Dumble Overdrive Special

I owned an ODS from 1997 to 2001. I was the third owner, the first went to prison for a very long time and the second bought it from his attorney. (IOW, the fourth if you count the attorney.) At that time I paid "way too much" (I actually traded it for a car whose ACV might have been five or six thousand dollars) and sold it for "More" (I agreed not to say exactly, but let's say it would buy a new economy car.) It was about ten years old then.

Do I miss it? No. I built a Ceriatone clone recently and truthfully it's a better amp, for me.

It is what it is. There is no verb (one model has it but it's rare), no trem, no flava so to speak. Just gobs of PREAMP overdrive. No power amp overdrive unless you crank the snot out of it and that isn't what it does well anyway. There are a lot of knobs but what it does well is in a fairly narrow "envelope" from clean to that Robben Ford/Larry Carlton thing.

The other variable is that a Dumble is like a British double gun or a expensive set of custom golf clubs: (part of) what you are paying for is the custom setup for your guitars, your hands, your quirks, your style. HAD is a perceptive guy and if he deigns to work with you you get first rate treatment. If he does not like you you are nonexistent to him.

The Dumble is of legendary durability. There is however no documentation and if it breaks you have to either contact HAD and see if he will accept your patronage or have someone else work on it unless you are a skilled tech yourself. I was an Avionics Tech in the Navy and worked for Audio Research in Minnesota, so I never had problems, but it is frustrating to deal with a product where all the parts are Glyptaled or RTV'd over.

Even contacting HAD can be difficult. His address and phone number are effectively secret. If you prove you own one usually one of the dealers handling used ones will give you his contact on the down low, but he is notoriously prickish.

A side note: The suede covering looks cool but think twice before buying one especially a light brown or turquoise. It's very tough to clean. Tolex is a better option.

I'm only saying 5 because it's either "Infinite" or "Zero" depending on what H.A.D thinks of you.

Dumble has a certain sound and that's what they do. You don't get great Stones-style raunch, twang or surf tones, or a really clean clean, or headbanger sounds. But, except for the better Dumble clones, which are surprisingly good, nothing else does Dumble.

You pretty much have to be a gigging, successful California regional or major label signed act before Dumble will build you an amp today. Dumble is VERY California. He never leaves home. Otherwise, you are looking at the secondary market, where a Dumble is a prestige item of the first rank. Any Dumble will bring the price of a new car today, just how nice a car depends on celebrity ownership and model.

Keep in mind too that no two Dumbles are the same. They vary a lot, because most were tweaked for a specific person. If that person was of a certain bent that Dumble isn't going to make anyone else happy without knowledgeable re-setup. The circuits are not terribly intuitive and you can really make a mess of things quickly if you aren't good.

I personally don't think buying a Dumble makes sense whatever unless you can get HAD to build (and custom tweak) you one and you can write the price off as a tax deduction. The really knowledgeable will consider you a putz if you pay the going secondary price, but if that's the kind of status you want go for it.

First off, its not a real Dumble. I could never hope to own a real one. I built this one myself. I've built 18 amps before this one...from 1/2 watt screamers to 120 bass amps...and everything in between. Most of what I've built has been in the Bassman/Plexi vein. Features: Clean Volume, T,M,B, bright sw., mid boost, clean master, drive, drive level, and presence. There are also treble, mid and bass controls for the overdrive channel, but are inside the amp on trimmers. My amp runs 2 6l6's at around 35 watts. It took weeks of changing components to get THE sound, but I did get what I wanted out of the amp. It is very particular/sensitive in terms of the components used and the values and quality of those components. Before building this amp, I thought all of that was a bunch of mojo B.S. Well, I was wrong, its true. I switched out enough components on this amp to say for sure that certain caps/resistors have tone and some don't....depending, of course, on the circuit.

For all of those who have made critical remarks of Mr. Dumble, my opinion is the guy is a genius. Its obvious that in the design of this amp, he DID NOT accidently stumble onto this design. He has a tone in his head and went about going for that tone. Otherwise, it is very unlikely that this circuit would have been concieved. My 2 cents.

I play mostly blues/rock. This amp, as others have commented...it sings. The overdrive is compressed and tight and has a lot of touch factor in that it reacts, substantially, to the pick attack and what you do with your left hand. Robben Ford tone. Oh, and the clean channel is extremely sweet as well. Smooth and creamy.

That's all on me. Time will tell. Built totally by hand though.

If this amp were lost or stolen, I would build another in a heartbeat. This one, the Deluxe Reverb clone, and the 6v6 Plexi would all be rebuilt...in that order

What I have is a late 60's 100 watt tube Dumble amp, built especially for my blond Hammond B3. I have never heard that another one like this exists. It is a screamer to say the least!

Built to Beef a Leslie Model 21 H. Clean - Powerful - Awesome.

amp has never ever broken down.

I met Howard Dumble when I was 15 years old at his house in Aptos - Quite an experience for an impressionable kid in 1968.

This amp cannot be replaced - ever. It is the only one of its kind!

I don't own one, don't even know what they look like except for pictures - as everyone on this forum I suspect. I don't mean to call anyone out who is being truly honest, but take into account the veracity of some of these reviews. "I own three of them they're grrreat!" Give me a break. Is it true that only 200 have ever been built? If so, you have to really disregard most of these reviews as pure fiction.

Now here is where it's interesting, but listen to your heros - Robben Ford, Larry Carlton, Eric Johnson... There is perhaps no more distinct sound than this amp. The pick dynamics and smoothness of the sound make it a very expressive amp and I'd love to own one. When I listen to these players, I know their talent is the issue, but it takes this amp to really express that. So I love the Dumble sound, I'd like to think it would make me sound like Larry Carlton.

Who cares, you've got the most unique amp ever built.

"Oh, Howard's great, my great friend." - yea right. Honestly, I've never really heard anything about him or his support. I don't think Eric Johnson has trouble with customer support. I don't think anyone on this forum has ever played one or owned one. Now perhaps a couple have, but certainly not 18. I apologize in advance if you're one of the truthful ones.

I love the sound these amps produce when played by the guys who own them. The key here is pure artistic expression, and it sounds like these amps are an excellent extension of the artist. In fact, when I think of the few artist who have been able to create this living, expressive sound, they seem to have these amplifiers.

Here is a link with info on Dumble Amps and an interview with Mr. Dumble from a 1985 Guitar Player mag:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dumble_Amplifiers

And for Christ's sake, stop whining and leave the guy alone. If you can't afford his price tag that's YOUR problem, not his!

NOTE: I haven't played a real Dumble, but I have built a clone from photos and the available schematics, and this is the amp I'll be reviewing.

50 watts, channel switching. Volume, bass, mid, and treble controls with bright, deep, and rock/jazz switching in the preamp. Footswitchable overdrive channel (adds an extra 2 stages of gain to the end of the clean channel). Drive and level controls for the overdrive. Master volume and presence for the power amp. The effects loop requires an external buffered in/out (Dumblelator).

Pretty much everything you'd need in an amp. Enough controls to give you plenty of tonal variation, but not so many that you'll have a hard time setting it. Some people have said that the tone stack controls are "interactive," i.e. the setting of one knob affects how the others work, but I haven't found this to be the case.

I play two guitars through it: an Ibanez AF120 jazz box and an Ibanez RG170 solidbody. It sounds killer with either one. Even a $200 Ibanez sings through it. The guy who said you need a vintage guitar to get the best out of this is full of crap.

I've recorded several sound clips of it. Words people have used to describe it include "clear" on the clean channel and "rich" and "clean" on the overdrive channel. I've heard these described as BF Fenders on steroids, but I don't think it necessarily sounds like anything else. It's a Dumble.

The defining characteristics for me are the endless sustain and the harmonic balance of the amp.

On other amps, when I crank them up into distortion, the amp seems to run away from me; I have to work to make it do what I want it to do. If I play a single note, I often get a note feeding back that I don't want to be there. Single notes will sustain, but they're very difficult to control. Dumble sustain is different. It seems like the amp "knows" which note to feed back, and the attack of the note determines the character of the tone. Hit it hard, and it doesn't just break up at the attack, it stays that way. Hit it soft, and it will sustain forever, but softly. When people say that a Dumble has "tight" gain, this is what they mean. The sound is loose and open, but the amp never leaves the control of the player. In my amp, I made the preamp's negative feedback loop switchable to be able to control how "loose" the amp feels.

The amp sings. The distortion, even at high levels, isn't brutal. It's musical. Some people have said that the amp sounds compressed at higher volumes, and I agree. It isn't a stuck-inside-a-box compression, though. It's more like when you blow a trumpet hard: the tone compresses, but the high harmonics start to come through. Because of the design of the amp, the overdrive channel is just a continuation of the clean channel: the amp grows when the overdrive is engaged, but the character of the tone doesn't really change from clean to dirty. It retains the character of the guitar that you plug into it.

From what I can tell, Dumbles are built like tanks with impeccable workmanship. If it breaks, it's not that difficult to fix.

I've heard that Dumble can be a bit reclusive and difficult to reach, but understandably so. I'm fortunate enough to have the skills and time to build and voice an amplifier for myself. I started the project with a good concept of the tone and response I wanted to achieve, and I got it. I can see why Dumble might not want to deal with someone unless he can play well enough and has enough of a concept of the tone he wants for it to be a pleasure to build the amp for him. Instead of being the next PRS, selling to people who want the best status symbol money can buy, Dumble has chosen to build amps for musicians.

A Dumble isn't rocket science. There's really no secret to the tone; it comes from doing everything right. A good design, good parts, and good construction. All this hype about special wire, special tubes, special capacitors, and special transformers is just that: hype. Look at some photos of Dumbles to see what I mean. Good quality transformers, good quality capacitors (Atoms and Orange Drops, mostly), carbon comp resistors in the signal path and metal films everywhere else. Impeccable lead dress. A good layout. All potential noise sources located far away from the signal path.

I built my clone for $500, including the speaker. I made my own aluminum chassis, used components from Mouser and WeberVST, transformers from WeberVST, and a Ceramic Michigan 12 speaker from WeberVST. I can honestly say it's the best amp I've ever played. Build it right and you will be rewarded.

I've never owned a Dumble amp, but I've played thru two in the past year, and one other a few years back. All were fairly good, but only the one I played recently was outstanding; I think it was about 11-12 years old, and was recently "refreshed" with tubes, biasing, etc. It had great midrange clarity and punch, even at low volumes, on the clean side, and almost sizzled with violin-like bell tones on the overdrive side, a great compressed natural sustain. I suspect that this great overdrive is because it had carefully matched tubes and a recent tune-up. This amp was born for classy blues and jazzy rock!

I played a G-400 SG with large humbuckers and an American Standard Strat thru this amp, and I found the Strat sounds a bit thin. The SG, however, really SANG; I wish I could have tried my Les Paul with 'Dirty Fingers' pickups thru it. Sounds are good, but the distortion can get to be too much on the higher settings, so carefully balance it out.
Earlier tonight I went to see Robben Ford playing guitar with Gregg Allman in Asheville, NC. I've known Robben for many years, and he's a truly great player, but tonight he was playing a Les Paul thru his Dumble, and that great sound of his never cut thru, even after they re-mic'd his cabinet (thru the PA); his notes were indistinct and almost violin-like. I've noticed this with other players using Dumbles in the past; ... they really need the mid boost.

Not really sure on most ... but my friend has never had any problems with his.

He's never needed it yet, ... except that he did need a schematic, which he got.

I've taught bass and guitar for over 20 years, and I love playing lots of styles, but particularly bluesy rock and country rock. I have a '79 Fender Super Twin Reverb (180 watts), '90 Peavey Classic 50, and a '87 Marshall JCM 800; ...all are carefully tuned and rebuilt, and all three are great amps. I love 'em like my children. I've got about $1200.00 total in all three of these, plus a good bit of my time, sweat, and care. They're not Dumbles, but they all shine at what they do. Maybe someday I'll buy a Dumble, ...but I doubt it.

I wouldn't know, I'm not his friend or Carlos Santana.

I've heard prices ranging from 10 to 20 thousand for this. I've not had much experience at all, I heard the amp, othes have described it's features and range of sound far more than my limited experience with it has. What I heard was not 10-20k's worth of tone. If you're paying that kind of money it better have 3 kinds of extinct animal and 2 kinds of rare moonrock used in it. Because I've got no idea why this amp is worth so much.

I agree whole heartedly with the guy a few reviews down, if these things didn't cost an obscene ammount of money people would not have such a high opinion of them. Gorgeous amp? Yes, deffinitely. Worth more than any other boutqique amp? Haha...no way is it. I honestly thought the price tag was a joke at first. The components in this would add up to a sum of money which would leave a vast ammount to go to Mr Dumble's labour costs. I'd say 8-18k cosidering that the componants wouldn't be more than 2k. He obviously thinks very, very highly of his talents.

I'm giving a general comment on features. Ive never owned a Dumble. I've spent time with Dumbles and was able to record with one a few years ago. That experience got me hooked. I still havent been able to buy a Dumble. I have quite a few different SF Fenders that have been reworked to Dumble circuits with the highest quality components and transformers available, etc.. Each is different reflecting the different values of components and switches and circuitry from the 10 or so schematics of Dumbles Ive been able to get ahold of. Most have the same basic features. The main differences with ODS's are some have more controls and switches (jazz/rock, bright, boost, mid-boost) some of those are foot-switchable on some ODSs, and some of the components change values. Its still your pretty basic 60's/70's Fender circuit with the drive channel added. Ive played actual Dumbles that I didnt like and others that Id give alot to have. Its not that special a circuit or that mystical. Its one of many great amps out their.

I do prefer less features. This is one of the only channel switching amps Ive ever liked. Ive had Bogners and Soldano's and I thought they were both mush. I totally subscribe to that less is more school of thought. Keep the signal path as clean as possable and only put high quality components in their.

OK. Im not one of these people who believe this amp is something divine. Its one of many great amps, some 1/10 the price. The price of this amp has nothing to do with the tone people. I swear some people think amps are a natural part of the universe to be accepted as is. Humans make these things and alot of them are horrible guitar players and most have no credentials that say they know anything more then the average guitarist about tone. In my experience amp builders are like the rest of us. Some amp builders can play - most cant. Some have good ears - most dont. Anyone with a background in basic electronics can build an amp. Its nothing difficult. Building a great amp is difficult but what constitutes a great amp is a highly personal thing.

Here's some things to know about these amps. It doesnt end here. Even the ones Ive played, or the Dumble modded Fenders I own, that Ive loved I never thought it was the end all be all. It does that tastefull moded-Fender overdrive sound extremely well. Thats all. Its what Randal Smith (Mesa) was trying to do. But many people would never ever trade a Mesa Mark for an ODS. Apples and Oranges.

One other thing that keeps comming up is touch. I was very impressed by the touch sensitivity of these amps. But again their way over rated in this area IMO. Even when cranked they dont have the touch of my Plexi or many great vintage british amps. It has more touch than any channel switching overdrive amp Ive played. Yet I can still get more gain and more touch by cranking my Plexi. But again its a different sound. So. Apples and oranges again.

The EQ of this amp is very hard to describe. Its crystal clear. Its not strong in bass or highs. It doesnt have the strong midrange humps that give many amps their character. Id go so far as to say that THAT IS the amps character. Its not thick or chunky. Its not honky or scooped. Well maybe a bit scooped. It has no bite or growl. The one thing that can be said of its character is its crystal clear and even in the equalization. Its EQ is very similar to a Soldano SLO. But the compression and envelope of the gain is very different. Just the EQ is similar. Its even, clear and can at times seems thin. I find this true of most BF and SF Fenders as well. Im refering to the EQ here not the gain. Just like BF Fenders and SLO's I think thats what most people are hearing when they say its got a large, clear, present tone. It is thin but when you really crank this sound it cuts exteremely well and its well balanced. Im not a huge fan of SLOs but Ive used them for many years because of this quality in the EQ. Its soundman proof. Even bad soundmen can get a nice clear cutting sound live with an SLO and a BF Fender and the same is very true of an ODS.

The gain is something very different though. This is a very loose gain. Ive read people saying this gain is tight. Everyone whose ever said that is definilty smoking crack. When you get down to the lower notes on the lower strings the overdrive gets very loose and Mushy. Mushy is a good word for it. Im talking gain here not EQ. With EQ that would imply its a muddy amp which it certainly is not. Im talking the gain structure. The lower notes get loose and mushy. Not completely like a mesa. Id call that more of a rumbly loose gain. I would compare this very strongly to a Chandler Tube Drive pedal. It breaks up and is very fluid and loose. In my experience that can sometimes be the characteristic of a great lead tone. Eric Johnsons tone is like that. Its very Fuzzy and loose on the lower notes but it absolutely sings during leads. I think thats a large reason why people say the gain is smooth. Its very fluid. Similar to Trey Anastasio's sound. It definitly has alot of picking noise. Those artifacts you get when the pick hits the strings. You get that alot with this amp. You can hear it very clearly if you listen to any live Robben Ford stuff. When he's using a pretty good amount of gain. Many people do not like this attribut

Overall value. Wow. Ive read a review where this guy went into this diatribe to justify the high cost because when you get to such a high quality product like this, every little bit better your tone gets, the price gets higher in an inversely exponential way. So at this level small degrees of tone transfer into large amounts of money.

Holy shit!!!

What was this guy smoking. Were talking about extremely simple electronics devices here people! Not NASA engineered space modules.

These amps cost no more to build then any other high quality amp. No matter how good the components are, for an amp like this the raw material will never be more the 1-2k. So what are you paying the extra $7000 and up for? Ill tell you what your paying for. What Dumble thinks his time and expertise is worth.

Every amp expert and tech ive had this conversation with agrees whole heartedly. He produces very few and theirs few out there. Its a great amp so many people would want them and do want them even at high prices. He is responsible for some of the massive amount of hype their is about this amp. I promise you this- If marshall took the Plexi design off the market in 1965 and started custom building small amounts of them for high prices, people who thought the Plexi sound was the ultimate tone (far more of those people then people who regaurd Dumble as ultimate) would still buy them and youd have the same hype and price for Marshall amps. I also promise you if Dumble decided to build these things in a business much the way Fender and Marshall do, the amps would cost the few grand their worth and Dumbles would have no more hype then Fenders and Mesas and Bogners and Soldanos and Voxs, etc...

Their are companies out there whove made exact replicas of Dumbles. And surprise Surprise, many people who buy those amps didnt think they were that great. "There no Dumble" they say. Exactly. They didnt spend $10k for the amp so their tiny minds didnt have that much to convince them it was the best sound they ever heard.

I was extremely impressed with one of the Dumbles Ive played and eventually I will buy one. But Ill admit Im a fool and Im paying at the very least 5x what I should. I am a pro musician. I play 200+ gigs a year and am in the studio for at leats 1-2 months a year. So thats what I do and thats what Ill foolishly spend my money on. 10k+ for an amp no better then hundreds of other 1-2/10 the price because it just happens to be my apple and not an orange. Man guitarists are stupid.

There is the input, input volume, treble boots switch, Mid boost switch, choice or rock or jazz switch, treble, mid, bass, overdrive amount, overdrive volume level, presence, master, and there is a footswitch for chioce Clean, Clean+Boost, Overdrive and Overdrive+boost. The footswitch is not necessisary, there are switches in the back. Everything you need to make the greatest tones ever!!!

I own every amp. I have over 100 amps now. You name it, I have got it. Anything that was ever good, I have. The Dumble is the greatest Blues and Blues Rock Amp ever made. It sounds so in-your-face that it feels like the sound is in your head. It feels taht close. I record guitars for many artist all over the country, and this is the greatest amp ever made. It does my favorite thing better then any other amp ever made. Trust me, I know.

I have about 10 amps Alexander Dumble has made me. They are the best e=amps ever built. The Army should hire Dumble to redesign "the tank." Tanks aren't this tough.

Alexander is a good friend of mine. I feel it is unfair for me to comment. He is the man!! He always helps me out.

I have (3) Dumble Overdrive Specials. My newest, I got tonight(11-20-2003) from Alexander. They are worth every cent. They are the stradavarious of amps. They are the 1959 Les Paul of amps. They will only go up in value. The price is not bad. They will only go up. The tone is worth cutting off a limb to buy. The greatest thing in the world. I would rather lose my pinky then these amps. They are important to me like children. I love them more then you could ever imagine. I would not cell them for anything!! I would be too afraid that I would never get those sounds again!! They are quite possibly the greatest musical instrument ever made.