{{Infobox company , name = Fryette Amplification , former_name=VHT Amplification , logo = , type =

Private Private or privates may refer to: Music * "In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorded ...

, genre = , foundation = {{Start date and age, January 1989 , founder =Steven Fryette , location_city =

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

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United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

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North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

, key_people = Steven Fryette , industry = Amplification , products =

Amplifier An amplifier, electronic amplifier or (informally) amp is an electronic device that can increase the magnitude of a signal (a time-varying voltage or current). It is a two-port electronic circuit that uses electric power from a power su ...

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Official Fryette Amplification Web Site
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North Hollywood, California North Hollywood is a neighborhood and district in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles, California. The neighborhood contains the NoHo Arts District, El Portal Theater, several art galleries, and the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Th ...

is a manufacturer of hand-built

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external electric Guitar amplifier, sound amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar. It uses one or more pickup (music technology), pickups ...

amplifiers, speaker cabinets, power amplifiers, sound effects pedals and pedalboard accessories. The company was founded as VHT Amplification in

Studio City, Los Angeles, California Studio City is a neighborhood in Los Angeles, California, United States, in the southeast San Fernando Valley, just west of the Cahuenga Pass. It is named after the studio lot that was established in the area by film producer Mack Sennett in 1 ...

by Steven Fryette in January 1989 and was the first to produce a true three-channel

vacuum tube A vacuum tube, electron tube, thermionic valve (British usage), or tube (North America) is a device that controls electric current flow in a high vacuum between electrodes to which an electric voltage, potential difference has been applied. It ...

amplifier An amplifier, electronic amplifier or (informally) amp is an electronic device that can increase the magnitude of a signal (a time-varying voltage or current). It is a two-port electronic circuit that uses electric power from a power su ...

History

A few years after moving from

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

, Washington to

in 1976, Steven Fryette landed a job as a repair technician at Valley Arts Guitar. Fryette honed his skills doing custom work, repairs, and modifications for the likes of

Eddie Van Halen Edward Lodewijk Van Halen ( , ; January 26, 1955 – October 6, 2020) was an American musician. He was the guitarist, keyboardist, backing vocalist and primary songwriter of the rock band Van Halen, which he founded with his brother Alex V ...

Steve Lukather Steven Lee "Luke" Lukather (born October 21, 1957) is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, arranger and record producer, best known as the sole continuous founding member of the rock band Toto. His reputation as a skilled guitarist led to ...

Larry Carlton Larry Eugene Carlton (born March 2, 1948) is an American guitarist who built his career as a studio musician in the 1970s and 1980s for acts including Steely Dan and Joni Mitchell. One of the most sought after guitarists of his era, Carlton has ...

Tommy Tedesco Thomas Joseph Tedesco (July 3, 1930 – November 10, 1997) was an American guitarist and studio musician in Los Angeles and Hollywood. He was part of the loose collective of the area's leading session musicians later popularly known as The Wre ...

Ry Cooder Ryland Peter Cooder (born March 15, 1947) is an American musician, songwriter, film score composer, record producer, and writer. He is a multi-instrumentalist but is best known for his slide guitar work, his interest in traditional music, and h ...

Buzz Feiten Howard "Buzz" Feiten II (born November 4, 1948) is an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, session musician, and luthier. He is a lead and rhythm guitarist and patented a tuning system for guitars and similar instruments. Feiten also manufactu ...

, Carlos Rios,

Duane Eddy Duane Eddy (April 26, 1938 – April 30, 2024) was an American guitarist. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, he had a string of hit records produced by Lee Hazlewood which were noted for their characteristically "twangy" guitar sound, including ...

, and many other guitar players. After several years of building experimental prototypes for an all-tube stereo power amplifier and the first in a long line of multi-channel, multi-featured amplifiers under the PITTBULL moniker, Fryette decided to go launch his business. VHT Amplification officially began in January 1989 on the dining room table of a Studio City, California apartment near Valley Arts. The VHT brand name is still in use by a different company based in

Hayward, California Hayward is a city located in Alameda County, California, United States, in the East Bay subregion of the San Francisco Bay Area. With a population of 162,954 as of 2020, Hayward is the sixth largest city in the Bay Area, and the third largest in ...

. It specializes in affordable quality amplifiers.

First amplifiers

North Hollywood In 1991, after advance orders for the 2150 Power Amplifier, Fryette then moved to

North Hollywood, Los Angeles, California North Hollywood is a neighborhood and district in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles, California. The neighborhood contains the NoHo Arts District, El Portal Theater, several art galleries, and the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. The ...

into a converted storefront next door to Bob Bradshaw’s Custom Audio Electronics. Although the company’s time in this location was short, the Classic Power Amp and the first Pittbull Classic Head and Combo amplifiers were launched here. Newbury Park In 1992, the company moved to its first commercial building in

Newbury Park, California Newbury Park is a populated placeReal Estate Communications, Inc. (1984). ''California Real Estate Directory''. Page 201. in Ventura County, California, United States. Most of it lies within the western Thousand Oaks, California, Thousand Oaks ...

. Many of the current flagship models were launched from this facility including the Pittbull Ultra Lead, Pittbull CL Series Pittbull Fifty Series, Pittbull Forty-Five Series, and the Two/Ninety/Two and Two/Fifty/Two Power Amplifiers. This period also marks the beginning of Fryette’s association with Eminence Speakers, resulting in the development of the P100E, P50E, and P75E 12-inch guitar speakers. Sylmar In 2001, VHT moved its operation into the

SWR Sound Corporation SWR Sound Corporation was a specialist manufacturer of bass guitar amplifiers, preamps, speaker cabinets, and acoustic guitar amplifiers. History The company was founded as SWR Engineering, Inc. by its namesake, Steve W. Rabe. Rabe was kno ...

facility, where the company released the Valvulator GP3 guitar pre-amplifier to accompany its power amplifiers. In conjunction with the development of the GP3, the company applied for its first patent for its Dynamic Sensing circuit. Dynamic Sensing solved the problem of making a stand-alone pre-amp behave more like a tube guitar amplifier head. Burbank In 2002, VHT Amplification relocated to Burbank, California. After moving to Burbank, the company designed & produced the Super 30 combo. The Deliverance Series followed, consisting of single-channel amplifier heads & speaker cabinets. The Sig: X three-channel amplifier came next, incorporating the patented Dynamic Sensing Technology. Fryette Amplification On January 1, 2009, the company's name changed to Steven Fryette Design, Inc. Under the brand, Fryette Amplification, the company continues to manufacture all of the products that were under the VHT name. The Memphis Thirty combo, incorporating its specially designed AR75 speaker, is the first new Fryette Amplification product release to come out of Burbank. North Hollywood In 2010 Fryette Amplification relocated back to North Hollywood, where they developed the Power Station, LXII Single Space Stereo Tube Power Amp, S.A.S and Boostassio Pedals, Valvulator GP/DI Desktop Recording Amplifier, and Aether hand-wired modern vintage amplifier.

Current models

Power Amplifiers Rack mountable power amplifiers were the genesis of the company. Early customers such as

Metallica Metallica is an American heavy metal band. It was formed in Los Angeles in 1981 by vocalist and guitarist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich, and has been based in San Francisco for most of its career. The band's fast tempos, instrume ...

Alice In Chains Alice in Chains (often abbreviated as AiC) is an American rock band formed in Seattle in 1987. Since 2006, the band's lineup has comprised vocalist/guitarists Jerry Cantrell and William DuVall, bassist Mike Inez, and drummer Sean Kinney. Voca ...

, Anthrax (an American band), and

Megadeth Megadeth is an American thrash metal band formed in Los Angeles in 1983 by vocalist and guitarist Dave Mustaine. Known for their technically complex guitar work and musicianship, Megadeth is one of the "big four" of American thrash metal—alo ...

, helped solidify the company as one of the pioneers of the rack revolution... Pittbull Series The Pittbulls were the second amplifier series created by Fryette, which includes the KT88 powered 120 Watt Pittbull Ultra-Lead three-channel head, the Master Built EL34 powered 100 Watt Pittbull Hundred/CLX three-channel head, the award-winning (2) dual-channel EL34 powered Pittbull Hundred/CL head & its counterpart the Fifty/CL head. The series also included the EL84-based Pittbull Fifty series, the Pittbull Forty-Five series as well as the EL34-based Pittbull Fifty series heads and combos. Valvulator I The Valvulator I is a Vacuum Tube Buffer-Line Driver and a Multiple Output Regulated DC Power Supply. It was designed to solve the problems of diminished high-frequency response caused by cable capacitance, decreased signal level and high-frequency response from impedance effects, and signal degradation caused by the design of circuitries in effects devices. The Valvulator I solved these problems using a vacuum tube-based Buffer circuit to transform the guitar signal from high impedance to low impedance. Deliverance Series In January 2005 Fryette unveiled the single-channel KT88 powered Deliverance series amplifiers and cabinets. This series includes the Deliverance One Twenty, the Deliverance Sixty, and the Deliverance speaker cabinets. Sig: X In January 2007 Fryette unveiled the three-channel 100 Watt Sig: X amplifier, a new design that offers a feature set designed to allow guitar players the capability & flexibility to dial in their own unique or signature sound. The model name Sig: X was in response to the market’s saturation of artist signature model products. Speaker Cabinets Fryette manufactures the FatBottom Series & the Deliverance Series guitar speaker cabinets. Both are CNC (

Numerical control Computer numerical control (CNC) or CNC machining is the automated control of machine tools by a computer. It is an evolution of numerical control (NC), where machine tools are directly managed by data storage media such as punched cards or ...

) milled, constructed with Baltic

Birch A birch is a thin-leaved deciduous hardwood tree of the genus ''Betula'' (), in the family Betulaceae, which also includes alders, hazels, and hornbeams. It is closely related to the beech- oak family Fagaceae. The genus ''Betula'' contains 3 ...

& front mounted with the Fryette P50E speaker. The Deliverance cabinets utilize the Fryette V-BRACE technology producing a looser feel than the FatBottom cabinets. Memphis The Memphis Thirty was the first new product released under the Fryette name. The Memphis also marked the return of combo amplifiers to the Fryette line. The Class A, 2 channel Memphis Thirty 1x12 was the first amp in the new Memphis Series and features EL84 power tubes, 30 Watt & 18 Watt power modes & a unique removable hatch on the front panel allowing users to easily access and change pre-amp tubes. S.A.S and Boostassio Pedals Released in 2010, the S.A.S Distortion and Boostassio Boost pedals feature a unique EF86 driven tube design coupled with a variable Bias control to tailor the distortion behavior of the EF86. Power Station Introduced in 2014, the Power Station is an innovative product design that couples an adjustable reactive load with an internal 50W, 6L6 power amplifier. The Power Station serves as a power attenuator, power booster, and reamping device with a passive line out and posts load amp effects loop. The internal power amp response can be adjusted using dedicated Presence and Depth controls based on Fryette's original Depth Control design introduced in 1988. Aether Amplifier Also introduced in 2014, the Aether amplifier is Fryette's paradigm-shifting take on vintage modernism. In the Aether amp, the preamp, speaker, and reverb unit reside in the speaker cabinet while the power amp and power supply occupy a separate compact lunchbox style housing.

Notable users

Rob Caggiano Robert Caggiano (born November 7, 1974) is an American guitarist and record producer. Caggiano is known as the lead guitarist of the Danish rock band Volbeat from 2013 to 2023 and of thrash metal band Anthrax from 2001–2005 and 2007–2013. ...

David Torn David M. Torn (born May 26, 1953) is an American guitarist, composer, and producer. He is known for combining electronic and acoustic instruments and for his use of looping. Background Torn has contributed to recordings by artists as diverse ...

Page Hamilton Page Nye Hamilton (born May 18, 1960) is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter and record producer who founded the American heavy metal band Helmet in 1989. In the 1990s, Helmet and Hamilton were forerunners of alternative metal with the al ...

The All-American Rejects The All-American Rejects (often abbreviated as AAR) are an American rock band formed in Stillwater, Oklahoma, in 1999.Anthrax (American band) Anthrax is an American thrash metal band from New York City, formed in 1981 by rhythm guitarist Scott Ian and bassist Dan Lilker. The group is considered one of the leaders of the thrash metal scene from the 1980s and is part of the "Big Four" ...

Blue Öyster Cult Blue Öyster Cult ( ; sometimes abbreviated BÖC or BOC) is an American rock band formed on Long Island, New York, in the hamlet of Stony Brook, in 1967. They have sold 25 million records worldwide, including 7 million in the United States. ...

* Pete Anderson *

Rascal Flatts Rascal Flatts is an American Country music, country music band formed in 1999 in Nashville, Tennessee. The band consists of Gary LeVox (lead vocals), Jay DeMarcus (bass guitar, background vocals), and Joe Don Rooney (lead guitar, background voc ...

Children of Bodom Children of Bodom was a Finnish melodic death metal band from Espoo. Formed in 1993 as Inearthed, the final line-up of the group upon their split in 2019 consisted of frontman Alexi Laiho, drummer Jaska Raatikainen, bassist Henkka Seppälä, ...

Aaron Turner Aaron Turner (born November 5, 1977) is an American musician, singer, graphic artist, and founder of label Hydra Head Records. He is most widely known for his role as guitarist and vocalist for the post-metal bands Sumac (band), SUMAC and Isis ...

Bang Tango Bang Tango is an American hard rock band. The band was formed in Los Angeles in 1988 and was signed to MCA Records the same year. History Formation (1988) Initially the band was founded by guitarist Mark Knight and bassist Kyle Kyle in 1 ...

Dean DeLeo Dean DeLeo (born August 23, 1961) is an American guitarist known for his work with rock band Stone Temple Pilots. DeLeo is also known for his role in the short-lived bands Talk Show and Army of Anyone. He is the older brother of Robert DeLeo ...

References

Guitar Player ''Guitar Player'' was an American magazine for guitarists, founded in 1967 in San Jose, California San Jose, officially the City of San José ( ; ), is a cultural, commercial, and political center within Silicon Valley and the San Francis ...

, July 2008 # Guitar Player, October 2009

External links

Official Fryette Amplification Web Site

Fryette Amplification Users Forum

Fryette Amplification Facebook page

Official Fryette Amplification Youtube Channel
Audio equipment manufacturers of the United States North Hollywood, Los Angeles Guitar amplifier manufacturers Manufacturing companies based in Los Angeles