I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Dumble in 2000. I was part of a music project with a well known musician in the LA area and Alex lived next door. He often used to come next door to listen to our rehearsals. I play the Hammond B-3 and Alex would request that we play "A Whiter Shade of Pale" (Procol Harem version). He admitted that Whiter Shade of Pale was quite possibly his favorite song of all time. I remember he used to smile broadly when I cranked out the chorus part on the Hammond with the Leslie on fast speed. I got to know Alex very well over the next few years and found him to be a very kind and generous person, and extreeeeemly intelligent. At the time, my 22H Leslie Speaker had an original amplifier which was built in 1954. I knew that the caps were leaking AC, and other components (that were designed to last about 10 years) were failing after 46 years. So just after midnight he said; "let's take a look at that Leslie amp." We took the amp over to his shop and he completely rebuilt my Leslie amp over the next 5 hours. The next day at rehearsal, I was a bit groggy from lack of sleep, but the Leslie Speaker sounded fantastic! I continued the musical projects for two more years. I live in Northern California so I traveled to LA with all my gear at least a dozen more times over those years, and Alex and I became very good friends. Once when I was home in Northern CA, my Hammond L-100 organ stopped working, so I called Alex. He asked me to describe the symptoms and asked if I had the schematic. So I emailed him the schematic, and in about two hours, he said in no uncertain terms that my resister #53 was burned out and it needs replacing. He said it was a 10Kohm resister and that it probably will not have a marking. I looked through the amp and sure enough, there was a green wire-wound resister, and it was the only one without any markings. I then asked him how he knew it would not be marked. He replied that the resister got so hot it burned off the ink of the 10Kohm markings. He suggested that I replace it with a ceramic resister, which I did. I fired up the organ an it sounded as good as ever. I was amazed that Alex could diagnose an amplifier failure on an organ amp from 400 miles away. He was that smart - and probably the smartest person that I ever met. We corresponded over email occasionally over the next 20 years and he never seemed to stop innovating and thinking of new projects to do. Alex was truly a very impressive person and I will sadly miss him as will all musicians (especially guitarists) all over the world. Mr. "Tone Chaperone" - may you rest in peace.
That was great Ramon. The man is a mystery to me even after I made two overdrive specials, Ceriatone kit then my own. You got more info here than I got in 21 years of making amps.
What a fantastic video! I learned so much. I can't wait for Part 2, especially for information about the Steel String Singer's that he built. I have a clone of Steel String Singer #002 that has ben owned and used by John Mayer for years now. What an incredible sounding amplifier it is! The harmonic content is unlike anything else I've ever played, that's for sure!
I met Alex 'Humble Dumble' in the Spring of 1974 when I wandered into his shop in Aptos, Ca. After discovering what he did there I told him I would like to modify my Gibson EB-3 to make it more high-fidelity. He asked what my budget was and I told him I had a $300 tax return coming and that was my budget. He said leave my bass and come back in two weeks. Two weeks later I returned to find he had routed the body of my bass and installed a Les Paul low- impedance Studio pickup. Wiring it to the 4 selector rotary knob. He had also wired my Fender Bassman's second channel with a low-z transformer to accept the split outputs from the XLR plug to two quarter inch jacks. Great rig. I lost the amp over the years but still play the Gibson.
This popped up on my phone and I watched it. Super, I thought, can't wait for Part two. Then I saw that this was uploaded yesterday! No sleep for you Ramon, I am waiting for Part Two! Kidding aside thanks for the great content about this fascinating topic.
I think the only amp builder that ever came close to dumble in terms of amp building and knowing which parts to choose from, is the guy from TrainWreck.
Man... that’s some iconic photograph. He looks astonishingly (great use of exaggeration) similar to King Henry V111 among his previous and extant wives.
I had one of the very first dumble amps. He used to have and amplifier repair shop in Santa Cruz near Pleasure Point. His first amps modified fenders. Basically he just ran both channels in series and put a master volume on the back. I had a blackface Showman Modified by him. Probably one of the first 10 dumble amps ever done. I guess he started going by Alexander later in life but he was going by Howard then. I'm not sure of the exact year but I would guess it was in the early 70s. Sure wish I had have hung onto it. Who knew?😊🍻
Back in the early nineties looked into buying a new Dumble. He sent me a list of a his main models and the price was determined by how long you were willing to wait. 3 mos. ODS was 10K 6 mos. the same amp was 6K 1 year wait about 4K. That was different!!! All out of my price range even then. They have their own sound.
I loved on the corner of 26th and Warren in Santa Cruz around 1974 and Howard's shop on Easy Cliff was about 50 feet from my front door. All I knew at the time was something LOUD was going on over there. Since my band was playing Western Swing at the time I wasn't too interested. I had a chance to buy a Dumble Overdrive for $450 a few years later but didn't have the cash. It later (20 years later) sold on EBay for $10,000. Sheesh.
Thank you so much for this!!!!!! I'll never forget the first time I saw a Dumble. I had never heard of one, and I guess this was in the mid to late nineties.....I was at Norm's back when it was on Vanowen, and after I left Norm's, I had to go to the Amp store..... Robert Stamps was there, and I saw a piggy back amp in brown suede, with really cool retro font printing....I asked, How much is this amp?, and Robert said...5 thousand dollars. I looked at him like I thought he was kidding, and he said, no, I'm serious, that's what they sell for. I was shocked......wonder what it is worth now...
Fantastic video!! Really informative, excellent research, very impressive. I'm aware of the some of the mythology but I did not know any of the history or back story, thanks!!
@@curtiseverett1671 hey this is a amplifier build by tommy cougar. he builds amps for philip sayce and many others. i play a completely customized "mother" amp with several EQ switches for my style of playing... and i can tell you.... this is the real deal. i play multiple amp setups myself with alot of experience in amps, sound, setups etc. its not a "dumble" clone or however you want to call those amps. they are simply tommy cougar amps. for me the best amplifier ive ever played. tommy is the man!
Wow can you imagine what the being inside the Dumble cave. There’s a few good stories told by bruce Forman on the guitar wank podcast. Dumble recently built Bruce a modded vibrolux
Keep it up Ramon, really informative video. What model is your Dumble clone a clone of? I was thinking of buying a Ceriatone dumble clone, I think they’re some of the best out there now.
Good history but... Dumble is just an amp. It's a good amp for some things and not so good for others. In my opinion, a Blackface Deluxe Reverb is a better amp and costs just a little less. :) Same for Trianwrecks and all the rest of the overpriced, overhyped stuff. No matter what the amp or guitar, it's the player that makes the difference. A good player can sound good on virtually anything.
I agree. I tried a Dumble in '87 at a small shop in L.A. Sounded great. The owner just wanted to show it off to the shop owner who was a friend of his, didn't want to sell it. He was a wealthy collector who showed up in a Porsch 928 and wheeled the thing into the store with a dolly. It was an Overdrive Special head and cab. I played through it with an LP standard. It sounded like a really great Fender, had great clarity and feel. But I've played blackfaces that sound at least just as good. The shop owner offered ten grand and the guy would not sell it. This was my first encounter with Dumblemania. I just don't get it and think a lot of the hype is more about who played Dumbles. I'd say if you really want an amp like a Dumble but better get a Two-Rock Bloomfield Drive or a Fuchs Overdrive Supreme.
@@angusorvid8840 Or a Blackface Deluxe Reverb. I had the opportunity to buy a Dumble at, if not at a low price, a more reasonable one than now. I found the overdrive mushy, not my thing at all. Clean, no better than a DR, if even that good.
One thing (but a very big thing) to keep in mind about Dumbles is that he often voiced them for a particular player so it isn’t surprising that you would play through one and be underwhelmed. Imagine trying on someone else’s tailor made suit and saying that the tailor wasn’t that great because the suit didn’t fit.
@@chrislestermusic With all respect, I think that there's something wrong with your analogy. An amp is an amp. There's nothing magic in it until a great musician plays through it. No amp exclusively "fits" one particular or a few particular musicians, "voicing" or not. As it is well-said about another familiar machine, - "garbage in - garbage out". Sure, some, very few, amps have been designed and built to sound a certain way that suits a type of playing, Trainwrecks, Voxs, Marshalls, Fender tweeds, etc. However, having played through a Dumble I can say that I detected no special magic in it. It produced excellent overdrive and O.K. clean, but I still sounded like me :( How the player sets the amp's controls, the guitar being played and how its controls are set, the strings on the instrument both in terms of age and type, how the player plays, the tonal characteristics of the venue, the other instruments being played simultaneously, the immense processing of recording, etc., determine guitar tone. A particular amp is almost irrelevant in many circumstances.
@@Glicksman1 Thank you for your respectful, measured reply. I very much appreciate it. I do disagree to a point though. There is an article where Robben Ford talks about him playing through Larry Carlton’s Dumble while Larry plays through his and the amps sounded nothing alike. They were clearly voiced for each player. Having said that, I agree that there is no magic sauce in these amps. If either of us played through Ed Van Halen’s plexi, neither of us would sound like Ed. The magic isn’t in the amp. It does play a role in the overall recipe though. It just may not be something that connects with your style and ears. I hear a LOT of Dumble bashing. I also hear a lot of Dumble voodoo hocus pocus talk too. 😁
Where is part 2? Do you know anyone that was involved in Motown? I am filming a documentary with one of Motown's founders (I have been filming over a year and a half and have well over 100 videos out for it so far) What got you to become a musician in the first place? Do you / can you build your own gear too? What is your dream outcome of your efforts on RU-vid? What was your ultimate goal as a musician from the start, and has it changed since then? I will pray for America. I will pray for you and yours. Please pray for me. God Bless you. I love that you blessed us in God's Name at the end of your video. Are you a believer?
Why do the cats demoing on guitar tend to overplay and seem to want to show off licks as opposed to playing material that lets the amp tone be heard without the flurry of cliched notes and runs. How about some nice chordal work that allows the tone f the amp to linger a bit?
He gave everyone the secret.. boost the lows without compromising the mids and highs.. but it's about pre amp stability.. and amp stability.. tighter tolerances.. that's his secret.. it's not remarkable what he does, in fact it's one the biggest myths in history rock.... $250,000 for these things.. lolol.. a bulletproofed blackface bassman..
From tolex to rolex 🎼🎵Thanks God Bless you with 1 Corinthians chapters 1 thru 3:in 1 where our Lord's servant Paul prayed that you would be ENRICHED by Jesus Christ in all utterance .that word means wealth rich God is rich in mercy grace glory what words Jesus gave the Apostles there is Exousia and Dunamis power..I'm not spamming you Thanks I like your leads cheered me up too.
@@TheGuitarShow I managed a guitar/amp rental business in Hollywood, back in the day. I had the unique opportunity to sample some of the best of the best. My clients were The Who's who of the industry. Yes, the tweed era is amazing. I also have a Tweed Twin!!! To this day, I think my fav is my 63 AC-30 Top Boost Mod. Its noisy, and hum's like crazy, but nothing sounds like that.
