About DIXON

Hi.

I’m Colin. DIXON Amplifier is my thing.

I started DIXON because I love music, the people who make it, and I am enthralled by the contraptions that take small, intimate expressions and make them larger than life. I’ve been a player for 30 years and I still find it all quite magical, especially tube amps.

My first was a pre-CBS Deluxe I paid $150 for in a Denver pawn shop in the late 80s. I knew nothing about it except that it was what I could afford at the time. Once I had an actual band, I wanted more power and got a banged up AC-30 for a few hundred bucks. Again, I didn’t know much about it except that it looked very cool. Similar to the Deluxe, I could get clean, gritty, or full-meltdown distortion all with one amp, just by changing the pick attach. Turning it up didn’t really get louder so much as it changed the harmonics and overdrive. They were amps that could breathe—or breathe fire, if desired.

Over 30 years I got to play just about every amp under the sun on tour or in studios. I was also fortunate enough to meet many players who were more experienced and talented and learn their tips, tricks, likes and dislikes.

Touring in the 90s we had to fix our own gear if something went wrong. I started working on my amps out of necessity but was equally compelled by curiosity. Over time, I gained an understanding of why I liked one amp over another which became the blueprint for DIXON.

I love cathode-biased circuits that create rich harmonics, extreme touch-sensitivity, and long sustain. I prefer simple, musical tone controls that are creative rather than compensating. And I love combo amps and all the chaotic wonderful ways the components influence one another.

I take these elements, add some of my own tricks, and that’s DIXON. My designs are inspired by tradition, but not beholden to it. I hope they feel familiar, yet new, and that they inspire possibility, not genre, demographic or gender. I hope you plug into a DIXON and amplify that part of you that is larger than life.

—Colin