“I WILL NEVER FORGET THAT FIRST
GUITAR AND IT’S A RATHER PRIZED
POSSESSION WHICH STILL SITS
IN MY STUDIO IN ALL ITS HIGH-
SCHOOL JAZZ-BAND SPLENDOUR”
go into flowers and milk. Anyway, after about seven
years of lessons, five of them complaining, I started
improvising and writing my own stuff that didn’t
much resemble what my earnest teacher had in mind.
I loved creating melodies, but the piano felt too
immobile. Bottom line, you can’t bring the piano
onto your bed at 1AM while listening to the radio.”
At the age of 15, Swart began his guitar obsession
proper, in the same place it began for many of
us in that era: with a cheap import acquired with
odd-job money.
“I’m talking Japanese knockoff of a red Gibson
ES-335 purchased in the North Carolina state-school
band room after parting with a hard-earned $65,” says
Swart. “My parents were not amused, even after I told
them it was only $30. Old mom and dad were seeing
their piano-playing-son’s dreams go up in six-string
flames. I will never forget that first guitar and it’s a
rather prized possession which still sits in my studio
in all its high-school jazz-band splendour.”
When time came to amp up the offshore semi,
Swart’s other early obsession was primed to serve
him well. From an even younger age, he had pursued
a hobby in electronics, building crystal radio sets
from the age of eight and dodging his parents’cries of: “What in the name of...? You’ll burn the
house down!”THE MAGICAL SILVERTONE
“My very first exposure to tubes,” Michael recalls,
“was an old Sears Silvertone console that played LPs
[for a time, much of Sears’ entire electronics range
carried the Silvertone name]. This big monster was
the focal point in the Swart household. I remember
crawling behind the console looking at those magical
glowing tubes; they were totally fascinating to me.”
The aspiring guitarist’s first real tube-guitar amp
came with its own guitar right inside the box: an
old Silvertone 1448 guitar and amp-in-case combo,
secured from the local pawn shop. The amp portion
of the set was missing a tube and the power cable
had been cut from it, but the guitar itself was initially
enough to cause some excitement.
“A few artists that I really liked played them
at the time,” says Swart. “Dexter Romweber of
The Flat Duo Jets and Rick Miller of Southern
Culture On The Skids.”
Getting the amp running delivered the one-day
amp maker his first real ‘win’ in that department; a
tube pilfered from his mother’s short-wave radio and
an AC cord and plug hijacked from her cake mixer,
and the amp-in-case was ready to ride again.
“After that, the amp came to life with that
unmistakable tube warmth, that somewhat loose-
but-soulful tone that put my lowly solid-state amp
to shame as a two-dimensional play toy. It’s another
prized possession that’s still in my shop. I still fire it
up, and it’s been on some client recordings.”
Shortly after the experience of bringing the
Silvertone 1448 back to life, Swart stepped up to an
A-list amp in the form of an Ampeg Reverberocket,
as well as the big-ticket repair costs that came along
for the ride after deciding he should have it serviced
by a pro. From there on out, he’d do the work
himself: “It’s just that simple a start... I never let
another person touch a tube amp of mine from that
very day on.”
As such, the future entrepreneur was entirely
self-taught in the realm of amp circuits and valve
electronics. Taking degrees in computer engineering
and math at the University of North Carolina
in Wilmington did help with problem solving,
troubleshooting and honing in on the best solutions
in real-world engineering situations, but Swart’s
guitar-amp ethos would be formed more by the
dozens of old valve radio and hi-fi consoles he
salvaged from the roadsides and yard sales over the
years, and turned into fully functional guitar amps.COOL, MAN! CAN YOU BUILD ME ONE?
When Swart transitioned from reworking existing
vintage valve gear to creating his own amps from
scratch, the salvage aspect remained a big part of it.ABOVE¤ƤÝŸƇɶžƼƣĈɫƤÝƇƇɕ
žĭōġńĈɫĈōāĈā¤ɫŸĈŋŕńŕ
ńƍŸl·žùĈĩĭōāŕōĈŕğqĭûĩÝĈńɶž
ƇĈžƇġƍĭƇÝŸž
SHOP TALK
86