This reminded me of a story I heard many years ago (in a quality control class) about an offshore company that wanted to clone Steinway pianos. They purchased and dismantled a Steinway, analyzed the components and built a "clone" prototype. When complete, the prototype sounded like a$$ no matter what they did to tweak it. To recover some of their losses, they reassembled the Steinway to sell, but now it sounded like a$$ as well. The moral of the story, "it ain't just the components and design, but the heart and soul of the artist who built the instrument."Amp makers can't hide their DNA, period. If you have "good genes," the "coloration" you will add to the amp -- by virtue of being the one who cuts the wires, solders the bugger, etc. -- will probably be desireable. If your genes are not so compatible with the original vibe of the amp, results may not be as good.
Dumble himself said in an interview that someone could reverse engineer his amp, but they wouldn't be able to duplicate it. While that sounds egotistical at first, it's probably an accurate statement.
Having built what I feel is a pretty accurate clone, I'm now finding that subtle tweaking is all I can get away with. Any drastic changes tend to make it sound worse, and yet it's still not THERE yet. I guess this is where the "art" of amp building kicks in.
