page_title: Dumble Amplifiers
section_title: Dumbleator
hierarchical_section_title: Dumble Amplifiers / Models and circuitry / Dumbleator
caption_attribution_description: English: Tom McGrath's Dumbleator
context_page_description: Dumble musical instrument amplifiers is a guitar amplifier manufacturer in Los Angeles, California.
  A one-person operation, Alexander "Howard" Dumble makes each amp personally. Because of this, Dumble amplifiers are the most expensive boutique amplifiers on the used market, and prices have risen rapidly. In 2012, Vintage Guitar magazine described the Dumble Overdrive Special as the most valuable in the product line, with used amplifiers fetching between $70,000 and $150,000. Other examples have sold for more.
  Dumble currently builds two or three amplifiers per year, primarily for celebrity musicians and studios. He prices them similarly to the used market to dissuade resale. Dumble services and refurbishes his original amplifiers for a fee, and many players buy used Dumble amplifiers and have Dumble refurbish them. Carlos Santana and Ben Harper, for example, both bought their first Dumble used, and had Dumble refurbish the amp for their particular playing styles.
context_section_description: Dumble also made a tube-buffered external effects loop called a Dumbleator. A few Dumble amps have a Dumbleator circuit built in, but most have "un-buffered" input jacks that tap directly out of the pre-amp and into the power amp. Dumble likely created this external loop because of the difficulty of fitting effects loop buffering into the amplifier chassis (and the limited use of effects loops for most players). The Dumbleator has separate Send and Receive controls for the effects, and a Bright switch on at least the return. Later models also have a Bright switch on the send. Dumble also makes stereo versions. This effects loop buffering is essentially a cathode follower for the send, into a gain stage for return.
caption: Dumbleator
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