Back in the day at the other place, the weird borderline nationalism/racism against Ceriatone was insane. But using all the right components and skilled techs in a well lit, clean workspace, Nik’s company was making fantastic amps for a tenth the price of Two Rock and Bludotone and maybe a third or quarter of Fuchs clones. No doubt, the finishing touches, trim, logos etc were all noticeably more refined on the most pricey clones, but no the tones weren’t any more stellar at all from the unfortunately-priced amps. (No hate—a one man operation like Bludo means if you’re gonna make a living, that’s how. But then it retired doctors and lawyers and bankers using them, and rarely the light of an actual stage.)
Regarding real Dumbles, I heard all of the most iconic examples at the height of their legendary owners’ reigns, most in small venues. In the course of my non-playing career I also heard a handful of famous Dumbles as a photographer on the wall in NYC and LA studios, as well as a bunch of incredible less-typical Dumbles owned by a famous producer, including a Bassman head used for the Ultraphonix mod, a couple of brilliant Tweed Deluxes and an amazing reworked AC-50 head.
Anyone who doesn’t think Dumble was a bit of a sonic genius whose work helped facilitate many of the greatest tones of a large swath of our favorite tonemeister musicians’ careers simply doesn’t understand his role in amp history. So what that’s no big crime. But among people who know, the secondhand dismissals usually come off as a bit naive. Again, so what.
The two Dumbles that I played myself were part of a sort of legendary NY collection. It wasn’t fun. The Dumbleator buffered effects loop wasn’t connected, which meant that getting at that crazy clean zing required volume in the room that was painful. So I can’t really judge if those were/are special amps. Totally anecdotal, but me thinks if they were, we might have heard about more specific recordings where those amps were used.
Meanwhile I had Ceriatone make me an ODS clone with a tube buffered effects loop built in to the head, which also functions as an attenuator. I had a matching 1x12 oval opening cab with an EVM 12L built by Stagecraft. This thing was an absolutely holy grail rig. I owned five or six of the famous D pedals and none touched the od channel of that amp. But anyway it was the clean channel of that amp that I still miss dearly.
Over the decades I’ve always kept amazing 5 watt Valcos around, Gretsch and Supro, and a bunch of silverface Fenders, small medium large.
But the experience of using that Ceriatone rig was different and amaaaazing. And addictive, and also untenable as an 85lb rig for city gigs, and also a real risk for ear health. The addictive part definitely multiplied as the volume was goosed.
Kemper is great, and I love the “discontinued” (?) MBritt Gramattico SSS profiles, and the Dumblish part of the CW plugin is cool too, and Bert M’s Red Plate profiles are great, etc etc, but nothing digital that I‘ve used feels like that live rig (even though you can get at some of the sounds in recordings).
Annnnnnnnnd …even though yes Dumbles and the well-cloned circuits are way more beautiful than the naysayers would have you believe (and true they were also never worth those 7k clone price tags sorry), a slightly modified mid 70s Deluxe Reverb with a few good pedals - or sure most any even less cork-sniffy utilitarian rig - is still a capable way for a guitarist who has something to say to get that message across.
Like most things on the internet it’s the second or thirdhand hating that usually elevates certain pieces of equipment all out of proportion, when those things probably would’ve otherwise existed below the radar, for the folks who found that gear useful.
Shrug.
ymmv
Throwback:
novel length post™
(sorry)
