"I'
ve been a musician and tinkerer almost all of my life. My parents
thrust me into accordion school at the impressionable age of 5 and
demanded an hour of practice daily. As I got a bit older I was allowed
to walk the 5 blocks or so to the music studio. My interest in the
accordion began to wane and I convinced myself that I would someday
play electric guitar. I was an avid garbage picker and one day as
the fates would have it I found a small, obscure guitar amplifier
on my way to the wretched accordion lesson. I hid it under a porch
and prayed that it would still be there on my way home. I was elated
to find it on my return and rushed home to perform my first autopsy
on this electronic marvel.
I
found my first love - I was able to trace the circuit and
actually get the discarded antique working with a few parts supplied
by my uncle who dabbled in electronics. To me, there was always something
mystical about vacuum tubes - their warm glow is nearly hypnotic.
I kept an old tube radio by my bedside through my teenage years. After
some library research on vacuum tube technology and frequent trips
to the local electronics shop, I began modifying amps for local garage
bands as well as building extension speaker cabinets for low powered
amps to make them sound "bigger."
Interestingly enough, most of these cabinets had old Jensen Bluebells
that I found lying around in my uncle's basement!
The
years passed ….. I received my Engineering degree
from Newark College of Engineering in 1976 while avidly collecting
musical gear on the side. In 1982 Borough
Acoustics was born, a part-time business geared toward
repairing vintage tube amps and designing speaker cabinets and sound
systems. In 1992, the business name was changed to The
Vintage Amp Shop to better reflect my ever growing interest
in vintage tube amplifiers.The work was fun and the experience was
great; hundreds of amplifiers were repaired and restored over the
years - many for local establishments.
I
feel that being a musician and an engineer has given me an edge in
building a great guitar amplifier. After 20 years we've taken the
best concepts, added a little modern ingenuity, and came up with one
of the best constructed and best sounding amplifiers on the market
today.
On
this 20th Anniversary, we are proudly introducing our own line of
Premium guitar amplifiers with the "Pennington™"
name.
This is a family owned business and we are proud of our 20th
Anniversary accomplishments. These beautiful sounding all
valve amplifiers are hand built and go through a meticulous examination
before "burn in" and final testing with a guitar. We are
a creative, professional group constantly researching better ways
to do things, but never forget the traditions upon which the great
amps of the past were based. We are proud of the products we produce
and know you will enjoy their unmatched tonal qualities.
Frank
C. Matunas
…I
feel that being a musician and an engineer has given me an edge…
