Dumble Overdrive Special

As far as I'm concerned, Digital Modeling has ruined the features category for all the boutique "tube purist" manufacturers. Whether you like the digital sound or not, and I happen to love it, you have to concede that point

Hoo doggy, this thing really did sound good. I've heard better though. The real reason I'm righting this review is to discourage any weekend warriors from taking the $10+K plunge. I'm a recording engineer, so I spend most of my time during the day when the rest of the world is cashing in on their stock options listening to the finest of fine variations on electronic equipment that is a million times more clear and expressive than anything you're ever going to find in a guitar amplifier. ANd I can tell you in all honesty, that as good as this thing sounds, it's not the amp that makes a stirring and emotive guitar tone, it's the interaction of the strings, the pickups, your fingers, and the plectrum and/or fingernails.
By way of comparison, I spent a few hours in the shop with a line 6 AX2 set to it's "Boutique Overdrive" patch. For those of you who don't know, it's a digital model of a dumble amp. While it wasn't quite as sweet as the real dumble, it was close enough to my ears to make the difference of 10,000 dollars between the two amps a ridiculous proposition. This amp <i>might</i> be worth it for 2,500 or so, but I'd still question the sanity of anyone but the most fastidious and well groomed players expending that kind of bread. 9 out of ten recording engineers spend most of their off time telling jokes about the ridiculous things people do in the studio. Walking in with a Dumble amp and not being a player on par with Eric Johnson, Steve Vai, Robert Fripp, et al (meaning people for whom the minute tonal characteristics of the dumble electronic circuit will actually make a difference) is one of those ridiculous things. So in the interests of not looking like a fool in front of the next engineer you run into (his/her ears <i>are</i> better than yours, I don't care what you think), pass on the dumble and get yourself that nice hotrod deville, AX2, or triple rectifier instead.
Or maybe you like looking foolish...

No idea, I'd hope for this kind of money that the cockroaches will be bashing out crappy renditions of Hey Joe on it after the bomb.

Heard bad things.

Skip this one unless you're a very high caliber player. There's not much point in buying a stradivarius if you aren't yitzhak perlman, now is there.

I don't own a dumble but I just got a chance to play a overdrive special.I'm like alot of curious guitar player who wonder what all the hype's about.It's A simple amp to use.

I own a 58 tele,56 relic strat that has been refretted with 6100's with barden pickups and a older 62 reissue with 6100's.I played all of my guitars through the dumble and I was really impressed.I've always been so picky about my dynamics and the way I attack the front end of my notes when I pick.I'm a big fan of the blackface pro(I own 2)When I played the dumble I was so floored by the way it was so touch sensitve to my picking,this is way beyond fender teritory as far as dynamics.I don't mean to sound like the typical reveiwer but if you're not a good player this amp will expose every flaw,it's kinda like being naked in the middle of NYC.The overdrive has a beautiful natural compression to it.I saw robben ford and he was using this amp and his tone was great.I had a chance to talk to robben and he was really really great guy.He swears by dumbles and he couldn't say enough good things about em.

I have no idea so I can't reply.I will say one thing,I've heard a horry story where dumble has a contract where you can't contact him while he's building your amp and you pay him up front,if you do he termenates your contract and keeps your money.I heard this guy called and said how's my amp comming along and dumble kept his money.I don't know if this is true,sounds too far out to me.If he did that to me he would be expecting a visit from me in person.

I've been playing for 15 years.I do sessions and tour.I love the amp but I'll never buy one unless you all wanna send me a $15,000 donation.lol any one wanna help me out? lol

It would be a 10, but does not offer things such as class a\b switch or dual rectifiers,etc. However, all the controls it did have were VERY effective. Volume,gain,master,treble,mid,base,boost switch,mid boost,trebble boost.

I played three Dumbles for four hours at Ultra sound studio. These were A\B'd against the Bruno Super 100, and the Two-rock emerald Pro. I am going to make this short because it takes me to long to type! Two of the three Dumbles were NOTHING special at all. They were newer modles, and had a very rough tone in both their clean and gain channels. I would not buy these two amps regardless of price. I play straight ahead jazz, rock, and a lot of blues\jazz. (NOT Mike Stern\John Schofield fusion.) I now play through and own a Fender Hotrod deville (love it), Fender prosonic(love it)Peavy classic 50,(Like it a lot),Fender bassman re-issue(like it a lot), and a musicman rd 50 with one 12" E.V. speaker.(like it). I have owned to many Marshalls to name, as well as many different Fender and Boogie amps. The ones above are the keepers. Now, the older Dumble. I am an amp\guitar skeptic, and don't believe ANYTHING until I try them myself, with things I am familiar with present for direct comparison. The clean channel on this amp was very good, but did not sound NEARLY as big or lush as the Bruno cowtipper 45 or underground 30. It was not as sweet sounding as the Two-rocks clean channel, and was VERY similar (almost EXACTLY) like the Bruno super 100. This Dumble had e.l. 34 tubes, so that could have something to do with it. It had nice chime, an excellent frequency response, but was just a bit brittle when playing chord melodys. Now the overdrive channel, NOTHING CAN TOUCH IT! I mean nothing. You want Carlton, this is the only amp that will do it. Not close to his sound,this IS his sound. If you are a good player,you don't have to dial in his sound, its there. The smoothest overdrive there is, period. It is so smooth, you would swear there has to be a compressor in there, but it is so three dimensional, there can't be, can there? The Bruno pro had the depth of this amp, but was not nearly as smooth, especially on the lower strings, it became very grainy, and the lack of "grainyness" is what Dumbel sound is all about, at least to me. The Two-rock had the smoothness, (maybe even smoother!) but was compressed and smaller sounding than either the Bruno or Dumbel. The Two-rock also did not have nearly as much gain on tap as either of the other two. The Dumbel and Bruno sounded best with the Gain contros at aprox. half,and to equal this, the two-rock had to have channel ones volume,and the gain knob maxed, as well as the tone control section bypassed. When you did this, you could not match the brightness of the other two amps. This being said, it still sounded GREAT, and sounded closer to the Dumbel than the Bruno. The Bruno, as I said earlier, was much bigger sounding and less compressed than the Two-rock.
So what do I buy??? If I buy the Bruno, I will want the Two-rocks smoothness and clean channel. If I buy the Two-rock, I will want the Brunos larger sound and dynamics. If I can find a Dumbel, will it sound like this one, or the two "dead sounding"ones? I was told by the owner of these three amps, the two new ones I did not like, had a different type of E.Q. section. The controls were the same on all three amps, but one of them used 6l6s. I played all these amps with a new Fender strat\Texas sp. pick ups\Ash body and a P.R.S. artist two. Sound quality, clean channel 7, Overdrive channel 20, yes it's that good. NOTHING can touch it.

I don't own one, so I can't say. It looked like it was built like a tank, and the owner said he had no problems at all.

Can't say.

What else can I try that will get that sound? e-mail me at ruffbt@bellatlantic.net if you have any questions or answers.
Thanks, Tag

The review previous to this submission was the most excruiating piece
of mung I have ever read. Was I reading a freakin' wine review or an amp review? The pretenciousness was overwhelming. Can anyone please explain to me WTF does, "one cannot extract the "maximum effect" from high-end amplification without a carefully selected, properly broken in and aged instrument" supposed to infer? That any custom-made $3K
Jaros or "name your luthier of choice" cannot build a guitar "worthy" of the mighty Dumble? For the love of God Stu....buy a used Peavey Bandit and a beat-up Epiphone, spend two hours a day for six months practicing how to make a piece of wood sound respectable, and please return to Earth."My experience has shown that if a player is willing to release the required funds for the Dumble experience, it is more than worthwhile to match that purchase with a fine vintage instrument." I guess acquiring a PRS Artist is throwing $ away then huh? Let me state here and now that 75% of ANYONE'S tone doesn't come from the amp, but from the fingers. Gary Moore could use his EMG-equipped Heritage 150CM signature model on a Dumble and rip your ears off so please stop assuming the purchase of what otherwise, is a fine amp, necessitates a follow-up second mortgage to obtain a '59 Les Paul Standard."No modern electric guitar will approach the special tonality of "the right" vintage guitar." When is the last time you heard a properly set-up Strat (of just about any respectable make) with a set of Kinman pickups installed? Enough said. Vintage required ownership my a**."The clean tones are obviously steeped in Fender tradition but with much more of the coveted "3D" tonal signature in certain respects. The Dumble provides these qualities with much more "energy" if you will." Here, your amp review begins to take on the anal retentive qualities of a hi-fidelty journalist who has spent too much time sipping $500 bottles of wine when they should of been gulping a 40 oz. In an effort to sound "qualified" to rate the Dumble, you wax poetic about crap that has little, if anything, do to with the sounds the four-squared box of bolts is capable of producing. At least the daunting task of writing a review seemed to wear off towards the end of it, when you admitted that the amp itself, didn't really shine for you personally. Having to sift thru the mung to get to the matter, I suppose, is the price one pays for reading harmony central reviews, but in the opinion of this long-time player, if you can't get a decent tone out of a $1K amp with a PRS or any other respected manufacturer, owning the Dumble with a arsenal of vintage guitars ain't gonna bring the bacon home either...and that's MY .02

Is the Dumble a feature laden status symbol with little or no practical utility for the everyday musician? No, quite the contrary. At first glance, the Dumble maintains the familiar controls with a supply of switches that allow the player to "tailor" the amplifier to taste. In essence, the amplifier is a "boosted" single channel affair insofar as the overdrive "personality" is essentially an extension of the lush clean tone typically present in Dumble amplifiers. Needless to say, there is more than enough power on tap. 50W or 100W...it really does not matter, there will be PLENTY of power. Some players might, however, appreciate the added "headroom" that is typical of the 100W platform. All features are useful and there is no "waste" or hype present. Everything found on the amplifier is there for a reason and works 100%. It just depends on what it is the user is trying to get done with the music. Very flexible.

The Dumble amplifier, as with most worthwhile amplifiers, is at it's very best with a really good vintage guitar. Countless listening scenarios and tinkering over the years have provided the conclusion that one cannot extract the "maximum effect" from high-end amplification without a carefully selected, properly broken in and aged instrument. Vintage Les Pauls, Strats and teles are all very happy and "at home" with the Dumble. My experience has shown that if a player is willing to release the required funds for the Dumble experience, it is more than worthwhile to match that purchase with a fine vintage instrument. No modern electric guitar will approach the special tonality of "the right" vintage guitar. Of the Dumbles I have owned, they were never "maxed out" with any Don Grosh, Tom Anderson or Paul Reed Smith. Newer Fenders and Gibsons were never a consideration in the first place. Best results were with a "mistreated" 1958 Les Paul with PAF's. Additionally, some wonderful experiences took place with a certain "black guard" vintage Tele along with an assortment of 50's Stratocasters. The magic if you will, is in the proprietary dimension of the overall tone. The touch sensitivity along with the manner in which notes can be "shaped" is nearly exclusive to Dumble. The clean tones are obviously steeped in Fender tradition but with much more of the coveted "3D" tonal signature in certain respects. Fender amplifiers, "Blackface" variants in particular, are well known for their depth, clarity and warmth. The Dumble provides these qualities with much more "energy" if you will. Certainly, there is plenty of hype surrounding these instruments although there is merit as well. The Dumble is not for everything and not for everyone. They are not all the same and some are significantly better than others. In any event, expect to pay in excess of $10,000.00 for this tonal dessert. Frankly speaking, I have heard more people (including myself), sound terrible through these amplifiers. It responds to a certain type of player and there are no secrets as to who the appropriate examples are. It would seem this amplifier design was tailor made for Larry Carlton and a few select others. The Dumble amplifier is not a "raw" sounding instrument along the lines of early Fender and Marshall designs. Refined power along the lines of modern high-end Ferarri autos are it's lot. The overdrive "structure" is unique to these amplifiers. Everything Mesa Boogie is NOT, is what this experience IS. A good example has intense touch sensitivity on the strings and "opens up" like many do not with this type of gain on tap. But...it is the way in which that gain is incorporated that makes all the difference along with the player's ability to "tune" this with great precision. Personally, my favorite recorded example of the amplifier is Larry Carlton "Last Night" recorded at the "Baked Potato" in Los Angeles. The touch sensitive overdrive can not only be heard on this disc, but felt as well. Naturally, there are other recordings featuring Dumbles but that was my personal favorite. How about you? I always kept it quiet, when owning a Dumble of which there were four in the last fifteen years. Now, there are none. With certain things in life, it is best not to advertise. I will refrain from some of the stories on tap concerning the braggards who boast about their "collections" only to find items missing eventually. On 7-28-2000, a review was supplied at Harmony Central boasting and jabbing about a recent Dumble purchase. All too often, the braggards are the ones that sound terrible on these amplifiers. For many it can be nothing more than a mostly untapped tonal resource diminished by being relegated to the "status symbol bin" which is not very interesting. For

One better hope for continued operation without failure. The amplifiers are best serviced by Dumble himself and from what I understand, those services are not for free and are usually expensive IF you can get lucky enough to find Dumble himself. The reputation is one of uncommon reliability.

Customer support? This is the comedy section of the review where your just left hanging and hanging and hanging...waiting for the line that never comes. There is no "company" to call but if you know Dumble (I do not), or if you happen to have his phone number (I'm not saying anything), AND if he is in the mood (according to rumor), then you might have a chance of being seen. You will probably have better luck trying to get "Slick Willy Clinton" to dinner with you... :}

The overall rating is simple. If the amplifier suits the best interest of the music to be made, then it could be worth it for the one who can really take advantage of these amplifiers. Most cannot. The price is not the issue really. I have quite a few friends that will separate themselves from more than $50,000.00 in home audio expenditures. Sometimes, the amounts are MUCH higher when getting into exotic tube playback devices involving high end separate amps, preamplifiers and turntables. P.S. Analog (vinyl), is still king. So, is it worth it? The answer is of course it is. One caveat...YOU need to be the right kind of player for this or you ARE certainly wasting money. If you are unsure...ask yourself thie following question. Am I a braggard looking for another worthless status symbol? OR, are you a VERY serious musician who's capabilities and musical orientation are best expressed through this type of device?

Most Versitile Amp out there !!!! If you want the best, you gotta pay !! And as far as buyiny those tech stocks "mr Anonymous", i did and i'm down over 100 g's !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I've been offered more than i payed for my Dumble already !!!!! So i'm about 10 step's ahead of you!!!! More than just a "stupid blues amp" There's ! lot's of sour grapes out there !!!!!!!!!!! Save your pennies!!! The amp in itself is an investement, along with other vintage gear. Prices keep goin up. There's must be something to the "mystique" if all the hottest players own them .....R ford, L Carlton, E Clapton, L George, S Lukather, S Landreth, SRV, etc and the list goes on !!!!!!!!!

What needs to be said hear. Find one(if you can) and be astounded !!!!!!!!

Very!!!!

Only soft spot. But i've never heard of or experienced one problem!!! (Know of at least 20 owners). And spoken w/ robben ford, and larry carlton.

Will easily get my money back. For now, i'm enjoying the best tone ever !!!!!!!!!!! I've owned plexi's, blackface everything, voxes, matchless etc.......... In a class of it's own !!!!!! Not to say there's anything wrong with those other amp's ( i still own them), just a notvh above as far as i'm concerned !!!!!!!

See other posting..Who in their right mind would pay $11k + for a freekin amplifier. Is tone really worth that much.(I would have bought stocks in some tech companies)

I play a PRS Custom 24 10 top,1982 Jap Telecaster (paid $200 canadian) through my Marshall Valvestate, and Fender Deluxe (A/B'd).1979 MXR Flanger, Vox Whah , Tube Screamer ts-9,
Boss DD-3 delay. Lord Thunderin Jesus,What more do ya want ? It works for me and compliments on the sound keep rollin in when gigging.
WHY DOES ANYONE NEED A DUMBLE?? Im sure the tone is great ..but $11G's
(american at that...Im from Canada, so Id have to take a freekin mortgage out for this puppy)

I Hope that (John is it??) who paid an arm and 5 legs for this amp is totally happy with his purchase. I dont expect to see any follow up complaing later on for this ,that or the other.(Although that would be kinda funny!) Oh well ,, I guess you only live once!!

What?? I hope buddy doesnt need this service anytime soon.

Again,I cant beleive the other posting paid $11g's for this thing. I guess He can just throw it in the back of his Ferrari when he gigs on weekends.Or maybe he just has too much money sittin around.Why would anybody spend this much money on a ~#%@"ing amp?? You better be a "smokin" player! Hey brother can ya spare a G-note?? Perhaps a ride in yer ferrari or Rolls Royce. ( I really hope your a good player!)

Clean or overdriven, it is without a doubt, the sweetest, most responsive amp out there

Never a problem !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Not once.

You should know the story. A very eccentric, eclectic genius.

If you want the best in tone, this is it !!!

Only good for stupid blues.

OK overdrive, good clean sound. but once again limited

it has been reliable.

don't know never needed it.

DEFINATELY NOT WORTH THE MONEY. I HOPE YOU READ THIS PHIL.

The Dumble Overdrive Special I played was an old looking model, so some of the features (such as overdrive ratio and presence control) found in more recent models were missing form this amp. I test drove this Dumble with my Strat w/EMG pickups and with a Schecter Strat with stock pickups.
From the left of the amp's front panel, the first knob is a volume one which can go all the way from clean to clean with lots of sustain, but not severely overdriven. To give you an idea of what I mean by sustain, suppose you have an amp dialed pretty loud and you barely brush the strings with your fingertips, you hear those chimey harmonics... THAT is the kind of sustain the Dumble has, at just about every volume level. The switches (bright, deep and guitar/mic, as opposed to the more modern jazz/rock) are not that mysterious. The bright and deep work like in most other amps. The third switch attenuates the signal when in mic mode, and the gain (grit), as well as volume drop considerably. Other controls included: treble, middle, bass, overdrive and master volume.

Playing with the Master and Volume controls, I was surprised at how "clear" (the cliche word would be "articulate") the amp is. The sustain is quite impressive, and I think a lot of people would be happy just playing that. It's such a pretty sound that you want to play soft through it.
The tone controls work pretty much like in a Fender amp, except I understand the tone stack is not 100% identical to that of a Fender, and all of the pots are very gradual -- and this goes for every single knob in the amp. So you don't hear tremendous differences in sound like in some other amps, where changing the treble form 6 to 7 causes a big change in the sound. Setting all of the knobs on 5 is a good starting point, and you can tweak from there.
Now, as for the overdrive. This amp sings big time and the overdrive knob works very slowly, to where you can really fine tune the amount of distortion in the sound. The dirty sound starts right where the clean leaves off, and I found it impossible to dial in a setting that didn't yield tons of sustain, so from that one might conclude it sounds like there would be a compressor in there. But that is NOT the case, the amp is such that it is extremely touch sensitive, touch it lightly and it responds gently -- but, I will sustain forever anyway -- and, lean on it and it will jump out at you. The Dumble can get gainy, but I don't believe *I* would use it with too much gain because there wouldn't be the need for it. Besides, you'd really have to lighten up the touch with too much gain, or else it doesn't sound so pure. The bass knob can make the amp sound farty if dialed up too high, but the sound is balanced so you can keep the bass on 3 or 4 and sound fat, not farty, neither boomy. Even when the amp is farting out, it sounds sweet -- I know this sounds hard to believe.
So much for the quasi-objective comments, no let me throw in my thoughts. For starters, Marshall fans will probably not give the Overdrive Special a second look, it is not a "British" sounding amp by any means because it sounds too pretty, I don't think you can even get power chords to grind aggressively, in the right sense of the word, on the Dumble. The amp has things in common with both Fender and Boogie, but of course there are a lot of differences. Boogies accentuate the midrange around 750 Hz and get the "Boogie" sound, emphasizing the fundamental frequencies of the guitar and sounding quite midrangey. The Fender "sparkling" clean sound has really accentuated highs (mostly thanks to the 47p or 120p cap used on the "bright" switches, or hardwired like in the case of the Deluxe Reverb) and a dip around 400-500 Hz because of the typical Fender tone stack for average settings. My ear tells me that Dumble focuses the frequency response somewhere in between the Fender highs and the Boogie mids. The OS has a very well-defined upper mid/high range, so it doesn't sound like a wah-wah in the center position, nor is it capable of piercing your ears with treble. I just sounds right, balanced.

Does any other amp out there come close to the Dumble? Yes, some come to mind and here are my impressions. For the clean sound, the MESA Blue Angel and the VOX Reissue AC-15 are quite similar (never tried a Matchless) because of their complex, chimey top end with lots of "clean" harmonics. The Dumble, being a class AB1 amp, belies the myth that you need class A to get all of those even-order harmonics hapenning. As far as the overdrive, when you turn up the Blue Angel and muscle it, it gets harsh in a throaty way, which I don't like at all, so that's where the similarity with the Dumble ends rather quickly. To me, the BA when overdriven sounds raw, the Dumble doesn't. The AC-15, on the other hand, can get more musical gain along Dumble lines than the BA can, in my opinion. But, the catch of the AC-15 is that I found it to sound really great with single coils, but not to much with humbuckers. However, with single coils, it is fantastic if you don't need much gain.
Any other amps? Yes indeed, and the one that comes the closest of them all is the Electroplex 30 watt I tried at NAMM earlier this year. Now, that amp may be the closest thing to a Dumble Overdrive Special I have ever played. What I find very strange is that other reviewers (namely Guitar Player in their February 1997 "Boutique" amp shootout), have compared this amps's clean tone to a Bassman (I don't disagree too much here) and its overdrive to a Marshall. Not at all to me, at least not using moderate amount of gain. The Dumble-like higher end complexity and perpetual sustain are there in the Electroplex and not in any Marshall I have ever played.
How about Boogies? You know, Boogies need to be dialed very carefully to sound right, and IMHO they require humbuckers or else... The other problem is that people tend to dial in too much distortion on a Boogie, because of the satysfying endless sustain that resuslts, but that squashes the sound too much and frequency compression takes over dynamics. Ease up on the gain of a Boogie and you'll see a whole different charcater in there. But, regardless, there is some sort of resemblance because the sound of the Boogies can be so sweet, and so can the Dumble's. The main difference is in the chimey upper end, superior in the Dumble, and in that a poorly dialed Boogie can sound very buzzy and/or totally muddy, and the Dumble I played didn't. Boogies are certainly more compressed than the Dumble, but the lingering sustain is definitely there.
To summarize, other amps can sound very good. To me, the Dumble is a combination of all those good sounds and then some. I had never played and amp that impressed me like this one before; if you get a chance to play one, do so, you could be in for a treat. However, you may never feel the same way about your amps after your Dumble experience -- I'm beginning to have to cope with that myself.