Dumble Bluesmaster

[Eddiehazelfan]

Hey guys...

Does anyone know which Dumble amp the Ceriatone HRM Bluesmaster is based upon? Is it a clone of a specific amp?

I'm asking because I'm contemplating doing a Ceriatone build and the 50 watt HRM Bluesmaster seems to be the one I'm most drawn to...and I'm just interested in getting as much information about the amp as possible. The guy I'm talking to about doing the build has experience with actual Dumbles...has worked on them and has access to some...and I thought this would be a good opportunity to see how closely the Ceriatone is to the real thing. Thanks for your time & info.

[Structo]

Your best bet is to contact Nik at Ceriatone.

[David Root]

He uses cheap iron in general and Asian components so don't get too excited about authentic tone. The chassis are on the thin side. However his build quality otherwise is competent.

His Bluesmaster is no doubt entirely derivative of what has been posted on this forum in the past as it seems he learned everything he knows about Dumble amps here.

[groovtubin]

He uses cheap iron in general and Asian components so don't get too excited about authentic tone. The chassis are on the thin side. However his build quality otherwise is competent.

His Bluesmaster is no doubt entirely derivative of what has been posted on this forum in the past as it seems he learned everything he knows about Dumble amps here.

I`m OFF topic as usual....Why can`t the guys here pull off a co like that? Maybe everyone here thinks they gonna get rich? lol! Not being mean, just kudos to the guy for pulling it off...i mean, some of the guys here i bet have had more $$ than Nik started with!! ( B4 wall street take-over!!) But then, Redplate and Quinn have merged, maybe we`ll see more of that? With 13 yrs of messing with this amp, there`s alot more variant than meets the ear! Plenty of new ground to uncover.......Like Alex D. said, it just takes TALENT, and i could sure use a BIG dose! lol!

My best to ALL who have made a successful venture outa these amps! It sure isn`t that easy!

jim@Omegaamps

[John_P_WI]

I`m OFF topic as usual....Why can`t the guys here pull off a co like that?
jim@Omegaamps

I have stirred this pot enough and I am NOT in this thread, but to answer your question, his location provides some immunity to the regulations and lawsuits that a similarly US based business would face. Not to mention the much higher labor and material costs associated with US manufactured products.

[groovtubin]

I`m OFF topic as usual....Why can`t the guys here pull off a co like that?
jim@Omegaamps

I have stirred this pot enough and I am NOT in this thread, but to answer your question, his location provides some immunity to the regulations and lawsuits that a similarly US based business would face. Not to mention the much higher labor and material costs associated with US manufactured products.

It`d be so nice if we could stir our state rep`s, and gvt into seeing this ( you KNOW they do) and providing the right solutions, so far i guess they are ALL sleping with the enemy, thanks for your answer John P wisconsin! My best to you and your family!

peace, jim

[M Fowler]

I don't like the Ceriatone transformers I've received with the Express and DC30 but the other components were top notch quality.

[Eddiehazelfan]

I'm not a builder nor am I trolling to stir up some old s__t. I'm just a regular guy in CA who plays guitar as a hobby and am fortunate enough to own some very nice custom guitars...by "nice," I don't necessarily mean "expensive" but nice for ME...LOL. Unique pieces that I wanted to complement with a nice genuine tube amp to hear what they are capable of musically. Currently I'm playing through a Johnson Millennium 150 modeling amp and while that has its merits, I realized that because of the modeling circuitry that the amp has no native sound of its own, that the sounds are all colored by the various FX modules. I'm moving away from that and focusing on capturing the tone I hear in my mind...clean, lush, sweet, fat, round, sustaining with a nasty edge on top when I want to go there. A friend turned me on to Robben Ford, from the first Yellowjackets lp and when I discovered he played a Dumble, as did my other guitar heroes Santana & SRV, it all just made sense that that was the tone I was connecting with. Of course I can't just order one for myself (well actually I could, but $20g's and a several year wait makes that prohibitive...but I digress ), so I began searching for alternatives and that's how I eventually learned of Ceriatone.

For my price point, it appears to be my best option to get in the neighborhood of that sound. But I'm not married to them; I haven't ordered anything from Nik yet and am open to alternatives. The US-based options like Bludotone are out of my ballpark at this time. I'd like to get my feet wet first, so to speak...wade in the shallow end and get acclimated to this boutique amp thing before diving into the deep end of $5 g's and up refinement.

I'm aware that there was some controversy between Nik and various factions online but not really up on who did what to whom and what it was all about, so apologies if I'm picking at old scabs by asking questions about Ceriatone here on this forum. I found TAG during one of my searches for info about these amps; TAG is considered to be one of, if not the number one main site for specific information related to Dumble's creations.

[M Fowler]

Well you can order from Ceriatone USA as well and save a little.

http://www.ceriatone.net/upload/

[John_P_WI]

Hey it is not my money so it is easy to suggest.... this would be a great place to start:

https://tubeamparchive.com/viewtopic.php?t=17164

I am sure Shad could tune it to any way you want.

Or as Jim suggested above, you might want to contact Shad @ Quinnamps or Henry @ Red Plate. Give Tony @ VVT a shout too. They are builders who have more than enough examples here to satisfy anyone... Those are the ones that quickly came to mind, sorry for anyone left out.

[Eddiehazelfan]

Wow, was completely unaware of that website. Thanks for sharing. I notice they're not directly affiliated with or employed by Nik...are they members here?

Allow me to clarify my original question...I understand you guys aren't here to push Ceriatone products and are probably tired of the typical "Tell me about Ceriatone" - kinds of questions. I have a good email rapport with Nik and he and I have emailed often. I'm interested in which Dumble that the Bluesmaster is modeled after. I have a basic understanding at this point of the different generations of Dumble amps and their different specs, and I understand that the BM is considered a later-generation version. Was just wondering if it was cloned off of a specific model so that if I go in that direction my tech could have a specific amp to compare it with. Opinions vary on the accuracy of Nik's D-amps...some say they're close, some say nowhere in the ballpark. I'd like to make up my own mind but it would nice to have a reference point because my understanding is that the original Dumbles varied tonally as well.

[Structo]

I hadn't seen that website either.

Who runs that?

[boldaslove6789]

Hey it is not my money so it is easy to suggest.... this would be a great place to start:

https://tubeamparchive.com/viewtopic.php?t=17164

I am sure Shad could tune it to any way you want.

Or as Jim suggested above, you might want to contact Shad @ Quinnamps or Henry @ Red Plate. Give Tony @ VVT a shout too. They are builders who have more than enough examples here to satisfy anyone... Those are the ones that quickly came to mind, sorry for anyone left out.

Not to derail but i aggree with the abobe statements, all the builders there are top notch. Also Shad is coming out with a new Dumble based 50 or 100w SDQ amp that is PCB and is top notch, it's also going to be roughly $2k.

Coming from a players perspective and not a builder. If you spend the $ right off the bat, it'll save you in the long run.

The first D-style amp I owned was a Ceriatone (Built by Mill Creek Audio), and while it really was a great amp, I still wished I'd had spent the extra $ to buy something more premium that was to my Spec's and had the feature set that I wanted.

the thing with ODS style amps is if you want everything to sound great you have to buy the accessories that go along with them. this includes the following:

Dumbleator
Decent Time based effect (For reverb or Delay)
Nice tuned speaker cab (either a ported 1x12 or 2x12, or a Theile cab)
And lastly Speakers

Here are some of them:
Celestion G1265
EvM12-L
Fane studio12L
JBL D (Or E)-120 (etc.)
WGS ET65
Eminince Texas Heat

And there are many more to choose from that sound great.

I use a 2x12 with a Celestion G1265 and a Two-Rock ET65, or a ported 1x12 with an EvM12-L.

[erwin_ve]

He uses cheap iron in general and Asian components so don't get too excited about authentic tone.

You can choose for Mm iron. Electrolytics are differerent than what most of us use. The rest he uses is what most of use. Rn65, 6ps. Ive seen worse builts here at TAG )

[M Fowler]

Wow, was completely unaware of that website. Thanks for sharing. I notice they're not directly affiliated with or employed by Nik...are they members here?

That link is on the main Ceriatone website of Nik's.