Tube Amplifiers

Adrian Emsley is the Technical Director at Orange Amps in London.  The company’s founder, Cliff Cooper, hired Adrian to lead the teams that created several key products for Orange including the RockerVerb, the OR-50 and the AD series, which was introduced in 1998. Over the years, Adrian has become a regular attendee at the NAMM Show and is often sought out by gear-heads who want to talk to the man behind the products.  His perspective and knowledge is especially valuable to those who want to better understand what the future of amps might be.  Adrian might not know, but I bet he h

Kerry King has become a regular artist that NAMM member retailers could meet during the trade shows. His career as a guitarist led to a number of product endorsements and several opportunities to provide feedback and design ideas for amps, guitars and accessories over the years.  In 1981, Kerry and Jeff Hanneman formed the thrash metal band Slayer.  The band released their first album, Show No Mercy, in 1983, about the same time he began attending the NAMM Shows.  Among his most noted partnerships and endorsement deals with manufacturers are Marshall Amps and BC Rich Guitars.  

Lyndon Laney’s journey into amplifier design began modestly in his father’s garden shed, where he built his first amp with little expectation of launching a business. However, as fellow musicians began requesting his creations, his inventive spirit and ear for tone quickly set him on a new path. In 1967, he founded Laney Amplification in the West Midlands of England, establishing what would become one of the most influential amplifier companies in modern music. A musician himself, Laney played bass in local groups alongside future icons, an experience that informed his approach to

David Marquette’s 

Andy Marshall has had a deep and rich musical education both in the classroom and on stage. In 1986 he established THD Electronics to focus on manufacturing guitar amplifiers.

Aspen Pittman grew up in the 1960s as a student of the folk music movement. He studied the art form and performed on every type of string instrument there was to play. During high school he and a buddy got a job delivering organs for a retailer that was just about to open a rock and roll retail shop called Guitar Center. Aspen joined the company within the first six months of its opening and remained in retail until 1973 when he became a sales rep for Acoustic Corp. Over the next several years he outlined goals for his own company, which opened in 1979 called Groove Tubes. He crea

Bruce Zinky loves playing guitar, but even at a young age he realized he enjoyed modifying instruments for himself and his friends. The Fender custom shop hired him in the early 1990s to work on guitar amplifiers. With a few design ideas of his own, Bruce set out to create his own company, which was established on the strength of the Smokey Amp; one of his early products. The small (cigarette-pack-sized) amplifier began as a joke among his friends, but soon caught on as an innovative product. In 2005 Bruce purchased the Supro name, one of the music industry’s historic brands,