When musician Katy Perry performed at the 2009 Grammy awards, her band used an amplifier produced by Wilmington based manufacturer Michael Swart.  

Patrick Matera,  the guitar player for Katy Perry’s band used the “Atomic Space Tone MKII” model of Swart amplifiers for their performance on stage. 

Swart has been producing guitar amplifiers that use tubes instead of transistors since 2005 and has built a following with professional and amateur musicians.  Swart was originally working as a computer consultant for University of North Carolina Wilmington and started building amplifiers after finding a vintage “Supro” tube amplifier at a flea market.

Swart was taken by the design and the characteristics of the sound it produced and started salvaging tubes from old stereos to build his own amps. 

According to Swart, “tube amps have a ‘sweeter’ sound than transistors,” which mostly replaced tubes in amplifiers in the 1960s and 70s. 

After building several prototypes, Swart found a company to coat the amplifier chassis, learned how to screen print the external artwork and had his uncle build 20 wooden cabinets.

Originally Swart sold amplifiers on Ebay and by cold calling music shops in Raleigh. During his first trip to Raleigh in 2005, he sold all the amps he brought with him to Fat Sound Guitars.  They went on to sell 75 amplifiers in the next three months.

Originally designed and built in his home garage, manufacturing has since been distributed to vendors in Wil­ming­ton and the surrounding areas.

Today most of Swart’s tubes come from Russian factories, which originally produced tubes for nuclear radiation-resistant military communications hardware, but he is still building prototypes in his garage with tubes found at flea markets and thrift stores.

Swart estimates he sells about 300 amplifiers per year on his website and through stores. His product line includes amplifiers from five to twenty watts and range in price from $800 to $3,200.