Dumble Amps

Re: Dumble Amps

lotsa great players get great tone from them ... lotsa builders have products aimed at getting closer without the price tag .. fantastic for what they are, but not the end all and be all for everyone's tone objectives ... there is a dealer local here who owns two but wont sell em or even rent em - so i never got to play one

i know that they are a typical poostorm starter over at the gear page ... we havent had that topic starting drama here - hope it stays that way
 
Re: Dumble Amps

never been to gear page - there was a write up in Guitar Player Mag that mentioned them. Is there something different in the way they are wired? Something about the tubes?
 
Re: Dumble Amps

Lots of Dumble "clones" (versions of) out there. Supposedly a sweet amp. I have never played one, but some guitarists with great ears love them. The real Dumbles cost a lot of $ because they are rare and "original." Even the clones cost a lot! Much more reading around the web if you google.
 
Re: Dumble Amps

I have played through a few of them and they are really quite nice. Alexander Dumble is a great amp builder and from what I have heard quite eccentric. He likes to listen to a player who is buying an amp from him so he can voice it to their playing style. It literally can be made for an individual. Is it worth the cost!!! I personally don't think any amp is worth over 10K. The couple of Dumbles I played thru were really nice no question, but they wern't 8K better then anything else I played through.
 
Re: Dumble Amps

note mr dumble no longer builds anything and he barely even services the one's he has out there unless your name is larry carlton or robben ford or eric johnson or carlos santana ... there are something like fewer than 400 of these in the world
 
Re: Dumble Amps

There is a lot of mis information on teh WWW about HAD...for one thing he does still build amps but they are built on a custom order basis only and he does decline to build a lot of people amps...

I've played through a few original Dumbles as well as a few clones and the truth is many of the clones sound as good as a real Dumble and the other truth is that to my ears there is little amazing about a Dumble except the fact that some fools will pay such high prices for them...

Get a Twin Reverb, load it with Celestion G1265's and get a Zen drive and you're ready to go for a LOT less money!

I played a gig a few years ago with a guy that had spent thousands on a matched pair of Dumble clones from some obscure builder...he had matching cabs and original G1265's in the cabs...I rolled up with a beat up SF Twin Reverb, a Pro Co Rat on all the time and an SD-1 used as a lead boost and I smoked his tone...funniest part to me is he even admitted it!
 
Re: Dumble Amps

Here's one builder with a solid reputation: Brown Note's D'Lite. There are sound clips at the bottom of the page. Not having heard a real Dumble, I don't know how close these are. Available as an amp or a kit (with decent or better support).

Chip
 
Re: Dumble Amps

I think the key to the Dumble tone is that it has such touch sensitivity; and it is has such an organic feel. The notes are full, yet almost liquid...very hard to describe in words. The sustain on clean tones is amazing, and you can really hear the tubes work and change as the notes decay. The overdrive is very, very smooth.

I've had two chances to buy Dumbles back in the day, back when they only cost what a good boutique amp costs today. I love my Mesa amps, but no doubt about it--these are very special amps, and very worthy of their reputation.

Bill
 
Re: Dumble Amps

I have played through a Steel String Singer and an overdrive special. ****ed amazing sounding amps, but the legend is far better than the real thing.
 
Re: Dumble Amps

From what i've heard if you dig that Larry Carlton/Robben Ford subtle and tasty overdrive they're pretty hard to beat
 
Re: Dumble Amps

Bludave said:
I have played through a few of them and they are really quite nice. Alexander Dumble is a great amp builder and from what I have heard quite eccentric. He likes to listen to a player who is buying an amp from him so he can voice it to their playing style. It literally can be made for an individual. Is it worth the cost!!! I personally don't think any amp is worth over 10K. The couple of Dumbles I played thru were really nice no question, but they wern't 8K better then anything else I played through.
Click to expand...

Howard Dumble, would only sell you one after he heard your demo tape or recording. From what I understand the components were standard with standard tolerances i.e. nothing special. Oh, sure the story goes that Howard pushed one off of a -- story building to show the durability of his amps (and only the tubes broke, but the amp still worked), but again nothing special in the design to the point where he had to put black epoxy resin over the circuit board to protect his patented design like with the Klon Centaur pedal.
 
Re: Dumble Amps

Rid said:
Carlton sounds like that no matter what setup he uses:)
Saw him with a Twin reissue amp and his Zendrive....well he sounded like Larry ok:D
Click to expand...
Yep, saw him just a month ago and he sounded smoking good through that exact set-up...
 
Re: Dumble Amps

I have never seen one, other than a picture. Certainly the mystic is massive. I think many of the pedal makers today will get a lot of what I have heard described as the Dumble responsiveness with a good clean amp.
 
Re: Dumble Amps

There is a video on youtube with a guy named Peter Lerche playing a Flaxwood guitar thru a Dumble 100 watt head with the master on 1. You can hear some Fender Type tones then some clear sustaining Fat Fenderish tones, then some crystal clear fat blues then crunch and then some serious overdrive but very pure harmonics,sort of like Eric Johnson's tone, maybe even better,although this guy is just demoing the amp and not playing anywhere NEAR the level of EJ,you can hear the amazing crystal clear distortion of the amp. Also Dumble was one of the very FIRST to offer hi gain in an amp along with Randall Smith from Mesa Boogie. Metal players looking for "BRUTAL" prob. wouldn't like this amp,more for people who want hi gain with no fizz or fuzz or narly harmonics. So the tones and the fact that few were made and played by some famous players have made these amps big time collector's items, but for sheer tones you may be able to get close for much less, so tonewise a 1964 Strat isn't worth 40k and tonewise these aren't either, but they are really cool and set a benchmark for other builders. Hey do I get Extra Credit for this essay or what ?
 
Re: Dumble Amps

"amazing crystal clear distortion"? Something's not quite right about that phrase... and based on YouTube audio quality?
 
Re: Dumble Amps

I'd rather go for a Fuchs or something and there are plenty of clones out there. Joe Bonamassa rocks a Dumble clone that sounds sick.
 
Re: Dumble Amps

Word has it that Fender's Concert amp's OD channel from 1993 was based around the Dumble thing. Anyone know more about these amps?
 
Re: Dumble Amps

Kinda surprised me that Eric Johnson was no longer using the Dumble stuff when we saw him live a couple of years back....He had his Marshall stack and smaller Fender combos behind him....They looked like Deluxe Reverb amps...He probably chooses to not use the Dumble amps on the road,but uses them in the studio?
 
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