Ceriatone Forum

hi all

i was wondering if anyone knows if its true that Alexander Dumble passed away this year.

i do recall a few years ago he even had a website. i have not seen it in years

moreover, wikipeaidia has a single line referring to thsi but its unclear

given he gave birth to this amp, i was wondering if any knew

He is still alive.

He is alive and living in LA. I talked to a dear friend of his recently (owner of many Dumble amps) and he stated that Alexander is currently doing work for a premier studio in LA and not making (or modifying) amps for his usual endorsers/customers. Alot of people have paid for and are still waiting for amps to be made (or modified). Most are mad but remain patient in hopes that the will get a package in the mail.

I'd advise then to ask for a refund and spend their money with Bludo.

there are people that have been waitng 10+ years for their dumble. I dont think they can get refunds, they just have to wait i guess. :-\

Still looking at a investment point of view, the dumble is a much better choice. Those amps will ALWAYS retain a huge collectors value. The bludos are great amps but are in no way as desirable as a true Dumble. You see them for $50K now, imagine the price when HAD passes and can no longer make any amps. The price will skyrocket.

+1000

you know guys

if i owned a dumble it would be locked up and would never make it to a gig except with a squad of security guys around it.

Niks amps are excellent, and as well know well, we all tweak them one way or another until we get them to sound we want them to....excellent quality and price..... you would never do that with an original HAD

its somewhat akin to owning a rare guitar....you put it away and scared shitless of marking it......it becomes and collectable object. yet the guitars which i build myself are the ones i play, because i am not scared of doing stuff to it until it sounds and plays the way i want to.

I have a heretical opinion which is that new kit is almost always the best idea.

Almost all guitars are made better nowadays. Whenever I've picked up old expensive guitars, most were expensive, and no easier to play, if not worse  - the technology of construction has moved on a lot. Some old guitars are great, many are poor, and I don't have the money for the nice ones.
When I was a kid £150 got you a beginner's strat copy with a poor neck, 30 years later it's the same price (way lower in real terms) for a much better guitar.

With amps, the prices for vintage gear is less silly than with guitars, for rare amps it's still crazy, but I ask myself "how do I know it's authentic, and why buy 40 year old electronics, or rare amps from a one-man-operation, when someone is building brand new ones to the same spec or better? I know it would be nice to buy a rare old amp, but I sold my 1960s ac10 twin and fender tremolux years ago, since I felt I could get twice as many pieces of reliable modern kit with the money

My main rule is to try to mostly buy kit that I can sell on with little or no loss. With Nik's stuff I make an exception, since how else would I get these rare or overpriced amps? Even then, the OTS amps seem to hold value quite well.

I agree that a Dumble is  a better investment. But spending money on something you're not going to get is a bad investment.

If he die while you're waiting for the amp, you can say bye bye to your deposit  :(

+ to really want a real D you must be either rich,snob or fetishist   

yes and no. If you have records im sure you could get a refund if you talk to the courts. He may be dead in this situation but he still has posessions and money. I think you'd be able to get a refund, might take some time though.

There have been many people whom sued HAD and got their amp built. Unfortunately he didn't pay close attention to those particular amps and in result they were not as sonically enriching to play as his "Grail era'" amps. Regardless they still had to wait a long time and most people sold the amps as soon as they got them.

All this talk of investment... Aren't you doing it wrong? Invest in gold, oil, whatever. An amp or a guitar is there to be played. If you buy a Dumble and lock it up out of scratching fear you wasted a bunch of money in the (not unreasonable) hope the investment will pay out. In the meantime the Dumble or the rare Gibson Les Paul is becoming a dustbunny.

Sounds like he's a great amp builder but he has some issues with his personality.
(if it is true ofcourse)

+1
We are looking at an upcoming stock bullmarket, so this is probably where you should invest your money. I don't believe a Dumble will increase 20% p.a. over the next 10 years. So calling it an investment is a joke.

Buy one if want to play one. And sell it if you don't like it. Good news is it will probably hold its value (given that it is an original and not one of the many fakes), so you don't lose money.

there are a couple for sale on Gbase last time i looked for USD60000

wow what a bargain (unless it's one of the hurry up Dumbles boldaslove was refering to

i'd play mine if I had one, im just saying if I had $5000 i'd rather send my old bandmaster or Hiwatt for HAD to mod, rather than spend $4000 on a Bludo. Now If i had $10000... i'd get both ;D

chances are you'd send your amp and money and "never" get the amp back.
I'd go for a Bludo. Brandon will tweak it to your taste.

you know some of the most brilliant guys in history all were quirky... many were loners

yes, mr Dumble is a quirky guy, but we must still remember he is the man who developed this legendary amp.
given there are maybe 200 to 300 amps in existence over a 40 year period, thats not much of an income... i guess its no wonder he charges so much.

in some ways he is to be admired, if he went down the mass production path, he would be a multi millionaire.... but it seems he has chosen lifestyle and doing it his way....