Overdrive Deluxe - Fake?

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jelle
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Overdrive Deluxe - Fake?

Post by jelle »

Hi guys,

I have heard through two separate mutual friends that Mr. Dumble denies having built this Overdrive Deluxe combo that has been on Youtube for a bit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9U1mrbqyEyw

I already thought it was weird to see modern production chickenhead knobs on an old amp like that.

My Dumble modded brownface Deluxe has Dumbles name written on it: 'Howard'. Is there any proof that Dumble made this Overdrive Deluxe? Signature somewhere, Dumble stamp inside chassis?


This whole thing strikes me as very odd.
Smokebreak
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Re: Overdrive Deluxe - Fake?

Post by Smokebreak »

There is an interesting story about that on Sebago's site http://www.sebagosound.com/index.php?id=74

...which would mean that "technically", he did not build the amp in the videos, as it was modified by some tech, somewhere..
Bombacaototal
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Re: Overdrive Deluxe - Fake?

Post by Bombacaototal »

For me 3 things looked odd on this built

1) The accent knob is small and round and not matching the rest of the chicken head knobs on the faceplate. If you look at how much detail oriented Mr. D is on his builts I don't think he would do something like this

2) The quality of the silver faceplate does not look to match up with the quality of the Silverplate on his other builts

3) The overdrive Deluxe has the toggles in the following order: Jazz/Rock -> Bright. In all his builts the Jazz/Rock is always the last one and not the first like in this amp

But regardless it is a great sounding amp
Charlie Wilson
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Re: Overdrive Deluxe - Fake?

Post by Charlie Wilson »

Jelle, I think the Sebago story may be goofy enough to actually be true. This would not have been the first customer that gave Dumble a vintage amp and what came back was, well, different. :) I think it would have been easy to verify simply by checking the chassis serial # and the transformers. As far as being modified by another tech, we don't know if changes were made to the circuit or the amp had an issue that was fixed. The thing is, Dumble probably knows there is a guy out there trying to make 5K on his design, so he may be denying it so people question the authenticity of the amp.
CW
ChopSauce
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just for the sake of completion

Post by ChopSauce »

I just found the related video on Youtube. Back there I felt I had to reply to Charlie Wilson - mostly - just because I do appreciate his commitment to the community.

I met two pathological liars in my life. Believe me or not, but I have been mystified (for sure) by the same rationale (it's to goofy to having been invented) as Charly points out. I thus felt it is a perfect dosage of goofiness that gives them that temporary credit (in doubt) they live in.

So I won't be surprised the true amp story rather stands closer to "as HAD could have done it"...

... at first glance, though :
Bombacaototal wrote: Fri Nov 25, 2016 4:02 pm For me 3 things looked odd on this built

1) The accent knob is small and round and not matching the rest of the chicken head knobs on the faceplate. If you look at how much detail oriented Mr. D is on his builts I don't think he would do something like this

2) The quality of the silver faceplate does not look to match up with the quality of the Silverplate on his other builts

3) The overdrive Deluxe has the toggles in the following order: Jazz/Rock -> Bright. In all his builts the Jazz/Rock is always the last one and not the first like in this amp

But regardless it is a great sounding amp
... just because this - instead, plus the temptation of money - makes much more sense to me.
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Blackburn
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Re: Overdrive Deluxe - Fake?

Post by Blackburn »

Not the first Dumble to use a round Accent knob that differs from the rest. #94 has that appointment.
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Bombacaototal
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Re: Overdrive Deluxe - Fake?

Post by Bombacaototal »

Blackburn wrote: Fri Apr 21, 2017 3:33 pm Not the first Dumble to use a round Accent knob that differs from the rest. #94 has that appointment.
Yes, after this post I did I realised there are several with the small knob
brentm
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Re: Overdrive Deluxe - Fake?

Post by brentm »

I love a good mystery.

I found the amp for sale and I see two photos of the back of the amp. In the corner shown, I do see some text that is either etched or scratched onto the chassis. I may have confirmation bias but I see what looks like a "D" and an "Ho"

You'll have to zoom in on the image to see it...
od_text.jpg
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ToneMerc
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Re: Overdrive Deluxe - Fake?

Post by ToneMerc »

brentm wrote: Sat May 06, 2017 12:46 pm I love a good mystery.

I found the amp for sale and I see two photos of the back of the amp. In the corner shown, I do see some text that is either etched or scratched onto the chassis. I may have confirmation bias but I see what looks like a "D" and an "Ho"

You'll have to zoom in on the image to see it...

od_text.jpg
This is just like the Jesus toast....LOL

TM
brentm
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Re: Overdrive Deluxe - Fake?

Post by brentm »

ToneMerc wrote: Sat May 06, 2017 1:06 pm
This is just like the Jesus toast....LOL

TM
od_text2.jpg
Yeah, I dunno. It looks like a D and an H written on it.

Even if there is text on the amp that resembles Mr. Dumble initials, those could have been forged too. I think the only way to really authenticate the amplifier would be to see gut shots. :)
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Smokebreak
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Re: Overdrive Deluxe - Fake?

Post by Smokebreak »

ChopSauce
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Fake factor?

Post by ChopSauce »

Am I the only one to feel that this amp will have a huge amount of peers - with dubious stories and many (many) zeros on the price tag, when considering all the builds (here) with the explicit mention of Dumble's name on them?
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ToneMerc
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Re: Fake factor?

Post by ToneMerc »

ChopSauce wrote: Wed Jun 07, 2017 9:57 pm Am I the only one to feel that this amp will have a huge amount of peers - with dubious stories and many (many) zeros on the price tag, when considering all the builds (here) with the explicit mention of Dumble's name on them?

Yes probably, this amp comes up in threads from time to time and there has never been a rush to clone it most likely because the layout has never been publicly shared here.Hopefully it never winds up in the files section because if so, it would wind up in some company's product line within 3 months.

As far as clones with Dumbles name of them, there's not many built here as what you think. I'm a hypocrite of sorts, in the past I have built 2-3 Fender and Marshall personal builds and put logos on them, won't do it for anything I sell though. However, I have never built nor would ever build a Dumble clone leaving his name on the chassis. Once upon a time on this forum, if one showed up with a clone with his name on the chassis, the torches and pitchforks would have come out.

BTW IMHO, there's only two guys on this forum that's talented enough could pull off a Dumble fake and they come around that often.

TM
ChopSauce
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Re: Fake factor?

Post by ChopSauce »

ToneMerc wrote: Wed Jun 07, 2017 11:54 pm... if one showed up with a clone with his name on the chassis, the torches and pitchforks would have come out.
8)

Indeed (...) but beside the (due) homage, there might be a temptation for some resellers :|
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Scumback Speakers
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Re: Overdrive Deluxe - Fake?

Post by Scumback Speakers »

IIRC, Howard/Alexander used to put a colored sticker (blue/purple) with his sig & info on it for any amp he's modded. Of course, this info is 13 years old, not sure if he still does it.
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