Some hints about Dumble now

[mojotom]

I have recently meet Kravitz crew and they work frequently with Dumble. I learn a few things :

-Every one is matched to the player, mainly depending on the guitar and string attack (or touch). Robben Ford one is almost impossible to play because he plays so softly.

- He uses what parts available at the time but works the circuit to suit. For exemple use a different cap value and compensate later.

- Mesures everything, I mean eveything. It seems to be a big part of his knowledge and way of doing things. Lots of electronics devices all over the place. Mesures cabs too to fine tune the right resonnance.

- Uses mostly silverface trannies, he likes them.

- Uses a time consuming soldering technique. First crimp the wire tightly then solder and mesure resistance if it's not a perfect 0 Ohms then desolder and retry again all along the amp, he's very obsessive about that. They joke about that explaining he needs two hours to solder one wire.

- No fancy components, classic atom filter caps, some goop too.

- Amazing stage volume amps, ones of the best tones I've heard so far (Craig Ross playing helps too for sure). They seems to be consistent because each model have a spare sounding just about the same (silverface modded deluxes, showmans and twins, very marshally sounding with more balls).

Overall he seems to be a nice guy willing to share his knowledge at least for some (I know...) who wanted to handbuild a few perfect amps a year. Didn't meet him either.

Hope that helps, I love this forum and thanks everyone here.

Tom

[dogears]

Well this comment kind of invalidates the "validity" of the other comments, although much sounds accurate none the less. Having first hand knowledge of this amp, this is actually the opposite of the truth. RF amp is the Mona Lisa of Dumbles and very easy to play.

Robben Ford one is almost impossible to play because he plays so softly.

[talbany]

Well this comment kind of invalidates the "validity" of the other comments, although much sounds accurate none the less. Having first hand knowledge of this amp, this is actually the opposite of the truth. RF amp is the Mona Lisa of Dumbles and very easy to play.

Robben Ford one is almost impossible to play because he plays so softly.

+1


T

[wjdunham]

A little off the original topic, but I don't find these amps that hard to play. I found that some changes to my style definitely brought out the best in the amp. I was able to get a very pure overdrive tone with less gain and compression once cleaned up my picking and finger positioning, got rid of a bit of the muddiness from when I first played through one. Definitely not a talent in a box type of amp, but not "hard" to play IMHO.
Bill

[mojotom]

Well, at least it was a comment of one of Ford tech who played it a few times and I really trust and respect the guy a lot.
We talked about differencies between the amps and he explained he couldn't achieve a good sound himself with the amp, and of course he plays very rock oriented. The whole point was to compare the tweaked (or not) Ford ODS vs the last modified silverface amps.

Anyway, it was nice to talk about Dumble amps with him. I certainly don't have as much knowledge as you and learn a lot here (especially dogears tweaking tips !!).

[Structo]

I can only talk about playing my D'Lite since I have not played any other clones.
But my amp seems to have large pick or attack dynamics.
It seems it almost sounds better to pick softly then to really dig in.

mojotom,
Is the guy you talked to named Daved?

I see at the Robben Ford Forum he regularly posts.


http://www.online-discussion.com/Robben ... 4f52de22a1

[Scumback Speakers]

I have recently meet Kravitz crew and they work frequently with Dumble.

Say "hi" to Alex for me the next time you see him...I know they've been all over the map on tour lately.

[mojotom]

Say "hi" to Alex for me the next time you see him

Off course I will, maybe next month.

Scumback are amazing BTW.

[hitchcaster]

"- Uses a time consuming soldering technique. First crimp the wire tightly then solder and mesure resistance if it's not a perfect 0 Ohms then desolder and retry again all along the amp, he's very obsessive about that. They joke about that explaining he needs two hours to solder one wire. ":


never heard that one... he crimps with wires and then fills the eyelet with solder? crimp with what? maybe im missing something

[Normster]

"- Uses a time consuming soldering technique. First crimp the wire tightly then solder and mesure resistance if it's not a perfect 0 Ohms then desolder and retry again all along the amp, he's very obsessive about that. They joke about that explaining he needs two hours to solder one wire. ":


never heard that one... he crimps with wires and then fills the eyelet with solder? crimp with what? maybe im missing something

That's part of the craftsmenship that's easy to overlook. If you look closely at Dumble gut shots you'll see that he always makes a good mechanical connection before soldering. (Yes, even on the eyelets. Look closely and you'll see the little wire "tail" that wraps around the top of the eyelet.)

[Scumback Speakers]

That's part of the craftsmenship that's easy to overlook. If you look closely at Dumble gut shots you'll see that he always makes a good mechanical connection before soldering. (Yes, even on the eyelets. Look closely and you'll see the little wire "tail" that wraps around the top of the eyelet.)

I learned about this "make a solid mechanical connection before soldering" technique as well from Dumble & Jim Foote. The theory behind it was that the lead or wire still made the connection, with the solder merely being the glue to hold it in place. The solder is never supposed to be the electrical connection.

[jaysg]

I learned about this "make a solid mechanical connection before soldering" technique as well from Dumble & Jim Foote. The theory behind it was that the lead or wire still made the connection, with the solder merely being the glue to hold it in place. The solder is never supposed to be the electrical connection.

If that isn't in RDH4, it should be.

[paulster]

I learned about this "make a solid mechanical connection before soldering" technique as well from Dumble & Jim Foote. The theory behind it was that the lead or wire still made the connection, with the solder merely being the glue to hold it in place. The solder is never supposed to be the electrical connection.

That's an old soldering basic that seemingly has been forgotten about in these PCB days.

Every connection should have a strong mechanical connection.

[Scumback Speakers]

If that isn't in RDH4, it should be.

You lost me on that one. Nice LP/SG in your avatar!

[Max]

I have recently meet Kravitz crew and they work frequently with Dumble. I learn a few things :

-Every one is matched to the player, mainly depending on the guitar and string attack (or touch). Robben Ford one is almost impossible to play because he plays so softly.

- He uses what parts available at the time but works the circuit to suit. For exemple use a different cap value and compensate later.

- Mesures everything, I mean eveything. It seems to be a big part of his knowledge and way of doing things. Lots of electronics devices all over the place. Mesures cabs too to fine tune the right resonnance.

- Uses mostly silverface trannies, he likes them.

- Uses a time consuming soldering technique. First crimp the wire tightly then solder and mesure resistance if it's not a perfect 0 Ohms then desolder and retry again all along the amp, he's very obsessive about that. They joke about that explaining he needs two hours to solder one wire.

- No fancy components, classic atom filter caps, some goop too.

- Amazing stage volume amps, ones of the best tones I've heard so far (Craig Ross playing helps too for sure). They seems to be consistent because each model have a spare sounding just about the same (silverface modded deluxes, showmans and twins, very marshally sounding with more balls).

Overall he seems to be a nice guy willing to share his knowledge at least for some (I know...) who wanted to handbuild a few perfect amps a year. Didn't meet him either.

Hope that helps, I love this forum and thanks everyone here.

Tom

What Tom reports here is - as far as I remember now - 100% in accord with what I've found in, and learned about, the amps (up to now around 20) I personally met, played and looked into.

Cheers

Max