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I play guitar and take photos of stuff. I also like beans on toast.
Base theme by DesignModo & ported to Powered by Vanilla by Chris Ireland, modified by the "theFB" team.
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I have to say I've never played a Dumble - but I have played (and done a minor repair on, although it wasn't the builder's fault) one of the well-regarded copies, a Fuchs. It was very well-made and sounded OK. Like an amp... I don't really remember hearing anything special about it, it just sounded very even and a bit uninteresting.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
They don't want to be a cloning company.....
There are lots of Dumble clones on the market already......
They already have the most popular amp by sales in the hotrod Deluxe... i.e. they are already "cleaning up"
I would be interested in the 'legalities/permissions' on this? If (say) Fender produced a Dumble clone could they call it that and if they didn't, how are peeps to know?
Ok yes, they could 'allude' to it in the way that software rips call things "Tweedy" but then everyone then knows that a major amp maker is ripping off the Little Guy. Or they could pay for the name/circuitry but that implies,
a) Dumble wants to sell (out, maybe he HATES Fender!)
b) Fender will sell enough to make it commercially viable. They say "there is nothing new under the sun" and that is ever true of git amp design but 'cloning' is a sore point and some firms just take the piss!
Dave.
Some amp builders pure epoxy resin over the board, don't know about Dumble but that's a better way to protect a circuit. Sure you can get around that but it's harder to do so
Remember, it's easier to criticise than create!
You can copyright a PCB layout though, because it counts as an original artwork!
I think Dumble did. It's a waste of time - it becomes a challenge for people to reverse-engineer, and once done they then tend to put it in the public domain. It also makes repair work a pain in the arse.
I won't normally work on pedals or amps where it's done.
They do, or did, something quite like it - the Champion 600. Admittedly it was actually based on a later circuit with 'hidden' EQ - bizarrely it has a BF-type tone stack preset to buzzy, ratty and boxy - I really have no idea why they did that, since it must also have cost more to make than a proper 5F1 circuit.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
I play guitar and take photos of stuff. I also like beans on toast.
Remember, it's easier to criticise than create!
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
I don't know much about Dumbles but I remember reading that the first ones were modded BF/SF Fender heads that had been 'hot rodded'. In that sense, the 68 Customs are sort of following the same philosophy.
Remember, it's easier to criticise than create!
And the *really* strange thing is that the Champion 600 has a tone stack based on it... but it just doesn't sound right. Although the preset values chosen - treble low, bass almost off - are probably not how anyone would normally run a BF Champ.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
I sometimes wish I hadn't sold mine - I've had four of them, although only as many as three at the same time .
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
@Ossyrocks probably knows most about them on here and had a huge photo archive of Dumbles.
You have to remember Two Rock started out cloning Dumbles and their amps are still loosely based on them. Then there are many US cloners like Bludotone, Amplified Nation, Weaken, Glassworks, Fuchs etc etc. never mind Malaysian Ceriatone. Fender would struggle with that competition Tbh.
I've got a Champion 600 which I keep meaning to get around to selling.
If doesn't do the traditional Tweed champ thing, and even if the amp was voiced like that, the little 6" speaker wouldn't handle it.
What it does do is a nice clean sound at lower volume settings. I really like it clean - probably the blackface style tone stack.
I know a guy who still uses his for functions. Just that amp and he works the guitar volume knob and it's both loud enough for gigs and sounds fabulous.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein