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Alan Phillips
is the owner of Carol-Ann Custom Amplifiers, LLC. a full
service custom boutique tube amplifier builder located in North
Andover, MA, on Boston's North Shore.
"The
business was formed in to a fulltime LLC in 2006, though there
are many amps out there that I've built since 1985, only amps
built after 2002 bearing the Carol-Ann
name. In the early days I built a few solid state PA power
amps as well as solid state and tube guitar amps. Most of the
early guitar amps were Marshall derivatives.
Dating Carol-Ann amps
Serial Numbers take a 6 digit form xxyyzz, where xx is the year,
yy is the month, zz is the production number for that month.
Limited edition amps may have a different numbering scheme that
makes it often impossible to tell the production date.
Some amps may not have had a serial number written on them
simply because that step was omitted during a very busy
production run. If any owners contact you with this scenerio, I
can provide the correct number for their amp.
The serial number is either
engraved or written on in black, red, silver or gold, It is
always located on the back panel.
Recently I've started
writing the number inside the chassis in gold pen too.
A couple of amps have
cryptic messages inside them. This was the case when I knew a
customer who was buying the amp was closely associated with
another Company and the amp would very likely be reverse
engineered. I don't bother about this any more. It is what it is
and I've chilled out about it.
Contrary to common rumour, I
don't goop production amps at all. With the exception of one amp
that was fully gooped with Military spec encapsulating compound,
I use a material that is an industrial black hot glue to protect
the circuit from physical abuse and to help shield sensitive
areas from induced environmental noises such as stage lights.
This material can be easily removed for servicing with the use
of an industrial hot air gun to soften it. I guess it does
prevent the passive onlooker from reverse engineering or from
taking meaningful photos of the circuits, but if someone wants
to know what's going on, removing the
material is real easy.
The name came from my sweet
Italian wife Carol-Ann. I built an amp for myself in 2002 when I
just moved to the States, right after we got married. To be
honest, we couldn't really afford it at the time and the way I
got around Carol was by naming the amp after her. I figured it
would make it more difficult for her to be mad at me."
[Source: Alan Phillips,
email 12/8/2008]
Reviews
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