00:00 so I've always been fascinated by the
00:02 history behind dumble amplifiers and the
00:04 famous guitar players who have used them
00:06 throughout the years they're pretty much
00:08 unobtainable though you can maybe buy
00:09 one on reverb for a few
00:11 hundred, I think for the rest of us we
00:13 might be lucky to find a clone or
00:16 reproduction and my friend Taylor Cox
00:19 built this amp for me it's inspired by a
00:22 dumble steel string singer which is a
00:25 high wattage very clean tube amplifier
00:28 and Taylor is an absolute weth of
00:30 knowledge on tube amps and the the
00:32 dumble history and you guys are going to
00:33 hear from him later in this episode but
00:36 I really wanted to try this amp because
00:38 of Stevie rayon he he played a number of
00:40 steel string singers and so today we're
00:43 going to try it out and see what it
00:44 sounds like see if we can figure out
00:46 what is the mystery behind that dumble
00:48 sound and I've got it paired today with
00:50 a 212 basement cabinet from the 1960s
00:53 which is really similar to what these
00:55 amps would have been paired with by
00:57 dumble except looks like a lot of them
00:59 have celestion speakers in them I've got
01:01 a couple gensen so we're going to use
01:04 what we've got today but I think this
01:06 thing is going to have a crazy clean
01:08 sound and it's also got some unique
01:10 features in the circuit that we'll get
01:12 into as well so let's check it out let's
01:15 see how this steel string singer
02:21 so this amp has a lot of Headroom it's
02:23 46 l6s and 100 Watts I think they made
02:26 150 watt version as well and it stays
02:29 very clean I think that's why Stevie Ron
02:32 used this throughout his career as well
02:34 as guys like Eric Johnson I think this
02:36 amp is modeled after specifically Eric's
02:39 version um but it it stays clean and it
02:42 does that very well I think it has a
02:44 really nice clean tone now this amp also
02:46 has some really unique features that I'm
02:47 not really used to coming from the
02:50 fender amps that I've used for so long
02:52 uh it's got some really nice EQ controls
02:54 high low pass it's also got some tone
02:57 stack dip switches that you might find
02:59 find useful it's got a really deep
03:01 Reverb and you've got extra controls on
03:04 that so you can dial it in I really like
03:06 the Reverb sound on this amp but also
03:08 this circuit has some overdrive controls
03:11 as well and that's something that dumble
03:14 uh was known for this one has a
03:16 overdrive switch on the back that I
03:19 think engages some kind of preamp
03:20 circuit to push the amp a little bit
03:22 harder and you can use a pedal to
03:24 control it if you want I'm going to play
03:26 that for you guys in just a second here
03:27 but I want to talk to Taylor about some
03:29 of the features and design behind the
03:32 steel string singer well some of the
03:34 things I've heard about the singer was
03:36 you know he was working with Stevie
03:38 Ravon and Stevie was really looking for
03:40 a super high Headroom amp um something
03:42 that he could fully crank up that
03:44 wouldn't break up I mean he was uh
03:46 pretty heavy-handed playing the 13 gauge
03:48 strings so I think when he was playing
03:50 his super reverbs and his twins I think
03:52 even at the 100 wat power level um you
03:55 know he was getting some breakup and
03:56 just wanted something that would stay
03:58 cleaner so the steel string singer I
04:00 think Stevie was 150 watts um I think he
04:03 also had a 100 watt version but that amp
04:06 is very percussive and has a ton of
04:08 Headroom so you know it doesn't break up
04:11 when you when you uh really dig into it
04:13 I mean the ones we sell I I kind of
04:16 added it you know so that you can
04:18 actually get some breakup out of them um
04:21 but you know it's the high head room amp
04:22 that Stevie wanted so I think that's
04:25 kind of where it came from and if you
04:27 look in the design like actually it is
04:30 the clean channel of an overdrive
04:32 special if if you really kind of dig
04:34 into it and then what happens is is is
04:37 once it goes into the output section
04:39 it's a lot different so um there's a
04:41 tube called the cathode follower that is
04:44 a kind of a uh high output but low
04:47 Distortion stage and so that's when you
04:49 when you hear that like really
04:50 percussiveness when you hear the string
04:53 slap back on the fretboard and you can
04:55 just kind of hear even the flush in your
04:56 fingertips that's the cathode follower
04:59 really kicking up the output but you
05:01 don't hear the Distortion so that's kind
05:04 of the idea is you have the overdrive
05:06 special tone stack and um preamp and
05:09 then it goes into the cathode follower
05:12 which really kicks that up and then goes
05:14 into the output section and then there's
05:16 some additional flexibility with that
05:17 amp too with like the Click filters so
05:19 you actually have two different tone
05:20 Stacks you've got the traditional treble
05:23 middle and base and then the high and
05:25 low filters which are like a EQ pass um
05:28 which are set you know different spot of
05:30 the circuit um which is kind of nice if
05:32 you want like a quick adjustment you
05:34 know you're changing guitars or you just
05:35 need to drop out some bass or add some
05:37 trouble um they can be pretty cool and
05:40 then the huge Reverb you know so there's
05:43 a kind of a fender style Reverb um but a
05:46 lot more control over it so in the uh
05:49 steel string singer you'll see a pretty
05:50 common theme it's a it's a two knob
05:52 Reverb control so there's a send and a
05:54 return and the send allows you to set
05:57 the depth of the Reverb and the return
05:59 sets the level of Reverb and how much
06:01 Reverb you have in the
08:52 so the overdrive effect on this amp is
08:54 pretty limited this is not like some of
08:57 uh dumble other overdrive cir circuits
08:59 where you can really push the amp hard
09:01 you can flip the switch on the back or
09:03 the foot switch and engage that seems
09:05 like a preamp overdrive and it will give
09:08 you a little bit more of that sound that
09:10 people talk about with dumble lamps
09:12 which is a tube overdriven sound the
09:15 harmonics uh the Distortion that's
09:17 that's warm when talking with Taylor you
09:20 know he he kind of mentioned that the
09:22 overdrive special was really
09:25 Dumbo's most classic most famous
09:29 and uh maybe that's what I need to try
09:32 next um Robin Ford is the one that comes
09:35 to mind who who used the overdrive
09:36 special and of course he's known for
09:39 having an amazing tone so uh perhaps
09:42 that's really the one I need to get a
09:44 hold of to understand what the appeal is
09:46 behind the dumble amps but you know if
09:48 you're playing really big venues that
09:50 can handle an amp like this and you want
09:53 to super clean tight tone that's what
09:55 the steel string singer is I want to
09:57 finish out this video by talking to
09:59 Taylor a little bit more about the steel
10:01 string singer and then I'll follow it up
10:04 with just letting it rip I'm just going
10:06 to turn it up uh and try to find the
10:08 settings that I that I really think
10:09 sound best with this amplifier maybe run
10:12 some pedals through it and just have a
10:13 little fun I hope you guys enjoyed this
10:15 episode thank you guys for watching
10:17 let's finish up this interview and U
10:19 I'll play you guys a little bit more
10:20 Stevie's amps always really interested
10:23 me and so um I guess you're saying he
10:26 had multiple steel string singer
10:29 and I believe that goes back to playing
10:32 um gosh who was it uh in the studio Jack
10:36 I think Jack he Jackson Browns yeah it
10:38 yeah that that was inspired from Jackson
10:41 Brown Studio where he played his first
10:44 dumble so you you think he had an amp
10:47 that was maybe the 150 watts and the 100
10:49 watt 6l6 version but they were for for
10:53 the most part they were they were
10:54 similar it wasn't something unique that
10:57 dumble built necessarily I don't know so
11:00 there's I've seen like tons of
11:01 speculation online of how many steel
11:03 string singers that there actually are
11:06 I've heard some guys say as many as 12
11:08 um I don't think I've seen a serial
11:11 number higher than than six or seven I
11:13 think Kirk Kirk Hammond had one for sale
11:15 a couple years ago that sold for like
11:18 450,000 or something absurd may have
11:20 even been more than that um so I'm not
11:23 entirely sure on the lineage I've seen
11:24 the first one I think was a combo 100
11:27 wat combo he may have built for Henry
11:29 Kaiser and then number two is uh is a
11:33 famous One um that that mayor has
11:35 currently and that one was originally
11:37 buil for Jackson Brown and I'm wondering
11:39 if that's the one that Stevie played
11:42 originally and um I want to say Stevie's
11:46 Stevie had that one eventually he got it
11:48 from Jackson Brown and then he had
11:50 number four and I think number four was
11:52 the the kington co I can never say it
11:55 right the king tone console um and that
11:58 was 100 50 watts and that's the one that
12:00 he always is you know there's pictures
12:01 of him playing that with like the 4X 12
12:03 cabinet so I think he had number two and
12:05 number four and then number five was
12:09 Johnson's and then there's some other
12:11 ones there some that I've seen have like
12:12 snake skin on them and there's some
12:14 black tox ones and um you know but it's
12:17 just like there's not a lot of
12:19 information on them you know like people
12:21 people have those things locked up
12:22 somewhere and they're just not
12:25 available so that's really interesting I
12:27 never knew that of that model he may
12:30 have only made you're saying 10 to 12 or
12:32 something like that yeah yeah I mean
12:35 that's why they're so special yeah
12:36 actually I just remember number four so
12:38 mayor has number two and number four and
12:41 number two was really Jackson Browns
12:42 number four was Henry Kaiser's and um
12:45 you know what I was talking earlier
12:47 about the cathode follower it's funny
12:49 like that that is what I think really
12:51 defines the the steel string singer
12:53 sound but that's not in every steel
12:55 string singer which is crazy so like I
12:58 out of Mayors I know number two
13:00 definitely has it that was the original
13:02 Jackson brown one number four um I think
13:05 was in a combo shell or something um
13:07 maybe that was the blue there was like a
13:09 blue suede one and that doesn't have the
13:11 cathode follower so I'm not sure if that
13:14 one is still you know as percussive or
13:17 or you know really seems as turbocharged
13:19 as the ones with the cathode follower
13:21 but yeah I mean they're all a little bit
13:23 different what do you think's Dumbo's
13:27 amp um you know I have to lean back to
13:31 the overdrive special just because
13:33 that's the one that is you know it's
13:36 legendary and for me like the dumble
13:39 tone is the robin Ford 1980s overdrive
13:45 you know smooth it's got the sustain the
13:49 saturation um you know really chirpy and
13:52 and kind of when you play it you almost
13:54 feel like you're playing a saxophone you
13:56 know really kind of you can just dig in
13:58 and the amp just kind of responds the
14:00 right way you get the controlled
14:01 feedback and that's the dumble tone for
14:04 me now I love the the singer I mean if I
14:07 had to just if I had if I had to choose
14:09 a clean tone that would be it you know I
14:11 love that high output clean um you know
14:14 one of the things I always felt like
14:15 when I when I played a singer was that
14:18 uh you had the attributes of an
14:20 overdriven amp but the amp wasn't
14:23 overdriving so you had the the clean um
14:26 I used to call it like Clean Gain where
14:28 was like or a clean lead tone so you'd
14:31 have uh you know the touch sensitivity
14:33 the sustain um you know like I said
14:36 before like all the percussiveness but
14:38 the amp would still be clean and for me
14:40 that was always so unique and powerful
14:42 and um you know when I when I play one
14:45 you I always think back to Stevie and
14:47 you kind of hear all that stuff um even
