How unique is the tone of a mighty Dumble amp? Just ask Mark Tremonti. The guitarist says his three Dumbles served as the model for his lead tone when he went on the road for Creed's reunion tour.
“I’m an amp fanatic; I’ve bought, sold, and traded a lot over the years and kept the best ones,” he says. “When I go on the road, I miss some of them, so I wanted to make an amp that does it all, and that’s the MT 100.”
The MT 100, of course, is his signature PRS amplifier. And versatility, he says, was crucial for it to meet his demands.
“It has a big high-gain channel that does the heavy Mesa/Boogie thing that I’ve always loved,” he explains. “It’s a great balance between the percussive heavy, high-gain rhythm stuff that I do and the lead at the same time.
“Sometimes you can get a great rhythm tone, but then your lead tone suffers. So I had to find that perfect balance between the two.”
While he talks up the amp’s “ high headroom, Fender Twin–on-steroids” clean channel, he says its dirt draws inspiration from Dumble amps.
“There’s a million Dumble clones out there. I’ve played almost all of them and own three,” the PRS signature artist says. “I love the expressiveness of those amps. So I took one of my favorites up to the factory and said, ‘Let’s not try to do a Dumble — let’s try to capture what it feels like when the pick hits the string on a Dumble, because that’s what I really love.’
“So we just tweaked and tweaked and tweaked until we came up with this overdrive channel, which, to me, is very inspiring.”
Over the years, Dumble amps have built a mystical reputation akin to Klon Centaur. The amps have been beloved by greats like Stevie Ray Vaughan, Robben Ford, Kenny Wayne Shepherd and Joe Bonamassa, and Tremonti believes their magic lies in their ability to bridge dirty, driven tones and crystalline cleans. As such, he’s had to double up on his MT 100s to achieve both sides of Dumble’s tonal coin.
“It’s a sound that blooms,” he says. “You can have that half-dirty thing, where you can dial the gain back and strum through a chord, and it can just be a little overdriven and sweet. So if you’re playing a clean, fingerpicked part, that middle channel is perfect.
“On this tour, it’s going to be two MT 100s, and they’re going to be dialed in the same way. For some reason, to me, that’s the best-sounding rig.”
As for his pedalboard, simplicity reigns supreme, with the guitarist saying, “I’m all about the big, straight-ahead meat-and-potatoes sound.”
“I usually set my delay consistently for the entire set; I don’t set it per song,” he reveals. “And then, on the floor, I’ll have a wah and an overdrive for leads, some kind of Uni-Vibe-style modulation pedal, and an octave pedal for any time I hit a big single-string riff and want it to jump out and be bigger.”
Pedals on his board include a Boss OctaveOC-5, a Mark Tremonti signature Morley wah, a Little Lehle AB box, and an Ibanez tube screamer.
Creed’s tour begins in Oklahoma City on November 2, with the spirit of his favorite Dumble amp living on in his twin MT 100 setup.
In related news, Tremonti’s Alter Bridge bandmate Myles Kennedy has revealed how an onstage disaster forced him to buy a PRS guitar he couldn't afford.
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