The Legend has passed

[mauiboy81]

HAD’s genius will continue to inspire the world! As he transcends the crystal lattice may his soul find rest and peace.

[dorrisant]

https://www.facebook.com/10002847296673 ... 369891656/

Quote from Tommy Taylor

"Howard Alexander Dumble

I likely first began hearing of Howard Dumble in the late 70s mainly because Eric Johnson and Brian Wooten had put down deposits on his Overdrive Special Amp.
The controversy was that the amps never seemed to materialize.
Brian and Eric were top guitarists in Austin pushing the envelope for amplifier and guitar performance to create their styles.
They were hoping the rumors were true.
Howard required a large deposit upfront, with no set delivery time.
Fast forward to 1981.
Multi-instrumentalist cum recording/live sound engineer @Richard Mullen works with Stevie Vaughan.
Stevie and Double Trouble were gifted some free recording time at Jackson Browne's studio in L.A.
Richard and Stevie spied an amplifier they had never seen before.
It was a small combo amp belonging to Jackson, reportedly known as "The Velvet Glove." The maker was Dumble.
Being a tone master and a formidable guitarist, Richard had his preferred go-to amps for studio work.
Stevie and Richard became quite taken with the sound of the little Dumble Amp.
They used The Velvet Glove to track most if not all of the guitar recorded during the sessions for Texas Flood at Jackson's.
After recording Texas Flood, Richard returned to working with Christopher Cross.
He had many tasks in that crew, one of which was taking care of Chris's gear.
He raved about the Dumble to Chris.
Being a gearhead with considerable finances, Chris gave Richard carte blanche to design a rig for live performances utilizing Dumble Amplifiers.
Chris was about to embark on a support tour for the Another Page album in the far east.
The amps were custom ordered with no expense spared.
The cabinets came outfitted in orange suede.
The sound was astounding.
Eric Johnson shortly after received a Dumble Steel String Singer.
He was still waiting on his Overdrive Special.
Chet Himes and Barry Wilson purchased Warner Amigo Studios and allowed Howard to locate his shop in one of the auxiliary buildings on the studio lot.
It was in this era that I finally met Howard.
We were playing in L.A., and Eric had received his Overdrive Special finally.
He wasn't happy with the sound.
Howard suggested that Eric come to the shop at Amigo.
There they could make some adjustments.
Eric played while Howard listened intently and took note of Eric's comments.
He scribbled some numbers on a yellow legal pad and handed the paper to Jerry Holmes, who was Eric's guitar tech at the time.
He said, "go to Radio Shack and bring me a few of each of these." Jerry got in the van and headed out for Radio Shack.
Small talk ensued.
When Jerry returned, Howard went to work.
He began unsoldering parts in the amplifier and dropping in and soldering the new ones that Jerry had brought in their place.
Eric played the amp.
He was astonished.
"What did you DO," he asked?
Howard replied, "I just figured out that you like shitty parts."
He chuckled.
Eric thought the amp sounded great!
Howard was a very eccentric guy.
He was very kind.
He didn't exorbitantly charge people for the kinds of amps he was manifesting before they made it in the business.
Once someone had risen to a certain stature, he expected a great deal more.
This was true of both his amplifier prices and the cost of his maintenance labor.
Around this time, my friend Jerry Harrison, who originally hailed from Bakersfield, told me a story about a guy he knew that used to live there.
"This guy could take a Fender Bassman and rework it so that you could plug a bass, and a guitar, and a vocal mic into it, and it wouldn't distort."
"He was a genius!" "His name was Howard Dumble, but he died."
I couldn't believe it! I said, "he didn't DIE!" "He makes all of Chris and Eric's and Stevie's amps!" Jerry was amazed.
He was sure Howard had passed in the early 70s.
I was amazed!
I couldn't believe my friend knew Howard in the mid-60s.
What were the chances?
It should be noted, that Howard also supposedly designed the circuit for Semi Moseley's FuzzRite pedal. Mosrite also began in Bakersfield.
I got to go to Howard's compound in East L.A. a few times.
A dangerous area.
He had a 12-foot, barbed wire-topped fence all around the property.
The house was a turn of the century Japanese Pagoda built by immigrants.
Howard was restoring it one room at a time.
He took me underneath and showed me all of his foundation restoration work.
The woodwork was gorgeous.
He could do anything.
If I understand correctly, the house had been a gift from Jackson Browne.
He built all of his cabinets by hand in the garage on the property.
It still had the turn of the century knob and tube wiring.
It was adjacent to "The Abbey."
I think it was one of Jackson's family properties.
He may have used it for rehearsals.
I can't remember.
Howard had been Buffy Saint Marie's guitarist in the 60s.
He found himself opening for Jimi Hendrix.
Howard saw Jimi changing his strings one day, turning the keys with his fingers.
Howard reached in his pocket and pulled out a string winder.
He spun it around in Jimi's face and gave it to him. Jimi had never seen a string winder before.
The next day there was a case of new guitar strings in Howard's dressing room.
The story always reminded me of "The Lion's Paw."
As I said, Howard was very eccentric.
He decided one day that he would be known as Alexander.
When asked why he said he had seen a very lovely actress, whose name eludes me, on a late-night television program.
She was talking about relationships or something.
She remarked about there always being some nerdy guy named Howard.
From that moment on, he would be Alexander.
IF you called him Howard, you needed to be prepared to never speak to him again.
You ceased to exist.
He was a legend.
He covered his circuits in a rubbery glue to hide their configuration.
He took all of the part numbers off of the components of his amps.
Often imitated, his work is mystical.
People can decode and duplicate his circuits and designs verbatim, but they are never Dumbles.
It's HIM. HIS mystique. HIS power. HIS energy.
That is what makes a Dumble, and that is why his boutique creations command high, six-figure pricetags.
He had a no-quarter policy.
He didn't care.
He would price his work at whatever he felt it was worth at the time.
Depending on the circumstances, that could be any amount of money.
He didn't budge.
If you weren't willing, you didn't understand what you were getting, and you weren't worthy.
He was a master, an avatar.
And whether or not anyone likes it, he pulled it off.
He was a master of mystique, as well as electronics.
Many people don't like him for the way that he operated, and the way he tried to protect his work. Once again. He simply had the balls to not care. There is something that I always deeply admired about that.
He was ALWAYS nice to me. Some types of mutual respect are deeply understood but unspoken.
That's generally what I base my feelings about people on. Godspeed Howard Alexander Dumble.
The world needs more people like you."

[dbharris]

Cool story, thanks for posting! Like many of you mentioned already, I would have never picked up a soldering iron if it weren't for finding out about HAD through artists I loved like Ben Harper, David Lindley, SRV, Jackson Browne, John Mayer, Lowell George, etc.

I hope Mr. Dumble is at peace wherever he may be.

-Dan

[Stephen1966]

Thank you MrD, you made the world a better place.

Stephen

[philbard]

Respect of the highest order...

[Mr. dB]

Here's a nice interview with Henry Kaiser, who remembers all the positive things:

[Faze]

RIP Mr Dumble.

[WhopperPlate]

Some photos I have found since the news broke :

[WhopperPlate]

My friend who builds my cabinets had his uncle send him this photo , apparently he was the guitar player to Dr D’s right . Small world

[professormudd]

https://www.bakersfield.com/news/bakers ... 9b22f.html

[Stephen1966]

https://www.bakersfield.com/news/bakers ... 9b22f.html

A fine obituary. Thank you for posting.

Stephen

[Dumbbell]

Most recent 'guitarwank' podcast is about HAD and is very interesting. Apparently he showed Clapton a lick that EC thoughts was cool and he also named the marshall mod 'purple haze'. Bruce Forman and Richard McDonald (they both own ultraphonix and tweedle dee from the past few years.)

Also disappointed that many of the big time dumble cloners out there have not posted tributes to him; their whole careers rest on his amps existing.

Dumbbell

[Stephen1966]

Most recent 'guitarwank' podcast is about HAD and is very interesting. Apparently he showed Clapton a lick that EC thoughts was cool and he also named the marshall mod 'purple haze'. Bruce Forman and Richard McDonald (they both own ultraphonix and tweedle dee from the past few years.)

Also disappointed that many of the big time dumble cloners out there have not posted tributes to him; their whole careers rest on his amps existing.

Dumbbell

Give it a rest, would you? The man is barely cold in the earth and you're starting the complaints. Tributes are not mandatory, and death is an intensely private experience. Not everyone feels like broadcasting their feelings to the world. Nor should they, if they don't want to. Let's focus instead on the man's genius. I speak for no-one but myself.

Stephen

[Dumbbell]

Sorry if it sounds cantankerous, but these guys have built hugely successful businesses from this mans work. The least they can do is thank him for his enormous inspiration. I'm not anti clone and this is not a diss on their amps (they are mostly amazing), but I think thay should pay thanks to HAD out of gratitude.

[pompeiisneaks]

Sorry if it sounds cantankerous, but these guys have built hugely successful businesses from this mans work. The least they can do is thank him for his enormous inspiration. I'm not anti clone and this is not a diss on their amps (they are mostly amazing), but I think thay should pay thanks to HAD out of gratitude.

I'm really confused by this post. Who are 'these guys' and where have 'these guys' not been thankful for his inspiration?

~Phil

Edit: I mistook this post without the previous one for context, somehow missed the first comment. I do agree with Stephen below, not sure how it's a mandate for people to specifically state something just because someone else feels they should.