One of Alexander Dumble’s final amps was built for Slash

Slash has revealed that he was fortunate enough to secure a modded Fender build from Alexander Dumble, shortly before the legendary amp maker passed away in January.

It‘s testament to the scarcity of the builds that even a player of Slash’s statute has not crossed paths with a Dumble. Indeed, in an interview with Premier Guitar, Slash says it was only recently that he got to play one – during the recording sessions for new album 4, produced by Dave Cobb.

“It was the first time I consciously knew I was playing through a Dumble amp,” says Slash. “I’ve been hearing that name forever, but I didn’t know what it was… [Cobb] introduced me to a Fender that Dumble had customized, and it sounds fuckin’ amazing. I didn’t actually record anything with it, but it just sounded really good.”

Across his lifetime, Alexander Dumble built a formidable reputation as an amp maker and modder, to say the least. His sought-after builds populate the collections of John Mayer, Robben Ford, Carlos Santana, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Eric Clapton, among others.

Upon his death in January, Dumble’s loss was mourned by many in the guitar world, with Kenny Wayne Shepherd – who himself uses Dumble-modded Fenders – describing him as a “bonafide genius.”

The referenced interview with Slash reportedly occurred before Dumble’s death, but in the same feature, the guitar legend reveals that he had recently reached out to the builder and secured his own amp.

“I got in touch with Alex after the session and he actually did a Fender for me,” says Slash. “It sounds really great. He’s not easy to get in touch with or to get him to do something, it became very apparent. So it was an honor to have him do something for me. But I didn’t know the history before. There was some discrepancy over the cost of it for a second, but he and I got to be good friends as a result of that. I didn’t know how much it cost, I thought ‘five’ meant five-hundred bucks!”

The timing of Slash’s modded Fender would likely make it one of the amp-master’s final builds. Let’s hope it gets some use down the road, even if it’s now too precious to use on it…