DIMEBAG's Longtime Guitar Tech Discusses New DIME Amp; Video Available

January 29, 2009

Late PANTERA/DAMAGEPLAN guitarist "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott's longtime tech Grady Champion was interviewed by The Metal Nurse of SkullsNBones.com at this year's NAMM show, which was held January 15-18, 2009 at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California. They spoke about Dean Guitars' new Dime "Blacktooth" amp, which was designed — with Grady's help — to help get guitarists as close as possible to Dimebag's epic tone.

Commented Dean Guitars CEO Elliott Rubinson: "We've been wanting to do an amp that replicates Dime's tone for many, many years. I met Grady about a year or two ago, and Grady was Dime's guitar tech for 13 years — all through the PANTERA years, all through the time that Dime developed his sound. The key is, he had the ears — he probably knew Dime's sound better than Dime knew it, because he dialed it in every night. So we found the engineer who designed Dime's original amplifier 13 years ago, brought him out of retirement, had him build us an amp, had Grady come over. Grady listened to it, and with a couple of tweaks, I think this thing is just dead nuts on, it's Dime's sound."

"I'm in total agreement. It's a monster," added Grady.

Minimum Advertised Pricing (MAP) on the Dean Dime amps:

100W Head - List $530.00 / MAP $349.99
412 Cabs (straight or slant) - List $530.00 / MAP $349.99
100W Combo - List $780.00 / MAP $499.99

"Dimebag" Darrell Abbott was shot to death along with three others during a DAMAGEPLAN performance at the Alrosa Villa nightclub in Columbus, Ohio in December 2004.

Dimebag was posthumously inducted into the Hollywood RockWalk in May 2007 in a ceremony attended by Dimebag's brother Vinnie Paul, their father Jerry Abbott and Dimebag's longtime girlfriend, Rita Haney, along with members of ALICE IN CHAINS, ANTHRAX, KISS, SLAYER and Ozzy Osbourne's band.

A bronze bust of Dimebag was unveiled during the ceremony and later installed on the RockWalk's posthumous inductee wall, alongside luminaries such as Elvis Presley, Jimi Hendrix and Robert Johnson.

A special one-time only all-star tribute to Dimebag was held on August 9, 2008 at the one-day Ozzfest at Dallas' Pizza Hut Park.

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