ABOUT TONECRAFT

The Tonecraft Story & how I got here...

  At a very early age I plugged a bobby pin into an electrical outlet in Pecos Tx, my home town.I reveal this as it probably shows an early interest in electricity and prepared me for severe shocks to come in this life.

How'd I get into electronics?

A short history of Jon Bessent-

  I was given a crystal radio kit for my 10th birthday by my folks and caught the Electronics Bug. Got into electric guitar at 13 though I'd been playing my Dad's 1944 Martin since I was 5.  Built a guitar amp out of a Knight Kit Hi-Fi amp and I was in the deep throws of music electronics. Never quit fooling with it and ended up taking a few courses at Austin Community College to prep myself for the 1st Class FCC Exam as I thought I wanted to work for Radio/TV stations. Ended up doing 4 years of in-home-service for an RCA/Zenith/Quasar dealer in the early 70's. Realized that TV service wasn't a good idea, because what people were watching was doing them more harm than good.

  In 1980 I went to work for TI in the Low Volume Products/Special Products Division as they needed someone with a strong analog background. Loved building power supplies for NASA and NORAD projects. Continued to fool with amps and effects at home. By 1990 all the analog was gone and I could see the Austin TI divison going too, so I went. This led to my decision to do what I loved: fixing guitar amps full time. Started small at home, bringing work in from a shop down the street. Had a friend and fiddler who had done amp work here for 30 years and worked for everyone from SRV on down. I was also helping him with some of his work load. One day he got tired of it, said he'd had enough and was turning the biz over to me if I wanted it. I gladly accepted. THANKS GORDON!  Phone rang, amps came. Was doing more work for Musical Exchange and eventually moved into the back room there. After about a year I was hanging around out in the store front one day and it was busy so I waited on a customer and sold them something. Walter Hutcherson, the owner, realized I had the gift-of-gab and could deal with people. He asked me to come to work for him and I did for 10+ years. By and By Walter got tired of the $ I spent on parts orders and he was mostly tired of paying Employee Taxes to Uncle Satan so he offered to sell me the Amp Repair side of the business. I bought it and rented the space I'd been using for it. THANKS WALTER!

  My wife Merlyn and I set up Tonecraft Amp Repair on March 16, 2001 and have been working at it 6 days a week ever since. We specialize in 'Doing It Right' and love The Obscure. We acquire top quality parts which are tested before sale.  We install these parts with care and respect for the important part these amp play in our customer's lives. Everything is tested and warranteed. Since I specialize in tube amps, the older the better!  Do you have a 1930's amp with Field Coil speaker that no one can service? I know field coil amps and will gladly service it. Black-face and Silver Face Fenders are so familar that I often can repair them without ever cracking a schematic book. I'm reputed to be the best in the area - people come from hundreds of miles away to have their old Fender restored to the blissful tone it had origianally. I do it like Leo would want it done! Pictured above is the 'Scrutinizer'. This is what we call the work bench containing the Oscilloscope,dummy load, AC current draw metering array,Variac,Signal generator, isolation transformer, and various soldering and hand tools. With the 'Scrutinizer' I can tell what an amp is doing for you or against you. Sight analysis of oscilloscope waveforms is an art that can only be developed by experience. I've been staring at oscilloscopes for more than 30 years, often amazing customers with accuracy of diagnosis based on what the scope shows!

Addendum: Yes, I'm the same Jon Bessent who is Commander of Area 50 Watt. This is the secret developement/build facility for Austone Electronics. Click http://www.austone-electronics.com for the full story!  

Thanks for visiting and feel free to contact me with any questions or comments!

Jon Bessent