My name is Craig Collins. Originally from North Carolina, I left at an early age to travel the world as an Air Force brat(Germany/Italy etc.). I later joined the Navy in 1983 and retired in September 2003 after logging over 6500 flight hours as an In-Flight Aviation Electronics Technician on EC-130G/Q, E-6A, and E-6B platforms(there just happened to be a 200,000 watt water cooled tube amplifier on board.....not such a secret anymore).
My electronics background and my passion for guitar crossed paths in 1989 when I could not get a blues tone that I was happy with no matter what I seemed to plug in to. At that time the Internet was not the wonderful source of information that it has become and it took some digging (and experimenting!)on my part to become knowledgeable about guitar amp circuits.
My first amp project was blackfacing a 79 twin reverb. I figured while I was in there I would loose the master volume, make it a single channel, single input, with a 4 knob tube reverb (dwell, mix, treble, bass) where channel one used to be. From then on I never got to play unless I had just repaired something and needed to check it out.
Since moving to Oklahoma from Hawaii(culture shock!), while stationed at Tinker AFB, I did a stint(when Uncle Sam would let me) with Terry and Phil at Church Electronics (once located in the back of Granny's Music Mall). It was then that I knew I had to start building great amps for great players. I know what it feels like to get inspired by a certain tone, to not want to stop playing because you can't wipe the smile off of your face. I saw that reaction there daily.
My goal is to meet the demands of the most demanding players. If you are having trouble finding a good sound or just want to make your current sound better, I look forward to working with you to get YOUR tone, whatever it may be.
Sincerely,
C. T. Collins