Welcome to JDP Amplifiers.
Explore my step-by-step process of building a tube amplifier!
Building An Amplifier: The Birth of a Pitbull
I am electrical engineer by day, a custom amp builder by night, and a Christ follower all the time. I reside in IL with my wife and two dogs, and have been working with tube amplifiers since 2005.
I repaired my first guitar amplifier, an old Harmony H-400, with the help of an online community. Though this humble amp was a mere 2 watts and only had a volume control, I fell in love with the lush tone that tubes bring, and the simplicity of this practice amp. I started to prefer this amplifier over my 130 watt, 2 channel, solid-state combo. Though the combo had many knobs to play with, no amount of fiddling made it sound as good as this little guy.
So I did what anyone that is new to a discipline would do. I set out to build a highly modified Marshall 100 watt amplifier. I ended up with mild electrocution and a couple of burned out tubes! Clearly I had a lot to learn. After building a few low power Fender clones, I took on the Marshall again. This time, I was able to complete the monster!
After returning from Iraq in late 2008, I started JDP Amplifiers in April of 2009, to make my hobby into a career. I built a few more clones, like this AC-30.
However, I wasn’t satisfied with building clones. I liked aspects of each amp I had built, but they were all falling short in some way. In 2010, I was asked by a local guitar shop to re-build an old PA amp into a guitar amp. The owner gave me some direction, but ultimately wanted me to come up with something unique. That amplifier set the tone for all JDP amplifiers to follow. I built another one, added a gain switch, and the Labrador was born.
I graduated with a B.S. in Electrical Engineering in 2012 and took a job in the automation industry. JDP Amplifiers was moved to the back burner for a few years as I adjusted to a demanding full-time job. I continued to tinker, and take in a repair jobs here and there. In 2013, I made the first amplifier to pair a 6V6 and EL84 as a push-pull pair. In 2014, I modified a Labrador significantly and that amp became the Pit-Bull. Since that time, I have continued to explore new ideas. I ask myself, what can be done, that hasn’t been done yet? The answer to that question will be revealed as my ideas move from paper to production.
The Simple Pursuit of Excellence
–Jason Pittenger–
JDP Amplifiers 