I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Dumble in 2000. I was part of a music project with a well known musician in the LA area and Alex lived next door. He often used to come next door to listen to our rehearsals. I play the Hammond B-3 and Alex would request that we play "A Whiter Shade of Pale" (Procol Harem version). He admitted that Whiter Shade of Pale was quite possibly his favorite song of all time. I remember he used to smile broadly when I cranked out the chorus part on the Hammond with the Leslie on fast speed. I got to know Alex very well over the next few years and found him to be a very kind and generous person, and extreeeeemly intelligent. At the time, my 22H Leslie Speaker had an original amplifier which was built in 1954. I knew that the caps were leaking AC, and other components (that were designed to last about 10 years) were failing after 46 years. So just after midnight he said; "let's take a look at that Leslie amp." We took the amp over to his shop and he completely rebuilt my Leslie amp over the next 5 hours. The next day at rehearsal, I was a bit groggy from lack of sleep, but the Leslie Speaker sounded fantastic! I continued the musical projects for two more years. I live in Northern California so I traveled to LA with all my gear at least a dozen more times over those years, and Alex and I became very good friends. Once when I was home in Northern CA, my Hammond L-100 organ stopped working, so I called Alex. He asked me to describe the symptoms and asked if I had the schematic. So I emailed him the schematic, and in about two hours, he said in no uncertain terms that my resister #53 was burned out and it needs replacing. He said it was a 10Kohm resister and that it probably will not have a marking. I looked through the amp and sure enough, there was a green wire-wound resister, and it was the only one without any markings. I then asked him how he knew it would not be marked. He replied that the resister got so hot it burned off the ink of the 10Kohm markings. He suggested that I replace it with a ceramic resister, which I did. I fired up the organ an it sounded as good as ever. I was amazed that Alex could diagnose an amplifier failure on an organ amp from 400 miles away. He was that smart - and probably the smartest person that I ever met. We corresponded over email occasionally over the next 20 years and he never seemed to stop innovating and thinking of new projects to do. Alex was truly a very impressive person and I will sadly miss him as will all musicians (especially guitarists) all over the world. Mr. "Tone Chaperone" - may you rest in peace.

Came here after the news of Dumble passing today, on top of the fact I bought my first Fuchs yesterday. A great amp builder, no doubt

It looks like part 2 is mandatory at this point! This video was great!

Thanks! great video!... problably the only existing video about Alexander !

Mr. Howard Dumble RIP , set the bar.

That was great Ramon. The man is a mystery to me even after I made two overdrive specials, Ceriatone kit then my own. You got more info here than I got in 21 years of making amps.

Great video! Been trying to watch this for hours.. LoL Anxiously waiting for the rest of the series. Thank you.

What a fantastic video! I learned so much. I can't wait for Part 2, especially for information about the Steel String Singer's that he built. I have a clone of Steel String Singer #002 that has ben owned and used by John Mayer for years now. What an incredible sounding amplifier it is! The harmonic content is unlike anything else I've ever played, that's for sure!

Great video!! Really looking forward to part two! 🙌🏻😃

Fantastic video!! Really informative, excellent research, very impressive. I'm aware of the some of the mythology but I did not know any of the history or back story, thanks!!

Best vid I've seen on these so far, nice work Goose!

Great research, great story! Thanks!

Very well made documentary, I really enjoyed and learnt from it.

This popped up on my phone and I watched it. Super, I thought, can't wait for Part two. Then I saw that this was uploaded yesterday! No sleep for you Ramon, I am waiting for Part Two! Kidding aside thanks for the great content about this fascinating topic.

Great video! I eagerly await Part Two.

Nice job! Looking forward to part 2!

Hey Ramon very interesting piece! Looking forward to pt2

Fantastic video mate, I learned a lot. Looking forward to pt2. I didn't know he passed. No doubt his amps will be worth even more now !

great explanation on the gain stage... lots have tried... thanks

This is stellar, thank you! Very interesting. Come on part 2 ; )

Man, dying to see part 2!!

Amazing historical content!

I took Howards place in Snail late 60's and then he built us three winterland heads and cabs. I think we were the first band to use them

Excellent information, thank you sir

My number 1 source for Dumble info!

Awesome video !!

Great video learnt a lot from this , thx

Great part 1

RIP Dumble.

Well done !! I presume you have the book !! Looking forward to pt 2

I think the only amp builder that ever came close to dumble in terms of amp building and knowing which parts to choose from, is the guy from TrainWreck.

Awesome content

I met Alex 'Humble Dumble' in the Spring of 1974 when I wandered into his shop in Aptos, Ca. After discovering what he did there I told him I would like to modify my Gibson EB-3 to make it more high-fidelity. He asked what my budget was and I told him I had a $300 tax return coming and that was my budget. He said leave my bass and come back in two weeks. Two weeks later I returned to find he had routed the body of my bass and installed a Les Paul low- impedance Studio pickup. Wiring it to the 4 selector rotary knob. He had also wired my Fender Bassman's second channel with a low-z transformer to accept the split outputs from the XLR plug to two quarter inch jacks. Great rig. I lost the amp over the years but still play the Gibson.

I had one of the very first dumble amps. He used to have and amplifier repair shop in Santa Cruz near Pleasure Point. His first amps modified fenders. Basically he just ran both channels in series and put a master volume on the back. I had a blackface Showman Modified by him. Probably one of the first 10 dumble amps ever done. I guess he started going by Alexander later in life but he was going by Howard then. I'm not sure of the exact year but I would guess it was in the early 70s. Sure wish I had have hung onto it. Who knew?😊🍻

Very educational!

Wow Tommys amps! I just love this amps. Tommy is a wizard in terms of building amps as Alexander dumble was imo Very nice video! Thanks for it !

Thank you so much for this!!!!!! I'll never forget the first time I saw a Dumble. I had never heard of one, and I guess this was in the mid to late nineties.....I was at Norm's back when it was on Vanowen, and after I left Norm's, I had to go to the Amp store..... Robert Stamps was there, and I saw a piggy back amp in brown suede, with really cool retro font printing....I asked, How much is this amp?, and Robert said...5 thousand dollars. I looked at him like I thought he was kidding, and he said, no, I'm serious, that's what they sell for. I was shocked......wonder what it is worth now...

Back in the early nineties looked into buying a new Dumble. He sent me a list of a his main models and the price was determined by how long you were willing to wait. 3 mos. ODS was 10K 6 mos. the same amp was 6K 1 year wait about 4K. That was different!!! All out of my price range even then. They have their own sound.

lol captain speed. no secrets here!!

Best guitar channel on the Tube 👍

Man... that’s some iconic photograph. He looks astonishingly (great use of exaggeration) similar to King Henry V111 among his previous and extant wives.

I loved on the corner of 26th and Warren in Santa Cruz around 1974 and Howard's shop on Easy Cliff was about 50 feet from my front door. All I knew at the time was something LOUD was going on over there. Since my band was playing Western Swing at the time I wasn't too interested. I had a chance to buy a Dumble Overdrive for $450 a few years later but didn't have the cash. It later (20 years later) sold on EBay for $10,000. Sheesh.

⚓️ Thanks GS 😎

May he Rest in Power 😢😢 this is a sad day.

Where is part 2? Should be released already being this was a year ago

I'm IEEE, an Amp is an Amp, and if it's not then you're paying for a brand name.

Thank you Sir

When is part 2?? Lol I'm sooooooo excited. This is the best video about him on the internet.

thx!! subbed

Cool, thanks :)

great to see my pal Jack Smith getting some accolades

dumble is fender with with slight chorus overtone

We all want to see part 2 🙈

12:00 I watched Winterland get torn down ...a sad day in San Francisco history

Hear it sing 🎶.

Welcome Back !

Big Man and a Big Sound.

Those ol trucks are good...but nothing like a marshall stack.

Ya made me morning coffee taste better... Thanx Mate When playing at low volume do you use a boost? cheers

Clean machine...

Keep it up Ramon, really informative video. What model is your Dumble clone a clone of? I was thinking of buying a Ceriatone dumble clone, I think they’re some of the best out there now.

is there a part 2? I can't seem to find it...

Hey! @TheGuitarShow Is there a "Part Two"? ... or more?

Part 2?

Came here after the news of passing of this great man, 💔💔💔

Important history of Dumble amplifiers: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/bZyeiJh4zdeZh6M.html

opinions on Carr amps? Anyone?

Did you ever make a Part 2, I can't find it!

My Trainwreck Express be like... Hold my beer.

Hey man wtf where’s part 2??? How dare U not put out full documentaries on sacred gear for free to assuage my tone lust....NOW 😜 (amazing work btw)

Thanks, I just knew his name.

Great ! I believe Randall Smith got shut down during The Prune Music days.

Wien is part 2 coming up?

Where is part 2?

Guys ,most people if they were blindfolded couldn’t tell you What amp was being used.it’s way over priced and over hyped.when will we musicians learn?

Who’d a thunk Buffy st Marie played a part in dumble 😎

I owned a blue gray Moserite guitar as well as I was crazy about tubes ,did you invent the potentiometers?

Where’s part 2?

Where's part 2?

Wow, this is one of the only good things to come from Bakersfield!

Part 2??

I would love to have a clone of the Winterland model for bass ..

I have no wish to appear pushy or rude....but given its been 6 months now,How are you going with Part 2.....??

Howard Dumble died yesterday.

East Cliff

I remember seeing some finnish guitar player with a squier strat. Destroying it with the mystic blues amps!

Hi there Ramon! Have you ever played a Kitty Hawk? Aren't they Dumble inspired and maybe approved by H. Dumble. Take care

Alexander wanted to be a trombone player, wow!

"...mass production amplifiers lack consistency..." Still true today...

Cool content. Busted mic.

Where is part 2? Do you know anyone that was involved in Motown? I am filming a documentary with one of Motown's founders (I have been filming over a year and a half and have well over 100 videos out for it so far) What got you to become a musician in the first place? Do you / can you build your own gear too? What is your dream outcome of your efforts on KZfaq? What was your ultimate goal as a musician from the start, and has it changed since then? I will pray for America. I will pray for you and yours. Please pray for me. God Bless you. I love that you blessed us in God's Name at the end of your video. Are you a believer?

Nice one. #mrhnp

Mr. Dumble has passed. :(

Why do the cats demoing on guitar tend to overplay and seem to want to show off licks as opposed to playing material that lets the amp tone be heard without the flurry of cliched notes and runs. How about some nice chordal work that allows the tone f the amp to linger a bit?

Good history but... Dumble is just an amp. It's a good amp for some things and not so good for others. In my opinion, a Blackface Deluxe Reverb is a better amp and costs just a little less. :) Same for Trianwrecks and all the rest of the overpriced, overhyped stuff. No matter what the amp or guitar, it's the player that makes the difference. A good player can sound good on virtually anything.

Interesting video, please edit better in the future so you don't repeat yourself as you did around 11:30. Thanks.

From tolex to rolex 🎼🎵Thanks God Bless you with 1 Corinthians chapters 1 thru 3:in 1 where our Lord's servant Paul prayed that you would be ENRICHED by Jesus Christ in all utterance .that word means wealth rich God is rich in mercy grace glory what words Jesus gave the Apostles there is Exousia and Dunamis power..I'm not spamming you Thanks I like your leads cheered me up too.

He passed away today

Trainwreck's, sound better. And yes, I've played both. It's just personal taste. I don't get it. There are tons of great amps out there.

Wow can you imagine what the being inside the Dumble cave. There’s a few good stories told by bruce Forman on the guitar wank podcast. Dumble recently built Bruce a modded vibrolux