About

ToneSlut Custom Amplification is a small business focused on musical instrument amplifiers and effects.

Located in Oceanside, CA, we have grown from performing repairs and supplying specialty transformers to building custom amplifiers, hand-made pedals, stomp boxes, and high quality cabling for working musicians.

Why The Name “ToneSlut?”

Ten years ago, when first bitten by the amplifier bug, the house was filling up with amplifiers. I built an amplifier that seemed to be the absolute pinnacle of rock and/or roll tone, and couldn’t stop raving about it.

Two weeks later, I was embarked on building a completely different amplifier and identifying it as the tone I’d always been looking for and a friend called me on it. He said “They can’t all be the best.” I replied that I loved them all and didn’t care if he thought of me as a tone slut.

The joke continued. If I ever thought I’d have to do business under that name, I might have stopped right there, but I didn’t. I created a logo, made a T-shirt, built a website, and through a strange and entirely unplanned process of viral marketing, became known for that name on the internets.

I still identify with the name. I love the crunch of a Tweed Deluxe, the bowel-shaking roar of a JTM-45, the cutting lead of an Express, and the jangly chime of an AC30 through Blues.  Every great tone is joyful and no single amp could satisfy me completely.

Are you one of us?

There’s a way to tell if you’re a tone slut. You just have to ask yourself the hard questions.

  • Do you have an amp you love, even if you can seldom use it?
  • Do you have more than one of the same model guitar just because each has a slightly different tone that you can’t live without?
  • Have you searched through endless combinations of pedals, or have several fuzzes and overdrives on your board just so you can get the nuances of each?
  • Have you ever been afflicted with GAS (Gear Acquisition Syndrome)?
  • Are you so inspired by some amplifiers that the tone you get makes you play better?
  • Are you always searching for the combination of instrument, amplifier, effects, and technique that produces that perfect tone you have only heard in your mind?

If you answer “Yes” to any of these, you might be a tone slut, too. If you answer “Yes” to two or more, you’re surely one of us. From there, it’s just a matter of degree.