Santana switching away from Mesa

I hate to rag on such an iconic player, but the most recent quick clips I've seen from him sounded like hot doodoo to me, so distorted, and missing any hint of his soulful self. Have you seen his Master Class promo for instance? Granted that's not a real performance, but still.
 
I know Mesa has been his go-to, but hasn't he also been using Dumbles for a long time?
He had Dumbles on stage, along with different versions of the Mesa amps in photos and videos I've seen. I think he used a Twin, maybe it was at Woodstock, but that might have been borrowed. He was using more recent versions of the 1x12 combo too, and then dug his original out of storage, loved how it returned him to his original sound, which is when Mesa rereleased the original Boogie. Mesa dropped it from their product listings, so maybe that was what precipitated the break, but he's still on their endorsers list.

A Dumble would suit his style nicely; That "Dumble is the sound of flesh against flesh…" comment he made in the article is particularly apt for his sound.
 
Yeah, he’s been using Dumbles and Bludotones for a long time. Even in the rig rundown from 2014, he had them. Looks like he’s simply removed the Boogie. I think his relationship was with the whole experience… Randall included. Likely doesn’t feel the same without him. Too conspicuous of a time frame to not see that as a possibility.

 
In a recent interview on Know Your Gear, Tremonti said they're working on making his MT100's 3rd channel something Dumble-ish.

Maybe PRS will release a new Dumble clone. Could end up being a Santana sig.
 
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