1983 100-watt Dumble Overdrive Special Demo
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- Опубліковано 28 вер 2024
- In this vintage amp test, Bryan Clark and Adam Fluhrer play a roomful of cool guitars through a rare 1983 100-watt Dumble Overdrive Special (serial #133). You also get a guided tour of the front panel and a demonstration of the switches and knobs.
Bonus! Fluhrer reveals this particular amp's special history.
![Robben Ford & His Dumble Overdrive Special [He Plays It, We Play It!]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/4z-IkXE36DI/mqdefault.jpg)
Thank you for doing an actual demo as opposed tp many who talk their way through and forget to show the amp's wares.
Great session guys, thanks. A quick story: James Ralston, guitarist with Tina Turner, was also in our touring band around '88/89 (James Reyne band). James had an Overdrive Special combo that we used to warm up with in the dressing room. Ha! I don't think either of us had any idea at the time what sort of iconic practice amp we were using. On stage he used Mesa and I used Marshall. I hope James still owns that little amp. It was a killer.
Shows how bang on the zen drive was. When they fine tune the overdrive eventually it sounds almost as good as one!
That response and attack when hitting a note is noticable through my earphones and I can only imagine the feels when playing one of this beasts!
Whoever equated this to wine tasting, they are spot on. It gets to the point with high-end amps as with high-end wines where the price difference from upper-level to upper-upper-level isn't worth the "goodness" difference. Especially because the difference in tone being "better" at that point is incredibly subjective, and dependent on many other factors, too. Get a Mark V for a 12th of the price, or a Fender Bassman for even less. Yes, the cleans are wonderful, but the dirties are cringe-worthy. How is this amp fetching $28,000+? Same reason PRSes cost $5,000, probably.
+DickTruth 100,000+
yeah i agree, the dirty sounds suck, I love Mesa amps. Also I watched this video and saw that a guy was playing a Milkman, which I believe John Mayer uses too. The Milkman has an awesome and beautiful clean tone.
Cork sniffers
You can get a decent Bassman for under a grand, way more desirable tone wise than a Dumble, imo.
SOUNDS LIKE CRAP !!
I'm so disappointed that the input gain on the mic lines were too hot for the cabinet volume/placement. Every note has that splat that is so unappealing! would love to hear how good this would've sounded in the room!
100,000 dollars to get the perfect tone for the so called "music of the poor" (blues)
No shit bro! Dudes with too much cash wanting to be blues dudes pushing budget amps to the max in some unknown juke joint..Its in the fingers attached to the soul. Not fancy amps. Never liked the D sound. Too hard on the ears. Gotta be deaf to need that much attack.
Meanwhile R.L. Burnside plays the most soulful Blues with a cheap Silvertone amp.
The secret of blues lies in the soul and fingers of a blues player, it can't be bought by buying a glitzy amp
You can get a Fender or any number of amps that get this sort of tone of less than a hundredth of the price. Ridiculous! I tried a Dumble in the 80s. Yeah, it sounded terrific, but it wasn't worth the price.
@@angusorvid8840 Indeed, the Dumble Overdrive Special is quite overhyped. I haven't tried a Dumble ODS yet but I did try a Two Rock TS1.
It sounded good but nothing remarkable. To my ears the Soldano SLO and even it's clone the Brit-Tone SLO Plus sound way better than the Two Rock TS1. The TS1 just doesn't have the thick smooth tone and glassy break-up of an SLO.
If the Dumble ODS is anything like the Two Rock TS1 then thanks I'll pass.
China makes a pedal that does that.
why is it so compressed ? - is it the cam mic we are listening to ???
Fantastic demo of a Dumble and how the knobs and switches affect the tone. Very useful. Thanks 👍
It's a good sounding amp. IDK what these kids are smoking that are paying 20-40K dollars for a dumble amp. Maybe it's a rarity thing, But rare doesn't mean sounds great. I think it sounds good, and when I say good, I mean it sounds about like any other 800$ tube amp I've ever bought.
Eddie Clayton what most artists say that have one custom made by Howard dumble for them is that it allows them to sound like them. because no one dumble is the same. they're all voiced individually.
plus youtube compresses everything so what you're hearing is no where close to what it sounds like in the room or even on the recording.
I get that Zepp, but to be a truly bad ass guitar slinging hero, you have to be able to plug into a Peavey Bandit and make it sound like you as well when you didn't want to haul that jewel of a dumble out to the 100$ gig. loll.
Eddie Clayton I'm not saying it's worth it.
I totally agree. A lot people jumps in the bandwagon and convinced themselves expensive guitar/amps/pedals/gear sounds more better than cheap ones, i beg to this agree w/ that. Its in the player thats it.
Listening to it on youtube is hardly a great indicator of what an amp/ guitar sounds like in the flesh though. I've also heard great sounding youtube demos, gone wow, tried it out and.....Anyone played through a Dumble here? (honest answers only: please spare me the "I've been fortunate to play 4 or 5" type shit - you haven't- basic maths)
$75,000 for an amp that if you were having it at a gig with a Peavy Bandit, nobody could tell the difference.
I have heard one in the flesh and while it sounded good, it was nowhere NEAR $75,000 good. I have a modded Bassman that sounds better. Oh yeah, and I can still afford my mortgage, bills, etc. If I could afford this amp, I would pass and buy a '71 Cuda for a daily driver.
@@Maschine_Elf Not really a gripe. Just making fun of the "Lawyer Blues" crowd.
This was my amp. I sold it to Steve in 85 for $1250 after owning it for 2 years and having bought it form the original owner from Texas for $1100. It sold this year for $75,000 on Ebay. I want to kill myself.
I'm the Westcoast artist rep for Fuchs Bill. I love 'em!
That's hilarious! HaHaHa!
@@agent19kentuckypotbaron15 I was next in line just behind you, grinding my teeth waiting my turn.. ol' soft hand was the best knob polisher this side of the mighty Mississippi
always will keep you coming back for Marr!!
@@agent19kentuckypotbaron15
Did he use his tremolo bending hand? If not, you got gyped!!! Glory hole?
I get these same or even better tones out of my keeley modded blues driver, an EQ pedal, and my orange crush practice amp. Glad to hear this amp is complete hype and nothing more
You have to feel it. I built one and it sounds really damn good but it's VERY touch sensitive as far as gain and volume are concerned. The range you can get just by varying your attack is downright insane and really articulate. But has a very immediate and squishy feel under your fingers like you've compressed the shit out of it. You usually have to sacrifice one for the other and this is more than a middle ground it's the best of both worlds. That's why it's so "renowned".
I love all guitars but I have to say the fender strat and Tele stole the show.
Nice amp regardless
Agree entirely.
This is the best sounding demo of a Dumble ODS I've heard on YT - there are many clone amps out there - amplified nation , Two rock , Red plate , Fuchs - - they are all great but don't hold a candle to this amp - ALL of The clones I've heard break up in a very different way to this amazing amp - they start sounding buzzy and more Shred metal like - The real Dumble seems to have more harmonics and a wild Kind of note flipping thing going on - Also the thickness of the high strings remains whereas ALL the clones seem to sound like a fender Bassman or Fender Deluxe / Twin on the clean channel - This particular Dumble seems to have it's own thing going on - I understand why people would pay hundreds of thousands of $ on an amp - This is ENDGAME Tone - PERIOD - Untouchable - it's the way it was built , and the builders ears , and the way the components were chosen - Any tech can Un-goop the Pre Amp section of this amp and copy component values and rebuild it - BUT - it wont sound like this spectacular amp - !! - If only I had the money - I would offer ANY AMOUNT to own this ridiculous PERFECT ENDGAME Amp - !!!
its just a stadium blues tone, I don't really get the appeal.
This very amp was once mine. I sold it to Steve in the late 80s to buy a Soldono 100 watt. Mike Soldono was the new kid in town. I bought this amp from a guy in Texas for $1100 (with Anvil flight case) and sold it a year later for $1250...Those were the days...what an idiot. We all have a story like that.
Only thing this video proves is that the pentatonic scale is more important than any amp out there.
Played as fast as possible, of course.
Let's hear what that champ sounds like
I am listening to this on my work macs built in speakers. Take that tone snobs!
I've played a real Dumble that belongs to a guy who was doing work on a Fender Blackface that I owned at the time. It was an amazing experience just to see and touch one of these legendary amps. It was plugged into some 4x12 cab I don't recall what kind but I tell you the power of the sound is what struck me immediately. He and a friend were tweaking knobs as I was noodling around on a Les Paul style guitar. The amp is be able to reproduce every nuance from the guitar like almost perfectly IMO. I was only able to to do this for about 20 minutes, I think they got tired of me..lol. I liken the experiece to test driving a Lamborgini in the amp world, very thrilling!
this Really isn't an accurate representation at all, this amp deserves to be mic'd up correctly. Without proper sound this video is useless.
D style amps take a while to learn. They also break up more politely with a Dumblelator. They can be really hard to be in the same room with at gig volumes unless you dial back the bright, presence and bass boost. It took me some 6 months to really get to grips with my 100 watt Ceriatone HRM, and currently I only use it for recording. It's a fantastic amp, but very picky about settings depending on which guitar is in play. Switching from single coils to humbuckers takes some tweaking to get it sounding good. It's not like a black face Fender where you can just switch guitars. Very subtle settings changes make a big difference, and the overdrive stack is a real balancing act. All that said when you find that sweet spot it is arguably one of the best sounding amps on the planet.
I had the pleasure of playing through Robben Ford's #2 ODS at his dojo guitar camp a couple of years ago, and found that dialed for his tele my P90 based guitar sounded - ok. Every one of these are tuned differently depending on the player it was built for at the tone stack, so this was not a surprise. For reference, Howard actually built the first ODS for Robben Ford, as he'd been going to see Robben in the very early 80s doing live shows in Santa Cruz, CA and felt he could build him something better than he was currently using. From what I understand that #1 ODS no longer leaves Robben's house as it's valued at around 1 Million US. Sadly it's like having a '59 Les Paul that's gotten so valuable it never leaves the house (unless you're Joe Banamassa).
IF I am not mistaken, I believe that Two-Rock is based on the Dumble. That amp sounds amazing.
Two Rock shits all over this
Just as an example, you can have Henry Heistand at Red Plate Amps hand build you one of his excellent, toneful creations for around $2,400 to $4,000; I feel they are every bit as good as many of the Dumbles I've heard...some are great, but it's often the player that makes them sound so great.
Wow, great video and as a former student of Steve Watson, I had no idea he played a dumble.
Dumble are amazing. I tried to get a similar tone using a mesa and pedals. But the differences are close yet they're a million miles away.
I posted a few vids
thank you for showing me this amp.. the sound reminds me of my silverface early 70's bassman head.
Mr. Dumble would probably freak if he saw you leaning on that amp!
Truly an historic amp that sounds incredible.
Okay, I'm not as versed as I should be on these but I'm wondering. Is this (#133) a high plate or low? Does it have a Classic or Skyliner tone stack? Just curious.
REALLY FUZZY AND BASSY SOUNDING..
INTERESTING HOW THIS WAS STEVIE RAY VAUGHAN'S FAVORITE AMPLIFIERS..
very hard to work on because dumble used to put some goop on there so you couldn't copy...
Stevie used a steel string stinger
I know this is a pretty polarizing amp- you either hate it or love it. Personally, I really dig. And I had the privilege of being mentored by the great Steve Watson over 12 years ago. Perhaps I'm biased, then.
If you ever get a chance to ply through one of these do so. The hype is justified.
Nice playing, love that blues riffing at around 6 minutes.
Not all Dumble amps sound/are the same. Depends on style and use. He also is VERY picky about speakers and cabinets, as any amp sound changes with speakers this is tough to say how it "should sound".
Sounds great - just like my Fender Super Sonic through a 2x12"
This is a great sounding amp, but for tone-stacked hot-rodded Fender 6L6 gooey-goodness... Mesa/Boogie Mark V all day.
Gordon Tubbs No way man, if you would have said mark III or mark Coli, then maybe.
Well, between all the different modes of the Mark V, you can probably get into Mark III territory because it has Mark I, IIC+, and IV modes in addition to the other modes w/ 5-band EQ.... I'm just saying.
Its unheard of now with digital recording equipment to record the tube amp with the power tubes in there harmonic overdriven sounds as the amp must be turned up very high to do it !
One of the best tones i heard like is was a guy playing the Star Spangled Banner on a 20 watt Rebel 20 amp and celestion speaker cabinet before a softball game on you tube !
The lower notes were so harmonic it was magical but the highs were lost and mostly weak sounding !
I cannot find that video anywhere now !
The difference in power tubes and brands come out when cranking the amp master volume way up !
El34 and El84 tubes crunch when overdriven where 6v6 and 6L6 tubes stay more clean and get smoother and the midrange gets thicker and highs much less strident on all tubes !
The KT66 tubes have the fattest biggest presentation playing chords like the JCM 45 amp tone !
If you have a presence control it is to keep the power tubes clean sounding with a more crispy tone but on zero lets the power tubes overdrive nicely usually !
Presence is actually a negative feedback wire from the transformer that controls clipping of the power tubes !
Blues and slide guitar are better styles for overdriven power tubes as the amp has sustain and sag and hence is slower responding but twice as beautiful harmonic content comes out the speaker !
One harmonic beautiful awesome sounding note beats fast riffage to death every time , so blues is for cranked tube amps !
Folks think overdrive is only a preamp gain turned up or a pedal but lacks the true tone of power tube overdrive which is far superior to the ears !
Old Cream band played and recorded using cranked amps with power tubes saturated and clipping some nice fat tones indeed !
The volume is the first gain control for the OD then there's a trim inside (2nd gain) then the level (3rd gain) then the ratio is a master for the OD. They have a potentiometer inbetween each gain stage. so it's tube- volume- tube- trim- tube- level- tube- ratio- master vol- output stage. Clean just goes tube- vol- tube- master- output stage, bypassing the OD 12ax7.
I like my Peavey Classic 50 and 30.
Wow. Sounds almost as good as a Fender Deville.
The recording quality and poor control dial in doesn't do it justice. Dumbles don't set up the way most people expect, and these guys don't know what they're doing with it. Should've gotten someone more familiar with Dumbles to help them set the amp up and educate them a bit.
I saw Robin Ford in Petaluma,CA about 9yrs ago, he got his Dumble,tc 2290 setup. He sounded amazing. If you give him his guitar, tc 2290,and a Mesa Nomad I think he still be sounds great.
wow it sounds like most other tube amps when cranked a bit?
I've got a pencil that Jimi Hendrix once pissed on. I'll accept offers above 25k. The tone when you write with it....!
I'm a taker. Willing to actually offer you 50K. Need the certificate of authenticity though
no certificate but it does have the period correct eraser, with full Acme factory appointments, who knows what he rubbed out with it! I might throw in some pencil case candy.
Gotta agree,, only of your looking at dog turds to find your stash.
Pissy Pencil, now that's a band name!
I’d take that over this amp
Put a student driver in a Ferrari and bad things will happen.
I think the explanation of the Gain Channel was a bit off. The First knob controls the amount of overdrive as the input gain control, then the "Ratio" knob is meant to be the output volume of the gain in "Ratio" to the clean channel, or makeup gain rather. Describing it as a presence control, while having presence like effects -that's what the Presence Knob is. It is confusing, but that's my understanding of the Dumble circuit style. Great video though guys! Let me know if I'm wrong.
The problem with the way this amp sounds is the speakers in the cabinet. With a Dumble Amp, you want EXTREMELY clean sounding speakers...NOT CELESTION VINTAGE 30 "type" speakers.
indeed. i use an eminence delta pro.
totally agree with that. Eminence. At least 65 to 80 watt speakers needed.
Not sure if there's any compression in the mic/pre/mixer chain, but the compression on the clean channel, esp. with the '60 Strat, is very nice. It is quite audible, but nice. However, the dirty channel here sounds way too compressed and fizzy. Maybe knob settings, the cab being used, the mic placement, guitar settings, playing style, the particular voicing of this amp--who knows. I've just heard the dirty channel of other Dumbles sound, well, as awesome as they're hyped to be. One of the best types of amp sounds with a Strat that I know of.
In some places in the video there's a pedalboard visible on the floor. I didn't listen to them talk so I don't know if they're using it or not, but is this a fair amp demo?
you didn't get that Ampeg angled cab against the wall from Corner Music on 12 south in Nashville did you? looks just like the one I sold them a while ago. if it is tell her i miss her!
Label me a fanboy or whatever, but I love the sound here. That's the sound of the amp, not the recording. Make of that what you will. It's kind of like lining up to get into a club where the band is already playing....you can hear them but it's still muffled.
Howard made 300 amps since the 70s mostly for artists that he enjoyed. Folks buy classic cars for 50k and this is no exception unless it played on a grammy album. Most of these folks wont sell. So to the haters keep hating it just shows what your talent level is.
i cant afford $100,000 but i just loaded the dumble overdrive up in my Fractal audio AX8 with Avatar V30 cab IRs and its pretty much a very authentic representation of the tone, even the overdrive and tone controls react the same way as the original... just amazing...
You need to turn master all the way up and then volume up till you hear "body" once you hear that....then set your lows mids and highs to taste...for a cleaner warm and thick tone always have the master turned up MORE then the volume....and thank you
I think this amp is superb back in the days. Nostalgic piece, but for that price tag, no way, and some amps sounded more better nowadays just my opinion though. I love playing guitar that is all, tone and music is in the player, gear just fine tunes the skill of a guitarist/musician.
yeah i agree, i was just trying to bring to there attention that if you don't use the powwer tubes (turning up the master volume) you just don't get the toneit doesn't even have so much to do with the recording technique as much as it has to do with knowing how to use a valve amplifier to it's potential as a VALVE AMPLIFIER. It's not surprising though,you'd be surprised how many seasoned guitar players don't understand this...power tubes, pre-amp tubes, transformer, guitar.they all work together
It is an Les Paul Junior Special, so yes, it still is an Les Paul Junior, just a different variant of the base LP Junior model.
"Junior" does not mean "single pickup", and there have been many LPJ's made with two pickups.
What is the amp in the intro with the slide guitar. That is an excellent and warm sound.
Dumble!
@jensen, I agree. I can see why SRV liked his Dumble. It has a very distinct sound. I love the pre amp. You certainly would not see this at Big Bobs.
That Esquire is the stand out
agreed
My least favorite word that is not in the dictionary: dumblized. Man i dumblized my 5w fender frontman. Its siccccc
Now this is a demo! Just plug straight in and twist pots!
I can get this tone with my stompboxes just cascading them so they compress and saturate the signal till it's squashed to shit. My Carvin Belair sure sounds superior to this.
I'm assuming (and hoping) the compression was added post production; it is quite a bit of it haha
Sweet job recording the audio bros.
super vid... just curious what gauge of strings on this git's and brand name .. thanks
SwB
Dumble? whoop-eee-doo! There is nothing in that amp that makes its value over a grand or two IMO. Better options for the bucks folks.
TOTALLY AGREE !! This is a really OLD amp .. THAT is the ONLY Thing special about it . SAVE YOUR MONEY !!!!
Ya whatever If you don't hear any special sound good for you. Obviously the people who actually matter hear it to pay the money for the amp and others pay the money to hear this amp whether in a studio, on a record or in a live situation. So it must be worth something to a lot of someone's cause they get bought and sold pretty quickly. I love my Boogie and really wonder if it's as good. Old S O B with a 12L and 100 watts.
This sounds close to the modified Music Man amps that Aerosmith used back in the '70s. But with channel switching. Basically a stroked Fender. I'm listening with headphones, Numark.
Dynamic amp with a distinctive note. See, some wine lingo!
Sounds like every other amp ,aiming at a specific guitar era.
50.000 dollars??? More like 50.000 pesos!!!
I own one as well. It's needed only power tubes in 30 yrs. There are new amps that can get really close.
ah thank you so much for doing this. I wish you folks didn't used vintage 30s. In my experience the V30s have a blocky tone that can hide intricate harmonic content. They are a good sound well, rock out speaker but I wouldn't pair them with a tone machine. I like Alnico speakers for that :)
Again thank you so much for doing this.
Definately not a glorified presence knob, they all work in the pre amp stage, presence works in the output (phase inverter) stage altering hi freq.
People always mention the clean sound of Dumble and Dumble style amps. I NEVER hear what I think of as a "clean" sound, which to me is what you get from a really good Twin Reverb at a moderate volume-that to me is clean.
This amp is a heavily modded blackface Fender Bandmaster. With added gain stages it distorts way more. But the cleans are not even close to the Bandmasters. The Dumble has way more volume but crazy loud amps are out of style.
LOL..at "these two Yum Yums. You lifted me outta my depression with that.
Premier needs to check their mic levels....the clipping is interfering with the sound of the amp
The clean sounds really are great. The dirtier sounds are probably quite achievable on a wide range of decent gear. They should A/B it with more affordable stuff (but not identify it, for fairness.)
What is the intro music from?
My favorite dumble vid is 79 dumble.
Sounds like a Fender Twin to me with the shelving filter caps changed to 2 X .02 Caps and 150/1000PF caps in treble pass SW. OD is kept well controlled.
1. No Caster
2. Tom Holmes
great review
isn't this the amp SRV played through in his later years? if so, did they really not mentiom him?
No. SRV used a Dumble Steel String Singer. If I'm not mistaken, John Mayer owns it now.
I hear you guys when you way that "How you set the controls is a matter of personal taste" but I have to agree with others here: that sounded fizzy and thin! If you've ever played a Mark Boogie, a Dumble or a Dumble derived amp (like Fuchs, Two Rock etc) you know that they just don't sound good until the power tubes get cooking. Since the magic comes from multiple gain stages interacting, and the master is pushing the preamp gain into the PI and the power tubes, it BEGS to be turned up!
Wow. Lovely.
Very cool!
Is it me or during the first strat demo there's compression? Little squishy
That's not what it is at all. Sure, the circuits are similar overall. But when you get inside the amp and look at what's really going on, you see that they use much higher quality parts, different construction methods, different transformers, and a much different gain structure. It may not sound different over UA-cam with loads of compression, but when you play it in person and you FEEL the amp, and they way it responds, then it all makes sense.
I'll keep my 68' Bassman.
Except that the whole Mr. 335 thing came about before Larry got his Dumble. Most of his famous studio stuff was a Princeton, and later, Boogies. THEN came the Dumble.
$100,000 for one of these? I have a $2000 hand wired baron that will eat this thing alive no questions asked
do you mean Byron?
modcraft13
Bacon more likely
the video does not do it justice at all. sounds like the mic was clipping on the od channel. and what not.
Hand Wired Bacon :-0
Please bro. Get a grip on reality.
because your talking about resistors and filter capacitors there values don't change over their life until they fail it's obvious im talking to someone who buys into hype knows very little of electrical/electronic components and probably cant even read a schematic properly. Tubes are completely different beast yes they may sound different but usually they just start crackling when they start to fail.
That's why the vol, level & ratio all turn down the OD volume. The master turns down the whole amp. The only thing I don't like about the design is the first vol. affecting the amount of overdrive. But you can then compensate with the level. Simple but a little confusing.
That is a nice amp, but for 30k, crazy!!!!! You can get that same awesome tone with a Fuchs ODS, and you can find a used ODS for around 2k. I think the Fuchs sounds better than the original.
Well that's because the Fuchs is a Dumble clone. Andy based his amp designs on the ODS circuit. The early amps sound scary close to a Dumble. The new stuff is his take on the circuit combined with his experience so its more inspired by then a direct clone like the early ones were. To my ears, Andy's amps are the closest thing you can come without selling your first born.
Right on. :)
Matchless DC 30 will always be the best amplifier you can spend your hard earned cash on. If you can play you just need one, a good guitar and cable...... DUMB-le indeed
I wanna' see that blue Kustom back there!
There's really no 'Dumble' sound per-say, but instead a couple hundred incarnations of it. I guess universally all Dumbles are more '3-D' sounding in whatever tone they are meant to deliver, and have a really quick response to playing and notes. But that's really the only consistency because they are toned tonally so differently per player.
These amps take some time to get dialed in. These guys can certainly play, but I don't think they had enough time with the amp (or didn't have a good starting point). Listen to the guys that live with these amps to really get a feel for how they sound.
did they record this from a phone in their pocket