Ben was amazing. In the middle of this horrible pandemic, he answered right away and we made arrangements to get 2 amps repaired. Price was reasonable and he called on the exact day he said he would to tell me they were ready. Super detailed explanation about what happened and how cheap the tubes are in Fender amps from Factory. Will definitely use him again for repair and will consult him before buying any other amp. Highly recommended! read more

Friendly service and the main thing: he fixed my amp without trying to sell me extra stuff. Honest business!

Ben at Joe's Amp Repair was fantastic. I got a Fender Deluxe worked on. He laid out everything clearly, got everything back to showroom floor sounding and was fairly priced. He's open during the pandemic, but will be moving to a new location soon. read more

I needed some work done on the selector knob on my tube/transistor amp. I was concerned about repair time and cost. The most highly touted shop on Yelp offered to help me because I had been a previous customer, but the minimum price was $250 and they couldn't get to it for two months. Another well rated shop had a $150 fixed price but only operated a few days a week. Then comes Joe's Amps (actually Ben). Ben did the job in a few days, charged me less than $100 and checked out the functioning of the whole amp and tested the tubes in addition. This guy knows his stuff. He specializes in guitar amps, but also works on other tube electronics as well. I would not hesitate to recommend Ben without any reservations. He's good, use him. read more

If you're wondering, Joe's is open and doing great business! Ben saved an amp that I thought was headed for the garbage. It was making a sound that I thought meant I was going to get electrocuted. Now it sounds great. He's also using safe practices for drop off and pick up, which is much appreciated. read more

Another plaudit for Ben. The treble potentiometer on the vibrato channel had failed on my ancient Fender Twin (pre-reverb). That "pot" was a unique design, not available anymore, so Ben created a suitable replacement. The amp sounds great again! Give Ben a call if you need his help! read more

This is everything you could ask for...not just from an amp repair shop, but from any business. Communication was clear from the beginning. Pricing, timing, scope of work was all exactly as I was told. Super friendly...and my amp is back in action. This is the amp repair shop you've been looking for. read more

Ben has worked on my cantankerous amp a few times now and always fixes it up and gets it roaring like it should be roaring. He does a great job. He's a good guy too, honest and up front about what he is doing. His new shop has great mojo and is very peaceful. It is located in a central Austin neighborhood that is easy to get to. One little rant: I have run into some shoddy individuals over the years in Austin who do half-assed jobs with their repairs and are full of shit and have no business fixing anything. In fact they have no business dealing with other human beings outside of a padded cell or locked one. Ben is not one of those guys. Go see Ben and trust him to get the job done. Thank you Ben! read more

Ben's got my loyalty. I dropped off a fritzing Deluxe Reverb that had sat in a garage for years. He set clear expectations at the start (including the probable actions and costs, and the two-week queue), and then beat them. When I picked it up I also got an impromptu performance to verify the amp was like new! read more

Ben was kind enough to troubleshoot my complex Marshall 6101 through 3 separate issues until it sang again. He's communicative, honest, does great work, and has a great energy to boot. Joe's Amps earns 5 stars with ease. Thanks again, Ben! read more

You want your amp fixed right? You want to record on an honest to goodness magnetron reel machine? You're going to the right man. I've trusted Ben over at Joe's Amps with three of my amps, and he's got them all running like...things that are supposed to run. But seriously. You want to get candid with musicians around town, we're all gonna point you to this unassuming little shop at North Loop and Avenue F. Because that's where it gets done right. read more

I had a bass speaker that stopped working, and got it fixed within a day. Great service and turnaround time for a fair price.

Ben is the best. He's honest, knowledgeable, and does quality work. His prices are fair, and even during extremely busy times of the year he turns things around in a timely manner with no shortage of attention to detail or professionalism. I will never take an amp to any other store. read more

I had a great experience at Joe's amp repair. He took the time to diagnose the problems, give me suggestions and all of the cost. He gave me the best advice, even if that meant not using his services that day. Trustworthy, awesome dude. read more

Ben did a great job on my amp (Traynor YCV40), got done when he said he would, answered all my questions, clearly takes pride in the quality and honesty of his work, and is a solid dude besides. Definitely going to him again next time I have an amp issue. (Also: Jacques, the guitar tech who works out of the shop, did a nice job on a pickup swap and setup for me. So I'll be taking my guitars back to Joe's, too.) read more

Honesty. It's hard to find these days. But when you do, it's the kind of feeling you get when you find a $20 in your coat pocket. I took my Marshall to Joe's because the fan was making noise. Ben plugged it in, shook his head in acknowledgement, and gave the fan a short blast with a can of compressed air. Done. Fixed. Now, to some this might come off as me being stupid, which is fair, I suppose. (The amp is for my son, not me, and I wanted it to be handed over to him in the best shape possible.) But here's why I think this is significant: Nine out of 10 guys would've screwed me (not unlike the feeling you get when you take your car in for repairs). How refreshing. We need more people on this planet with Ben's casual, friendly and honest professionalism. read more

Ben has worked on two of my amps, a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe guitar amp and a Gallien-Krueger 2x10 bass combo. Both times he was prompt and professional with his service, and even charged me less than he quoted me on the bass amp repair. If you're looking for a solid local amp repair shop, give Ben at "Joe's Amps" shot. read more

DO NOT TAKE YOUR AMP HERE FOR REPAIR!!! I made the frustrating, and costly, mistake of taking my amp to Ben for repair. He's a nice guy, but he is either, deaf, incompetent, or both. My amp, a Gibson Goldtone, which I have had almost 15 years had started to really break up on the clean channel over the last year, and had gotten progressively worse over the last 6 months. Every time I would ring out a chord, the tail end would break up and almost fizzle - not in a cool way. I was familiar with Joe's Amp shop, as I had taken my guitars to Walter at Musical Exchange for years, so, that's where I took my amp. Ben, the owner, told me it was an initial $60 diagnosis (he ended up only charging $40), which, if he did the work, would be applied to the total cost. I explained to him that I needed the amp for a session that was 4 weeks away, and he assured me it wouldn't be a problem. 2 weeks later, the amp was ready before he said it would be, which was great. I arrived at his shop and he told me he had to replace 2 of my power tubes and my bias was way off, which he corrected. The total cost was $116.96. He turned it on and I plugged in my guitar - I still heard the buzz. He told me he couldn't hear it, and I played my guitar again. Buzzz. He still didn't hear it, and as I was in a rush, I told him I would play it at home. He said to bring it back if there was still a problem. I paid the man, took it home, turned it up, and there was still a problem. After many attempts, before my session, to meet up had failed (I had to use an amp at the studio, which, ironically enough, Ben had also "fixed" months before, and when we plugged into Channel 2, the buzzing sound that the Producer took to get fixed was still an issue for that amp. Luckily Channel 1 worked fine and we had a killer session) I was finally able to get the amp back to Ben. I sat down with him and played my guitar through the amp, and only after repeatedly pointing to the amp and saying, "There. You hear that? Right there?!" did he finally acknowledge the buzz. "well maybe it's the speaker." He said, which I had initially thought. So, we bypassed my speakers, and went through his. Buzzz. After about thirty minutes of trying different things - again, I'm ignorant when it comes to the inner workings of amplifiers - he told me he could bias it down from, I think, 34 to 33, which was "pushing it", so that's what he did... it sounded even worse, but at that point, after listening for the same frequencies and tones over and over, it was all awash. Here's the kicker. At that point he told me the next step was to pull the board and really get in there, but, I was looking at a lot more hours of labor, a lot more money, and it still wouldn't guarantee a fix. He actually said to me, "You had it for 15 years, you got some good use out of it, if I were you, I'd put the extra couple of hundred dollars you'd pay me, sell this amp, and get yourself a new amp." The amp repairman's advice was to get a new amp... I took my amp home, frustrated with the diagnosis. I plugged my guitar in and it was worse than when I initially brought it to him. It only generated this dirty, farty, noise and was literally unplayable. My SALVATION. A friend of mine told me to take it to Jesse at Austin Vintage guitars. I did. I told Jesse my experience with Joe's Amp and he said he would take a look at it for a $40 diagnosis fee that would be applied to the repair. A few weeks, and ONLY $89.85 later, I picked up my amp and Jesse wrote on the ticket: "Pull board, resolder all broken joints on pots caps, and connectors, test all tubes, rebias tubes to 34ma...was biased at 4ma. Clean sockets and jacks, replace screen resistors...test" IT SOUNDED GREAT. Jesse did all this great work for $90. Ben said that same labor and pulling the board wasn't worth it and I should get a new amp!!?? Save yourself the headache, and DO NOT take your amp to Joe's Amps. PS. Since my experience, I have heard from 2 other working musicians (not including the Producer and myself, which makes 4 of us) that have also had unsatisfactory experiences with Ben and his amp repair. One guy's bass amp caught on fire during their show. Best of luck read more

I can't say enough about this place! I've dealt with the owner Ben on several occasions and I'm always left with a smile knowing the work was done right and at a reasonable price. Ben really knows his stuff. Any issues you're having with your amp, he can find the problem and fix it right. He also has an amazing collection of tubes. So if you're amp is giving you problems or you just want Ben to give it a little more growl, this is the place to go. Joe's Amps is the type local business we as a music community need to support. read more

Full disclosure: I did not have an amp repaired here. I met someone here to sell an amp, which was tested and confirmed working by Ben, the proprietor. The reason I'm giving a five star review is actually because of both Ben's clear understanding of what he's doing, and perhaps more importantly, the awesome vintage analog tape recording rig he has set up in the front of the shop. I had the pleasure of listening to a recent recording, and I must say, if you're into that gritty vintage sound, there's a diamond in the rough for you here. If I had a busted amp, I'd bring it here. If I had a rockabilly band, I'd bring it here. read more

Ben (Joe) is the man! He is extremely honest and a true amp guru. He is also friendly, honest and up front, and calls before proceeding with any major work, so that there are no surprises. He takes pride in his work, and it really shows. He fixed my Vox AC30, checked all the components to make sure nothing else was off, and now it sounds great! It's such a relief to have someone I can trust with my gear, thanks Ben! read more

Ben is super friendly and knows what he's talking about. I always feel like my amps are in the right hands.

I sent my vintage 70's Music Man 410-HD One Thirty from Lubbock for repair. Sound was distorted, not getting full power and just sounded terrible. After restoration it sounds sweeet. It is now a swingin amp. This will be my main tube amp in my studio. No more smokey bars for this baby. Not only great craftsmanship but very reasonable cost. Ben is definitely my amp man now and I will recommend to my West Texas guitar buddies. read more

Simply put, this has been one of the best customer experiences of my entire life, let alone the best amp repair experience of my life. Ben is as honest as the day is long, genuinely cares about his work, keeps in touch at every stage during the repair in terms of anticipating repair charges, and also keeps the repair costs down as much as humanly possible. Then there's the repair itself on my '66 Super Reverb - he found and fixed several issues that I didn't know existed after it apparently having been given a clean bill of health by the repair man who worked on it previously. This amp now utterly sings - it's been completely reborn. I'm so lucky to have found Ben. Do yourselves a favour folks - take your amp to Ben and thank me later! read more

Ben at Joe's Amps is a fantastic technician. He's always very thorough in explaining exactly what he is going to do to fix the amp rather than just "fixing" it and then charging you for God knows what. I've had him work on several of my amps and I don't think he's ever charged me full labor costs for the the work. Not only that, but I've also brought him amps before where if it's an extremely minor fix, he'll take care of it on the spot or explain in detail to me how I can fix it myself so that I don't have to spend my money. Really upstanding business owner who does excellent work. read more

Great tech; I've had a couple amps worked on by Ben and he does an excellent job in a timely manner. He's very fair with the pricing and will work with you if you have a budget. I'll keep bringing my tube amps here and recommend him to anyone with one. read more

Ben over at joe's amps is both an amp and musical wizard. I can't even count how many times Ben has saved me from not having an amp before a gig. If you want your amp serviced professionally, quickly, and at a ridiculously low price please check out Joe's amps! read more

Ben (Joe) brought my vintage tube amp back from the grave. He even took care of an extra step for me very efficiently. I'd trust him with any of my gear or my friend's gear. Turnaround time varies (call ahead or stop by) but you can count on Ben! read more