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( My Shirt reads "A City Built on Rock & Roll Would Be Structurally Unsound")
Coba, Mexico
The Essay:
I guess I should start at the beginning. My two favorite things in the world are machines and music. As I grew up I became more interested in taking toys apart and finding out how they worked than actually playing with them.
In my pre high school years I found music. Not playing music, but listening. I gave up sleeping with my teddy bear and started sleeping with a radio. My music interests began with rock, psychedelic, and classic rock. Later, in my teens, my attention turned to punk, indie, and alternative rock. Throughout my late teens and twenties, I went to hundreds of concerts and local shows. Today, in my dirty thirties, I listen to many different genres and still go to as many live performances as I can. Music is best heard live.
My teens also brought on my love for machines in the form of automobiles. First my 1973 Chevy Vega, then my 1969 Volkswagen Fastback. I heart the old Volkswagens. After high school, I attended classes at Chaffey Community College for my Airframe & Powerplant Certification. (The license the FAA gives you to repair aircraft.) I got about 90% through the program and decided to switch to Computers Information Systems. Between Chaffey and Riverside Community College, I have enrolled in almost every general education class. This brings me to DeVry...
When I started at Music Mike's in April 2001, I realized I could combine my love for music and machines. Since then I have repaired thousands of Electronic Musical Instruments. I have repaired everything from vintage tube amps to the most modern studio keyboards. I understand how these machines are used, how to make them sound the best they can, and how they fail. I can bring your vintage or modern, tube or solid-state amplifier, keyboard, synthesizer, mixer, rack system, or speakers back to like new condition even after years of gigging and neglect.
I can repair many instruments other techs can not, will not work on and/or should not be working on. I can reverse any modification and return your instrument to original. I will always be straight forward about what I'm going to do and why I'm doing it. All of my repairs are by the book, I never short cut. My goal is to make your instrument more reliable, sound it's best, and able to withstand many more years of service. I guarantee my repairs for minimum of 90 Days.
Update Jan 2010:
I left Music Mike's in November 2007. Lets just say I had issues with the management. I took a job as an Acoustical Engineer at a small company in City of Industry, Ca associated with a very large manufacture in China . I design and test head phones but primarily I make them sound good. We have designed headphones for several large audio and cellphone companies.
I continue to design and repair tube instruments in my spare time. My resources are a little more limited these days so I choose to focus on tube amp repair, maintenance, upgrades and custom design only. I have a solid design for a high gain small footprint guitar amp and currently working on an all tube OTL headphone amp. Please check back, I have a lot of new ideas and experiments planned...
Ralph Isaacson Electronic Musical Instrument Repair and Design Version 2.6.9