Music Equipment
Builders/Restorers
Note: some of these folks aren't yet "on-line".
Too busy building, we suppose...

www.stephensonamps.com

Mark Stephenson hand builds all-tube combos and heads, with rave reviews from North American and European studios. He also builds great detuned cabinets.

• Authorized installer of Power Scaling

PO Box 176
Parksville, British Columbia, CANADA  V9P 2G4
250-954-2292

www.circuitrix.com

Manny Bettencourt is a knowledgeable and friendly East-Coast amp builder who can repair, modify or build you an amp at a reasonable price. Check out his selection of kits and parts!

• Authorized installer of Power Scaling

RICK HAYWARD

• Authorized installer of Power Scaling

7 Oxford Crescent
Mount Pearl, Newfoundland, CANADA  A1N 2X7
709-745-6807

HEPCAT AMPS

2518 Christina Street
Stockton, California, 95204 USA
209-HOW-COOL (209-469-2665)
888-HOT-TONE (888-468-8663)
E-mail: bluestevemusic@gbcglobal.net

www.anacon-tech.com

Aleksander Niemand in Gothenburg, Sweden keeps himself busy building his Tubewonder heads and matching cabs, in a cheerful array of colours. And they sound great, too! They are designed for studio musicians, but they're great on stage as well!

Davies Audio

Cory Davies builds tweed-style guitar amps with Power Scaling. His years of experience guarantee great tone with quiet operation. He has installed Power Scaling in many amplifier brands, and can troubleshoot your DIY amp constructions.

• Authorized installer of Power Scaling

E-mail: cory_davies@telus.net
2550 Pass Creek Rd
Castlegar, British Columbia  V1N 4T4 Canada

 KUHNAMPS

www.kuhnamps.com

Our friend Martin Kuhn in Järna, Sweden can modify, repair or renovate your amp, or build according to your wishes with his own ingenious designs.

His website is under construction, but you can get a good look at him there.

• Authorized installer of Power Scaling

www.analogbros.com

The Analog Brothers build custom rack-mount tube amps. Jim Hildenberger is the friendly and knowledgeable proprietor.

  METASONIX
www.metasonix.com

Synth modules built the way nature intended: by hand and all-tube. Premier quality and unparalleled tone.

  
www.guytron.com

Guy Hedrick builds an integrated amp chain using a small amp to drive a large amp. Two voices are provided in the small amp. Speaker cabinets that match the amp head are also available.

Tel: 810-254-5717      Fax: 810-254-5486

   THD ELECTRONICS
www.thdelectronics.com

Andy Marshall has been designing and building great quality guitar amps and accessories since the 1980s.

4816 15th Avenue NW
Seattle, Washington 98107-4717 USA
206-781-5500

 

www.ampeg.com

Now a brand name for St. Louis Music, along with Crate. Info about new products and history of the old.

  www.mavenpeal.com

David Zimmerman's variable sag and power supplies mated with traditional circuits. Very high quality construction.

CLASSIC AMPS
www.classicamps.com   

Rob Fowler in Cambridge, Ontario builds a variety of good low-watt tube combo amps, heads, and speaker cabs for serious players.

Tube Amp Technologies

Brian Ohman repairs both tube and solid-state guitar amps. He has built a Power Scaling guitar amp and can perform Power Scale installs in any guitar amp.

• Authorized installer of Power Scaling

Tel: 705-833-1234
Central Ontario, an hour north of Toronto

Blockhead Amplification

www.blockheadamps.com

Builders of Power Scaled amplifiers.

ACR Amplification

Albert Rivera repairs, modifies and custom builds tube guitar amps. Impeccable hand construction without any preconceptions. To keep the volcano happy, he can install Power Scaling in your amp.

• Authorized installer of Power Scaling

Tel: 808-292-8331
E-mail: acr25info@hawaii.rr.com
706 Hoopai St
Pearl City, HAWAII  96782 USA

King Amplification

www.kingamplification.com

To quote the King himself:
"All-tube hand-wired amplification with the design and manufacturing sensibilities from the tube revolution of the 40s and 50s - when the art of amplification and accuracy of tone were valued above all else."

Val is introducing Power Scaling on his line of King amps, and also does Power Scale installations.

"The classical tradition of tone."

Val King / King Amplification
Tel: 408-436-1245
E-mail: val@kingamplification.com
741 E Brokaw Rd
San Jose, California  95112 USA

Island Amplifiers

www.islandamps.com

• Custom guitar and bass amps, repairs, mods
• Power Scaling Installs

Dante Carrer designs unique guitar and bass amplifiers that bring out the tone in your head from your hands to their ears. Reliable, quiet and easy to use.

Tel: 519-913-1299
Hours: Monday - Friday (11am to 6pm)
London, Ontario           

  REBEL SOUND
www.rebelsound.org
(site temporarily unavailable)

A rebel with a cause - great sound!
Ray Champagne hand builds all-tube heads and combos for rockers and country dudes alike.

PO Box 2145
Stony Plain, Alberta, CANADA T7Z 1X6
780-963-0320
E-mail: rebelsound@interbaun.com

SHANE DOLMAN

• Authorized installer of Power Scaling

c/o The Old Foundry
Tantarra street
Walsall, West Midlands, Great Britain WS1 2HU
TEL: 07763 127166
E-MAIL shane_dolman@yahoo.com

MARTAMP

www.martamp.com

(For now this links to his band's site - and amp sub-page - but soon it will be self-contained)

• Authorized installer of Power Scaling

Martin Whelan
Derbyshire, England
Email: mj.gs@virgin.net

Tel: +44-07884-090604, available 0900-1800 GMT

 

www.madsound.com
(site temporarily unavailable)

4404 Parkwood Drive
Raleigh, North Carolina, 27603 USA
919-773-9272
E-mail: seandorrinefokes@earthlink.net

www.garnetamps.com

Our friend Garnet Gillies, creator of the famous HERZOG (as described in our TUT3) passed away in 2006, but not before writing his book The How and Why of Guitar Tube Amps as "Gar" Sees It.

Parts Manufacturers &

Suppliers

RICHARD SUMNER TECHNOLOGY
www.sumr.com

The best value in toroidal output and power transformers. Custom and standard PT designs. Richard's modesty is only surpassed by his brilliance; the OTs he designed for us set a new standard of performance. All of London Power's PTs and OTs are SumR creations.

www.sovtek.com

Mike Matthews and company created the Sovtek name and supplied the Western world with inexpensive tubes. Lots of parts here to build or service any type of guitar amp.

  
www.hammondmfg.com

Still a family-run business after 75 years! Makers of a wide range of affordable, high quality transformers, chassis and enclosures. To find "tube type" or "classic" transformers on their site, click on "Electronic Transformers".

   
  www.plitron.com

Toroidal transformer specialists, manufacturing high quality, wide bandwidth, low-THD audio OTs - plus, a wide range of standard power transformers.

www.lundahl.se

Manufacturer of quality audio transformers and tube amplifier transformers, which can be found in the majority of Europe's music and radio stations. Lars Lundahl, M.Sc. in electrical engineering, founded the company in his garage in 1960. We can vouch for how nice the Lundahls are, because we've met them.

  
www.cpii.com/eimac/index.html

Manufacturing tubes since 1934. Great source of high-power triodes, tetrodes and pentodes for audio, ham or RF, and first-hand info about these tubes and their applications.

Now a division of Communications & Power Indistries.

  
www.tedweber.com

Tim Weber produces faithful copies of vintage Jensen instrument speakers. Now standard equipment in many boutique amps.

  SVETLANA
www.svetlana-tubes.com

A modern producer of high quality vacuum tubes. You can't buy a bad tube from Svetlana!

Unfortunately, no direct sales to USA and Canada.

Reference & Interest

ampage.org

Discussion forums, homebrew gallery, tube data, amp schematics - and links to more schematics, resources, services, and manufacturers.

www.geofex.com

Contains R.G. Keen's renowned Tube Amp FAQ, Guitar Effects FAQ, and Tube Amp Debugging Page. Lots of expert tips on building your own gear. Sometimes he has oddball parts available.

AMPTONE.COM
www.amptone.com

Cybermonk's very comprehensive collection of amp data and system theories. Highly recommended!

GUITAR NOTES
www.guitarnotes.com/

Jason Nieh's fab collection of links & info about guitar. Happy browsing!

THE LEPER'S ABODE
audible.transient.net/archive/

Jamie Heilman has collected a mound of schematics for commercial and homebrew amps & effects. Lots of links to amp & effect sites and documents, too.

www.vacuumtube.com

Charlie Kittleson and Eric Barbour's magazine, chock full of tube history, product history, vintage hifi reconstruction projects, new circuit ideas, tube comparisons through scientific and sonic testing, and much more. Opinions without lip service.

STEVE'S TUBE PAGES
members.aol.com/sbench101/

Steve Bench in an extremely knowledgeable fellow who has generously created a very informative site about tube circuitry. Some of this is quite technical.

BOB'S MUSIC/TUBE PAGE
www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/1965/music_etc.html

Bob Danielak's passionate interest in tube audio is presented in a friendly, practical manner. He epitomizes "fun with engineering".

JACK ORMAN'S AMZ
www.muzique.com/index.html

Great site on design, construction and use of music electronics. Lots of schematics and links.

PAT'S TUBE SCHEMATICS
http://www3.telus.net/public/vintage1/

Darn colourful page! Metric tonnes of tube audio schematics for guitar/bass amps, hifi, recording equipment and power supplies.

UNOFFICIAL AMPEG SITE
users.aol.com/bluemuse/ampeg.html

Free schematics for older Ampeg gear - the stuff that worked! Lots of useful info for the Ampeg-o-phile. So good it is listed on the real Ampeg site!

hsv.com/scitech/audio/index.htm

Audio and acoustic links. Copious links to consultants, FAQs, manufacturers, newsgroups, etc.

HARMONY CENTRAL
www.harmony-central.com/

Internet resource for musicians. HUGE!!! Great for guitar players.

www.duncanamps.com/

Interesting material on amps, and many useful links to schematics, products and tech stuff!

Suppliers & Stores

THE PARTS CONNEXION
www.partsconnexion.com

The Parts Connexion (note the spelling) is a new company, taking the place of the defunct "Parts Connection" which was a division of Sonic Frontiers. The new folks promise an even greater selection.

www.tubesandmore.com

Antique Electronic Supply. Tubes, books, transformers, sockets, friendly folks, capacitors, resistors, literature, cabinet restoration materials, wire, grill cloth, gifts, tools, information... did we mention friendly folks? Online catalogue too!

• Retailer of Power Press books

  www.lh-musik.se

Swedish source of interesting music and audio supplies and parts. Many music and audio books are available, for musicians, techs and tinkerers. Web site is in Swedish - sells within Sweden only.

• Retailer of Power Press books

BOB PEARMAN BOOKS
www.pearman-books.com

Your one-stop on-line bookshop in Britain. Specialties include music, electronics, and railways. Bob Pearman also promises he can order you any book available in the civilized world.

• Retailer of Power Press books

ELDERLY INSTRUMENTS
www.elderly.com

A friendly place in Lansing, Michigan. Good prices on amps, guitars and unusual instruments. Many new and vintage instruments - CDs, books & videos too. Tonnes of stuff available by mail order. Visit their site and request their FREE catalogues!

• Retailer of Power Press books

ELECTRONIC VALVE
AND TUBE COMPANY (EVATCO)
www.evatco.com.au

STF ELECTRONICS
www.stf-electronics.com

Proprietor Pat Bunn provides a wide selection of tubes, chassis, transformers and components, plus books and his own really interesting kits. One-stop shopping in South Carolina!

• Retailer of Power Press books

SONG BIRD MUSIC
www.songbirdmusic.com

Great music store in Toronto - loads of amps, and helpful, hep staff. What can we say? Go there! (Check out their web-site catalogue with amp prices.)

• Retailer of Power Press books

   
www.amptek-es.com

AMPTEK is your source in Spain for vacuum tubes, capacitors, transformers, and amplifier accessories. Lots of literature, too. See their "George" tube amps! This site is in Spanish.

• Retailer of Power Press books

URALTONE AMPLIFICATION
www.uraltone.com

Your one-stop web-shop in Finland for components and replacement parts for all kinds of electronic musical equipment. Customers get free technical consultation ... now that's service!

Web site is in Finnish, naturally, but they are working on an English version!

• Retailer of Power Press books

 CURCIO AUDIO
www.curcioaudio.com

Hifi kits and fully assembled units. Mostly hybrids.

Miscellany & Friends
Musicians need all kinds of other stuff...

 
www.londonpower.com/GF/GalbraithFarms.htm

Science has taught us that musicans need large quantities of hot peppers.

Wendy O'Connor to the rescue! When she's not publishing Kevin's books, she produces wholesome fruits & veggies. Soon her stand will appear in Thunder Bay, Ontario. Watch for news, and bring a cart.

Watch for the new web site, coming in 2008!

www.atrainhotel.com

It's in Amsterdam! We stayed there on our way to & from Scandinavia in 2003, and were very impressed. Friendly staff, comfy modern rooms, and free breakfast (i.e., an unlimited supply of boiled eggs!) Handy to the train station, too, which is good when you have armloads of tube amplifiers...

www.dr-jordan-design.de

This is worth looking into if you are an audio manufacturer...

Dr. Frank Jordan, in Germany, has developed some amazing test and measurement software that turns your PC into an audio test lab. All of the tests that are possible with the competing Audio Precision System-2 ($25k) can be performed using Jordan's WinaudioMLS-LAB with just an extra plug-in or two, and an outboard AD-DA converter box.

• THD vs. frequency
• THD vs. amplitude
• amplitude vs. frequency
• phase shift vs. frequency
• spectrum response
• noise measurement
• speaker impedance vs.frequency
• room response
...and lots more!

The software is available in several forms, with different capabilities. All perform FFT calculations for instantaneous single frequency performance, but also do MLS measurements for measurements taken over longer time periods. You can add features to the basic WinaudioMLS using software plug-ins, customizing the system to your individual needs.

The software has a resolution of -141dB (0.00001%) and the system resolution can grow to this value as you upgrade the external hardware. Common sound cards offer -60dB to -70dB (0.1%-0.03%) resolution. Mid to upper level sound cards used for digital studios offer up to -115dB (0.018%) of resolution. Better cards are coming out every day.

Using measurement microphones like the Behringer ECM8000, you can measure speaker frequency responses, room responses and perform reverberant analysis using the burst generator plug-in. 

NOLALU ECO CENTRE

www.nolaluecocentre.org

When in the Thunder Bay, Ontario area, plan ahead and visit Hubert & Jacomyn at Northern Ontario's largest solar-powered strawbale facility! See first-hand the ingenious construction of their home, and experience the day-to-day rewards and challenges of treading lightly on the earth.

Arrange for a house tour, attend a workshop, or book a room - or do all three! See their website for contact and booking info (call ahead!), and lots more interesting links.