![]() ![]() ![]() To our knowledge, SSS serial number 1 was commissioned and is still owned by avant-garde experimentalist Henry Kaiser, who owns several other Dumbles. Alongside earlier designs including the Dumbleland and Winterland, his other most well-known design is the Steel String Singer, a single-channel high-headroom 100-watt head used by Stevie Ray Vaughan, John Mayer, Eric Johnson, Jackson Browne and David Lindley, to name just a few. Of course, Dumble didn’t just build Overdrive Specials. Slightly less well-known perhaps, serial number 75 was owned by session guitarist Steve Farris of Mr Mister fame and is responsible for some of the best recorded examples of higher-gain Dumble tones, as heard on the 1985 album Welcome To The Real World. Other famous Dumbles include Larry Carlton’s 6V6-powered model, one of two owned by the LA session legend and commissioned for use in smaller clubs – and, of course, Robben Ford’s celebrated serial number 102, possibly the most coveted of all Dumbles. Most Overdrive Specials didn’t include reverb, but a few were made and called Overdrive Reverbs.ĭumble used the 6L6 power valve for most of his amps, although later there was a run of E元4-powered ODSes, including serial number 183, which is another frequently copied design.ĦL6 power valves feature, as often chosen by Dumble, while the Signal Access sockets provide effect send and return sockets for use with a Dumblelator. Some later amps had the Dumbleator circuit built in. Dumble also built his own cabinets, mostly using semi-closed-back designs with carefully tuned oval ports to enhance the mids and upper mids, teamed with high-sensitivity loudspeakers, such as JBL D140s or Dumble’s favourite, the Electro-Voice EVM12.ĭumbles didn’t have a proper effects loop there was a pair of insert jacks between the preamp and power amp sections intended to be used with a standalone buffered effects loop circuit with variable send and return level controls, called the Dumbleator. The ODS was a product of its time – built to last, intended for professional use on big stages, and calibrated to come into sonic focus at high volume. ![]() It was clear each visible component and wire had been individually selected and precisely placed. This writer was fortunate to peer inside a gooped example several years ago, revealing a layout and construction typical of many handmade one-off amplifiers, with a mixture of mostly New Old Stock components sitting on a hand-drilled formica eyelet board. Nevertheless, several examples have been ‘de-gooped’ and component values and layouts recorded for posterity, one of the most well documented being serial number 124. These documents meant people were forbidden to open the chassis, photograph the internal layout or even sell the amplifier on without his permission, although it’s unlikely such stipulations were ever tested in court. The front panel offers up plenty of tone-tweaking options with Bright, Deep and Rock/Jazz (dirty/clean) switches (Image credit: Future) Private Eyeĭumble was notoriously protective of his work and there are plenty of examples of the infamous contracts he made prospective clients sign. This was another modification that added a separate internal ‘set and forget’ EQ for the overdrive section – called the ‘HRM’ (‘Hot Rod Marshall’ or ‘Hot Rubber Monkey’, depending on whose books you read) – to address the shared EQ compromise. The circuit was constantly updated and improved, Following the Fender-influenced early designs of the ’70s, a different ‘Skyline’ EQ was added in the ’80s. So this is one area that Dumble would have varied depending on the customer’s needs – we know some ODS models have clean channels that distort earlier, while others stay clean all the way up to 10. The nature of the preamp means there’s an inherent compromise between clean and overdrive sounds because one drives the other with a shared EQ. Consequently, they’re all different, with subtle (or not-so-subtle) changes to component values and positioning in order to bring out the desired characteristics. (Image credit: Future) One By Oneĭumble wasn’t interested in mass production he was happy building his amps one at a time, each one individually tailored to the needs of the artist he was working with. Few have had their hands on a genuine Overdrive Special – this one is serial number 0128, made in 1986 and purchased for over $2,000 new.
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