Tone I/O Austin

Brendan Bond, Bassist for the Black Pumas, with his Tone I/O serviced '69 Fender Princeton Export combo. We also just serviced his Fender Super Bassman, which is his main gigging amp.

These guys are killing it!!!

1980's Russian Sovtek Midget 50H in for an overhaul including all new Electrolytic Capacitors, replacing broken input jacks, and other standard maintenance.

Killer hotrodded plexi tones at non-wall paint peeling volume from an amp who's name is no longer politically correct...

79' Hiwatt Custom 100 in for service. Repairs, removal of a Mod, and Full Tune-up.

Ultra rare 1941 Rickenbacher (spelled with an H instead of a K back then) Electro model 300A "DeLuxe" in for repair and full Tune-up. Sounds incredible!

Here's an odd duck you don't see often... 70's AIMS Dual Twelve in for service. Full Tune-up and new Weber Chicago speakers.

Something I feel needs to be said in order to educate those who are considering riding the wave of Digital DSP preamp, Solid State power amps, just so you know what to expect in the future when making your choice. DSP chips are proprietary as they have proprietary programming on them. When a chip fails, the whole board must be replaced. In most cases, large manufacturers only make boards until the product is no longer sold and all warranties expire. Once you can no longer get a board, the amp is EOL.

Hardwired tube (and SS) amps can last forever, as long as you can continue to get the necessary components.

Happy Monday! Freshly built Alpha-20 burned in, fully tested, and ready to ship out to its new owner in Mississippi.

1977 Marshall JMP Master Model 50W MK2 combo in for service. Battle tested and wonderfully road worn!

Full Tune-up with cap job and broken presence Pot replaced.

Still ✔out...

1973 Orange OR80 in for service. Classic Orange tone. Full service including complete cap job, new power tubes, two Pots replaced and previous Master Volume mod reworked for better transparency and reliability. Killer amp!

Rig Rundown: Carolyn Wonderland

Excited to see our friend Carolyn Wonderland and her Tone I/O Alpha-20 combo featured on Premier Guitar's Rig Rundown!!! 🎸🙏

https://www.premierguitar.com/videos/rig-rundowns/carolyn-wonderland?fbclid=IwAR2jr5U-5XJHyCAzGwa9wMvFQE5MXpqyjjqC4vIeL_v8PG4ovsvBj8cwBC8

Rig Rundown: Carolyn Wonderland An Austin guitar legend in the making shares her rare Gibson, a custom-built amp, ferocious fingerpicking style, and passion for bringing fire to the blues.

Rare and very loud 1974 Gibson G80 80-watt solid state 4x10 combo in for service. All new electrolytic caps, 3-prong cord, and other normal maintenance items performed.

Happy Tone Thursday! In for service, a Russian built Red Bear MKX 50 Cub Combo. These were built for Gibson in the 90's, and it's a cross between a Sovtek MIG 50 (bassman clone) and a MIG 60 (JCM 800 clone). It has all the same Russian components including the odd Russian electrolytic cap cans. This one got a power transformer replacement to convert it from 220v to 120v mains power, full tune up with cap job, and all of the preamp tube sockets were rewired from Russian 6N2P tube wiring to use 12AX7 instead. New Chinese preamp tubes were installed, and the amp sounds great!

Happy Tone Thursday! In for a full tune-up.... 1967 Hiwatt 100. Military grade hand-wiring, boutique way before boutique was a thing. These are a Tone I/O favorite. Clean and MEAN!!

Good to be back at it after the shop being closed for a whole week due to the 'Texas freeze'... just finished converting this 1950's Knight PA head to a 20-Watt fire breathing guitar amp. Fun project!

In for service... An amazing cache of vintage pedals, including an OG Uni-Vibe in 100% all original condition!

In for service... first generation Carr Mercury. Cool 8-Watt point-to-point combo with a single KT66 Power tube.

GREAT all original '61 Fender Super in for service. Full Tune-up with electrolytic cap job, and we replaced the original Jensen P10Q speakers with Weber 10A125's so the original speakers could be preserved. Sounds Fantastic!

Delphonic-35 being used in the studio for some serious session work by James Hardin Music

In for service (sent in from Cali)... '84 Made in Japan Roland JC-120H.

In for service... '68 Marshall JMP Super Bass Plexi.

In for service... The 'Rat Rod' of Twin Reverbs. A VERY loved '74.

Don't let her looks fool you. After a full Tune-up and installation of two new Weber 12F150's, this thing sounds great! A real sleeper! 🎸🔉

Performing a full service on a Peavey 5150 while rocking to Van Halen all day long. So many memories of Van Halen dominating my childhood.

Interesting note... I have worked on more 5150s and 6505s in the last 3 months than I have worked on in the last 3 years. Several of them had been in storage or unused for a long time and customers just decided it was time... It's almost like folks could feel it was coming. 😔

Rest in eternal peace, Eddie 🎸 What a year....

Here's an oddball.... In for service, 1972 Fender Bassman 3100.

Very short lived all Solid State Bassman. Cool looking history piece!

In for service... '69 Marshall 2202 JMP lead 20. These are pretty rare, and this particular one is super rare as it is a transitional model when Marshall was transitioning from plexi control panels to gold brushed aluminum, but the control panels on this one are actually aluminum with a mat gold paint.

Latest Dirty 6th Limited Edition builds on their way to Tone I/O Austin this week.

Burning in a new Tone I/O Delphonic-35 build. It had been a minute or two since I have been able to complete a build, but things have slowed down a bit in the repair queue lately, so I was able to fit one in.

The Delphonic-35 is a Deluxe Reverb style amp, but 35 watts with 6L6 output tubes and larger transformers.

Diamond in the rough? 56' Fender Deluxe that a customer in Mexico City sent in for a revival. 'Rough' is an understatement, but it's all original and has serious potential. Looking forward to bringing this piece of history back from the dead and making her sing again! 🎸🔊

In for service... Fender 64' Custom Hand-wired Deluxe Reverb.

In for service... Diezel D-Moll

This thing is a gain MONSTER! 5150 eat your heart out. Sustain? Hit a note and go make a pot of coffee... it will still be going when you come back! 🍵🎸🔊

In for service... Super cool 1961 Watkins Guild Copicat MKII Tape Echo.

These have a tube preamp that sounds incredible. Performed a full cap job including all electrolytics and all coupling capacitors in the tone circuit, cleaned and demagnetised the heads, replaced some resistors that had drifted, and performed all other general maintenance items. She's back in service and sounds fantastic.

In for service... 80's Seymour Duncan 60 Watt Convertible.

These have preamp modules that look like game cartridges which allow you to change the preamp gain and tone. It's the Atari of tone 😄🎸

In for service... Very first prototype Matchless SuperChief 120.

This exact amp was featured in Vintage Guitar magazine's September 2016 issue. If you google Matchless SuperChief 120 the article is at the top of the search results. It is the prototype SuperChief 120 built by Bjorn Hori in 94' before he left Matchless. Our customer also has the matching cab featured in the article. He bought both from the former owner listed in the article. Super cool amp! And yes, it sounds amazing :)