TABLE OF CONTENTS 00:00 Introducing Dumble Overdrive Special NO.0022 01:10 Our Objective/Gear Used 02:48 Overdrive Channel (Les Paul) 04:35 Clean Channel (Strat) 06:41 Clean Channel (Telecaster) 08:03 Boosting into the Overdrive Channel (Les Paul) 09:31 Sustain, Clarity, Compression 10:45 More Boosted Overdrive Tones! 12:56 Final Thoughts on Overdrive Special No.0022 14:05 Outro Jam
@@jannoqueyquep4615 Thanks so much! Lots of practicing leading up to this video. I really wanted to make sure the playing would help accentuate the amp!
Thanks for giving us the opportunity to hear this rare Dumble, who only personally built 300-350 Amps. It's great that you showed us the signal path, and all the details. In one of your videos from 2022, you mentioned that "... the Providence SOV-1: the ONLY pedal that has Dumble's stamp of approval." Now we have another Overdrive pedal, this time approved for Dumble Amps by Robben Ford. 😎
Several decades ago, I purchased a Silvertone guitar with the case-this happened to be one of the Silvertone cases that had a built-in amplifier. Mine was not just any Silvertone case/amp. My Silvertone case/amp had been modded by Alexander Dumble’s lesser known distant cousin, Darius Dumble. Rather than compete with Alexander, Darius had concentrated his efforts solely on the Silvertone cases with built-in amps. By limiting what he would mod, he became an absolute genius at modding the Silvertone amps. Due to the limited number of Silvertone amp/cases sold and the painful fact that many ended up at the garbage dump, Darius Dumbles creations are extremely rare and the market for his amps is even rarer. Darius also was very idiosyncratic in his ways and would only mod Silvertone amps to match the actual Silvertone guitar that was sold with the amp. Once a potential client tried to trick Darius into modding an amp to a guitar other than the Silvertone guitar sold with the amp. The potential client substituted an identical model Silvertone guitar with identical lipstick pickups for the original. It is said that Darius recognized the ruse immediately by ear and came close to suing the customer for fraud. It took a phone call from a famous guitarist, who like Darius, was an aficionado of the Silvertone and was also a loyal Darius client to convince Darius to back off. Because Darius had chosen such a limited medium in which to exercise his talents, he was often without work and broke though a complete Darius mod often pushed 7 figures. Darius spent most of the money he earned in what was usually a fruitless search for the few existing matched pairs of Silvertone guitars and amp/cases available. Like Ahab searching for Moby Dick, Darius’ fanatical searching and his obsession with perfection eventually drove Darius to the brink of insanity. He spent his last years in an alcoholic stupor obsessively playing through the 1962 edition of the Mel Bay “Fun with Guitar” beginners handbook (Darius believed that the only way to accurately put one of his modded Silvertone amp/cases through its paces was to play the 1963 Mel Bay “Fun with Guitar” versions of Buffalo Gals and The Blue Tail Fly). No one knows what eventually happened to Darius. In the fall of 1992, Darius disappeared leaving no note, body or message of any type. Darius had no real friends and no one can point to an actual date when he supposedly disappeared. A potential client attempting to contact Darius for a mod, eventually contacted the authorities. After several months of looking, Darius was declared dead. I have been offered a small fortune for my modded Silvertone amp/case and matching guitar but consider them priceless and not for sale. I was once offered a straight up trade for one of Alexander’s creations (and while they are amazing amps), I refused to part with my Darius Silvertone amp/case. I realize this video was about Alexander and his magical irreplaceable amps but felt it important to also give a nod to Darius and his amazing, if lesser known, obsessions.
@@voyxu143 if they're listening to recordings, that's true we can even prove that out with Dumble pedals and we have. Playing them there will be differences, some that might be more perceptible.
@voyxu143 I was thinking same thing. Very cool amp and history, but I kept thinking, sounds like a Hot Rod Deluxe and maybe a pedal. 😂 I think these are a lot like the original Klon, perception. I’d sell it in a heartbeat and buy a Lambo and a Two Rock stack. 😂
No magical gear, only magical players. This sounds good on this video, it doesn't sound otherworldly, nor even all that special. If you're not a great guitarist, this isn't going to help much.
@@GabrielBergman95 I have an early tele model of his. He grew up in an auto body shop. The finishes and paint are second to none. Now he's winding his own pickups and building amps too. Good time to be alive as a guitar player!!
The thing that gets me right off with Dumbles or really good Dumble clones is that "vocal" quality about the tone, and the dead quiet purity and harmonic richness of the sustainnnnnn. I have a Sebago Sound DT25, (basically an OD special) and it just absolutely sings in that vocal way. Not the best master to be honest, ... the amp has to be opened up a little to bloom, and when you do it's still well below most gig volumes, yet the sustain will drift into the most beautiful hint of harmonic feedback. It's crazy, no other amp circuit I've played does that so pure and no noise....... just that sweet voice like tone on a background of dead quiet. What a circuit!
Very cool rare Dumble review. It's just amazing that the sound , as sweet as it is , is so insanely priced . I do understand the rarity . It's just so unfathomable. I can get some Gary Moore sustain and tones from my Les Paul and Fender Hotrod Deville , that make me want to play endlessly . I'm thankful that tones and sustain and saturation , can be attained, without breaking the bank.. Great video . Nice work ! And thanks for the glimpse .
I saw this came from Dennis Herring's collection at Techno Empire. I managed to grab his seafoam green 1983 Valley Arts Strat with early 1960s gibson patent number pickups
It sounds both sharp and soft and has a roundness to the tone like a really amazing vintage amp should. Super amazing purrs grinds sings all depending on your playing. The last clip w the Les Paul was excellent at showing this
Sounds great. I was able to hear Jason Isbell play it live a few weeks ago. It must be really loud - he plays the amp with the speaker cab turned backwards.
First time I ever saw a guitar player do that was in 1972. went to see Roy Buchanan at a small, nearly empty bar in DC, along with about 8 friends. we were pretty much the only customers. (I think it was a Wed. nite...). Buchanan played thru a Fender Twin, and he had it facing backwards and leaning back on the tilt-back legs. the place had a high ceiling, so the sound spread out and really filled the room. it was VERY loud, but not quite as punishing as it would have been otherwise. it sounded like he had it turned up all the way. Those guys were pretty darn good, and Buchanan was REALLY good.
Saw Jason live last year, he seems to be really on top of stage volume levels. Preferring the soundman to make him sound best. Real professional that man.
Great sounding and appreciate the listen as I really don't know a lot about Dumbles and have only heard a few examples - save for listening to EJ for 40 yrs. Now, could another amp not achieve the same result? I think there would be several that could but there's no denying that this has a certain clarity that has the sauce in spades.
I’m not that impressed with the clean sound but that overdrive and the sustain is amazing! This amp really shines with the gain up and especially with the Les Paul. 👏👏
Sounds a lot like a $4000 amp with a $246,000 premium added on for rarity. Which is how things work. But, I think people make them out to more than they are. Just like some fancy food that a rare bird craps out and some knuckleheads make a dish out of it. If you don’t appreciate the taste, it is because your palate is not refined enough.
Well, the market defines the price. I think it’s a great amp in the same way that a Marshall, or a Fender are great amps - if there were only a few hundred of the made, we’d probably see similar activity in the market place around those amplifiers as we do Dumbles.
@@VertexEffectsInc You’re saying the market like you’re talking about kids who typically buy $200 solid states, Dumbles were always made for the few who could afford them with an initially high markup to discourage reselling (in part). Part of it is the unknown build of these amps, no one’s figured out the secret sauce yet, so the scarcity isn’t quite true, either, as other good amps out there have been discontinued and you can get one for like 5K on reverb, if you’re there at the right time. I’m not saying Dumbles suck at all, though - it’s a legendary amp in its own right, with an already high initial price tag that grows morbidly in a vicious hype cycle. At that price range, you’re 99% paying for word of mouth.
@@odallardya, you might be right about pricing. It seemed to me that he set his price regardless of the market, and if you have the gingle, get in line... Brilliant marketing! More power to him, though I can't start to think what manufacturing costs drive hat price tag!
TAG!!! I remeber the TGP Tag days. Hilarious dude. Then the Quinn debacle. It’s how I got turned on to the Ethos. Eventually I got myself one of your Ultraphonix pedals and never looked back!! I love it!! Tag…😊😊😊😊😊 Edit - 22 sounds amazing and your buddy is a killer player
The amp is great, but lets just lay out the simple truth: Robben will blow your mind... with any amp. Cheers! PS: Mason, there's an angry mob waiting for a triple preamp with the ultraphonic and the Supreme together :D
well they don't "have" to be anything, now do they. fella name of james marshall hendrix used a somewhat non-standard pickup height and he sounded just dandy. the right height (or the right strings, or the right pick, or the right pickups) is the one that produces the sound you want. there's no right or wrong way to set up any guitar.
My brother has a 100 watt Dumble power amp to drive a Leslie.Howard put military grade horns in the Leslie to handle the power. I met Howard when I was 12. He sold my big brother a Gibson 330, the first electric I ever played.
"Think before you play." This sums up the tone that I have been looking for. I am pretty unworthy, but I need all the help I can get so when I came across a Dumbleland recently with an asking price of only $120,000 I quickly started tabulating my assets and such. (Shazbot! Not quite!)
I like that Strat. I see you put a bird on it. - Beyond that, I really enjoy this channel and the history and wisdom you share Mason. Thanks for all you do
Dumble, Soldano, Mesa - all have the forward sound - great sound! I play a Suhr Bella which I read is a Suhr interpretation of a Dumble modified Bandmaster. It has that same forward, clean, articulate sound.
Lol This is why competition is a good thing... Someday nobody will, at a great affordable price, and blow up the market... Hail to free markets, ingenuity and volition!!
That sounds absolutely lovely but it is nothing I've never heard before out of a high end amp. Maybe you have to hear it in person. I'd love to see a blind test of this and a similar amp (say, a Deluxe Reverb, or a Twin or something along those lines) and see if anyone could reliably tell the difference once you dialed in a tone. Not hating on Dumbles, they're excellent, but I just don't hear this unattainable tone that people seem to think are inside these amps exclusively. It is without question very nice, but it is in no way a unicorn of tone that's out of reach for people who don't have 5 or 6 digits to drop on something like this. A nice Fender, a nice Boogie, a nice Matchless I feel could all more or less replicate the sound coming out of that speaker such that even experts could not tell between them, or say which one was "better." Would I love to own one? Absolutely. But is it doing stuff other amps don't do? If it is, I can't detect it.
Yes , I'm with you on that simply because I'm not filthy rich. This pales in comparison to the Audiophile "Cork Sniffers" who'll pay $70,000 for a pair of RCA cables!
@@VertexEffectsIncya, like a guy said to me at a EJ gig, as we were up at the stage checking the rigs out... He could put his kids through college, for what these Dumbles cost! Or buy a nice house!
I got to play 2 different dumble. S before the hype I loved them. They were around 15 k 20k. I was young didn’t quite have it .but it was beautiful. I played a few of copies.70 to 80 percent but none 100 percent in person . In person is another level
Could yall tell if you were playing this Dumble blindfolded with 10 other amps like say, Magnatone, Two Rock, Kemper, other boutique builds and for good measure a cheap fender blues jr with a dumble inspired pedal slamming the front end? Hearing yall play through this amp, it sounds great for sure, easily can achieve said tones from a new high end boutique amp too. Perhaps it's my own ignorance but I can't pinpoint the "Dumble Sound" if that makes sense.
I think the “Dumble Sound” is a bit misleading. The whole method of Mr.Dumble was to tailor the amp to the player the amp was for. Robben Ford’s doesn’t sound like Larry Carlton’s which doesn’t sound like SRV’s which doesn’t sound like Steve Farris’. You get the idea. So, there really isn’t a Dumble sound.
I think if you were sitting in a room with all those amps and doing A-B comparisons, you'd be able hear the difference. Or if you were hearing someone play in a small club - where you could sit right up front and really "hear" the band and the amps (and assuming the house sound wasn't completely destroying all of that), then you'd probably hear the difference. But if you were recording and had time to dial in the sound you want? or if it was a larger venue where everything was mic'd and all you could hear was the main sound system? then it probably wouldn't be worth the difference in price. And it also depends on exactly what tone and sound you like. If you like high-gain or shred stuff, the Dumble probably won't do what you want.
@anthonypanneton923 my favorite amps are my Magnatone Super 15 and Varsity reverb. Low gain but deliver solid tones. I'm sure I'd love a Dumble but can't afford lol
@@alexwoolridge94aw I think you'd get different responses for each amp Dumble or Clone. Some which you might respond to better as a player. As @chrislestermusic wrote, they're custom amps at the end of the day but do have overlap and patterns in the build archetype which are common among them. Dumble had several ODS circuit platforms over time that he would then optimize based on the player and listening sessions with the guitarists to dial in the tone. I think that many of the clones are not quite as well built as a Dumble (but some are), and they often don't use the same parts that a custom amp would use because they have to be able to replicate the same amp hundreds or thousands of times so they can't harvest parts out of vintage Fender amps like Dumble often did.
I genuinely don’t understand why people pay so much or freak out about a dumble. Its low end isn’t special, its mids sound extremely normal, and its high end is pretty insignificant, so like whats so special about it? People often are like ohh but you gotta hear it in the room. No. If it doesnt record particularly well or unique, then whats even the point. If its room sound, the room has more impact on that energy then the amp. It just sounds like a fender with less high end sparkle, a little bit less of everything honestly, with even distortion. It sounded pretty dark, and when amps sound dark you usually get really nice low end, or soft mids, but you dont get either of those with a dumble. It sounds like a dark fender with an overdrive pedal. Since its always the play Good video though!
Would have really liked to hear the Strat into the overdrive channel without any pedals. Other than Mick playing that ODS for Guitar magazine I don't know of any other videos demoing that specific sound. PS, Only two springs on the strat trem seems like a bold move. Any reason for that?
It's interesting that most of the ODS sounds we know and love are all Humbucker guitars for the most parts, and there aren't many examples I can think of with prominent Strat sounds on an Overdrive Special that's set to the OD channel. The FET channel that we used on the Strat does have a little boost to it, but not much, and on the examples where we used the Vertex Boost, that really doesn't have any color but could (perhaps) hit the front end a little harder and create some distortion from it, but the amp has a good amount of headroom and the speaker is very clean (EVM12L) so any added distortion would be minimal. As to the springs, the guitar belongs to Mejia (not me) so I can't speak to the set-up. Sometimes people will use two springs to get a tention they like on the tremolo.
God that amp sounds exactly how I want a Dumble to sound. It's practically archetypical. Fat, loud, almost harmonically oversaturated (that's to say that chords can sound kind of burnt up and fuzzy). Also, Mason, two springs in the strat? What is that strat's story anyways? Seems like something personal.
@@antihero0101 The amp was for sale at the time the video was made and has since sold. Often owners of these rare and vintage amps don't want there to be a lesser priced footprint of their Dumble available on the market or something that might devalue what they have in some way. If effort to make the sale of the amp uncomplicated our purpose here was simply to document a great rare amplifier, that's it.
I used to think tone was good enough. My first solid state was good enough until I played a tube amp. The line 6 bean was just like having the real amp , until I played the real amp. That dumble sounded great on the video but I’m sure if I were playing it in the room it would be mind blowing. I guess that’s the great tone chase . Dumbel may send overpriced but there’s a reason they are so sought after. If I had the money I’d own one l but until then I’ve got good enough.
I've played through #40 and took the pix of the chassis that have been over the internet for the last 20+ years. It was OK, but It needed to be recapped, as well as a new set of tubes.
Funny this should appear for me. I just dropped my Dumbleator clone into a brand new rack case😂 I love that #22, FET is very useful with single coils/slide. Never forget, TKT😅
I wanted to focus on the talking and let Gabe focus on the playing. Gabe's a superior player so best to showcase the amp with a more competent guitarist.
Thanks for this! I have The Book, and now I know it's incomplete! 8^) Just a quick note about the Kleinulator/Dumbleator loop interface -- I have a Ceriatone 20w D clone, and I bought the Kleinulator with it, but I've found that at least with the time-based efx that i have in the loop (right now, an Earthquake Astral Destiny and a Line 6 DL4 MkII), that box is not required. I would assume that the real D is similar in this regard.
It’s 100% required for any passive effects loop or you will have tone loss unquestionably and also will have many pedals that won’t work well at the levels of the effects loop.
@@VertexEffectsInc Well I can't tell any difference, but I'll try the Kleinulator again based on what you said. I think it depends on how any specific pedal is buffered on its inputs/outputs.
Hi Mason this something you should know. I have two power supplies that are reputable but the have two spots labled high voltage what pedals or what is their purpose.
I don't know if it's the BEST one for everyone. It's the best one that I've played considering the clean channel vs. dirty channel and how balanced they are. Sometimes "best" can be tricky, like saying "I wear a size 12 shoe so you should too".
Thank you for your video!!! Thanks to Gabriel also not to shred! I would have appreciate more rock'n'roll riffs than single notes solos btw ;-) I'm working on builing my own Dumble inspired amp... Is there any chance to get the schematics and/or photos of the inside? Usually some component value are susceptible to change from a model to the other, we can see that on models #102, #124, #183 schematics (that are known).
I'm curious about the transparency of the solid state FX loop buffer vs tube. I have a tube buffer but have never tried a solid state. I know a lot of people get the tube ones because they think it'll be "warmer" , but it's a buffer; I don't care about it being warm I just want it to be transparent. If there isn't much difference Ill get one, if only to save space and weight. It's funny hearing how we could dial it in to get the tone we want since it's moot, quite literally none of us will ever find ourselves in that scenario.
Presuming both are well built and high quality, the Solid State is the way to go. It's lower noise and more transparent if you want the effects used in the FX Loop to only influence the processing of the guitar tone with modulation, delay, and reverb and not add a separate EQ or tone to the amp that wasn't there before the effects loop was used. Tube buffered FX Loops have a sound to them, which can be a good thing if you're trying to change the fundamental tone of your amp, but if you have a sound you like without the effects loop and just want to add some wet effects after the preamp section, I don't think it's the best solution to use go with say a loop built around 12AX7 if transparency is the goal.
@@VertexEffectsInc well, that's about as complete of an answer as one could ask for, thanks. I assume the Ceriatone one is good? The tube one I have is theirs, I bought it when I built the 50W Mustang. It was super bright so being able to round it out with the buffer was good, but the two amps I have now I just want it to be transparent, so the solid state it is.
I know exactly what you mean! The best result I achieved is with Fryette valvulator. Transparent and with the tube feeling driving every effect with perfection.
![Robben Ford & His Dumble Overdrive Special [He Plays It, We Play It!]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/4z-IkXE36DI/mqdefault.jpg)
TABLE OF CONTENTS
00:00 Introducing Dumble Overdrive Special NO.0022
01:10 Our Objective/Gear Used
02:48 Overdrive Channel (Les Paul)
04:35 Clean Channel (Strat)
06:41 Clean Channel (Telecaster)
08:03 Boosting into the Overdrive Channel (Les Paul)
09:31 Sustain, Clarity, Compression
10:45 More Boosted Overdrive Tones!
12:56 Final Thoughts on Overdrive Special No.0022
14:05 Outro Jam
Man, this was an incredible day! Thanks again for the invite Mason! Glad everyone is enjoying the video!!
You killed it! Great job Gabe!
Tasty playing Gabe!
@@jannoqueyquep4615 Thanks so much! Lots of practicing leading up to this video. I really wanted to make sure the playing would help accentuate the amp!
Is this herrings amp?
Can you link me to the exact model of your LP? I need one now! Beautiful!
You guys have been on an absolute tear with killer videos, lately! I really appreciate the content, thank you!
Wow, thanks so much!
Thanks for giving us the opportunity to hear this rare Dumble, who only personally built 300-350 Amps. It's great that you showed us the signal path, and all the details.
In one of your videos from 2022, you mentioned that "... the Providence SOV-1: the ONLY pedal that has Dumble's stamp of approval."
Now we have another Overdrive pedal, this time approved for Dumble Amps by Robben Ford. 😎
Thanks for watching!
Several decades ago, I purchased a Silvertone guitar with the case-this happened to be one of the Silvertone cases that had a built-in amplifier. Mine was not just any Silvertone case/amp. My Silvertone case/amp had been modded by Alexander Dumble’s lesser known distant cousin, Darius Dumble. Rather than compete with Alexander, Darius had concentrated his efforts solely on the Silvertone cases with built-in amps. By limiting what he would mod, he became an absolute genius at modding the Silvertone amps. Due to the limited number of Silvertone amp/cases sold and the painful fact that many ended up at the garbage dump, Darius Dumbles creations are extremely rare and the market for his amps is even rarer. Darius also was very idiosyncratic in his ways and would only mod Silvertone amps to match the actual Silvertone guitar that was sold with the amp. Once a potential client tried to trick Darius into modding an amp to a guitar other than the Silvertone guitar sold with the amp. The potential client substituted an identical model Silvertone guitar with identical lipstick pickups for the original. It is said that Darius recognized the ruse immediately by ear and came close to suing the customer for fraud. It took a phone call from a famous guitarist, who like Darius, was an aficionado of the Silvertone and was also a loyal Darius client to convince Darius to back off. Because Darius had chosen such a limited medium in which to exercise his talents, he was often without work and broke though a complete Darius mod often pushed 7 figures. Darius spent most of the money he earned in what was usually a fruitless search for the few existing matched pairs of Silvertone guitars and amp/cases available. Like Ahab searching for Moby Dick, Darius’ fanatical searching and his obsession with perfection eventually drove Darius to the brink of insanity. He spent his last years in an alcoholic stupor obsessively playing through the 1962 edition of the Mel Bay “Fun with Guitar” beginners handbook (Darius believed that the only way to accurately put one of his modded Silvertone amp/cases through its paces was to play the 1963 Mel Bay “Fun with Guitar” versions of Buffalo Gals and The Blue Tail Fly). No one knows what eventually happened to Darius. In the fall of 1992, Darius disappeared leaving no note, body or message of any type. Darius had no real friends and no one can point to an actual date when he supposedly disappeared. A potential client attempting to contact Darius for a mod, eventually contacted the authorities. After several months of looking, Darius was declared dead. I have been offered a small fortune for my modded Silvertone amp/case and matching guitar but consider them priceless and not for sale. I was once offered a straight up trade for one of Alexander’s creations (and while they are amazing amps), I refused to part with my Darius Silvertone amp/case. I realize this video was about Alexander and his magical irreplaceable amps but felt it important to also give a nod to Darius and his amazing, if lesser known, obsessions.
Interesting story!
Oh my friend thank you for sharing this incredible tale .
Lol!
Amazing! thanks for the story.
I had that happen to me too!
Thanks guys .Great classy tour of this work of art.Some sharp playing Gabe.
Thanks for watching!!!
So many Dumble type amps/clones/copies that you can achieve this tone relatively easily.
You can get in the ballpark, but not exact to any one Dumble.
@@VertexEffectsInc If you put 10 Dumble clones in a room with a real Dumble I would lay odds even the best Dumble expert couldn't pick out the Dumble.
@@voyxu143 That's a great challenge for a new episode !
@@voyxu143 if they're listening to recordings, that's true we can even prove that out with Dumble pedals and we have. Playing them there will be differences, some that might be more perceptible.
@voyxu143 I was thinking same thing. Very cool amp and history, but I kept thinking, sounds like a Hot Rod Deluxe and maybe a pedal. 😂 I think these are a lot like the original Klon, perception. I’d sell it in a heartbeat and buy a Lambo and a Two Rock stack. 😂
What an amazing piece of amp history. Thanks for sharing with us and Gabriel, he looks so happy.
Haha, i was over the moon!
Heck yeah!
Sounds amazing. Love the history and mystique associated with these amplifiers. Thanks for sharing! Cheers!
Thanks for watching!
Time for a brand new Quad Cortex capture!
No magical gear, only magical players. This sounds good on this video, it doesn't sound otherworldly, nor even all that special. If you're not a great guitarist, this isn't going to help much.
Wouldn't that be true of any amp? E.g. if you're not a great guitar this isn't going to help much.
@@VertexEffectsInc sure..and in this video, the guy isn't great, so it sounds average.
What a treat. Thank you!
Thanks for watching!
the les paul and that amp was a perfect combination!!
Agreed. Normally the ODS was used by Humbucker players.
yeah, those ODS amps LOVE humbuckers!
So if I come across one of these amps at a garage sale I'll be sure to grab it lol
Grab it.
Dumble. It has to sound great. I paid a lot of money for this amp.
Some don't sound so great, and still cost just as much???
Love Gabe!! Deadheads unite!
Jerry should've got a Dumble ;)
@@VertexEffectsInc 😆
@@VertexEffectsInc PS: I use an Ultraphonix MKII for some of my Jerry lead tone when I'm feeling extra. Jerry could have totally used a Dumble. 😁
I agree. I use a VHT D style for my Jerry stuff…
Mason nowadays is more of "the Dumble Guy" than the "the Rig Doctor"
Sounds great - excellent playing too, Gabe - very nice, I'll take it!
thanks man!!
Sounds so good. Nice surprise to see a K Line guitar in the video. Thanks for that too!
Yes!! we wanted to have a variety of guitars!
@@GabrielBergman95 I have an early tele model of his. He grew up in an auto body shop. The finishes and paint are second to none. Now he's winding his own pickups and building amps too. Good time to be alive as a guitar player!!
The thing that gets me right off with Dumbles or really good Dumble clones is that "vocal" quality about the tone, and the dead quiet purity and harmonic richness of the sustainnnnnn. I have a Sebago Sound DT25, (basically an OD special) and it just absolutely sings in that vocal way. Not the best master to be honest, ... the amp has to be opened up a little to bloom, and when you do it's still well below most gig volumes, yet the sustain will drift into the most beautiful hint of harmonic feedback. It's crazy, no other amp circuit I've played does that so pure and no noise....... just that sweet voice like tone on a background of dead quiet. What a circuit!
I have a buddy with a Two Rock TS1 and he plays it at 6 on the MV at gigs. It's actually not that loud when running through a 1x12.
A good Dumble is special. There are also some quality clones out there as well.
I love that Earnhardt #3 decal on the mixing board behind ya'll. 😎
Man that eould be a dream come true!! I envy you guys! Thanks for sharing this moment with us!
Sounds like a glisteningly smooth glass pipe with a thick, creamy milkshake flowing through it.
That's good, I guess???
Oh yeah. Doesn’t get any better.
Best Dumble I’ve ever heard also. Overtones are unreal. Clean beautiful sustain.
It's a special one!
Very cool rare Dumble review. It's just amazing that the sound , as sweet as it is , is so insanely priced . I do understand the rarity . It's just so unfathomable. I can get some Gary Moore sustain and tones from my Les Paul and Fender Hotrod Deville , that make me want to play endlessly . I'm thankful that tones and sustain and saturation , can be attained, without breaking the bank.. Great video . Nice work ! And thanks for the glimpse .
Am I the only one here to look at that Neve board with my jaw dropped?
Heck yea
Ya - I was wondering about that too. like - is that thing there just as a backdrop for the video. or WTF????
I saw this came from Dennis Herring's collection at Techno Empire. I managed to grab his seafoam green 1983 Valley Arts Strat with early 1960s gibson patent number pickups
It sounds both sharp and soft and has a roundness to the tone like a really amazing vintage amp should. Super amazing purrs grinds sings all depending on your playing. The last clip w the Les Paul was excellent at showing this
Sounds great. I was able to hear Jason Isbell play it live a few weeks ago. It must be really loud - he plays the amp with the speaker cab turned backwards.
First time I ever saw a guitar player do that was in 1972. went to see Roy Buchanan at a small, nearly empty bar in DC, along with about 8 friends. we were pretty much the only customers. (I think it was a Wed. nite...). Buchanan played thru a Fender Twin, and he had it facing backwards and leaning back on the tilt-back legs. the place had a high ceiling, so the sound spread out and really filled the room. it was VERY loud, but not quite as punishing as it would have been otherwise. it sounded like he had it turned up all the way. Those guys were pretty darn good, and Buchanan was REALLY good.
That's amazing! Great amp!
Saw Jason live last year, he seems to be really on top of stage volume levels. Preferring the soundman to make him sound best. Real professional that man.
Great sounding and appreciate the listen as I really don't know a lot about Dumbles and have only heard a few examples - save for listening to EJ for 40 yrs. Now, could another amp not achieve the same result? I think there would be several that could but there's no denying that this has a certain clarity that has the sauce in spades.
I’m not that impressed with the clean sound but that overdrive and the sustain is amazing! This amp really shines with the gain up and especially with the Les Paul. 👏👏
This is great, I've heard of Dumble Amps but I have never seen one in person.
Sounds a lot like a $4000 amp with a $246,000 premium added on for rarity. Which is how things work. But, I think people make them out to more than they are. Just like some fancy food that a rare bird craps out and some knuckleheads make a dish out of it. If you don’t appreciate the taste, it is because your palate is not refined enough.
Well, the market defines the price. I think it’s a great amp in the same way that a Marshall, or a Fender are great amps - if there were only a few hundred of the made, we’d probably see similar activity in the market place around those amplifiers as we do Dumbles.
@@VertexEffectsInc For sure. Take care and thanks for the vids.
@@VertexEffectsInc You’re saying the market like you’re talking about kids who typically buy $200 solid states, Dumbles were always made for the few who could afford them with an initially high markup to discourage reselling (in part). Part of it is the unknown build of these amps, no one’s figured out the secret sauce yet, so the scarcity isn’t quite true, either, as other good amps out there have been discontinued and you can get one for like 5K on reverb, if you’re there at the right time.
I’m not saying Dumbles suck at all, though - it’s a legendary amp in its own right, with an already high initial price tag that grows morbidly in a vicious hype cycle. At that price range, you’re 99% paying for word of mouth.
@@odallardya, you might be right about pricing.
It seemed to me that he set his price regardless of the market, and if you have the gingle, get in line... Brilliant marketing!
More power to him, though I can't start to think what manufacturing costs drive hat price tag!
TAG!!! I remeber the TGP Tag days. Hilarious dude. Then the Quinn debacle. It’s how I got turned on to the Ethos. Eventually I got myself one of your Ultraphonix pedals and never looked back!! I love it!!
Tag…😊😊😊😊😊
Edit - 22 sounds amazing and your buddy is a killer player
Heck yea! TAG was the the king of TGP for years. Maybe he still is?
... some say that guy was bananas ...
Tag knows Tone. Haha
The amp is great, but lets just lay out the simple truth: Robben will blow your mind... with any amp.
Cheers!
PS: Mason, there's an angry mob waiting for a triple preamp with the ultraphonic and the Supreme together :D
Agreed, but the video doesn't dispute that about Robben. I know, I just got a call about it the other day...it'll be here soon enough :)
you're right. Robben is just an amazing artist. with ANY guitar or amp.
Doubling down on the triple preamp. I have the sss srv, but I'll buy a triple if you make it. Especially if you Keep it black and white
Yes, but this amp blowed the mind of Robben
Should've dressed up as Indiana Jones for an intro bit :) well done on finding/borrowing this legendary gear !
😂😂😂
I’m a tech and it’s finally nice to see a Strat with the pickups at the right height. They have to be almost flat on the pick guard
Yes, let the amp do the work!
That’s how I set them too. My neck pickup is about 7.5 mm away from the strings.
Amen, brother.
well they don't "have" to be anything, now do they. fella name of james marshall hendrix used a somewhat non-standard pickup height and he sounded just dandy. the right height (or the right strings, or the right pick, or the right pickups) is the one that produces the sound you want. there's no right or wrong way to set up any guitar.
I believe this is now owned by Jason Isbell. Killer amp live!
Really nice compression
My brother has a 100 watt Dumble power amp to drive a Leslie.Howard put military grade horns in the Leslie to handle the power. I met Howard when I was 12. He sold my big brother a Gibson 330, the first electric I ever played.
"Think before you play."
This sums up the tone that I have been looking for. I am pretty unworthy, but I need all the help I can get so when I came across a Dumbleland recently with an asking price of only $120,000 I quickly started tabulating my assets and such.
(Shazbot! Not quite!)
Happy to help build something better than this for around $200k.
The original owner of Dumble 22 actually described this amp in a video 2 months ago on the Techno Empire channel
And???
@@VertexEffectsInc If you really must know, its a much better video than yours
And thank you for this precious information!
@@bostonbesteats364 Lol.......LMAO, their ego's deflated with that comment
Wow the mid range is doing the thing. Sounds so smooth
Yes, indeed!
I like that Strat. I see you put a bird on it. - Beyond that, I really enjoy this channel and the history and wisdom you share Mason. Thanks for all you do
Birds aren't real
We put birds on things.
That Strat belongs to Mejia, not mine.
@@VertexEffectsInc I'd bet Bryce Shivers and Lisa Eversman had a hand in putting that bird on it.
Dumble, Soldano, Mesa - all have the forward sound - great sound! I play a Suhr Bella which I read is a Suhr interpretation of a Dumble modified Bandmaster. It has that same forward, clean, articulate sound.
Assuming a single EV in the cab. What are you guys using for mics?
Yes, EVM12L speaker. SM7B and AEA Ribbon Mic
dont let John Mayer find out he buys them all
People need to keep in mind that Dumbles are like tailor made suits. They most likely won’t fit anyone better than the person they were made for.
I think that's true however there can be overlap.
@@VertexEffectsInc Absolutely! Completely agree.
It really does just sound great
Yes, indeed!
I am eagerly waiting for Harley Benton to one day make a good copy of Dumble amplifiers.
Just a matter of time
Plenty of clones out there that sound good, this is a great example of a Dumble of the many I've played.
Lol
This is why competition is a good thing...
Someday nobody will, at a great affordable price, and blow up the market... Hail to free markets, ingenuity and volition!!
It's... just an Amp. I need to see these pick the Dumble out of a lineup blindfolded
Against other Dumble clones, could be difficult, against other random amps, I think it would be easier.
Ive watched a few Dumble vids on RUclips and this one def sounds the best. The clips with the Les Paul have a stellar tone. Yeah, that's a killer amp.
We really put a lot of detail in making sure the mics were placed in the best area, so that we could get a great recorded tone!
@@GabrielBergman95 Well done bud. Nice, tasteful playing too. Cheers!
It's a special amp!
Bless us with a toneX capture lol😁
Beautiful tones!!!
That sounds absolutely lovely but it is nothing I've never heard before out of a high end amp. Maybe you have to hear it in person. I'd love to see a blind test of this and a similar amp (say, a Deluxe Reverb, or a Twin or something along those lines) and see if anyone could reliably tell the difference once you dialed in a tone.
Not hating on Dumbles, they're excellent, but I just don't hear this unattainable tone that people seem to think are inside these amps exclusively. It is without question very nice, but it is in no way a unicorn of tone that's out of reach for people who don't have 5 or 6 digits to drop on something like this. A nice Fender, a nice Boogie, a nice Matchless I feel could all more or less replicate the sound coming out of that speaker such that even experts could not tell between them, or say which one was "better." Would I love to own one? Absolutely. But is it doing stuff other amps don't do? If it is, I can't detect it.
Sounds cool but not for half a million dollars 😂
Well...a quarter of a million, this one sold for $239,000 I think.
@@VertexEffectsInc not bad..
Yes , I'm with you on that simply because I'm not filthy rich.
This pales in comparison to the Audiophile "Cork Sniffers" who'll pay $70,000 for a pair of RCA cables!
@@VertexEffectsIncya, like a guy said to me at a EJ gig, as we were up at the stage checking the rigs out... He could put his kids through college, for what these Dumbles cost!
Or buy a nice house!
Beautiful video Mason....thank you!
Thanks for watching!
Very smooth midrange overdrive !
Wow what an incredible tone the notes are almost horn like
The Fatness and the dynamic response on these amps are just insane. Doesn't sound like some one boosted low end artificially or muddy at all.
It's a great amp!
Bring that bad boy to Oakland and let me try it! Lol what a dream it must have been!
It's now in Jason Isbell's hands
The epitome of creamy tones
Its definitely a very smooth overdrive sound.
Yes, indeed.
Oooohhhh…. Serious Droolage happening here!
✨🎶🤪🤤🎶✨
Robbens dumble must be the most valuable dumble out there
Great tones! I've seen Robben Ford A few times and he always had a Zendrive on his board.
He does, but only uses into the clean channel or with backline amps.
Looks like the burning bush from The Ten Commandments. Sounds like it to.
What does a burning bush sound like?
@@VertexEffectsInc I AM WHAT I AM!!!
@@VertexEffectsInc In other words it sounds heavenly.
I got to play 2 different dumble. S before the hype I loved them. They were around 15 k 20k. I was young didn’t quite have it
.but it was beautiful. I played a few of copies.70 to 80 percent but none 100 percent in person . In person is another level
They're special amps!
Rumor has it Mr. Dumble went down to the Cross Roads and made a pact with well....
He's the Robert Johnson of amplifiers?
Very Good!
My god that’s just out of this world 😮
🔥🔥🔥
BEST TONE!!
7:38 That was a transcription of Robben Ford’s Vertex boost demo?! Haha little weird..
Who decided the "Quarter of a million dollar" price tag?
Jason Isbell owns this amp.
Mayer will want this.
Too late, Jason Isbell bought it
@@VertexEffectsInc probably just seconds before JB snagged it up...
Could yall tell if you were playing this Dumble blindfolded with 10 other amps like say, Magnatone, Two Rock, Kemper, other boutique builds and for good measure a cheap fender blues jr with a dumble inspired pedal slamming the front end? Hearing yall play through this amp, it sounds great for sure, easily can achieve said tones from a new high end boutique amp too. Perhaps it's my own ignorance but I can't pinpoint the "Dumble Sound" if that makes sense.
I think the “Dumble Sound” is a bit misleading. The whole method of Mr.Dumble was to tailor the amp to the player the amp was for. Robben Ford’s doesn’t sound like Larry Carlton’s which doesn’t sound like SRV’s which doesn’t sound like Steve Farris’. You get the idea. So, there really isn’t a Dumble sound.
I think if you were sitting in a room with all those amps and doing A-B comparisons, you'd be able hear the difference. Or if you were hearing someone play in a small club - where you could sit right up front and really "hear" the band and the amps (and assuming the house sound wasn't completely destroying all of that), then you'd probably hear the difference. But if you were recording and had time to dial in the sound you want? or if it was a larger venue where everything was mic'd and all you could hear was the main sound system? then it probably wouldn't be worth the difference in price. And it also depends on exactly what tone and sound you like. If you like high-gain or shred stuff, the Dumble probably won't do what you want.
@@chrislestermusic makes sense
@anthonypanneton923 my favorite amps are my Magnatone Super 15 and Varsity reverb. Low gain but deliver solid tones. I'm sure I'd love a Dumble but can't afford lol
@@alexwoolridge94aw I think you'd get different responses for each amp Dumble or Clone. Some which you might respond to better as a player. As @chrislestermusic wrote, they're custom amps at the end of the day but do have overlap and patterns in the build archetype which are common among them. Dumble had several ODS circuit platforms over time that he would then optimize based on the player and listening sessions with the guitarists to dial in the tone. I think that many of the clones are not quite as well built as a Dumble (but some are), and they often don't use the same parts that a custom amp would use because they have to be able to replicate the same amp hundreds or thousands of times so they can't harvest parts out of vintage Fender amps like Dumble often did.
I genuinely don’t understand why people pay so much or freak out about a dumble. Its low end isn’t special, its mids sound extremely normal, and its high end is pretty insignificant, so like whats so special about it? People often are like ohh but you gotta hear it in the room. No. If it doesnt record particularly well or unique, then whats even the point. If its room sound, the room has more impact on that energy then the amp. It just sounds like a fender with less high end sparkle, a little bit less of everything honestly, with even distortion. It sounded pretty dark, and when amps sound dark you usually get really nice low end, or soft mids, but you dont get either of those with a dumble. It sounds like a dark fender with an overdrive pedal.
Since its always the play
Good video though!
I guess you just saved yourself $250K ;)
@@VertexEffectsInc lets gooooooo lolol
@@VertexEffectsIncwell played!!
This kid is a monster
Yes, Gabriel Bergman, give him a follow!
Thanks man, glad you enjoyed the playing!
Rarer than rocking horse poo ... maybe one day when I win the Lotto
Fingers crossed!
Would have really liked to hear the Strat into the overdrive channel without any pedals. Other than Mick playing that ODS for Guitar magazine I don't know of any other videos demoing that specific sound.
PS, Only two springs on the strat trem seems like a bold move. Any reason for that?
It's interesting that most of the ODS sounds we know and love are all Humbucker guitars for the most parts, and there aren't many examples I can think of with prominent Strat sounds on an Overdrive Special that's set to the OD channel. The FET channel that we used on the Strat does have a little boost to it, but not much, and on the examples where we used the Vertex Boost, that really doesn't have any color but could (perhaps) hit the front end a little harder and create some distortion from it, but the amp has a good amount of headroom and the speaker is very clean (EVM12L) so any added distortion would be minimal. As to the springs, the guitar belongs to Mejia (not me) so I can't speak to the set-up. Sometimes people will use two springs to get a tention they like on the tremolo.
God that amp sounds exactly how I want a Dumble to sound. It's practically archetypical. Fat, loud, almost harmonically oversaturated (that's to say that chords can sound kind of burnt up and fuzzy).
Also, Mason, two springs in the strat? What is that strat's story anyways? Seems like something personal.
That Strat belongs to Mejia, not my guitar, but it's a great one.
The Trainwreck Express, Rocket, and Liverpool 30 are the true holy grails of guitar amplifiers. Less than 100 of these amps were built by Ken Fischer.
Hopefully you made some Tonex, Kemper, NAM captures of this amp!
We didn't but that would be cool!
@@antihero0101 The amp was for sale at the time the video was made and has since sold. Often owners of these rare and vintage amps don't want there to be a lesser priced footprint of their Dumble available on the market or something that might devalue what they have in some way. If effort to make the sale of the amp uncomplicated our purpose here was simply to document a great rare amplifier, that's it.
I used to think tone was good enough. My first solid state was good enough until I played a tube amp. The line 6 bean was just like having the real amp , until I played the real amp. That dumble sounded great on the video but I’m sure if I were playing it in the room it would be mind blowing. I guess that’s the great tone chase . Dumbel may send overpriced but there’s a reason they are so sought after. If I had the money I’d own one l but until then I’ve got good enough.
Great amps if you have the discretionary dough, otherwise there are plenty of other great amps out there.
I've played through #40 and took the pix of the chassis that have been over the internet for the last 20+ years. It was OK, but It needed to be recapped, as well as a new set of tubes.
Funny this should appear for me. I just dropped my Dumbleator clone into a brand new rack case😂 I love that #22, FET is very useful with single coils/slide.
Never forget, TKT😅
FET input is good to boost of the gain of a lower output pickup.
This owned by Jason Isbell currently, correct?
Great video guys! Mason should have played a bit too. So much ground to cover with this amp, maybe we get an extended video?
I wanted to focus on the talking and let Gabe focus on the playing. Gabe's a superior player so best to showcase the amp with a more competent guitarist.
@@VertexEffectsInc Agreed, you've got the judgement. I have a feeling that the amp might even sound good with me playing it! That's asking a lot.
Thanks for this! I have The Book, and now I know it's incomplete! 8^)
Just a quick note about the Kleinulator/Dumbleator loop interface -- I have a Ceriatone 20w D clone, and I bought the Kleinulator with it, but I've found that at least with the time-based efx that i have in the loop (right now, an Earthquake Astral Destiny and a Line 6 DL4 MkII), that box is not required. I would assume that the real D is similar in this regard.
It’s 100% required for any passive effects loop or you will have tone loss unquestionably and also will have many pedals that won’t work well at the levels of the effects loop.
@@VertexEffectsInc Well I can't tell any difference, but I'll try the Kleinulator again based on what you said. I think it depends on how any specific pedal is buffered on its inputs/outputs.
Hi Mason this something you should know. I have two power supplies that are reputable but the have two spots labled high voltage what pedals or what is their purpose.
Which speakers were in the cab?
Nice tone.A lot of that tone would be in the transformers i would imagine..What sort of speakers were in the cabinet ?
Speaker was EVM 12L
Mason: would love to know what speaker is in that cab.
EVM12L
saw that you already posted below. thx
Do we know the original owner, and trail of ownership to present?
Yes yes yes!
Yes!
mason...can we believe that 22 is the best one ?
I don't know if it's the BEST one for everyone. It's the best one that I've played considering the clean channel vs. dirty channel and how balanced they are. Sometimes "best" can be tricky, like saying "I wear a size 12 shoe so you should too".
Magnifico.💰💰💰💰💰💰
Thanks for watching!
Awesome!!! Please next time play the strat Waaayyyyy more😅😢
That one belongs to Mejia. It's a great guitar.
Thank you for your video!!! Thanks to Gabriel also not to shred!
I would have appreciate more rock'n'roll riffs than single notes solos btw ;-)
I'm working on builing my own Dumble inspired amp... Is there any chance to get the schematics and/or photos of the inside?
Usually some component value are susceptible to change from a model to the other, we can see that on models #102, #124, #183 schematics (that are known).
I'm curious about the transparency of the solid state FX loop buffer vs tube. I have a tube buffer but have never tried a solid state. I know a lot of people get the tube ones because they think it'll be "warmer" , but it's a buffer; I don't care about it being warm I just want it to be transparent. If there isn't much difference Ill get one, if only to save space and weight.
It's funny hearing how we could dial it in to get the tone we want since it's moot, quite literally none of us will ever find ourselves in that scenario.
Presuming both are well built and high quality, the Solid State is the way to go. It's lower noise and more transparent if you want the effects used in the FX Loop to only influence the processing of the guitar tone with modulation, delay, and reverb and not add a separate EQ or tone to the amp that wasn't there before the effects loop was used. Tube buffered FX Loops have a sound to them, which can be a good thing if you're trying to change the fundamental tone of your amp, but if you have a sound you like without the effects loop and just want to add some wet effects after the preamp section, I don't think it's the best solution to use go with say a loop built around 12AX7 if transparency is the goal.
@@VertexEffectsInc well, that's about as complete of an answer as one could ask for, thanks.
I assume the Ceriatone one is good? The tube one I have is theirs, I bought it when I built the 50W Mustang. It was super bright so being able to round it out with the buffer was good, but the two amps I have now I just want it to be transparent, so the solid state it is.
I know exactly what you mean! The best result I achieved is with Fryette valvulator. Transparent and with the tube feeling driving every effect with perfection.