REVIEW : Cornerstone Gladio - Is it Dumblesque?

Hey folks.

That's a pretty dumb question since if you really want the sound of a Dumble amplifier, you need to get a Dumble amplifier. Too expensive you say? Yeah I'm there. Never played a Dumble? Yeah I am there too and so are lots of us because Dumbles aren't sitting around in most guitar shops waiting for us to show up and plug in.

So why the myriad pedals focused on being Dumblesque? Probably because it makes them sound like more Unobtainium, although there are a stack of so called Dumblesque pedals.

I bought the Gladio because I liked the sound that Mick Taylor of That Pedal Show was getting. Overdrives continue to enthuse me, because I am always chasing that perfect tone, whatever that actually means. I checked in with my supplier of more esoteric gear and he became the Canadian dealer for Cornerstone. I got one of the first Gladios to come to Canada via that route and love the darn thing,

The Gladio is a dual preamp pedal. I'm not an engineer so I don't know if it is a real preamp (meaning that it could replace the front end of an amplifier and only need a power amp) but I do like the sound regardless. Via a switch you can set the preamps as always independent or stackable. I tried it both ways and for me I preferred stackable. It allows me to chain the two gain stages and set each one up to be decent on its own but strongest together. Since doing so, I have it in a loop on my pedal switcher with both sides on all the time.

That board also has a Voodoo Labs amp switcher. I can send the signal to a Boogie Mark V, a PRS Dallas, a Marshall Silver Jubilee or an aged Super Lead Mark II. The Super Lead Mk II can be very clean to the point of deafening, and if I push it into that Marshall gain tone, the dB level is a health hazard. It runs through a WAZA Amp Expander to the Marshall 4x12 A and B cabs and I can get that Marshall gain tone without killing myself or summoning the police, but to roll off enough volume to clean things up, gives me inconsistent volume and a bit of high end pain.

Enter the Gladio. Now with a tap of a switch I can go from the very classic Marshall clean tone, which is often overlooked in favour of their overdrive tone to a wonderful gain tone. Marshall clean is not Fender blackface pristine, not VOX chimey, but lovely none the less, like an old Fender brown face amp. The overdrive driven by the Gladio sounds like it should out of big Marshall stack. It's so good that I was continually pushing the volume playing a 1960 Vintage Reissue Les Paul that my little handheld sound meter, encouraged me to stop as did the ringing in my ears. Fortunately the neighbours did not call the police.

There are a number of Youtube videos out there with tone samples of the Gladio, although I personally recommend those from That Pedal Show because I know them best. Andertons in the UK usually does some good videos, but their Cornerstone video was horrible and does not do the company or its products justice in any way.

One of the things that makes some folks think that the Gladio is trying to achieve a Dumblesque label is the control markings. You will see a Jazz / Rock switch as found on some Dumble amps on the right side preamp. You also have an option to add some compression on the left side preamp. The centre switch lets you control how the preamps work together or work independently. The other controls are simpler with options for Gain, Volume and Tone, with independent options for each preamp. There are no secret squirrel button hold downs or other nonsense to get in the way of your use. This is a performer's tool, less a tweaker tool although I have found the range of adjustment options to be significant.

Personally, I don't like overdrives that artificially bump a specific area of the spectrum to the disadvantage of others. That's one of the things that I dislike about tube screamers and their millions of variants. The other thing that I appreciate about the Gladio is that it does not artificially shelve off the high end. There's less likelihood of getting that overdrive mud sound. Now if you like that sort of thing, the Gladio is not for you.

I've written mostly about how the Gladio sounds through the old Marshall. It sounds very good through the Silver Jubilee as well, although if I have to pick, I like it better through the Super Lead Mark II. I am less fond of it, or any overdrive for that matter, through the Boogie Mark V. In that amp, I prefer the built in crunch and overdrive channels because they do a better job of maximizing the headroom. The PRS Dallas is Paul Reed Smith's take on a classic American amplifier, more brown Rolex than Blackface. It is a beautifully clean amp, but with less jangle than a Fender Blackface Twin. The sound of the Gladio through the PRS is also lovely, albeit with different settings than with the Marshall.

The pedals takes a 9 volt supply. On that board I have a CIOKS DC7 and CIOKS 8 to provide power to the pedals and each pedal is on its own loop in a Cusack Pedal Tamer.

The Gladio is not in every store. I got mine from ElectricMojoGuitars. At $549 CAD, no one can call it inexpensive. It's more expensive than a Keeley D&M Drive which I own and that lives with a Victory Viscount or the Hudson Broadcast dual preamp that lives with a Fender Custom Hot Rod Deluxe. Both are fine products, but if I could have only one, it would be a Gladio.

Check one out and until we meet again, peace.