Jason Momoa can officially stop looking for a new guitar amp because he is never going to top the pedigree unicorn that Trevor Boone has just unearthed for him – a Dumble Overdrive Special that was commissioned for the Beach Boys, housed in a Beach Boys road case.
Boone, of Emerald City Guitars, says it took a decade to track this amp down, and ironically, given its providence, it was found down by the beach, on Kauai, Hawaii, where the same owner has had it for nearly 35 years. We echo Joe Bonamassa's comments: “What a grail.”
This tube amp is one of three that were made for the Beach Boys circa ’82/’83 and was originally finished in white Tolex before the band’s roadies put some carpet over the top, because... well, those white vinyl-covered amps just don’t stay clean.
“I’ve had to keep this long lost Beach Boys amp under wraps for a decade until the owner was ready to let this go and when the call came in I rounded up the shop to head to Kauai to pick this and 20 more amazing items up,” writes Boone on Instagram.
“The amp is a 100 per cent original ‘grail-era’ ODS and includes the original receipts and Beach Boys Road case.
“There are videos where you can see this amp live in original white, as well as carpeted shortly after. I had this photo of The Beach Boys Dumble ON A BEACH in my head for 10 years and it was a special moment to finally get it.”
Its proud new owner agrees. And it’s going to be in action as much as possible. Momoa says that there was no question of selling this on, of doing anything with it, other than turning it on, and turning it up.
“There’s a special kind of magic in certain pieces of gear that connects the past to the future,” writes Momoa on Instagram. “Trevor Boone has been part of my guitar journey since my very first instrument, and over the years we’ve tracked down more holy grails than we can count.
“But this amplifier carried a different kind of history – one we couldn’t let drift away. Too much heart. Too much story. We had to keep it in the family – and now it’s right where it belongs, ready to keep making music.”
Boone and co stripped the carpet off the front. The glue has made a sort of brown mess of the Tolex but that only adds to the vibe. Boone might have spent a decade shaking down the trees looking for this amp but Momoa says has found it just in time. It is getting put to work straight away in the studio.
“We’re gonna record in two days,” he says. “ÖOF TATATÁ is making the first album, and I was like, ‘You got a Dumble, it’s in Hawaii, it’s rare… Please send it right now. I love it, man. Maybe we’ll clean it someday. But not today. It’s a dirty Dumble.”
If there are any Dumble sleuths holding out hope of finding another one like this, well, there is hope. Boone says there is another one just like this, unaccounted for, still with the carpet covering the white. Another “pearl in the oyster”.
Just don’t think about making Momoa an offer for his. He’s not selling, not ever. “I’m gonna have this motherf***er buried with me!”
Momoa is a keen collector of treasured guitar gear. In 2023, for example, he bought the first Martin D-28 ever made.
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