In the beginning…
We got our start in late 1998 as a collaborative effort...Steve Fulton, owner of Austin Vintage Guitars, and local tube amp mod/repair guy Bill Webb.  Initially our idea was to build a low wattage, British inspired amp that would be reasonably priced, reliable and full of great tones at club friendly volumes.  But our rapid success and numerous requests for bigger, louder amps opened the door to experiment with everything from 30 watt Class A style amps to 100 watt stacks.  Ten years later we’re now offering 8 different amps with power ratings from 17 to 100 watts in styles ranging from American tweed to British plexi.

Its one louda...
When we set out to build our first prototype we decided to start with the heart of any tube amp: the transformers. We already had a circuit in mind and had specific voltage and impedance requirements that had to be met, but the main goal for the transformer set was to give a pair of EL84’s a big-amp feel without the huge volume levels. To achieve that vintage sound we were going for we specified our transformers to be handwound, paper bobbin interleaved with proprietary core and laminate sizes. After having some prototypes made for us we found a set that was a perfect match for our 17 watt design.  We then went on to research and test all sorts of vintage caps and resistors and tried many in our circuit. Once we found the ones that sounded best we sourced modern equivalants that were as close as possible. It was a meticulous process to get the first prototype completed but the time and energy paid off.

After filling several orders for our new 17 watt tweed meets low wattage British amp it became apparent that some players, especially those on bigger tours, were looking for more headroom. We kept getting requests to take the 17 watter and just make it bigger and louder. So we did just that. After building the 30 watt amp our catalog kept growing and growing into our current 9 model offering.

Patience pays off…
Each amp is hand wired and tested thoroughly to ensure that before it leaves the shop it is 100% perfect.  In fact, we've retained several of our very first production amps to compare side-by-side with newly completed amps to ensure each amp is faithful to our original vision. Our shop is onsite at Austin Vintage Guitars and we always test our prototypes and production amps with vintage and new Strats, Teles, 335's, 345's and Les Pauls. We sometimes even put the amps through their paces with Bill's 1980's Kramer Berretta!

Our cabinets are hand made in Austin and built to our exact specification.  The dimensions and materials used to build our combo and speaker cabinets have been tweaked and re-tweaked to compliment the tone of our amps.  Our amps are designed to take advantage of the sonic characteristics of our cabs but many of our customers have told us their Fulton-Webb amps sound great through all sorts of cabinets and speakers.

If you build it, they will play...
We hope you have an opportunity to visit Austin and come to our shop to plug in and check out our amps. We have sound files posted on this website but they don't tell the whole story. You have to hear them in person to really grasp the vibe we were going for when we designed them. We've heard every imaginable vintage and boutique amp out there and truly believe Fulton Webb amps have their own voice. Give us a call or drop by and check one out.

All the best,
Steve and Bill