ABOUT DAVID BRAY

David's first experience with amplifier modification was back in 1979, when he was barely a teenager growing up in Potomac, Maryland. Dave sent off his Fender Dual-Showman head to a well-known amp guru working out of nearby Fredericksburg,Virginia. That amp never made it back home, as the guru ended up keeping it, along with a van full of other customer's amplifiers, and relocating to the West Coast.

In 1988, while just starting out in bar bands, Dave sent his 100 watt 2203 Marshall head to the famed Jose' Arredondo in Sherman Oaks, CA. Although an improvement over what the amplifier had been stock, he felt it still lacked the talkative nature of the Marshalls he was hearing on records, and was missing the Plexi vibe that made some Marshall amps so sought after.

Dave first began modifying his own amplifiers in the early 90's while playing guitar in various weekend and full-time road bands, in addition to operating Dave's Guitar Repair. He began by working to improve the tone and feel of the Jose'-modded Marshall. The first Marshall Super Lead he modified was a '76 model that got quite a bit of attention from local musicians and was hailed as being decidedly better than the stock version. In early 2000, he joined Paul Reed Smith Guitars, doing Final Assembly on American PRS models that included many Private Stock pieces as well as guitars for PRS artists such as Carlos Santana. After his day-shift building guitars would end, he was allowed to use that same workbench to modify amplifiers for others into the night. Dave did two amplifiers for Paul Smith, one a '74 50 watt Marshall head, and the other a 100-watt Frankenstein with four parallel channels.

In August of 2003, Dave left PRS Guitars to pursue amplification full-time, and launched the first official David Bray Amplifiers website.

David Bray Amplifiers provides musicians with extremely musical tube amplifiers that are hand built and hand wired in the U.S.A. , using tonally supreme components. Each amplifier is built around a client's individual needs and existing gear, then tested and fine-tuned until the sound and response is flawless and organic, giving it a plausible advantage over an amplifier that is purely spec built. Each client receives a soundclip of their amplifier prior to shipping, to ensure that it is ideal for them, just in case any additional fine tuning is needed.