“Dumble would refuse to build them for a lot of people, but for whatever reason, he agreed to make four for me”: Pearl Jam used Dumble amps on new album Dark Matter, reveals producer Andrew Watt

Esteemed producer Andrew Watt has revealed that the iconic amp designer and builder Alexander Dumble made four custom amps specifically for him – and Pearl Jam went on to use these amps on their newly released 12th album Dark Matter.

In a new interview with SPIN, when asked whether any specific gear wound up being used a lot, Watt explains: “A guy named Alexander Dumble made the amps. He was a very strange guy who unfortunately passed away in 2022.”

“He would refuse to build them for a lot of people, but for whatever reason, he agreed to make four for me. They’re all ’50s Fender mods: a Vibrolux, a Champ, a Deluxe and a High Powered Tweed Twin.”

In a recent Guitar World/Bass Player interview, Pearl Jam's Jeff Ament revealed that when Eddie Vedder invited his bandmates to Watt's studio, he pushed them to leave their gear at home and use Watt's carefully curated gear collection. That included the Dumble amps, as well as a borrowed Rickenbacker that gave the album's basslines a trebly, twonky grit.

“There was a white Rickenbacker, maybe a ’72, that felt great to me, he told Guitar World. “I mean, those old 4003s are either great, or the intonation is terrible and they just don’t hit right. But this had flats on it and sounded killer. That’s what ended up on React Respond.”

As for the other gear used on the record, Watt told SPIN, “Jeff played through a Fender Bassman. We plugged Stone into a Les Paul and a Strat again. Mike played all old Strats and a 1959 Les Paul.

“Jeff was laughing because he said, ‘No producer ever wants me to play my 12-string.’ And I was like, ‘Play the 12-string!’ Can you play Jeremy on that for me? He wrote the main riff for Dark Matter on a 12-string.”

Dumble amps are among the rarest of rare guitar amps. In the one-person operation, Alexander Dumble was behind each and every amp, crafting them for each client.

Dumble built two or three amps a year, typically for A-list clients such as Stevie Ray Vaughan, Eric Clapton, Carlos Santana, Robben Ford, Joe Bonamassa and Bonnie Raitt.

Their premium quality and scarcity mean that when they appear on the secondhand market, they're sold for eye-watering prices. In 2022, a 1995 Dumble Overdrive Special was listed on Reverb.com for a staggering $175,000.