Hello, We Are DryBell Guitar Effects!
At DryBell, our pedals are designed with a deep understanding of guitar tone and crafted with precision analog engineering. Every member of our team is a musician, some with years of experience playing in bands, and most of us are actively performing live. This deep, personal connection to music and tone gives us valuable insight into the tonal challenges and needs guitar players face, both on stage and off. That knowledge, combined with our extensive engineering expertise, has been infused into every pedal we have created since our founding in 2011. When you play a DryBell pedal, it melds naturally with your tone, becoming an extension of your playing. It will inspire you to explore new musical ideas and climb new heights. Once you’ve experienced this, turning it off it can become the hardest part.
The Passion and Expertise behind DryBell Pedals
DryBell’s story begins in the mid-1990s, when founder Zvonko ‘Zvonch’ Suhodolčan – a passionate electrical engineer and musician – started repairing, modifying or building guitar pedals for himself and fellow Croatian musicians in the Zagreb area who wanted unobtainable vintage effects. His love for tinkering with electronics and crafting pedals was born out of a childhood fascination with electronics and his time playing guitar in rock bands from the late 1990s to the mid‑2000s.
Drawing on a wealth of experience from his music and engineering career (including R&D at Končar where he designed PCBs for rail vehicles, power plants and protection systems), Zvonch reached a turning point and founded DryBell in 2011.
The company quickly gained recognition for its well-crafted pedals, with the Vibe Machine V-1 earning widespread praise for its innovative compact design and exceptional Uni‑Vibe® tones, becoming one of the top choices among guitarists and guitar heroes worldwide – something we’re truly proud of.
Our Family-Run Philosophy
Our workshop is based in Krapina, Croatia, where we design, assemble and ship all of our pedals. DryBell is a small family-run company, co-owned by Zvonch and his sister-in-law Martina, with close family members deeply involved from the start. We proudly collaborate with several exceptional Croatian companies for SMD/THT assembly, CNC machining, powder coating and silkscreening, keeping production local to maintain quality and flexibility. All final assembly and testing are done in-house, with love and attention.
The DryBell Team: Crafting Quality for You
Today, DryBell is a tight-knit team of skilled engineers and musicians who live and breathe great tone. While we each have diverse responsibilities, we all take satisfaction in being part of the entire creative process, while contributing from our areas of expertise. This ensures that our customers receive nothing less than top-quality pedals, and this has been a driving force for us since we started DryBell. Meet our members below!
Our Development and Production
We know that great tone, thoughtful design and reliable support are essential for customer satisfaction. Every development detail – from concept and circuit design to lab and stage testing, component selection and final assembly – is executed with acute attention to detail. We combine hand assembly with precision machine crafting to achieve the perfect balance of artistry and technical excellence. Each pedal undergoes rigorous testing during production to ensure it meets our exacting standards, delivering exceptional performance and reliability for our customers.
Customer Support: Building Relationships
We’re not just building pedals; we’re building relationships! We’re dedicated to providing exceptional customer service, eager to hear from our customers and see how they use our pedals to shape their tone. We’re always open to feedback and suggestions, and constantly striving to improve our products, knowledge and service. Feel free to reach out anytime – whether you have questions, need support, or want to share your experience with us. We’re always excited to connect with you!
Our Vision
We create high-quality, versatile, and often vintage-inspired guitar effects for players of all levels. We continue to explore new possibilities in the world of analog guitar effects and digitally controlled analog effects, striving to make unique contributions to the industry.
Discover the Full DryBell Story
If you have time and want to dive into the depths of DryBell’s history, check out Zvonch’s exclusive interview in ToneQuest Report magazine, where you can uncover the untold stories, challenges, and triumphs that have shaped our brand and led us to where we are today. We’re always moving forward.
Welcome to Our Workshop in Krapina, Croatia
Krapina is a town near Croatia’s capital Zagreb, best known for its finds of Neanderthal remains, one of the world’s most significant archaeological sites of this kind. For musicians passing through, our door is always open – feel free to stop by anytime!
Thank You!
We want to thank our amazing customers for their continued support. You’re the reason we do what we do. We’re honored to be a part of your musical journey.
Meet the DryBell Team
Our Core Team
Zvonko Suhodolčan
Zvonch, the founder and owner of DryBell, is the creative force behind the brand. As the chief developer, he also actively contributes to marketing activities. His close friends and fellow musicians often describe him as an electronics wizard. Zvonch's meticulous attention to detail and perseverance in bringing his visions to life have put DryBell on the map as a brand known for some of the world's finest analog guitar pedals. When he's not crafting sonic masterpieces, Zvonch enjoys playing basketball, exploring nature trails and spending quality time with family and friends.
Martina Zmajilović
As the co-owner of DryBell, Martina manages the legal and financial aspects of the business, while also playing a crucial role in sales, customer correspondence and marketing. Growing up with a musician father, Martina has always been surrounded by music. DryBell allows her to combine her expertise as a qualified economist with her passion for music. Since joining her brother-in-law, Zvonch, at DryBell in early 2012, they have been working together as business partners to steer the company's success. Outside of work, Martina enjoys practicing aikido and yoga, spending time in nature and has a love for singing.
Luka Strmečki
Luka brought his talents to DryBell in 2015. As a guitar player with a keen ear and band experience, he handles final sound testing for every pedal produced in our workshop, ensuring that each one meets our high standards for tone. In addition to his work in production and assembly, Luka has responsibilities in component management, procurement, administration and production planning, making him an essential part of DryBell's daily operations. In his free time, Luka enjoys working out at the gym, playing football and going hiking.
Kruno Domaćinović
Kruno officially joined our team in 2016. A professional guitarist, Kruno loves exploring the tonal possibilities of any guitar kit he's using. At DryBell, he works on audio R&D and contributes to product ideas. He is the lead guitarist for our official demos, helps with our visual designs and assists customers on social media. Additionally, Kruno plays for 'Majke,' an iconic Croatian rock band formed in 1984. In 2019, he won the ‘Status’ award from the Croatian Music Union for best rock guitarist. Back in 2009, Kruno asked Zvonch to make him a great vibe pedal, and from that the Vibe Machine was born. With it, Zvonch decided to launch DryBell, finally bringing his vision to life.
Our Collaborators & Friends: The Experts Behind the Scenes
These individuals are valued external partners, collaborators, family and friends who contribute their expertise to DryBell.
Marijan Suhodolčan
Marijan is Zvonch’s father and has been involved with DryBell from the very beginning. He is retired but he still polishes pedal housings before they receive their powder coating in a small garage workshop at Zvonch’s family home. In addition to this, Marijan handles various transportation tasks, ensuring the delivery of materials between our workshop and our suppliers or partners. He’s always available to help, even in the middle of the night! As a boy and student, Zvonch spent nearly 10 years working in Marijan’s car repair shop.
Kristijan 'Kiki' Smrekar
Gordan 'Gogo' Lončar
Gordan, a dedicated DryBell supporter and talented musician, has been playing guitar since 1985. He handles a variety of design tasks for us, including product labels, informational letters, and other visual designs. Gogo has been with Zvonch since the very beginning, creating our first two websites in 2012 and 2016. In 2024, he also updated our logo. The visual design of our new website (2024) is the result of a fantastic collaboration between Gogo and our close team. You can also catch him playing guitar in the Unit67 demo. He’s never quite recovered from selling his old Strat to Zvonch in a moment of blind madness!
Tom Cundall
Tom has been a friend of ours since 2012, when his lovely wife Maddy bought him a Vibe Machine V-1 as an engagement present. Delighted with the pedal, he wrote us a strong review and got in touch, and that's when we truly connected. A deep friendship was formed, with him quickly becoming part of the DryBell family. In addition to working as a presenter for us at the NAMM and other shows, Tom has become an integral part of the DryBell team as a beta tester for new pedals, a creative advisor, and web content editor. He’s also appeared in our demos. Passionate about guitars, pedals, and tone, beside playing in bands, Tom runs his own business in South East London, offering guitar services, setups, builds and finishes of all kinds from his workshop.
Kristijan 'Kiki' Golub
Kristijan became part of our external team in late 2020. With years of experience in electronics, embedded systems engineering, software engineering, and professional audio systems as a live sound engineer, his addition to the team has perfectly strengthened our existing product development forces. A guitar enthusiast with a passion for music, Kiki enjoys spending time in nature, reading a good book, and exploring sound with a well-crafted Pale Ale. He also actively plays in a band, having started guitar in 1999, making him a valuable asset for live stage beta testing.
Mario Vuzem
Mario first joined DryBell as a summer intern in 2016 while studying at university. He was Zvonch’s right-hand man during firmware testing leading up to the release of the Vibe Machine V-2. A talented software engineer, he develops testing software for all DryBell pedals. When he's not coding, you can find him riding his motorcycle or playing guitar. Although Mario now works for another company, he continues to lend his expertise to DryBell whenever needed.
Silvio 'Silk' Lončarić
Silk is the man behind the camera for our official demos, starting with our first Vibe Machine demo in 2011. Many memorable photos in DryBell’s history were also captured by him. In addition to photography and videography, Silk is a leather artisan who crafts our DryBell custom leather keychain pick holders that we gift to direct customers. His durable and stylish custom bags, camera cases, wallets, motorcycle leather seats, and other unique accessories are all made using traditional handmade techniques. Since 2024, we’ve been offering DryBell guitar straps handmade by him. Besides this artistry, Silk has been playing guitar and singing in a band for years, and he's a passionate cyclist and skateboarder.
Boris & Ana Anić-Ćurko
Boris' creative company in Zagreb has been handling SMD assembly for us since the first Vibe Machine prototypes in 2010. Together with his wife Ana, he provides comprehensive services for producing various electronic products. At the beginning of DryBell, Boris and Zvonch collaborated closely to overcome the many initial challenges of pedal electronics manufacturing. In 2012, Boris also assisted Zvonch with the final pedal assembly when the market demand surged, making it difficult for Zvonch to produce pedals alone. Our collaboration has always been excellent and marked by mutual respect. Does Boris play guitar? Yes!
Zlatko Horvat
Zlatko Horvat, a former colleague of Zvonch from Končar, has been doing all the THT soldering of DryBell pedals since 2015. Zvonch remarks that he has never met anyone as skilled at hand-soldering electronic modules as Zlatko. During their time at Končar, Zlatko was always willing to provide valuable advice on improving production documentation or how something has to be constructed for easy production. Though now retired, Zlatko remains a master with a soldering iron! He also plays guitar and enjoys building cigar box guitars in his small workshop.
Miro Kale
Miro Kale, our luthier in Zagreb, has been with DryBell since day one. He expertly sets up each of our guitars, ensuring they're always ready to sing. His workshop is a popular spot for local guitarists needing repairs, setups, fret jobs, restorations, or even custom work. Some of our official demos, like "Unit67" and "The Engine", were filmed there. Our pedals are also on display for visitors to see and try out, thanks to Miro. In addition to repairs, Miro periodically crafts custom electric guitars. You'll occasionally find us hanging out in his workshop in the evenings, enjoying beers and good company while testing out new gear or DryBell prototypes. Miro's friendly nature makes it a very welcoming space for everyone!
Borna Ćubela
Borna is the guy who has tried more pedals than we can count! Although he used to play in a band, he now enjoys playing at bedroom volume levels. Constantly experimenting with new gear and sounds, he has one of the best ears on our external team. Every new DryBell prototype undergoes testing with Borna, who always provides constructive feedback on tone, usability and other features. He’s passionate about crafting unique pedal setups using switchers and creative combinations. Borna also assists with audio recording during our demo shoots. Back in 2009, he asked Zvonch to rehouse his Danelectro Chicken Salad into a wah enclosure, which soon inspired Kruno to order the pedal that would become the Vibe Machine V-1.
Jasmin Gregurić
From the Workshop
Short Workshop Videos Demonstrating Our Production Process
Here are 5 short videos (1 minute each) where we demonstrate our in-house pedal-building process, specifically showcasing The Engine production.
The Engine production - Part 1
The Engine production - Part 2
The Engine production - Part 3
The Engine production - Part 4
The Engine production - Part 5
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