Custom
Made and Boutique
Amps
All Brands and
Models Repaired
For starters,
let me say that
most custom amp
builders really
care about their
product and
usually bend
over backwards
to keep their
customers happy,
up to having a
defective unit
picked up and
returned next
day air at no
charge to the
customer.
However, the sad
reality is that
it is very
difficult to
stay in business
in today's
marketplace.
Quite a few
boutique amp
makers, along
with high-end
audio
manufacturers,
simply have
succumbed to
economic
pressure and
closed their
doors. A very
few seem to be in
it just for the
bucks or prefer
to cater to
their "rich and
famous" clients
at the expense
of people who
simply paid hard
earned money and
expected to be
dealt with
fairly, only to
be disappointed
over unanswered
messages and
e-mails. Often
the owner of one
of these amps is
left with a unit
that cannot be
serviced through
a local shop and
cannot be
returned to the
dealer.
We will accept
any custom
made/boutique
amp in for
repair and have
had a favorable
outcome on
almost all these
units.
Guitar amp
design tends to
be derivative: A
Fender tweed
bassman circuit looks like
a Marshall 50W
combo, which
looks like a
Hiwatt which
looks a bit more
like a post-cbs
showman...
Ampegs look like
Gibsons and
Danelectros look
like Silvertones. All
tube amps have
circuits that
have been used
somewhere
before. The
Bible says in
Ecclesiastes
that " there is
nothing new
under the sun"
and someone once
said "If you
steal from one
source it's
plagiarism, if
you steal from
everyone it's
assimilation"
You get the
idea.
Guitar amp
circuit design
is basically a
cut and paste
operation. The
problem in
repairing custom
units is that
you do not have
a schematic to
check when a new
twist or turn
appears. ( I
still remember
the first
Mesa/boogie I
looked into...)
All the amps I
ever built were
based mainly on
old designs with
some help from
the RCA
receiving tube
manual and
Mullard's Hi Fi
circuit book. It
does help to
have a lot of
experience in
circuit tracing
and repair when
something new or
out of left
field pops up.
Our repair rates
are the same for
boutique amps
and the old
standbys. "Amps
is amps."
Rather than fill
a laundry list
page with the
name of every
limited
production and
custom amp ever
made it is more
to the point to
state:
We
repair any brand
of tube amp
made-no
exceptions.
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