ValveTone Amplification began in 2008 when long-time Newcastle resident Darryl Hoy was contemplating his retirement. Darryl designed and built the well-regarded Scion guitar amplifiers in Newcastle in the 1970's. After a 40-year career working in professional audio, electronics and computers, Darryl decided to return to where it began, with valve guitar amplifiers.

The Scion amplifiers, like all rock oriented amps of the 1970's were fire breathing behemoths, with power outputs from 100 to 250 watts. They stood atop "stacks" of 4 x 12" speaker cabinets which were necessary to absorb the power on tap. By comparison, the first ValveTone amplifier was very modest, being only 2-watts. This amp, the Impact, was designed and constructed using the technical knowledge and real world experience gained during the Scion years. The Impact, now in its MkIV iteration is still the most popular ValveTone amplifier.

ValveTone amplifiers are all valve, built by hand, using point-to-point construction. There have been many ValveTone prototypes over the years - one of the reasons for ValveTone's existence is to experiment with new ideas. After extensive evaluation by guitarists working in different musical genres, successful prototypes are promoted to retail models.

There are stories of my valve amp projects at the Australian Guitar Gear Heads forum.