A handmade, true guitar amplifier that is both modern and vintage.
Built inside the drive-in theater speaker housing, one at a time, in Washington State.
The Idea
A drive-in theater speaker with a guitar amplifier inside.
Drive-in theaters had a small cast-metal speaker at every parking space. It hung on a pole and hooked over the car window to play the film's sound inside the car.
The Drive-in Amplifier starts with that housing and puts a real guitar amplifier inside it: a quarter-inch jack on the front, three controls along the top, and a hand-wired circuit.
The result is a small guitar amplifier in a shape many people recognize from the drive-in.
The Housing
The drive-in speaker housing, two ways.
The housing is a drive-in theater speaker, the box most people picture when they think of a drive-in. We build in two kinds.
- New castings
- New castings of the RCA case, made to the original pattern. Every one is identical and ready for the finish you choose.
- Vintage originals
- Genuine period speakers recovered from real drive-ins, sourced one at a time. They are not all RCA: each is whatever that theater installed, and every case is listed with what we know about it. Each one is cleaned, stripped and inspected before we build with it. The casting marks and small imperfections are kept.
Either way, the amplifier inside is the same.
The Finish
Powder-coated in our own shop.
Powder coating is a dry finish, applied electrostatically and cured with heat. It is thicker and tougher than paint, and it gives the deep, even gloss you see on the amps in the collection.
We do this ourselves. We own the oven and we set the schedule, which means we control the color, the gloss, and the cure on every housing. It also means we can usually coat a color that is not in the collection.
Vintage originals go through the same process after cleanup, so they get a new finish over the original casting.
- Colin Chapman Lotus
- Poodle Pink
- Sunflower Yellow
- Moby Dick
- Black Knight
Liveries we have coated so far.
The Circuit
What makes it a true guitar amplifier.
What we mean by a true guitar amplifier:
- Hand-wired on a turret board
- Components are mounted on turrets and soldered by hand on the bench, the way amplifiers were built before circuit boards. It takes longer and is easier to service, and every amplifier is assembled by hand.
- Three controls
- Volume, Bass and Treble, on three knobs along the top edge. Those are the only controls. Everything else is chosen when you order.
- One input
- A quarter-inch jack. On an RCA housing it sits in the recessed scoop on the face, where the original speaker's hardware used to be. On a vintage case from another maker, we agree the layout of the jack and controls with you before we build.
The Extras
Three things you can add.
The amplifier above is complete as it stands. These are decided when you order, and fitted at the bench.
- Bluetooth
- A switchable mode that runs Bluetooth alongside the guitar input, so you can play along with music from your phone. The quarter-inch jack works the same either way.
- Reverb and tremolo
- Spring reverb and a vintage tremolo, wired onto the same turret board as the rest of the circuit. Choose one, both, or neither.
- Direct out
- A balanced DI output for recording, alongside the speaker. It runs straight into an interface, so you can track without putting a microphone in front of the amp.
Voiced by Hand
Every amplifier is played before it ships.
Once an amplifier is built, we plug it in and play it on the bench, adjusting it until it sounds right. Then it gets its badge and is packed.
Because each amplifier is built by hand, two in the same color will be close but not identical.
The Collection
The same amplifier in different finishes.
Every Drive-in Amplifier™ shares the same circuit. The livery is where they differ. Each color ships with a matched knob set, and most are available with alternate knob colors.
Your Amp, Your Way
Choose the housing, color and knobs.
- The housing
- A new casting, or a vintage original recovered from a real drive-in. Choose your housing.
- The color
- A color from the collection, or one of your own. We coat in-house, so we can match a guitar, a car or a room.
- The knobs
- Two styles, chicken head or small stovetop, each in a choice of colors.
Once you have chosen all three, we build it.
Who Builds These
A small shop south of Seattle.
Drive-in Amplifiers are coated, wired, voiced, and packed in a small shop in Normandy Park, Washington. The person who answers your email is the person who built your amp.
Amplifiers are built in small runs, and each one has its own build number.
Order
Order today.
Choose a livery from the collection or tell us what you have in mind. Either way it is built by hand, one at a time.
Handmade guitar amplifiers in drive-in theater speaker housings · Normandy Park, Washington