Grammatico Amps

Boutique Tube Amps

Recently, Scott and I had the pure pleasure of hearing some hand-built tube amps by one John Grammatico, here in Austin, Texas. He had placed a posting on Craigslist asking for guitarists to come over and give his amps a test/play/listen and to give him their feedback about them. Well, of course, this sort of thing is dead-center right up our alley at Ultimate Guitar Tone! We got in touch with him and set up a meeting, both of us taking a couple of favorite guitars along. I have to say that it was well worth the trip!

Grammatico Amp Audio & Video Samples

Click HERE for a Hollie Holloway video featuring Grammatico Amps. Sounds sweet!

Hand Wired Tube Amp

He has several prototypes built, only one of which was actually in a cabinet when we visited with him. Mostly, they were just naked prototype amp chassis which he plugged into various speaker arrays for us. One was a hand-rebuilt specimen of the old Fender Bassman 4x10 combo, in an ancient tweed original Bassman cabinet. In a word …Sha-Weet!

The several amps he displayed for us ranged from a 5W Class A open-ended little screamer, to the clean, sparkly Bassman style amp, to a ‘Texas Blues’ 20-watter, up to a high-gain 50W ‘rock’ amp.

Also displayed for us were a couple of really excellent speaker cabinets. One was a completely finished open-back cab with a beautiful ‘oxblood’ colored Tolex covering; a very nice piece of work indeed. Another was an as-yet-unfinished and very unique open-back setup of four 8-inch speakers, which sounded absolutely magnificent with the ‘Texas Blues’ amp driving it.

20 Watt Texas Blues & 4x8" Open Back Cabinet

One might think that this 4x8" speaker system would lack bottom-end, but this is definitely not the case at all. The 8” drivers responded instantly and clearly to the signal from the 20 Watt Texas Blues amp, with a scalding top-end, yet still retained a big solid bottom. If you’re a Blues player, you’ll definitely have to hear this rig! Of all the combinations we heard that day, this was by far my favorite. (Dave)

What can I say…I’m just an ol’ “Blooz-Dawg” to the core, and playing thru this little rig with my P-90 equipped axe could be likened to a hungry dog gnawing on a big bone with a lot of nice juicy scraps of meat still hanging onto it. Yummy, and Oh, so satisfying!

50 Watt "Rawk" & 4x8" Open Back Cabinet

We put the 50 Watt "Rawk" amp through a simple test using Scott's Agile AL-3100 Les Paul copy. On the clean setting, this amp pushed rich, mellow clarity and all notes in any chord rang true. This amp really kicked butt when we turned it up a bit and got some saturation in the preamp stage. The 8" speaker array responded well to the tube distortion, and the amp did a great job of reacting to the picking dynamics. Played softly, the sound was rich and full. Dig in a bit and the "Rawk" starts to come out to play. Really dig in and the "Rawk" is here to stay! This was Scott's favorite by far. He had some regret that he couldn't spend some more time playing through his pedal chain and jamming to some backing tracks.

At the time of this writing, John had reported that he made some minor changes to the amp's innards. Must be nice. Also, Scott will be asking for another go at the "Rawk" amp just for the purpose of reviewing with pedals in the chain. He would also like to give a listen to the amp through a closed 4x12" slant cabinet. (Puhleeease John? Please say "Yes.")

Grammatico Amp Summary

This fellow can build a killer tube amp from the ground up, including the cabinetry, and integrate it all into a well-matched rig, ready and rearing to go. We can hardly wait for him to finalize his designs and get them packaged up into finished units so we can show them to you! There’s still some work to be done to that end, but it’s well in progress. Keep an eye out right here at UGT for much more information about John and his amps, very soon! The following is an interview with John, done in July, 2008.

Grammatico Interview

Q: Tell us a little about yourself: just general personal information, such as where you grew up, your age, your interests (other than building boutique tube amps), etc.

A: I grew up in Windsor on the south shore of the Detroit river. Raised in a big, loving, culturally rich Italian environment. Detroit radio was a big influence on my love for music as were the many Italian weddings I attended growing up. I was also interested in cars, motorcycles, dirt bikes, go-carts, snowmobiles and girls. Anything fast and exciting. As a child I took apart everything to figure out how it worked, including shotgun shells. I was always modifying and tweaking anything to extract more performance. Engineering seemed the natural choice for me in my father's eyes. I was also interested in hi-end audio and had myself a Linn Axis turntable and Naim Nait amplifier at the age of 14. I eventually opened a retail hi-end audio store. I had the privilege of meeting many designers and became interested in design more than retail.

Q: How did you come to settle in Austin, Texas?

A: I had friends/customers that were musicians living in Austin whom I visited on two occasions. I was very impressed with the diversity, liberalism and of course the music scene and decided to make the move from beautiful but rainy Portland, OR.

Q: What sparked your interest in building guitar amps in the first place?

A: One day in talking to a blues guitar player friend, over a beer at a jam, he mentioned to me that I should build a guitar amp. I paused and gazed for a moment and then looked at him and simply said yes. A spark was lit inside me at that moment. He offered up his amps to be experimented on and that's where the research began.

Q: Do you have any formal electronics training, i.e., military, trade-school, etc.?

A: No formal electronics training. The theory of tube operation principles is quite simple. I bought a few good books to learn the basics and the rest came from hands on research and live testing, observing the responses of the audience. When I saw that a particular setup would have people dancing, tapping their feet, slapping their knees, bobbing their heads, closing their eyes, cheering during solos and lengthy claps at the end of the song, I know they were being reached.

Q: Do you play guitar, or any other musical instruments?

A: I took guitar lessons once and the teacher mentioned that I had a good ear and picked it up quickly but when it came to practicing, I thought of all the other things I'd rather be doing. Now that I've worked with many guitar players, I know that a real musician is happiest with guitar in hand. I admire their passion, dedication, commitment and hard work that goes into that seemingly effortless flow of creative musical expression for the listener to enjoy. Building amps is my attempt to contribute to the art by making the tools that hopefully will assist in making that all important connection between artist and listener.

Q: What genres of music are your favorites, and list a few of your favorite artists?

A: I feel that music is a language and just as I love to explore many styles of food, I approach music much in the same way. Music for me transcends the limitations of words and borders. I have thousands of CD's and records and all have meaning to me but I will attempt to list a few.... Jimi Hendrix, SRV, ZZ Top, AC/DC, System of a Down, Alice in Chains, Bob Marley, John Coltrane, The Orb, The Blue Nile, Martin Stephenson, early Metallica, Robert Johnson, Junior Brown, Iron and Wine, Dmitri Shostakovich, Giacomo Puccini, The Beatles, Zakir Hussain, DRI

Q: Put into words your philosophy in building these amps; what makes them uniquely yours or makes them stand out from the crowd?

A: The goal of the guitar player, I think, is ultimately to share their feelings, ideas and views with the listener. When it becomes mutually, simultaneously one, we have magic.

The primary role of the amplifier is NOT to get in the way of that connection. The physical energy put into the guitar is converted to low level electrical energy through the pickups, amplifying it through the amp, converting again to mechanical energy through the speaker and finally to acoustic energy to be pickup through our ears and skin. Needless to say it's a complex process and lots can go wrong to diminish it. The amplifier, having the most components to its makeup, is where things are more likely to go wrong.

Preserving that most intangible thing called musicality is my highest priority. Otherwise it's just a utilitarian device and not a music making instrument. Another important aspect is the diversity of range to suit a variety of musicians. Once an amplifier imposes too much of its own dominant character on the sound then it ends up dictating how one will play through it. I see this as a limitation. This is the "one trick pony" phenomenon.

I do not build to a price point. I am designing the best sounding amps I am able to come up with. Hopefully all my research, meticulous attention to detail and love for music will be apparent when my amps are played. It's all about the music for me.

Q: The range of prototypes you’ve built so far will accommodate just about any style of guitar playing, from clean country, to jazz, to blues, to all-out shredding rock. Do you plan to eventually market a range of amps as diverse as this, or to concentrate on any styles in particular at first?

A: I want to serve musicians, so whatever there is a demand for, I will build it if I am able.

Q: Of the range of amps that Scott and I heard when we first visited you, I personally liked your ‘Texas Blues’ amp thru the 4 x 8” speaker cabinet best. I think Scott really digs the ‘rock’ amp. What’s your favorite so far?

A: I don't have a favorite. It's more a question of them making the grade. They have to deliver the goods, while being absent of the things that turn me off, for me to like them.

Q: What about speakers? Share your thoughts about the interaction of amplifier with speakers: and what works & what doesn’t.

A: Speakers are an integral part of the overall tone, especially when it comes to the flavor of distortion. Some are very musical and some are less so. The same amplifier can take on a completely different personality with just a speaker change.

Q: What’s your plan for marketing these amps? Will you start by taking individual orders and building them ‘one-off’, or will you go ahead and gear up to produce a run of each type, and let the customers appear as they will?

A: Initially, marketing will be at the grass roots level being played locally and hopefully some good reviews to spur on sales. I want to have specific and repeatable models but I will also do custom amps.

Q: Scott and I were particularly impressed with the craftsmanship in your amps. How hard will that be to maintain once you’re building them on a regular production basis?

A: Once in production tolerances and precision will be tighter with the uses of jigs and fixtures.

Q: Being ‘boutique’ hand-built tube amps, it’s an obvious ‘given’ that they won’t come cheaply, nor should they. What will be the factors that determine the selling prices?

A: Fortunately I have found that the best sounding components are not the most expensive components available. There are capacitors that are $120 each! In most cases I buy components directly from the manufacturer in large quantities to cut final cost but not skimp on quality. My father was a cost estimator for Ford Motor Company, at the world headquarters. I learned most cost saving techniques from him.

My goal is to build the best sounding, most reliable and affordable amps I can. For this, they have to be hand wired. I have repaired many amps, and newer amps done on pc boards seem to have solder joint failures very often while hand wired amps that have been around for 50 years are still going strong only requiring a filter cap change.

Q: Our main focus here at UltimateGuitarTone.com is just that…ultimate guitar tone. We feel that your amps more than amply provide the tone at that end of the signal chain. Do you have some thoughts as to what else goes into and works alongside the amp in achieving a great tone?

A: I think great tone starts from within. Knowing yourself and finding your individual voice. Then having the open mindedness and curiosity to explore what's out there to find it as opposed to copying someone who's already found their voice. It's limitless, with the combination of the many guitars and pedals that exist.

UGT: John, we really enjoyed meeting you and are super-excited about your hand-wired boutique tube amplifiers. We look forward to seeing them on the market and in the hands of great musicians soon. Thanks so much for your time!

John: I am so glad to have encountered so many musicians in Austin that are supportive, passionate and generous. It's very encouraging for me. I know it's an already saturated market place and I wonder if there's a need for more... I hope I have something worthwhile to contribute to the music world. It was a pleasure meeting you both and thanks so much for caring enough to operate a website dedicated to the pursuit of tone!

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