The tube amps made and modified by the late Howard “Alexander” Dumble have become the stuff of quasi-Arthurian legend in guitar circles.
Kenny Wayne Shepherd swears by them. Joe Bonamassa regularly has them pumping up the volume in his amp shanty. That high-end superstar of all things six-strings and bougie, John Mayer, is a fan. In theory, we all are – at least, all of us who like the idea of a super-dynamic tube amp that’s probably too loud for the home and/or amateur use.
Speaking to Guitarist, Gales agrees with the critical consensus. They are damn fine tube amps. But there are a lot of damn fine tube amps in the world, so… Well, he doesn’t understand the fuss.
Occasionally he would swap in one of Bonamassa’s Gibson Les Pauls (now there's an Excalibur for the practising musician), just for a little stunt work in a solo or a rhythm. There was nothing new in Gales’ pedalboard.
“There's no sense in messing with things when they're working fine,” explains Gales. “So that’s what we did. We just kept the tape rolling.”
How did Gales feel playing through a Dumble? Well, he felt lucky. There are not that many of them on the planet, hence the price. But he says it did nothing that a number of other amps can’t do.
“I’m very honoured and privileged to have plugged into one a few times, but it wasn't like a ‘heavens opened up’ sort of moment,” says Gales. “I’m not speaking bad about them, I’m just saying there's nothing the Dumbles did for me that other amps hadn't done before, you know? I was just going off a suggestion and I trusted Joe enough to go with it.
“He has plenty of Dumbles and runs through them pretty rigorously. I had no reason to go against it. If it was the only amp that was there and my DV Mark wasn’t around, I’m sure I would have been fine.”
Gales likened the Dumble to his Two-Rock. It had “great sustain and delivered every nuance” of his playing. But that’s just what Gales looks for in a guitar amp, holy grail, off-the-shelf or otherwise.
“My DV Mark was doing the same thing,” he says. “Both amps were standing tall beside each other, doing a great job in giving me what I needed to accomplish this record.”
In other Gales news, the bluesman recently launched his surprise signature Kiesel guitar, and explained why he initially wanted to keep his blues chops hidden.
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