My wife Sarra (Switchazel) and I

Workin' on a Sunday

My dog Fritz and the amp I built for Billy Gibbons

I grew up in Fullerton Calif., the son of an engineer (my only real idol and the reason I can do this) who worked in aerospace. I’ve been a gear head all my life with go karts, motorcycles, cars, radios, etc. From an early age, I’ve always messed around with amps and guitars, and started playing guitar at age 12. In high school my main interests were sports, motorcycles and playing in bands. While in school, I took a job working for Risson Amplifiers under Bob Rissi (ex-Fender amp designer) making power amps.

In college I studied business, electronics and recording engineering. During my college career I worked at Fender and Music Man and was fortunate enough to learn the trade under guys like Leo Fender, Doc Kauffman, Randall, Forrest, etc.

In my early 20's I worked in concert promotion for a three years and many machine shops, and was always playing in original and cover bands in Orange County and LA/Hollywood. I've been on the bill with bands like Van Halen, Quiet Riot, Oingo Boingo, Motels and Berlin.

My mid 20's found me doing in-house and freelance recording engineering, and I stuck with that for eleven years. At the same time, I got signed in a group with a small indi label, and actually had a scene in the Penelope Spieres cult movie Suburbia. The band was kind of a hardcore/punk outfit and played in the same circles as Black Flag, Fear, Social Distortion, TSOL, Bad Religion, Offspring and Green Day. I played on many recordings, did record development deals and toured the States and Europe.

I never got rich, but I made some money, had a ton of fun…you know the deal. I always did my own amps and amps for guys in my circle, and in the mid 90's I met my chick, Sarra, and decided to make a future with her. So, I quit touring and start repairing amps so I could stay in town more. I got a good break and fell in repairing amps for Chris Ramano's Black Market (the biggest, coolest vintage/second hand music store in the West Coast…love you Chris, you're family forever). I also fell into doing repairs for several other stores and still do repairs for all of them today.

I met a lot of people, musicians, writers and producers, started to tech for many of the west coast's music makers, and I still do to this day. Repairs went from "fix my amp, tweek my amp, mod my amp" to "hey, you should make your own amps."

My own amps started from the premise "I wish I had an amp that would…" or "I like my blank but wish it would…". Through those kinds of conversations with Rusty Anderson, Lyle Workman, Joel Shearer, Nick Lashley and Corky James, I put together a small amount of amps to fulfill their needs and the needs of other players in my neighborhood. And it just went from there.

I still make my amps one at a time and plan to continue doing so, as I release new models and products.

All the best,

Fred Taccone