Mike Dowless
Picture an average American house on an average
American street in Albany Oregon where an average American guy
toils, soldering iron in hand, on arcane pieces of electronic
gear from the heyday of vacuum tube technology. Guitar chords
emanate at sometimes ear splitting volume from a garage where
he turns out hip, vintage guitar amps from salvaged tube radios,
console stereos, organs and tape players.
There’s a point in space where cool and hip intersect. That’s
where you’ll find Michael Dowless’s Vacuum Tube Amp Laboratory
and part time garage. A place where gravity and logic don't
abide by the same rules as everywhere else in the universe and
musical and electromagnetic forces conspire to create fantastic
wonders more marvelous than any ever seen before!
A disorganized rat’s nest of wire, tubes, capacitors,
transformers, grill cloth and old wood suitcases that when connected
in proper orientation create valiant guitar tone and eye pleasing
good looks.
Michael is a founding member of the Valiant Vacuum
Tube Collective along with Niels Nielsen and administers the
collective’s Google Groups list called
tube-collective@googlegroups.com. He enjoys spending time
with his wife and two daughters (who tolerate his addiction
to old electronics as one would tolerate an eccentric uncle)
working on tube electronics, playing guitar, pursuing outdoor
photography and frequenting garage sales to obtain more old
tube electronics to turn into cool, retro amps.
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