The
Vintage Tone

Guitar Tube Amp
Servicing and Repair

Denver, CO

Heritage. Authenticity. Reliability.

At The Vintage Tone, we wish we could have sat beside Lily, Lupe, and Julia to watch them build the most iconic guitar amplifiers ever made. That said, we understand the push-pull of originality vs. reliability and commit to doing what is right for the customer, but also for the amplifier.

We specialize in servicing and repairing vintage Fender, Gibson, Silvertone, Airline, Supro, Valco, Ampeg, and other point-to-point wired tube guitar amps, usually from the 1940s-1970s. Contact us to schedule a visit to our shop in Denver, CO.

Close of up Lily's signature. Lily was one of the original ladies that wired amplifiers for Fender in the 1950s.

Our Services

  • Close-up view of electronic components, including resistors, wires, and soldered connections on a circuit board.

    Evaluation/Bench Fee

    $50 - Required

    We will evaluate your amp and see what’s going on. We will then discuss whether or not to proceed from there. If the amp touches our bench, the Bench Fee will be charged. This fee will be applied towards any additional work — no double charge.

    Please see the FAQ at the bottom of this page for more information about why we charge a bench fee.

  • A vintage electronic device with visible vacuum tubes, resistors, capacitors, and wires inside a metal chassis.

    The Tune-Up

    $50-$100, Amp Dependent

    Often your amp just needs a skilled and thorough servicing to get it working like new again.

    Like a guitar setup for your amp, we’ll give your amp a unaltered servicing: clean and tighten all jacks, switches, tube sockets, and pots; test all tubes; test and tighten ground connections, and many other servicing steps to get your amp working as well as possible without alteration. Plus, you will receive a full written evaluation of your amp’s condition.

  • Close-up of vintage electronic components, including large orange capacitors, resistors, and wires inside a device.

    Full Service/Repair

    $$ Contact Us + parts

    Out comes the oscilloscope and soldering iron! You’ll get a the Tune-Up plus possibly replace as needed any of the following to fix your amp: resistors, capacitors, diodes, pots, switches, lamps, wiring, tube sockets, AC cord, etc.

    We understand that repairs can be costly. We’ll discuss our recommendations and options with you prior to proceeding.

    Note: Parts will be charged to the customer plus 9.15% sales tax. No tax on service.

  • Vintage Gibson GA-25 amplifier with with two large yellow speaker cones, worn black textured surface, gold Gibson logo, placed on a wooden table in a workshop setting.

    Appraisal

    $50 - 1 hour max

    How much is Grandpa’s old amp worth?

    We’ll evaluate your amplifier’s condition and originality, and provide an appraisal based on equivalent SOLD items in various popular marketplaces. You can use this information to help sell or insure your piece.

About TVT

Joe Moore

— Owner, Operator, Amp Fanatic

Joe Moore, owner and operator, in his workshop with a Fender Vibro Champ amplifier.

“It began when I realized an unfortunate truth: We have fewer amp techs every day.”

I have been a musician, guitar, and amp nerd for many years. After being bitten by the gear collecting bug and servicing my own amps, I eventually wanted to have a “real” amp tech deal with some hairier and scarier repairs. After asking around for recommendations I realized that most amp techs are retired, or sadly, have passed away.

That’s when I realized: I have to do this myself.

Don’t get me wrong, there are many amazing techs out there. I’m friends with many of them. But, there are not enough of us.

I couldn’t stand the thought of these amazing machines of music-making slowly falling apart and heading for the scrap heap. We need to keep these old amps going so musicians can keep making magic.

While robots can pick-and-place on PCBs 24/7, only real people with real hands and skills can fix this amazing old gear.

That’s why I’m here.

 FAQs

  • At the moment I don’t charge by the hour, I charge by the job.

    I’ll give you a quote for the tune-up, and possibly an estimate on more extensive work. We’ll then discuss any further alterations or repairs after I have fully evaluated the amp.

    Why not hourly? I like taking my time measuring random aspects of amps, documenting the weird transitional things (wait… grounded 3-prong AC cord but a 2-prong convenience outlet? Cool!), things like that.

    And the fact is most techs have to do complicated calculus to figure out how much time was work-time vs. not. For example, does everyone actually charge for the extra 7min 42seconds it took to get that especially sticky chassis out of the cab? Or it takes 10 minutes extract a spare part from donor amp to install in yours… is that on you for having an amp that needs the part, or on them for not having already torn down that donor amp? Honestly I don’t know, so I’m not dealing with the complications of hourly rates, at least for now.

  • You get everything back. Even the broken stuff. That carbon comp resistor that disintegrated to dust when we looked at it sideways? That cracked vacuum tube? The shredded original (or not) AC cord? You get it all back.

  • Yes, but with limitations. PCB-based amps will get a thorough non-altering Tune-Up or Appraisal services. This often fixes their issues. Repairs or modifications dependent on how crazy and/or well documented the PCB and service needed.

    I will almost definitely not attempt to repair a solid-state or IC/computer chip based amp if the Tune-Up does not solve its issues. I can refer you to shops that specialize in that work.

  • Maybe? But I’ll tell you to try everything else first. Master volume mod? Try an attenuator first. Gain mod? There are about 1 million pedals out there… and they all suck? Add an effects loop? Well that one is pretty much a hard no.

    You really should try all the non-invasive options first before deciding to drill holes through your amp chassis, then try to find some crazy way to jumper wires across the PCB.

  • Yep.

  • No, not at this time. We only accept local drop-off and pick-up at our shop in Denver, CO.

  • If we’re having this conversation, we have discussed the situation and you agreed to proceed with The Vintage Tone opening up the amp and incurring at least the Bench Fee.

    From there, we either did not feel comfortable with the changes requested, required, or the complexity of the job. We reserve the right to turn down or stop any job. This is for your benefit.

    Why do you still have to pay? Because we spent time on your amp, we might have performed real work, and/or installed parts, all of which will be detailed on your itemized invoice.

    In addition, you will receive a report with our analysis and work done. You can take this to another amp tech which will be valuable information for to them.

  • No. I promise. I’m just normal, sane, and rational guy that you might want to shoot the breeze with or enjoy a brew. We’re all just guitar, amp, and music nerds, right? No reason to get all controversial!

    But, for the record:

    • The Earth is round.

    • Birds are real.

    • Jet airplanes are emitting fossil fuel fumes and water vapor but not… I don’t even know what to say.

    • Radio waves are not cooking our brains — your cell phone is welcome in my shop.

    Let’s all just through life alive and make amazing music and friendships!