@@gregwilson2721 well . You can get dumble clones. I got a welagen sss costing 5k. Sounds ABSOLUTELY identical to the original sss that one of my far off friend has.
@@gregwilson2721 you people judge by your eyes and then if somebody says otherwise you ppl say that you have cloth ears lol. What irony and ignorance behind something you cant even afford or havent even played😂😂
I've only heard one in person, but played by a couple different people, and from what I know is that each dumble was tweaked to the player and what kind of guitar and effects they were using, and it showed, the different people I heard play through that one amp all used different guitars and they were all amazing players, but only one of them made the amp sound phenomenal
Katana actually sounds better and much versatile… people needs to practice guitar before spending thousands on a new amp. You are not getting the sounds you want because you sucks.
@@IsakuItou um. Just no. If it works for you man then great but rich people with the expensive gear aren't the only kind of gear snobs there is. There's people with cheap gear that are snobs as well.
I can´t heard anything special than my ´71 1987 Marshall 50w JMP or my ´65 Bandmaster could´nt give me, I think the Marshall/Fender combination brings me more flexiblity in studio or live environment than this amp for a fraction of his price.
Literally every new amp costing over $500 has a bright switch. It's a simple cap that goes over input and output lugs of the gain pot to bypass more highs when turned down. It's one of the simplest, easiest things to implement.
Thumbs up Paul! The comment section is rich I loved the video as presented even more after reading through the comments Experience & opinions from every level and a wealth of info! Cheers!
@@philipchesley9615 this video is 3 years old. The Reverb listing is two months old (could just be relisted) and right now there's a 9% price drop. So much for selling I guess...
I have the Ceriatone ODS clone... it's a decent amp and you can get very dumbly with it. I had a real hard on for that sound for years. Once I achieved it, I realize that it doesn't really fit my playing style. Today, I can say that my dumble-itis has been cured! ;)
That's interesting. I what about it didn't fit your style? I bought a Joyful Music 100 because I just wanted a nice clean platform for pedals which is a great amp once I got used to it. But I often think maybe I should've went with the Ceriatone SSS or ODS to use mainly as a clean amp.
@@greenh609 The issue is going with a direct clone. I play a Fuchs ODS Classic combo, and can get pretty much any Dumble sound and THEN some. Andy Fuchs (JUST as much of a genius as HAD) took HAD's ideas (which were always a work in progress) and greatly improved upon them. I've played a Dumble Overdrive Special, and while I haven't a/b'd it with the Fuchs, I would much rather use the Fuchs. It is absolutely incredible. Also, if you're going for a "Dumble Sound," I have noticed that American made is always better, to my ears.
There's a word for that in greek, which in English it translates as "demystification" but I'm not sure it's 100% accurate. What is sure that it works 100% of the time. I can really get what you mean. Apart from guitars, I've longed for a lot stuff in life, that when I achieve them I was like "meeeh ok"
well said, same. I am more of a heavy handed blues shredin' ferocious player and the SLO-100 fit my needs better, even though these Dumble Style amps are unique and so great in the hands of the right player
For the level of money people have paid for these amps, I really do NOT believe there isn't someone who can't build something just as good or better. When an originally priced amp below $1000 can go for $100K+ decades later , you know it's mostly HYPE!
It's all snake oil and bragging rights. I could get every single guitar, amp and pedal on my list and not even come close to what this thing costs. Sounds good, though.
Dumble would tailor the amp specifically to the needs of the player that is making the commission. That is why no 2 are exactly alike they were all reflective of the style and desire of the original player. And since many of the examples were commissioned by well known players in the LA scene the value is not only in the rarity but in the provenance of the previous owners. Which is why say the Greeny/Moore Burst now in the possession of Kirk Hammet would command a higher price than similar condition examples without that provenance.
I've had the opportunity to play 2 Dumbles, a 100W Skyline-stack and a 50W HRM. There's several years separating the 2, and the HRM I played for an hour or so, the original Skyline I played all weekend. There are people who have played them, or clones that are really faithful to the actual Dumbles that just don't like them. This isn't something that's difficult to believe since they really sound quite different from what you get from Fender, Marshall, Vox, Boogies, etc. As for myself, I haven't played any amp that came close to how much I LOVED the sound and feel of them. It's funny because my very first experience with anything that had that "D-tone" wasn't a Dumble or a clone, it was a Dumble in a box pedal, the Zendrive. At the time, I had heard of the Zendrive through the places where the "tone-snob" usual suspects congregate online (I say snob with nothing but affection, I quickly fell into that category myself). All I knew was that a lot of people who's opinions I respect all spoke very highly of them. At the time I was playing a Strat 80-90% of the time, running into a Blackface Deluxe Reverb, a pretty heavily modified Silverface Pro Reverb, and a couple mongrel amps I had built, all with emphasis on the clean tone. I had no idea that the Zen was categorized as a D-style drive, just that people really like them. The very first time I plugged it in and hit an open-A chord so I could start to dial it in, what I heard I had only experienced once before when I played a Silver Jubilee duty the very first time. I hit the chord, and what I heard was the unidentifiable tone I had in my head that I had really been trying to find with every new amp, speaker, pickup the pedal, etc. The Jubilee the first time, when that roar came out, it was the first Marshall I played that sounded like what I always expected to hear in the other ones, but never did. Since then, I've had several Dumble in a box drives, I actually still use an Ethos Overdrive preamp that I run as a "wet" amp when I'm running in stereo. I've owned it played at least a half dozen clone amps from Two-Rock, Fuchs, Carol Ann a couple others. For some reason, the builders of those are under they impression that because they're cloning amps that regularly fetch $60,000+ then it's reasonable to price theirs at prices that, IMO are kind of insane (I think Two Rock, who build amazing amps, but have a John Mayer Sig that runs $10,000; that I don't get). This is a long rambling preamble to my intended point: with all of those phenomenal boutique amps, the ones that I felt was the closest to what I heard when I played the 100W Skyline and 50W HRM, after also the most accessable and affordable out of all of them, the Ceriatones. I've probably had a dozen in my possession over the years, some for very short period of time because I was building them from the kits for other players, others I bought as kits with they soul purpose to build them, and then just immediately sell them (when they were circuits I didn't have any experience with, like the 183(?), 50W Steel String Singer (which BTW, was PUNISHINGLY loud even at the lower 50W) and the HRM mark 2s (HRM w/EL34s). Ironically the last 2 that I owned were actually fully built when I acquired them: the 20W ODS lunchbox head (great model if you're looking for a slightly more aggressive overdrive channel, and a 50W HRM. I highly recommend checking them out. I get asked by people thinking of getting them that just can't decide whether to go with the 80s Skyline models or the later HRMs which they should get. Normally with questions like that we all know the boilerplate response/non-response: " well, that's really subjective, what I like you may not/ you're really going to have to figure that out for yourself, or (my favorite pointless side-step answer: " you really need to play them and find which you like." * In this case however, I feel confident suggesting the HRM (not the Mark 2, the original one that comes with 6L6 output tubes). With the original Skyline, both channels share a master volume and tone stack, whereas with the HRM both channels have their own independent master volume and tone stack (the OD channel has an internal HRM tone stack that gives the OD channel more of a Marshall type drive as opposed to the Skyline (I don't know why Howard Dumble made the tone stack internal, it gives they impression that it's a "set it and forget it" circuit, but in reality you're supposed to use the preamp boost when you're using channel 2 so it bypasses the Skyline stack and uses the HRM stack only). I should point out that while it's a Marshall like voicing, it's still very much the Dumble..... Thing (?). With the HRM there's a pretty simple mod where you install a second boost/tone stack bypass, but for the internal HRM stack, and when you use the OD channel, you don't use the boost for the Skyline. In this way, it's going to be running the Skyline stack, and so it's still running as the Skyline. I've only used the HRM a couple times, all the rest I run it as the Skyline, but with the benefit of having 2 separate master volume.
Hey Tim! What do you think of the Ethos Preamp to get that Dumble sound. I have a Fender Super Sonic 60 watt combo. I have also read that it takes other pedals well. Any opinion on the Big Bloom pedal?
Great video, thanks for sharing! Paul, I have to say... I love watching you watch Duane play - your love for the tone shows on your face and your passion is contagious. I can't help but smile when I hear tone like this and seeing you smile makes me smile even more. Love it, love it, LOVE IT!
I luv the “D” style amps and their tone! Nothing quite sounds like it. I just purchased a Ceriatone OTS Mini 20 because it sounds glorious and gets me 95% of the way to my “D” style tone in my head. Thanks for the video! 🔥🔥🔥 ✌🏼
I have just heard of Mr. Howard Alexander Dumble just about an hour ago from RockCellar Behind the curtain article n played several of his amps here on RU-vid. I'm dumfounded by how much it sounds like my MG10 via two separate 10" speaker cabs!!
I've never heard the magic in a Dumble. There's a whole lot of "Emperor's New Clothes" going on with them, just because they happen to fit well with the tastes of a few prominent players who could get great tones out of a rusty tin can. Certainly the Dumble sound is GOOD, but there's nothing about it that pushes it to GREAT. For clean tones I prefer my silverface Pro Reverb, for natural overdrive I prefer to crank my '69 Plexi, for face ripping overdrive I've got my Mesa Mark series amps.
I built my own based on Dumble #183. Just got the best parts. Best amp I ever heard. You have to play these to feel how much it helps your playing. With a bit of work these amps can give a brutal detailed high gain next to the heavenly cleans
He would be playing the custom SLO that Mike Soldano was building for him, but never got to play because of his death. Mike showed the SRV SLO half stack off at NAMM couple years ago.
I think it sounds like garbage. I just modified a guild thunderstar lead that I got for 50 bucks and it sounds thousands of times better but then again it's not like I'm biased or anything.
You have to try out a Dumble thru some great sealed cabinets with 4 JBL D120F Speakers. I did this back in the 1980s in Santa Cruz CA at my friends music studio. The first thing I noticed was the Attack. When you just plucked a note, the amp responded so quickly and crisp. I was playing a 1970 Gibson SG. Alex Howard Dumble lived in Santa Cruz for many years... Is he still there?
@@TelecasterLPGTop it’s still a dumble just not a fumble combo anymore because it still has the original internals it’s just in a different configuration that still includes the original speaker it came with
Close...more like...Marshall style pre into 6L6 Fender style power section....add in a Klon style boost on the FET channel) Which is why if you want to really hear this amp and what it can do, it’s got to be a LOT louder than the bedroom volume they are showing here. This demo is very underwhelming. I’ve had the opportunity to play an OD Special...at volume...and it is pretty intense...not $60,000 worth of intensity...but...unlike any other amp I’ve ever played through.
Amazing how people say "Dumble" tone but how much different his circuit sounded from early to later versions. Most of the clones are based on later designs like Ford's or the 183. This one has more of that early tone. Not overdone on the overdrive.
Now through the magic of the Kemper Profiler we can all enjoy this tone without taking out a second mortgage as well as many other classic and somewhat unobtainable amps.
changing controls from the front to the back etc will surely affect the sound in some situations when different length and type of cable have been used, so that's something I would never do on an amp like this
been listening to Two rock / bludo drive and red plate demos all day - None of them come anywhere close to this masterpiece - it's in a league of it's own - Alexander Dumble had some magic that no other amp maker has been able to copy - this has to be the best amp I've ever heard - PERIOD !!!!
So it has been’restored lovingly’though certain things have been replaced or added not to mention made into a head and box.What was the reason for this?Sure it was well done but restored to me is how it was pushed out the factory(workshop!)door.I have a mid 60s Blackface twin reverb that has seen a few bar room fights cosmetically and has been fully overhauled with correct capacitors ,etc.but I wouldn’t dare chop it half .I realise that it’s a beautiful sounding amp but like the Klon Centuarer it’s all about rarity.
I'll be honest a Mk 1Boogie is killer compared to what I'm hearing here. But on this demo they've hardly opened the amp up so not much help to anyone except an amp investor who doesn't care anyway right?
right, mk1 sound was so nice, couldn't even get it on a $ 2k mk3. but, hearing it live, the dumble does open up nice and drops the sound like a dumbbell, yet in a good way,
They're the kind of amp you need to run the piss out of to get good tones. You can see they have the volume right down, probably just to were it will make any sound. He should have dimed that pig!
Every tube amp has a 'sweet spot' in terms of volume where the amp sounds its best. The sweet spot is usually somewhere between half and full volume. These guys, for the sake of saving their ears in the small space they were in were not at the 'sweet spot'. Also, the Dumble is prized more for its touch sensitivity than for its tone. What a lot of people don't realize is that Dumbles are not made like other amps, they are custom made to fit the playing styles of the specific individuals who order them. You have to submit a sample of your guitar playing when ordering these amps so Alexander Dumble can tailor the amp to your style. Sorry for the long winded response but it is worth noting that no two Dumbles are built the same which is why it's a gamble buying a used one, especially at the prices they go for.
@@watzup62 I hear this 'touch sensitivity' thing thrown around a lot when it comes to Dumbles. If people are that bothered about an insanely responsive amp then why not go solid-state? A JC 120 or whatever? the no two amps built the same isnt really unique either or a bragging point. Most Matamps pre 90's, even consecutive serial no's were different when it came to cap values/ tranny spec and valves, doesnt really mean anything. Its largely an availability point from the manufacturer's point of view, and Ill bet Alex Dumble is no exception, he just puts a marketed spin on the fact that no two of his Amplifiers are alike. And if were talking about personalization, any tech worth their salt can tailor an off the shelf amp to a players tastes for not a lot of money. Dont get me wrong, his amps sound mega, but theyre hardly out of their original league of being hot rodded fenders sound wise.
@@J8D2 First of all I was only mentioning the custom builds as an example of why you might be disappointed after trying a Dumble since it might not be voiced properly for your playing. I wasn't touting this as some great thing. Second, there is a big difference between response and touch sensitivity. When a tube amp is turned up to it's sweet spot, just below the point of tube saturation where the tone is clean but just barely when you pick lightly but when you dig in it becomes compressed and overdriven in a very musical way but then cleans back up when you let off. That is touch sensitivity and a solid state amp cannot do this like a tube amp can because it's all in how the signal behaves in a vacuum tube, jfet's and other transistors like them can't duplicate the voltage sag and compression that causes the magic that happens after the initial attack. I happen to own a Roland J120 and it's a great amp for the styles of music I use it for but it has little if any real touch sensitivity. But as far as Dumble goes, I prefer my tweed deluxe kit build to Dumble but Lowell George, Robben Ford, Mat Schofield, Joe Bonamassa and many others have sworn by them.
Ill take a fender princeton or an old tweed pro anytime. Dont see what the big deal is, and it looks like a pimps amp. Maybe Iceberg Slim once owned it.
To be honest I don’t understand what a dumble amp can do that my JCM can’t! In fact it has more switches but that’s all. Unless most people don’t know how to dial a good tone in a tube amp!
If you ever played one you wouldn’t say that. It’s not about how many things this amp can do. It’s about the one thing it does. Which is definitely a better sound than your JCM.
@@Panic42000 I understand your point, as for a better sound it is probably more a question of taste as it depends of what you expect and what is the sound you have on your head. I can also tell you that if you know how to tweak your amp you can get any sound you want but then again not any musician is an electronics engineer…
@@Panic42000 listening through eyes is bad. Thats why you nobodies dont have your OWN sound, you ppl are just trying to become another cheap copies of the "legends" that are not even alive😂😂😂
I would guess that any of us who played guitar in the late 70's, 80's, 90's at volume cant hear that good now anyways. We now have 60 year old ears that cant process highs and lows like they used to.
I got a chance to buy a Kendrick Jazz Combo and the sound is not that far from this O D S. I’m so happy with it. This is a jazz Combo and the sound is not that far from this O D S. I’m so happy with it. Lots of bass and attacks. Very deep sounding, very warm and lively.
here is my honest thoughts dumble knew what he was doing and the way he tailored amps for each player is a great thing to do i build the amps for the guys in my band and they have stopped using vintage marshalls to use my clones but i tailor the amp for who is playing it. i think that dumble built amps for great players then we heard those great players doing theyre thing and thought alot of the tone is coming from the amp. as honest as i can be i dont hear that amp doing anything my very very nicely built amps dont do. im not by any meens saying i make a nicer amp than dumble but to me it seems so many of the holy grail amps are just great built tube amps. but another thing is that good tone is just an opinion and it can very alot from one guys great tone to another. like when you watch Metallica on stern and hammett talks about buying greeney and how its just a magic guitar then james says how he played it first and passed on it haha. just goes to show. i though the clean side sounded great on the dumble but the od channel seemd a little woofy might be he had the tones rolled back
I am selling a 1964/65 Fender Super Reverb modded by Dumble in Santa Cruz, CA in in the early 70s. Any suggestions or inquiries are welcome. Photos, serial numbers of amp etc.
@saul yeah I used to own a fender concert ll that was made in 1982. That amp was a combo and it had a EV speaker in it also. It was a cool amp but I mainly used it as a pedal platform. Had a very similar sound as this amp in the vid. I wound up buying a Elmwood m60 Modena which I plug into a 2x12 cab with a scumback and a alnico gold. Best rig I’ve ever plugged in to. From clean to mean
Who demos an Overdrive Special with Vol 1 turned down to 9 o'clock? They do understand the gain is cascading from the first Volume into the Overdrive channel right?
* Regarding posts where people ask for help deciding between 2 different amps, pedals, speakers, etc. the "you have to try them both yourself" answer irritates me to no end because of the context it's usually in; someone posted the "which one" question on a forum, or they'll ask if anyone has tried 2 different "insert particular piece of gear" and which one they like better. At least half the response is the "you're going to need to try them both," which really is of NO help to the person asking, and is about as useful as if you took the time to respond " I don't know which one is better," because it's just as useless, but carries with it a mild passive aggressiveness to it. Another 25-30% of the responses are "well I've never tried "A", but I own "B" and it's awesome, which isn't much more useful. When I read the posts asking opinions, I just assume that if they could try both out than they would, but the fact that they take the time to go to a forum or message board implies that for some reason, they don't have access to the 2.
Fitzliputzli23 “nails it perfectly “ an app? 🤣 simulations aren’t sexy or authentic. Perhaps one day you can appreciate the amount of effort and knowledge it takes to build an amp. There is something very special about being able to fill a club with organic tones emanating from red hot vacuum tubes saturated with electrons. Can’t do that with a cellphone Please give life a try without a computer or an ap, you won’t be disappointed
I had a chance to buy one in around 1998 brown suede all original at "The Amp Shop" on Vanowen I asked Robert Stamps how much it was and he said $5,000. I had never heard of a Dumble and I was confused. I mean I had already had many awesome amps, Fender Quad Fender champ, Music Man RD65 with ported 2X12 cab--- etc. I was like wtf??? He said to me, that's what they go for-----It was a piggy back with either 2 or 4 12s in it, can't remember, man, I bet that thing would fetch 75K now. It's total bullshit, but still..... that's a lot of money
Listening on an iPhone with Shure 215 buds. Sounds great but I think you should have switched off the bass boost on the dirty side. It got a little muddy to my ears.
The myth of the Dumble is largely that. How often do you hear anyone really getting world-class tone with one? Almost never to my ears.. only on rare recordings.
Pretty sure everytime John Mayer used one...Bonnie Rait for a time, Lowell George live for a time, Ben Harper for a bit. There are several people getting "world class tone" from Dumbles still today. Does that warrant it being over $100,00 and worthy of such legendary status? Oh and I forgot the original Robben Ford who still uses his original one which is THE original. That being said Dumble himself said he had the idea for the amps when hearing Robben play a bassman pushed with a tube screamer...so is it truly worthy of such legendary status when its essentially just a hot rodded fender like a Mesa Boogie and Rivera? To me, the answer is no. But, just because its a Myth doesnt mean there aren't players getting truly amazing tones from these amps.
it doesn't sound good because each dumble is hand wired by dumble with the specific guitar players gear/style and touch. He has people who get one come in and play for him until he understands what he has to do. This is why buying a dumble second hand is completely ridiculous and you will see most don't do it. They cost approx the same as a new one and you dont get the dumble sound because it wasn't built for you.
@@frankieconcepcion7860 when john didnt use em then also he always sounded great. His sound is not dependent on the dumbles. When he was in berklee in 1990s one of my friends was there with him, he would get his sound from those vibroverbs all around berklee. So there is no way that dumble amps made his sound "better" by any means
@@frankieconcepcion7860 sorry but these arent worth 100k by any means , maybe worth around 7k. I bought a welagen and i would never trade it for this amount of price! That is total foolishness. I dont have money to waster
Reason being: the Dudes who imported Howard Dumbles Amps to Germany asked him to send them spare parts (and probably schematics) for repairs. They used them to build Dumble copies under the Kitty Hawk label. I guess he suspected them to rip him off when he realized they needed A LOT of parts. He never tried to sell amps overseas again, afaik.
I have one! Very dryn dynamic and woody. High end articulation like going direct thru a Hi Fi system... sometimes difficult to deal with as it puts all your faults front and center at times
At this point, these amps are collector's pieces for the insanely rich who have nothing better to do with their money than spend it on amps they'll never use at a gig. Is the tone good? Yes....very. Can you get the same quality tone out of an amp that costs 100k less? Yes. Do the math.
Actually ....... this amp has lost a nice chunk of dough ........ because it's NOT ORIGINAL~!~ Some of the controls have been replaced and It's only 60% original now~!~ The amp head is really (hopefully!) the only valuable part~!~ Like so many things that are in short supply, you wind up paying way way way to much~!~