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What is it?
VHT Amplification was originally founded by esteemed American designer Steve Fryette in the late ’80s and its eye-catching stereo power amps quickly became a regular sight on US stages.
However, in 2009 Fryette sold the VHT trademark to the AXL company who set about designing and manufacturing a fleet of affordable amplifiers from its factory in China, while Steve continued to make amps under the new banner of Fryette Amplification, which is still going strong today.
Back to the VHT brand here and the D range, from which our review model comes, aims to summon up the sonic magic of the Alexander – or Howard, depending on who you ask – Dumble custom-built amplifiers. These incredibly rare and highly prized guitar amps, including Stevie Ray Vaughan’s ‘Steel String Singer’, were made strictly to order in what Dumble himself referred to as a “one-at-a-time” process.
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Along with a frequently lengthy wait for delivery, customers would also receive an eyebrow-raising list of contractual obligations, ranging from a ban on photographing the internals to not even being able to take it to another amp technician.
Luckily, VHT makes no such demands of its customers and, in a further break from Dumble ethos, you’re much more likely to find the amps on the floor of your local music shop, rather than delivered at some unspecified point in the future.
Regardless of cost or availability, Dumble amps are still incredibly desirable due to sublime sonic hallmarks including their huge headroom, a bold ‘more Fender than Fender’ clean sound, and a smooth creamy overdrive with excellent note clarity.
Circuit-wise, the overdrive section operates as a boost within the clean channel, sharing the same tone controls and input gain equating to an interdependence between the gain stages that requires factoring in somewhat when making settings.
This amp also has a traditional-style effects loop, which is a great deal more convenient than the convoluted Dumble setup where an expansion device called ‘The Dumblelator’ would provide buffering and level integration for effects pedals and processors.
A Dumble-inspired aesthetic has been incorporated into the control panel layout combined with an overall build style reminiscent of the original VHT amps, though obviously with materials and construction scaled to meet lower price points.
In this era of modern global manufacturing, valve amps are being produced at lower and lower prices as shown here by VHT, but even with this affordability drive, it’s important to make sure everything is bolted down tightly.
When plugging in the IEC mains cable, some concerning chassis-shifting took place, indicating looseness in the assembly. Further inspection found many of the nuts securing the chassis and some pots and jacks were less than fully tight.
Perhaps this review model had seen a lot of transit-related wear and tear, but firmly secured bolts and screws are essential to hold up to the rigours of gigging. We likely all have memories of losing a pesky knob, nut or bolt to a dimly lit stage.
Specs
- PRICE: $999 | £779
- ORIGIN: China
- TYPE: All valve
- VALVES: 3x 12AX7, 2x 6V6GT
- OUTPUT: 20W
- DIMENSIONS: 418 (w) x 235 (d) x 233mm (h)
- WEIGHT (kg/lb): 8.25/18
- CABINET: VT-112 cabinets coming soon (from £349)
- LOUDSPEAKER: (N/A)
- CHANNELS: 1 with switchable overdrive
- CONTROLS: Volume, Bright, Mid Boost Deep Switches, Treble, Middle, Bass, Overdrive, Level, Master, Presence
- FOOTSWITCH: 1-button (overdrive)
- ADDITIONAL FEATURES: Effects loop
- CONTACT: VHT Amplification
Build quality, usability and sounds
Beginning our listening with the clean channel, we’re greeted with a glassy top-end and an extended bottom: exactly the tonal profile we’d hoped to hear from this D-style amp. The sparkle can be further encouraged by way of the treble switch, with its presence or high-boost settings.
In this clean context the mid switch brought us a little closer to Vox-style thickness and edge-of-break-up. The available gain ranges from pristine clean through to moderate levels of break-up.
The 20 watts of output power produced by the pair of 6V6 valves is perhaps a different prospect to the higher output power of the original Dumbles and so cannot summon up quite the same amount of clean headroom, but 6V6 valves do have their own charm. Also pedal-pushers be aware, this amp takes pedals like a champ, you’ll be happy to know.
The D-20’s touch-sensitive characteristics open up a large dynamic range that jazz and blues players will particularly enjoy. For the heavier-handed among us, a softer touch seems to bring the best out of this design, and engaging a compressor pedal could potentially help to further smooth out the response.
Using either the included footswitch or the front-panel control we can engage the overdrive circuit for some harmonic saturation of the Dumble kind.
Voiced in a way that lends itself well to deeper tones of the type used in jazz and fusion, blues and country, the three tone switches are helpful in sculpting the type of response you desire from the amp. The mid switch in particular had a distinct effect on the overdrive, pushing the sound further into focused gain.
Similarly, the treble switch in its wide high-boost position had the most pronounced effect on the driven sound, allowing for more attacking tones.
A common feature of Dumble’s amps was the FET input channel boost, positioned before the signal hit the valves. Its effect was to add brightness, definition and clarity, especially with overdrive. Unlike its big brother, the D-50, this D-20 does not include this FET input stage.
For players looking for rock sounds, the fulsome bottom-end can be a little portly at higher-gain settings, but happily the amp still sounds full even with the bass control reduced to its minimum. The Bright switch with its two active positions – up for sparkle and down for larger-range treble boost – adds top in either setting that’s conservatively judged and certainly not excessive.
Placing a delay pedal in the effects loop is certainly a good deal easier than the palaver of the original Dumbleator and results in a clean signal without hum or interference.
Verdict
Verdict: ★★★★½
While the construction standards could (literally) be tightened up a little, it’s notable that VHT is providing a Dumble-style sonic palette for a comparatively low entry fee.
Perhaps the larger D-50 with its increased headroom and FET input circuit may be worthy of inspection, too, subject to your volume needs, but VHT’s D range of Dumble-voiced, all-valve amplifiers is a commendable offering worthy of your own test-drive.
Guitar World verdict: If Dumble tones are an itch you’ve wished to scratch without a rockstar’s budget (that’s if you could even find one available), this amp will give you the essence without that huge outlay.
