Ok, so I can't afford a Dumble or a Dumble-inspired amp at the moment. Anyone know how to get in the ballpark of David Lindley and Lowell George's clean-sparkly-oomphy tone without using a Dumble-inspired amp? Pedals? Other amp options? I do have a Matchless HC-30 and Lightning, both of these are great, but lack the bottom end i've been looking for in these tones I've mentioned. Any way to oomph the bottom up on these guys to get sort of a Dumble tone? Speakers? Etc? Thanks to all, great forum...
Give the Bad Cats a try. They have better bottom end than Matchless, and should get you closer to that tone. BTW, I love both of these guys. Lowell has been a huge influence on me.
Another amp to try is one of the newer Fender's with a 15". There was one a couple of years ago that was tube, and now they are making a SS one. Both are geared towards slide/pedal players.
thanks dzeitlin, i haven't ever tried a badcat, surprisingly enough. yeah, i'm way into that kind of funky thing they both do (did). A guy from Texas named Stephen Bruton also has a lot of that sort of thing going on to.
Back around 1979 or 80, when Time Loves a Hero and Waiting for Columbus came out, both Lowell and Paul Barriere were using and endorsing Music Man amps. I saw them in Tuscaloosa AL at a University of Alabama Homecoming in the fall of 1980 and they each had a pair of 2x12 Music Man 130 combos with some 4x12's behind them. I seem to remember vividly that the combo speakers had silver centers (that would be dustcovers) in them which made me think they were JBL's. Lowell was playing an old strat and Paul was playing a MM Sabre or some two humbucker model. The MM guitar could pretty much nail strat tones as well. I remember Lowell's slide tone sounding much more "out front" and present than on the records. Kind of stinging and vocal like Duane Allman or someone similar. They were a great band in those days!!! Still are, just a little different!
Didn't Lowell die in 79? You're right about the MM amps, but I'm pretty sure only Paul was using them. On the Rockpalast DVD, there is an interview with Paul, and he talks about the MM gear. Basically, he didn't have a lot of nice things to say. On that same DVD, Lowell's Dumble is in plain site behind him. Granted that was in 77, but I'm pretty sure in his biography, it said he used the Dumble till he died.
Yup, Cody's right. He does play Dumbles. One of three he owns actually. I believe he bought one off of Eric Johnson some time ago. The other two are OD Specials, one black, one tan. Bruton also played Matchlesses before going to the Dumbles.
The stock speaker in those MM amps was an Eminence heavy-duty alnico speaker w/ aluminum dustcover. These are very nice sounding speakers.
Two amps I have played that have more low end than you could ever want: Alessandro Redbone Coonhound Bad Cat Trem Cat(1-12) I will go on to say that all that low end is fun in live situations(even if the bass player doesn't like it ) but it is useless in the recording studio.
after checking back, the concert was in the fall of '78. I don't know why I was thinking '80. I am surprised on the MM thing. I was pretty sure they both used them. If LG wasn't using MM back then, what would he have been using the large cabs? For show or was the Dumble plugged into them?? Barriere had just a great Fender sound, using the MM's with the built in phasors, pickup switch set out of phase. It was really bright, but came across just about right in a large basketball arena in order to sound like a Fender. Interesting about the Emi made speakers. They did sound beautiful.
Might sound funny, but I heard some slide through a Menatone Howie that just screamed Lowell to me. I'd think the Howie plus the two Dynacomps into a clean amp would take you a long way there.
