AMPAGE is 12 years old!

[tboy]

Welcome to the first annual AMPAGE Days celebration!

I don't remember the actual day that AMPAGE began, but I do know it was sometime in mid-July. So this idea hit me on the head that we should have a virtual party for the next two weeks, and that ought to cover it.

So who's got ideas? What should we do to celebrate?

[Daver]

Congats! I've been around here since 1999. Ampage is still one of the best amp resources. To celebrate I will drink a Newcastle or two. Maybe tboy could give us a little history of Ampage. Thanks!
Dave

[madialex]

Happy Anniversary, hope many more to come.... What can we do to celebrate? It would be really cool to have a big get together with everyone but I dont think it would be possible, oh well just a thought anyway.

[Alexander]

I'll raise a glass too in appreciation of the excellent community TBoy has fostered. Sure, there were a few troll incidents, but overall a most congenial atmosphere.

When I was initially considering donating a kidney to a friend I posted here asking opinions; in part due to the overall positive response I went through with it and now 5 years later we're both in perfect health still playing racquetball together!

My technical/design skills have benefited greatly; I've gone from building amps into mailboxes with the tubes on the outside to ones with tubes on the inside!

"Ampage- the only 12-year-old on the net worth it"

THANKS TBOY!!
Alexander
Retrodyne Amplification

[Mark Hammer]

I think I've been here since around that time, having found it and made the leap from the newsgroups like alt.guitar and rec.music.makers somewhere in the mid-90's.

I unhesitatingly recommend it to people I run into, famous and not famous, as one of the primo places on the net for information about amps and pickups. Looking through my binders of stuff I've printed off over the years, it is mind-boggling the amount of generosity that occurs here each and every day, whether from established or up-and-coming folks in the music-tech industry, or simply from folks who have diligently plugged away and plugged away at something until they got it right, or figured out how it works and how it could work better.

There ARE the odd flareups, and there was a very tender period in the months following 09/11, but the forum has weathered those strains and still remains vital. Like any forum whose quality attracts lots of new members/registrants, there will continue to be similar flareups as new folks get used to what existing members do and don't mean by their comments, or as folks learn to get along. It happens. Here and elsewhere. It is the nature of the net.

I still sort of pine away for the old interface, but you gotta change with the times, and if this makes the job easier for you Steve, then what I want comes secondary.

A party, eh? I think a nice way to kick off a celebration would be a "guest list" of the more illustrious people who have passed through here, like Jason Lollar, Andy Marshall, Zachary Vex, and many many more. There are tons of folks whose connection to here also eventually evolved into starting up their own business. If you have it, a listing of some of the original members would be cool. recently, I was prompted to find out where David Morning is, and he's still alive and kicking in Glasgow. What a blast to trade notes with him again! Also traded some notes with Mark Garvin a couple years ago too. These are guys from back around 1992. For that matter, I think any memories from the past would be welcome as part of the party.

Congrats on 12 years of turning one of those casual Wednesday afternoon hanging-out-at-the-music-store over-the-counter chats into an international phenomenon and community. You done good, bro. Real good.

All the best for many more,
Mark

(Alex, I was actually thinking about you this morning, and wondering how your health and your beneficiary's health had been since the transplant. I'm so pleased that not only are the two of you healthy, but that you have expressed no regrets in those 5 years and set such a stunning example of humanity for the rest of us to follow. For that, you deserve the best of what life holds for you.)

[Alexander]

Hey thanks for the kind words Mark- nope, no regrets. The continued involvement at the YMCA ended up with me getting elected to the Board of Directors, then as treasurer got embroiled in a big merger battle which me & the Pres. won. But now our YMCA is part of the Buffalo group, and is the only success story in the whole north end of Niagara Falls. 3 years ago we had NO summer camp programs for inner-city kids, this year we have a couple hundred kids in organized, focused day camps! I co-chaired the annual fund raiser 2 yrs in a row, "Strong Kids Campaign" and we exceeded our goal both years. We have a new Board established so maybe I can get more amps built this coming winter ;-) I guess it's all a balance, trying to find time for the community service stuff, your family, and biz. Yep, biz gets the short end sometimes :-)
I'm not bragging about any of this- I learned in the Marines that leadership by example is the most effective kind. It's Gov't types that try to legislate caring or morality, but it's always individuals that PERFORM it! So if I can find time, anybody can if they truly give a damn! I'm certain wherever you live there is a need for volunteers for something that your skills will help with in a big way. Broadens your horizons in ways you don't realize yet. At the end of the day I think we're likely to be judged or remembered by the good performed, lives touched positively by our example, and not so much by the kind of amp or guitar we built. Just a suspicion :-)

Here's to 12 more years at least!!

Semper (lo)Fi
Alexander
Retrodyne Amplification

[Slobrain]

Well congrats to Tboy for firing up Ampage as it was the most awesome site I started to visit in Oct, 1997 and visited almost every day for the next 7 years.

I can remember the live chats where Joe L. and many others were typing in the evening about the SLO amps and many others that was a blast.

Great times on that chat forum and the threads were awesome too.

I learned a ton about tube amps thru ampage and some folks that came thru the years owe alot to ampage too as they started their business because of the vast knowledge from the ampage group.

Hats off to you all and I'll toast with a shot of rum.

Cheers

Slobrain