A Boy With An Amplified Dream

Imagine you were living in the 50’s and Leo Fender was your neighbor when he first started designing his now legendary guitar and bass amps. Well if you happen to live in the Coral Springs, Florida area today you may have the next visionary amp designer as your neighbor. If you feel somewhat frustrated with the tones you are seeing coming out of some of the guitar amps being manufactured, you may have something in common with John Tomaszewicz. One of John’s earliest engineering influences was when he was around 12 years old visiting the Thomas Edison laboratory in New Jersey. To the youngster, still at this influential age that was truly amazing, awe inspiring and one of those events that would come to change his adult life. He came away with an, 'I can do that too' type of attitude that he would use as his benchmark for all his future innovations.

On the musical side, John spend his days watching Ricky Nelson with James Burton on Ozzie and Harriet shows when he was a kid as an early inspiration. “When I heard the Beatles and saw the way the girls went crazy for them I decided what I wanted to do with my life. From There it was Jimi Hendrix, Cream, Led Zeppelin, Creedence, Paul Revere and the Raiders.”  His passion for amplifiers was cast in concrete in 1971 in Asbury Park where he saw The James Gang, Grand Funk, Black Sabbath, Bruce Springsteen, who opened for Humble Pie, Mountain, Bloodrock, and then Black Sabbath a second time. The sounds of those Marshall, Laney, West, and Sunn stacks were life changing and set the bar for where John would take his own amplifier designs later on. Nowadays where often times stacks are just for show, rather than superior tone they can produce, the young audiences are robbed of some of the true magic of Rock and Roll.

His family then moved from New Jersey where he was playing guitar in a great band, down to Florida where he then found himself with no band, and a life choice to make. It was either find a band and be a professional musician, or go to College and get an Electrical Engineering degree so he could design guitar amplifiers. Well the music scene in Fort Lauderdale in 1972 was mostly Disco and top forty and he knew he wanted no part of that. Remember that many musicians at that time also thought he was an idiot for having a 50 watt Marshall. So Engineering it was. He still played in bands and had fun modifying his Marshalls. One of the first things he built was a power attenuator. This was before you could buy one, and many years before the Scholz Power Soak hit the guitar market. 

John rather quickly found that there weren't’t any jobs available to build guitar amps, so he had to earn a living and got caught up in Corporate America, working for a Computer company, a Telecom company, and a Medical Instrument company. After that becoming a Sales Engineer for a Rep. firm, and then National Semiconductor. Then back to Engineering, back to sales, and finally he eventually realized how he had gotten off track and it was time to do what he initially set out to do, design guitar amplifiers.

Keeping It Old School

John further elaborates, “What really moved me into this was the fact that I was recording guitar tracks for many years in my studio, but found that the amps that I had (Marshall, Fender, Vox, and other classic models) did not sound any better then what I was already hearing on records. I felt I had to make them sound better or why bother”. After that the process just continued with his building his own Microphones, Microphone preamps and many years of designing and building compressor/limiters, with the feeling that he had something new to offer his fellow musicians striving for great sounds.

The Tomaszewicz amps sustain control for example provides dynamic control with a bit of overdrive that results in a polished studio mastered type of response previously heard only on well produced recordings. The sustain control provides well defined attack and enhances the harmonic expression in your fingertips. While remaining true to the designs of some of the killer sounds found in the classic amplifiers, John has managed to add a level of controlability to his anps. This allows players to closely tailor the sounds to exactly their playing style and what they are hearing in their heads.

What’s In Store For The Future

John spends his days always thinking of new ways to improve his amps and designs. He has been constantly traveling around the country for the last four years, exhibiting at NAMM, and National Amp Shows, always getting feedback from musicians on his amps, prototypes and new ideas to try. He has just returned from the LA Amp Show with many new and exciting things to offer.

Currently he only sells direct. If you are in Florida he can possibly bring an amp to one of your next gigs or you can just call or send an email. Your best bet is to call him or send an email and he usually will see what kind of arrangements can be made. Give a try doing this with some of the big box manufacturers, and suggesting what you would like to see in a guitar amp. Good luck with that...