| Top Amplifier Repair - Mods - and Magic |
| I receive calls and emails on a regular basis, asking for good tech referrals. Over time, some folks stand out in my mind as the great ones. The folks below, are ones that I trust, and would take my own amps to. If there are folks you might want to recommend to me to look into, please drop me an email. I will need to talk to them, and see some of their work, as it takes a bit more than some verbal recommendation for me to stick my neck out. I do not do repair or amp mod work, other than for my Blueprinting clients. THE BEST AMP FOLKS I CAN THINK OF Los Angeles Area - Valley - Glendale - Burbank - Hollywood Classic Amp - Mike Franceschini - (Mike is the fellow I refer to as "the best amp tech on the planet") Mike Franceshini is the guy at the top of my list. If I were to list a fraction of the players rigs he takes care of this page would be way too long to display unless you have a 6mb internet connection. A few of the amp companies Mike has been with are GT (Groove Tubes), Rivera, VHT, Bogner, Diezel / Salwender, CAE (Custom Audio Electronics) and is currently the head tech brain trust over at 65amps. Mike does the repair work for folks like SIR, The Amp Shop, Vintage Gear in Hollywood, Lon Cohen, History For Hire (check out their Vox Book, Mike was deeply involved in the technical aspects of the book), and this is another list that would also go on and on and on. Mike does repair work, mods, consulting, tour support and just about anything else you can think of when it comes to guitar and bass amps. (Did I mention that he is THE SVT master?) You can contact Mike at 818-621-7814 or email him at mfran@gte.net Billy Yates - Contact Billy through TrueTone Music at 1-310-393-8232. Amazing guy and he even does solid state! Address and other TrueTone info at www.truetonemusic.com NOTE - IF YOU HAVE AN AMP THAT IS GOING TO BE BLUEPRINTED BY ME IT HAS TO BE IN PROPER WORKING ORDER FIRST IF NOT ARRANGED PRIOR TO BLUEPRINTING APPOINTMENT. THE THREE GUYS ABOVE ARE THE ONES I RECOMMEND AND WILL WORK WITH MOST CLOSELY. Jim Wigle - for Jimmy's phone number, please email him first. amptechs@juno.com Jimmy is perhaps one of the best anywhere. Jimmy is the designer of the GT Solo-Single, the S-30 reverb, has many of his own designs to his credit, stomp boxes and gizzmos. He is the tech and tone to a LOT of well known artists. Jimmy is the head designer at GT, but has his own business as noted here. He is also quite a player, some of you may have seen and heard him with Ratt recently. Many of his clients can be seen on the GT website F&R list at http://www.groovetubes.com/f-n-r.cfm Georgia David Hayes - David has been one of my favorite folks for a number of years at this point in time. I first saw his work when I was supporting another friend, Buddy Whittington at a John Mayall gig where Buddy is one of the Bluesbreakers. The band opening for John Mayall was a band called The Moxie Blues Band. The guitar player was David Asmussen who owned a recreation of a Fender 50 watt Vibroverb done by David Hayes. I had no clue to David Hayes was but during soundcheck I did not care for one of the tonal aspects of the amp due to a tube issue. From what I saw of the amp I thought it was very nicely done. David Asmussen called me a few weeks after the show and brought the amp to me to go over. I was amazed by the workmanship, parts used, attention to detail and every aspect of this amp built from the ground up. I then sought out the fellow that built the amp, David Hayes. As I saw more of his work over the years which included scratch built amps, repairs and restoration my love of his work just grew as the years passed. Bottom line ... if you are anywhere east of somewhere in the USA and need a great tech with a ton of value for the $$$$ check out David Hayes. More on David on my facebook page where he is in my friends that are always displayed and on his own website at http://www.hayesamplification.com Michigan Bruce Egnater - Top notch amp repair and amp builder Egnater Amplification 3047 West 12 Mile Road Berkley, MI 48072 www.egnater.com www.egnateramps.com Nashville Nashville Amplifier Service These folks are THE BEST from my point of view of anybody I know in Nashville. Great folks - Authorized warranty repair for many amps. Nashville Amplifier Service has been in business in the Nashville, Tennessee area since 1994. Performing expert repairs, restorations, and modifications on Amplifiers of all types and other related accessories. They also say ....We do not discriminate against Solid State Amps. We fix those too! These guys can also "put back" an amp that has been messed up with bogus mods. (615) 591-7556 http://www.amprepair.com New York Area Voodoo Amplifiers - Trace These folks do super mods, some of the best in the business for your Marshall amps and other amps. Trace also has a special service for vintage amps .... repairs while you wait. Now is that cool or what! Mention my name and you may get a break on price, or the phone slammed down on you ... it's the luck of the draw. Trace is also one of the few folks that has all the scoop on my own GT S-45 mod ... Marshall meets Fender .... and is one fellow I trust to do this mod. These guys can also "put back" an amp that has been messed up with bogus mods. Voodoo Amplification Inc. 210 West State Street, Suite A, Ithaca, New York 14850 Phone: (607) 256-0465 Fax: (607) 330-0272 Hours: Mon-Fri 10AM-7PM EST (NY time) Website: www.voodooamps.com Email: trace@voodooamps.com Chicago Mark Baier at Victoria Amplifier. If you have a vintage tweed amp or a vintage Marshall, a lot of folks don't know it, but Mark at Victoria will work on most any amp. He does amazing restorations too. These guys can also "put back" an amp that has been messed up with bogus mods. Contact Mark directly at MarkBaier@VictoriaAmp.com GUITAR FOLKS Hollywood / Los Angeles NEELY CUSTOM GUITARS 7424 Sunset Blvd., Suite #1 (just upstairs from Mesa Boogie Hollywood at Sunset and Gardner) Los Angeles, CA 90046 Phone: 323 850-7043 |