So, the Dumble thing...

In the AxeFX world, I always use a volume block after the amp/cab and before the ambient effects.

In the real world, my preference is for a volume control in the FX loop, if the amp has a loop.
 
If it's post-buffer of some sort, then I'd agree - that's one thing active electronics (EMG, et al) gets you, treble retention and fidelity as you roll down volume. But in a totally passive setup, it's simply another volume pot in series with the guitar.
Watch the video and judge for yourself... ;)
 
:) i get you, but my conclusion-critic about this post was only about tone, i mentioned i am listening with good speakers and in acousicaly treated room. ofcourse it doesnt matter where the knobs are, what you do as long as you get the tone. but i am pretty confident Robben wouldn't turn the master to 10 in studio either even if he could...ofcourse i might be wrong.
Yeah I agree, but keep in mind not everyone is after trying to copy Robben’s tone. For example, I personally gave up chasing other people’s tone a long long time ago. That’s not to say I don’t have a EVH or Adam Jones Patch or something close to it, but my main focus is creating patches/tones that are “my tone.” And as such, I have no real “rules” per se:). I use my ear and the knowledge I’ve gained over the years & years of playing & listening & reading etc. I certainly don’t claim to know it all, I’m always trying & eager to learn more, I love it, and also always willing to share & pass whatever experiences & knowledge I’ve come across along as well. That’s the one cool thing about a unit like the AFIII, you can crank the MV and not blow your ears out, or have to have a load box. It’s just another tool.
I will say typically MV amps do generally sound better with the MV lower, but there are definitely some cases where higher settings sound good. Especially on a lot of the clean channels, if you’re looking for a bit of grit, compression & fatness. Thickens things up, get a bit more sustain & more mids.
Each amp is different though, but I always try and “learn” how that MV effects everything when first dialing in any amp. There’s a lot of good stuff in there.
 
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Sorry to be the grammar / spelling police, but it's "per se". ;)
Ugh, thank you, I actually appreciate that more than you know. It didn’t look right to me but I didn’t get a auto correct on it, so I let it go. I think sometimes the more I read through posts out there on the internet the more used to misspellings and improper grammar & punctuation I get used to & start to pick up on some of it.
 
Leon! Awesome dude. Aja is one of my favorite albums of all time.

Interesting thing, I have a friend that used to teach at MI when it used to be GIT, and he told me he went to Dumble's shop many times. He said Dumble would tune all his amps by ear so all his amps were very inconsistent with one another. He told me he played many of them, some of them being the same model, and they sounded incredibly different. There's also a story that Robben Ford had two dumbles of the same model, and wanted Howard to tweak one of them to sound like the other one, and he couldn't no matter how long he tried. Basically, the dumble sound was just how he heard things on the day he tweaked it.

That being said, this is probably my favorite video of a dumble....



The "Dumble sound" seems to be one of those nebulous terms that means something different to everyone. It's like asking "what is the Marshall sound?" - to some it's Clapton's Bluesbreakers tone, to others it's EVH while to some it's Kerry King.

That is a sweet vid, Mick is exactly the kind of player who can nail the bluesy thing through that amp.
 
Yeah I agree, but keep in mind not everyone is after trying to copy Robben’s tone. For example, I personally gave up chasing other people’s tone a long long time ago. That’s not to say I don’t have a EVH or Adam Jones Patch or something close to it, but my main focus is creating patches/tones that are “my tone.” And as such, I have no real “rules” per se:). I use my ear and the knowledge I’ve gained over the years & years of playing & listening & reading etc. I certainly don’t claim to know it all, I’m always trying & eager to learn more, I love it, and also always willing to share & pass whatever experiences & knowledge I’ve come across along as well. That’s the one cool thing about a unit like the AFIII, you can crank the MV and not blow your ears out, or have to have a load box. It’s just another tool.
I will say typically MV amps do generally sound better with the MV lower, but there are definitely some cases where higher settings sound good. Especially on a lot of the clean channels, if you’re looking for a bit of grit, compression & fatness. Thickens things up, get a bit more sustain & more mids.
Each amp is different though, but I always try and “learn” how that MV effects everything when first dialing in any amp. There’s a lot of good stuff in there.

we are totaly on same page. writing messages makes it harder to see it sometimes.
 
The "Dumble sound" seems to be one of those nebulous terms that means something different to everyone. It's like asking "what is the Marshall sound?" - to some it's Clapton's Bluesbreakers tone, to others it's EVH while to some it's Kerry King.

Yeah exactly!! To me the dumble sound is definitely the Carlton/Ford sound. But of course, SRV used one too and he sounded nothing like those guys.... and Santana too!
 
Love this fun thread.
Here is my standard reference video on the Dumble tone. Whatever that means! :cool:
 
the way i do this is with a volume block before the amp. the results are way different/better than using the volume pot on guitar. as i mentioned before, trainwrecks keep the tone way better when you roll the volume on guitar compared to other amps i tried.

That would work great (and I do the same sometimes), because you're not loading the input of the amp the way you would with a volume pedal and a 'real' tube amp.
 
That sounds pretty good. I remember a thread awhile back with Paco about the dumble note flipping. He was obsessed with it and got some really good sounds from the II. At least I think it was Paco.
he had always great tone !!


BTW here's my take on dumble on my Axe fx Ultra


i dig it , can't wait to buy the III :)
 
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Why does everyone forget that Walter Becker was the principle guitar player in Steely Dan?
Walter was the first to admit he was truly outclassed as a player, (on both guitar & bass) by the studio musicians they employed to properly present their songs.
That said, some of Walter's solo's were very fine indeed. a couple of exquisite examples are 'Black Friday' and 'FM'.
 
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