“I want an amp to be fast and dynamic.
I want to hear the note with
multiple layers of harmonic complexity,
giving a fat, euphonic, and lyrical tone.
I like an amp to have an awesome clean sound,
yet rock my world when I dig in.”
“My goal is to make amps that make the soundtrack to people’s lives.”
Ken Fischer began selling his one-channel amp heads with no reverb, no effects loop, and no master volume control in the early 1980’s. These amps currently sell for roughly $60,000. He is legendary. Several players in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame have considered his amps among their favorites. To quote from Trey Anastasio’s gear website, “In many parts of the guitar internet, it is widely accepted that Ken Fischer’s amplifiers from the 1980s and 1990s are, quite simply, the greatest guitar amplifiers ever built by human hands or heard by human ears. ”
After Ken’s passing JM took on the challenge of continuing the Trainwreck legacy. JM had experience building amps for Ken, access to Ken’s build notes, and the nod from Ken’s family. Most importantly, Ken trusted JM’s ears. JM produced the majority of Ken’s models in existence. Proof of JM’s build quality resides in the number of his buyers who already owned Ken’s amps.
Though JM knew what a great amp sounded like before it was built, he could also imagine fantastic tones that the original models did not produce. Enter master photographer Danny, also a master of tube electronics (and soon to be a master wooden cabinet builder). Like Ken, Danny knows how each component in a tube amp actually sounds. Danny had already designed and built himself an excellent sounding, gig-worthy guitar amp with nonstandard layouts and controls. When he started working with JM and trusting JM’s ears, they both found that they could create amps with available components that sound easily as good or better than anything out there. Their new JMD models are hand built and tweaked to each customer’s tonal preferences. The simple expectation is that customers will be blown away by what they hear. JM and Danny opened a small shop in Point Pleasant, NJ where they build the amps full time. Word has started to get around, orders are coming in, and though they hope to shorten the lead time, the current wait list is a few months.
JM: “There are tons of players that are done with lugging heavy equipment around to gigs. That’s why a lot of players are using modeling amps now. It’s our job to change all that.”
Photo taken by Dean Farley
