Cheap Dumble

stonevibe

Well okay not cheap at all.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dumble-Overdrive-Special-Head-circa-1983-One-Owner-/130984170464

daveyh

Would be well cool if you had the money.

spacecadet

I came very close to buying one a few years back. I had the opportunity to get one for silly money. Silly money being £18k. At the same time I was offered an original 52 blackguard Tele in MINT condition for the same price.

My wife said I couldn't buy either of them.
(

dindude

Ha, I can just imagine having that conversation with my wife "there's this amp that is an absolute bargain, too good to miss, how much you ask? We'll if I told you that a medium spec Ford Focus coasts £18K these days...."

Er, no.

 

stonevibe

I'm sure it sounds lovely, I'm also pretty sure a Ceriatone would get close enough to the sound for a fraction of the mullah. Just no bragging rights though.

CloudNine

spacecadet said:

I came very close to buying one a few years back. I had the opportunity to get one for silly money. Silly money being £18k. At the same time I was offered an original 52 blackguard Tele in MINT condition for the same price.

My wife said I couldn't buy either of them.
(

You should have explained about the Dumble's fragile harmonics and crytal lattices. That may have swung it.

The big question, did you play through it, and was it any good?

ICBM

I'd want the handle fitted straight for that sort of money.

Also, if the "soul" of an amp is in the transformers - as mentioned in the other thread - how come this amp has standard Fender Twin ones?

exocet

This amp was reviewed as described within the ebay details. If you search hard enough you'll find the video clips. Let's just day that if you only had the clips as evidence of the amps capabilities....you wouldn't pay £500 for it. As mentioned elsewhere, there are plenty "cheap" clones available that get you the ballpark tone...

JMP220478

At 18k an investment piece - at $75k that's for rockstars n collectors only

Bucket

Fuck that price... I know they're good but there's no way in hell they're that good. I'm pretty certain you could get 90% of the way there with something at about a fiftieth of the price, if that. Even if someone gave me $75,000 I wouldn't buy it.

I bet it'll still sell though.

OilCityPickups

Howard Dumble and Humpty Dumpty have a lot in common: two rotund showoffs who both live in fantasy land.

martinw

A very clever guy, old HAD.

 

Only sold his amps to extremely talented players; either big names, top session men, or you had to submit a recording to him for approval.

Thence springs the myth that there is something special about the amps*, rather than the obvious reality: that great players sound great.

* Of which there are several different types, many of which were tweaked to the player's taste. yet the miracle applies to all of them.

(Amp mythology, like other religions, is flexible enough to cope with any level of debunking. For instance in the case of Dumbles, these have now been thoroughly analysed and duplicated, and the copies, such as Two Rock, Carol Ann etc are acknowledged as being great amps. The 'magic' therefore must be in the circuit and component choice. Of course.

In the case of Trainwrecks, the circuit is extremely simple....surely there can't be any 'magic' in there? No, apparently only KF can build a TW that sounds 'right'. None of the many copies and clones have been acknowledged by the cognoscenti as sounding as good. However, the 'magic' must be contagious, because recently a guy who worked with KF now and again has been turning out Trainwrecks that have the 'magic'. Yay!)

JohnPerry

fuggit. i'll have it. PayPal gift?

spacecadet

@CloudNine but of course. I have had the honour of playing three different ones. 2 OD Specials and a Steel String Singer. It was an OD special I was going to buy. The crystal lettuce was certainly present, it is a spectacular amp and whatever you throw at it sounds wonderful. The Steel String Singer (much much more rare) was a ferociously loud amp. Think silver face twin with some extra meat.

I wasn't however buying it to use or for the tone. Merely to compensate for a small penis.

Bucket

martinw said:

A very clever guy, old HAD.

 

Only sold his amps to extremely talented players; either big names, top session men, or you had to submit a recording to him for approval.

Thence springs the myth that there is something special about the amps*, rather than the obvious reality: that great players sound great.

* Of which there are several different types, many of which were tweaked to the player's taste. yet the miracle applies to all of them.

(Amp mythology, like other religions, is flexible enough to cope with any level of debunking. For instance in the case of Dumbles, these have now been thoroughly analysed and duplicated, and the copies, such as Two Rock, Carol Ann etc are acknowledged as being great amps. The 'magic' therefore must be in the circuit and component choice. Of course.

In the case of Trainwrecks, the circuit is extremely simple....surely there can't be any 'magic' in there? No, apparently only KF can build a TW that sounds 'right'. None of the many copies and clones have been acknowledged by the cognoscenti as sounding as good. However, the 'magic' must be contagious, because recently a guy who worked with KF now and again has been turning out Trainwrecks that have the 'magic'. Yay!)

The way you say this makes it seem even more like bullshit than I already thought it was.

[Deleted User]

TheGuitarWeasel;29451" said:

Howard Dumble and Humpty Dumpty have a lot in common: two rotund showoffs who both live in fantasy land.

To say the guy's supposed to be the doyen of great amp design, his guitar choice is poor! A Strat from THE worst period...

That said, the best amp I've ever played through so far, was a Fuchs ODS (which is based on a Dumble). The price (though high) was no where near even 'cheap' Dumble money.

Based on nothing more than curiosity, I'd love to try one. My guess is that like a '59 Les Paul, Dumbles probably deserve their reputation, if not representing what most of us might consider to be 'value for money'....

ICBM

richardhomer said:

To say the guy's supposed to be the doyen of great amp design, his guitar choice is poor! A Strat from THE worst period...

Shouldn't make any difference, and some of them (rare, I admit) are actually very nice.

richardhomer said:

That said, the best amp I've ever played through so far, was a Fuchs ODS (which is based on a Dumble).

I've played one of those too. It was... an amplifier. A very well-made and quite versatile-sounding one, but I didn't hear anything 'magical' about it, or better than any other similarly well-made and complex amp (just different). There are many amps I personally prefer, some both cheaper and less well-made.

I completely agree with martinw about the Dumble (and Trainwreck) myth.

Setzer

People are complaining that $75k is too expensive!!! I have cut up a couple of these for my pedalboard, 3m doesnt go too far. Everyone who has bought these cables can hear the improvement in my setup!

http://www.noiseaddicts.com/2008/11/most-expensive-speaker-cable-world-audioquest-audiophile/

impmann

271 watchers and no bids. 

Speaks volumes.

Something is worth what someone else is prepared to pay.

And so far, no is prepared to pay this.

Nuff said, IMHO.

impmann

Apparently its this amp:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5OzfX1emkA

stonevibe

Its alright.

Not my cup of tea, but okay.Certainly not worth the asking price to my ears.