last four decades. But then we need to ask, which Dumbles have we heard? They are not all the same. Quite apart from the existence of a few different models, even versions of the same model can differ quite significantly. That was the point of the Dumble process: designer Howard Alexander Dumble would tweak each amp’s circuitry to meet the preferences of an individual player. Such a labour‑intensive production process meant that there were only ever a small number of Dumble amps in circulation, perhaps fewer than 300, driving up resale prices to astronomical levels. Sadly, little of that revenue seems to have made its way to the famously reclusive Mr Dumble, who passed away in 2022, leaving a legacy of some of the greatest electric guitar tones of all time.
Overview
The name Enigmatic ’82 may seem to imply that UA have modelled an early ’80s Dumble Overdrive Special, but the software control app actually gives you access to the many circuit mods, revisions and voicings that occurred throughout the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s — so, in effect, you can ‘build’ your own Dumble. The Overdrive Special, in all its guises, is perhaps the amp that most fully epitomises the ‘Dumble tone’ — a kind of singing lead tone that’s bright without being harsh, combined with a kind of lower‑mid girth and richness that you don’t get from, say, a Marshall operating at about the same level of overdrive.
Although it has footswitchable clean and overdrive ‘channels’, a Dumble ODS isn’t a genuine two‑channel amp: the lead channel’s overdrive is achieved by cascading the clean channel into an additional preamp stage. Dumble began by modifying Fender designs that generally have their tone stack located right at the beginning of the circuit, which usually puts it before the distortion‑generating stage in a cascaded‑channel amp. This can be a problem when it comes to trying to find tone‑stack settings that work for both the clean and distorted sounds. Dumble addressed this issue in the ODS by adding an additional, internal bass, mid and treble EQ stage, specifically for voicing the distorted tones. Further options include Jazz and Rock tone presets, as well as significantly different tone stack designs that became available during the life of the model. Dumble would use different bright capacitor values according to where the player generally liked to set their input volume control, and there was also an option to switch in a solid‑state FET high‑impedance buffer stage before the first tube. If anyone is reminded of the Fetron used in some early Mark‑series Mesa amps, the comparison is not quite on point, as Mesa used it instead of a V1 tube, but I do have a 1981 Mark IIB that mirrors the ODS basic topology quite closely, and can get you into some of the same tonal territory, albeit perhaps with a little less finesse.
Most of the physical controls have useful secondary functions.
All of these choices would be made by Mr Dumble swapping out components and making adjustments, listening to the guitarist playing and responding to what they were hearing, but once set, that would be the amp — they weren’t generally user‑adjustable parameters. Of course, none of us will have access to that kind of ‘real‑time design and refine’ process, but we’ve got the next best thing in the UAFX Control app for the Enigmatic ’82, because all of these parameters appear there for us to set and design our own Dumble. Let’s get stuck in...
All Under Control
The Enigmatic ’82 follows the standard form factor of this series of UAFX amp pedals, with stereo in and out jacks, a 9V DC power (400mA) inlet, and the six rotary controls all having a secondary function except for the Output level.
Volume sets basic amp gain. Generally, you’ll want this as high as possible without compromising the clean sound, as it also sets how much signal is available in the overdrive stage. In Alt mode, accessed via the centre mini switch, the Volume knob sets the amount of added Room ambience, lifting the sound out of its close‑miked dryness. Overdrive does what you’d expect, with a range from off (fully counter‑clockwise) to ‘more than most people can use’. In Alt mode, the enigmatically named Ratio parameter determines the clean‑to‑overdrive volume change as you switch the cascade in/out.
The Bass, Middle and Treble controls are self‑explanatory, but the secondary functions are important: the Bass control turned up anywhere above halfway rolls off a bit of high‑end (Deep mode) when using the Classic tone stack type, or boosts midrange when using the Skyline tone stack, each function replicating a hardware switch that would have appeared on the original amps.
The Alt function for the Middle knob gives you a Presence control, whilst the Treble control offers up a choice of four bright cap settings: Off (no bright cap), 150pF, 196pF and 300pF. If you think that’s getting a bit picky, it really isn’t: the bright capacitor (a single passive component across the active lugs of the input volume) is fundamental to the voicing of many amps and the effectiveness of some of the controls that follow. The bright cap is progressively shorted out as you turn up the volume, so the value you want will rather depend on where you tend to leave that set: the lower the volume, the more you’ll be hearing the capacitor seeming to boost the highs at different points in the spectrum depending on the value chosen.
And There’s More...
You also have a choice of four fundamental amp types, from a 50W model with a high plate voltage on the output tubes, for a higher gain but more compressed sound, to a 100W model with a “very stiff power supply” and lower plate voltage, for something faster and more responsive, plus a couple of intermediate settings in between. There’s a Preamp Boost mode that partially bypasses the tone stack. There’s the famous HRM (either ‘Hot Rubber Monkey’, or ‘Hot Rodded Marshall’, depending on whose version you believe) ‘internal’ overdrive‑EQ stage. And a Master Gain parameter sets how hard the phase‑inverter and power‑amp stage is being driven, which has a significant effect on the amount of ‘bloom’ and harmonic saturation generated.
Then there are the miked cabinet emulations: three by default and a further six (three more than any other UAFX amp pedal) when you register the pedal with UA via their UA Connect app. The default set offers a 1x12 25W Celestion greenback, miked with a ribbon 160; a ‘boutique’ ported 2x12 with 65W speakers, miked with a 57 dynamic mic and a ribbon 121 mic; and a 1990s partial open‑back Dumble‑design 2x12 with EVM12L speakers, miked with a U67 capacitor model, “custom made for an artist”. ‘Bonus’ cabs include a 4x12 with Vintage 30s; a 2x12 with JBLs; a 1x12 with an EVM12L; a stripped 4x12 with greenbacks, double‑miked with a ribbon (160) and a 57 dynamic; a custom‑made Dumble 1x12 with a vintage JBL G‑125, miked with a 421 dynamic; and a 1970s Dumble oversized, closed‑back, front‑ported 2x12 with EVM12L speakers, miked with a 414 capacitor. Some of these bonus cabs are pretty special and well worth registering for!
The associated app allows you to choose and tweak both amp and cabinet models, including features such as the bright capacitor value and three‑band EQ.
Design‑a‑Dumble
There’s a lot a to play with in designing your own Dumble, and some magical sounds to be found. And, it has to be said, quite a lot that are not so magical — this is not a ‘plug in and go’ instant gratification amp. I’d definitely recommend starting by auditioning the presets, so at least you’ll know what it can sound like before you start trying to set it up for yourself and find you aren’t quite getting what you want. For this model, more than any of the others in the UAFX range, it really is a shame that the UAFX Control app isn’t able to display all the control settings used by the presets. There would be a lot of useful learning to be had there. And while we are talking about the app, of which I have been fairly critical in the past, I have to say that I am no longer having any connection issues, having updated all the pedals and the app to the latest versions, so do give that a try if you are still having connection issues.
Dumbles... didn’t just sound like a hot‑rodded Fender, or a Mesa or a Marshall — they had something unique, and so does this pedal.
UA’s Enigmatic ’82 is capable of some truly ‘golden’ tones, the like of which most of us will only ever have heard in recordings, from crystal cleans to singing distortion voicings. Bear in mind, of course, we won’t just have been hearing a Dumble and a miked speaker in those recordings, but often a whole chain of recording and mixing processors as well. I can say with great certainty that I know what a miked Deluxe Reverb or a Marshall Super Lead sounds and feels like coming back at me on studio monitors with no processing. That’s the basis on which I assert my opinion that these UA pedals offer uncannily accurate renditions of the amps, speakers and mics they model. I don’t have the same experience with a Dumble, but what I can say is that Enigmatic ’82 is capable of some truly stellar sounds that don’t sound exactly like anything else I’ve experienced. And that was, to some extent, what made Dumbles so desirable: they didn’t just sound like a hot‑rodded Fender, or a Mesa or a Marshall — they had something unique, and so does this pedal. It took me a while to get it dialled in, but when you do, there is something special there that I don’t hear in anything else. This is another fabulous piece of work from the UA modelling team!
Enigmatic '82 Audio Example
These audio examples accompany my review of the Universal Audio UAFX Enigmatic ’82 that appears in SOS May 2025.
There are a lot of different sounds in this box, but I always seem to end up here: a lead sound with tons of sustain, but still some dynamics and tonal variation within the note, according to how you attack it. There’s some edge from the pick, but the sustain portion then seems to have a little less ‘hair’ on it than you might expect.
This is the ‘100-Watt, low plate, squishy power supply’ amp, with preamp boost on, input and overdrive about 70%, HRM Overdrive EQ selected, adding a touch of midrange while trimming bass and treble a tiny bit. The master gain is at 60%, so pushing but not really thrashing the power-amp stage.
The guitar is a stock Tele, using the bridge pickup (neck pickup for the intro). The cab is ‘red LED number 2’: the 2x12 with Celestions, double-miked with a Shure SM57 dynamic and a Royer ribbon.
Pros
- Unique amplifier voicing.
- Lovely touch‑sensitive singing distortion tone.
- Wide variety of ‘personalisation’ options.
- Not excessively noisy at high gain.
- Some of the additional cabs are really nice!
Cons
- The app doesn’t display the control positions used in saved presets.
Summary
The Enigmatic ’82 offers up some of the greatest guitar tones of all time. The recorded sounds of Lukather, Ford and Carlton et al, at various stages of their careers, are era‑defining for many. Those sounds are all in here, but with so much depth and adjustability via the app, there’s a whole lot more here for us to discover our own tonal voice, too.
Information
£380 including VAT.
$399
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