HamerHokie Posted December 28, 2012 Posted December 28, 2012 So I was in the neighborhood and I stopped by Guitar Exchange, a small guitar shop in Catonsville MD. I hadn't been in years, because, well, the owner was kind of a douche, but they definitely had a lot of cool guitars. One thing I remembered from years ago was the Dumble Overdrive Special they had smack dab in the middle of their amp section. They got it around 1995 and promptly declared it 'not for sale.'Based on what I saw today, I'd estimate their on-hand inventory had diminished by about 75 percent. Still some cool guitars but not nearly as many. And the owner was about 75 percent less douchey as well. Connection maybe? Anyway, I didn't recognize anything from the old lineup...except for the Dumble, which was now in a place of prominence along the wall. And now, it was 'for sale.' And he offered it to me, since the deal he thought he had was falling through.Price? $85,000. He offered to knock of a thou.
rj2858 Posted December 28, 2012 Posted December 28, 2012 and you didn't pull out a credit card on the spot?
django49 Posted December 28, 2012 Posted December 28, 2012 Now if he knocked off a ZERO.......This past year, I picked up one of those Ethos Overdrive pedals on this board. The one some call "Dumble in a box". Sorta funny for a pedal that is not a multi-efx unit, as it has something like 19 knobs and switches.I cannot opine on whether it is a perfect Dumble equivalent. However, I am using it (mostly) ahead of a 4 x 10 Mesa Blue Angel. The pedal effectively gives 3 tones on top of the base set up on the amp itself. One actually, by compensating for the tone circuits of the combo amp is cleaner than the BA when the pedal is bypassed. Going to the drive circuit gets it into more typical "Boogie" territory, then stepping on the mid-boost fattens it up to, I think, Marshall-ish areas.I have not really tried too hard to seek out a "D" sound......I like it. And I sure as hell am not going to pay the toll for a Dumble anyway.One box, one combo, all the sounds I want these days. Let those with more money than sense pursue the overpriced status symbols.
JohnnyB Posted December 28, 2012 Posted December 28, 2012 The perfect amp for the $200 power cable. You're aiming way too low for an $85K amp. $10K would be more appropriate.
daa2202 Posted December 28, 2012 Posted December 28, 2012 That's funny...I heard the same exact story ("deal falling through") and price ($85,000) about a year ago.Not sure if I agree with you about the decrease in the owner's douchiness, however.
MCChris Posted December 28, 2012 Posted December 28, 2012 Sounds like Douche LaRouche is sitting on an amp that fewer and fewer people give a shit about anymore, certainly not enough to pay money for that would be better spent on arthritis specialists and association fees for the golf-course communities in which they live.Sucks to be him!
JohnnyB Posted December 28, 2012 Posted December 28, 2012 Sounds like Douche LaRouche is sitting on an amp that fewer and fewer people give a shit about anymore, certainly not enough to pay money for that would be better spent on arthritis specialists and association fees for the golf-course communities in which they live.Sucks to be him!A Dumble Overdrive is soooo 1996.
cmatthes Posted December 28, 2012 Posted December 28, 2012 Sandler is a world class DICK.I wouldn't buy anything from him.Ever.
tbonesullivan Posted December 28, 2012 Posted December 28, 2012 The problem is that a lot of these stores started back in the pre-internet days, when you could get away with being a jerk because people HAD to deal with them if they wanted to purchase the items. Those days are now long gone, and also people can look around online to see bad experiences that others had at the same place.As for a dumble, I don't see why anyone would ever want one. The prices are obscene, and I don't really care if they are custom made by one guy for the stars.
velorush Posted December 28, 2012 Posted December 28, 2012 Any desire I might have ever had for a Dumble was laid to rest by Henry Kaiser
HamerHokie Posted December 29, 2012 Author Posted December 29, 2012 Sandler is a world class DICK.I wouldn't buy anything from him.Ever.That was the only thing I remembered about him, but he was pretty non-douchey to me this time. Maybe it was a good day.
hamer4ever Posted December 29, 2012 Posted December 29, 2012 I saw that Dumble for sale a while ago, but decided to buy a 100w Fuchs Overdrive Supreme instead. Close enough for me, and it really sounds sweet when I plug in my Hamers. Sometimes I even get up early just to hear it cranked up a bit!
MCChris Posted December 29, 2012 Posted December 29, 2012 Sandler is a world class DICK.I wouldn't buy anything from him.Ever.That was the only thing I remembered about him, but he was pretty non-douchey to me this time. Maybe it was a good day.Either that or he's been humbled. Life has a funny way of doing that to world class dicks.
Studio Custom Posted December 29, 2012 Posted December 29, 2012 The high water mark was about $60,000 when Carlos Santana was doing that song with Rob Thomas. Gene at Ultrasound sold Carlos his Dumble and Tony Bruno cloned it prior. A Super 100 is $5500.
Steve Haynie Posted December 29, 2012 Posted December 29, 2012 The high water mark was about $60,000 when Carlos Santana was doing that song with Rob Thomas.Gene at Ultrasound sold Carlos his Dumble and Tony Bruno cloned it prior. A Super 100 is $5500.If you want that Santana tone from the song "Smooth" you can get that with a Fender Prosonic. The Prosonic screams 90's tone.
cmatthes Posted December 29, 2012 Posted December 29, 2012 I think the question here (at least for me) is, WHY would you want that tone?
rj2858 Posted December 29, 2012 Posted December 29, 2012 ^^^The answer (for some of us), would be, why wouldn't you?I'd guess you neither play, nor like, jazz ala Robben Ford or Larry Carlton?
MCChris Posted December 29, 2012 Posted December 29, 2012 ^^^The answer (for some of us), would be, why wouldn't you?Well, for starters, the $85K price tag, one based squarely on the fascination of an affluent generation's males with the likes of SRV, Mayer, Landreth and the other guys mentioned in this thread. For a hobbyist/collector/hero worshipper with money to burn, owning a Dumble has nothing to do with tone. A working musician will get that tone with a Menatone Howie pedal into a Fender combo set clean, and won't have to pay the price of a well-equipped Mercedes Benz to get it.
cmatthes Posted December 29, 2012 Posted December 29, 2012 I don't think I'm out of line by mentioning that those "affluent generation's males" enamored with the tones of certain particular players probably wouldn't be able to nail them with or without an $85k amp.As silly as it may sound to some, tone is still (yes, Virginia), in the fingers.
Studio Custom Posted December 29, 2012 Posted December 29, 2012 The irony is Dumble used many cheap, Radio Shack quality, parts because he wanted their inefficiency to assist in his tonal goal. As time marches on, those parts degrade more quickly and become more variable, making the amps lose their original mojo. I've played the four Dumbles Ultrasound had, including Santana's before he purchased. Two were awesome and two nothing special. No one wants to admit their 1959 Les Paul is a dog, same with Dumbles. They all get the mystic when half of them deserve it.
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