RIP Dumble

I was getting my huge rack built for me in mid 80’s. LabSound LA. Dude walked into loading dock and said he was an amp builder. Said he could build me one that I’d love for 3 grand or something. I just spent a decade with my Mesa IIC and was really wanting to go the rack way.

Besides, I didn’t want to be on stage with something called a Dumble.

Still kicking myself over that one!
 
I was getting my huge rack built for me in mid 80’s. LabSound LA. Dude walked into loading dock and said he was an amp builder. Said he could build me one that I’d love for 3 grand or something. I just spent a decade with my Mesa IIC and was really wanting to go the rack way.

Besides, I didn’t want to be on stage with something called a Dumble.

Still kicking myself over that one!
That's more than $7,000 in todays money - that's a nice piece of cheese. He must already have developed a bit of a following, at that point, in order to charge that.
 
The impact of his amps on the boutique market probably can't be understated -- just a huge figure who made it clear you could earn a living building exactly the tools a handful of craftspeople wanted to do their jobs to the best of their abilities.

RIP to a legend.
 
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RIP, indeed.

I got to hear 2 of his amps in person a couple months ago. Of course, I don't know what they sounded like...they were on stage behind shields with 6 more guitar amps and surrounded by the rest of the band. But, still....I'm pretty sure that was the first time I've heard real ones in person. Played a handful of clones, though.

This might be the most civil a thread mentioning the Dumble name has ever been online. And, yes, RIP.

May he rest in peace.

I'm curious, did anyone ever figure out what made his circuit so special? What was under the goop?
Yes, the clones follow the circuits. So do the models. So, Cliff can probably answer that as well as anybody.

As far as I'm aware, part of it was the weird things he did to solve specific problems, and part of it was just insane attention to detail and shading individual component values to suit the sound he wanted for the person he was building it for...most of it was just being hand built by him.

Were late 50s Les Pauls really better guitars than everything else at the time? Or are they sought after because of the people who used them to change the world? I firmly believe it's the later, and it's the same with Dumble's amps.

It's nowhere near the same thing, but I have a few little things that were hand-made by people I know IRL. Our kitchen table, for example, was made by friend. I have a couple camping knives that another friend made from bar stock. I'm having some guitar straps made by a guy I know who works with leather. None of them are "magical", and some of them are kinda weird compared to off-the-shelf offerings.

But, they are more special.

It just so happens that some of the people who felt that way about Dumble's amps were....well....who they were.
 
For those who don't know, Alexander Dumble is the seated guitarist... Henry Kaiser is playing the whacky guitar.
Knew Dumble was the guy sitting down, but didn't know it was Henry Kaiser standing up, that explains a lot. Among other things, Dumble built him an amp early on, so he wouldn't have been surprised by what Henry did. And Henry is out there, in various ways at different times. Alexander was grooving it too. RIP.
 
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