a brief history in time
In 2011, Chris Mitchell and Lane White crossed paths for the first time. This is the story of how inspiration (and quite possibly divine intervention) lead us to overcome challenges far beyond our wildest dreams.
Chris Meets Lane at a Chick Fil-A. Lane notices Chris' store name on his lanyard and asks if he repairs amplifiers. After finding out that he doesn't, Lane offers his services.
May 2011
Lane visits Pladd Dot Music's retail store to fix a customer's amp. He immediately diagnosed that the amp had a bad capacitor and asked Chris to order a capacitor rated for 10,000 microfarads and 85º.
(later that day)
The capacitor arrived and Chris calls lane for the repair. Lane arrived and five minutes later the amp was repaired. Chris was blown away.
(one week later)
Oddly enough, an exact same model of the amplifier (from a different customer) came into the store with a problem. Chris called Lane to check it out. After Lane's diagnosis, The conversation looked something like this:
(one more week later)
LANE: You know what the problem is?
CHRIS: (with a very confident look) "Nope."
LANE: "The cap was a 10,000uf 85volt cap that was being used in a 85 volt circuit. It was blowing because there was not a voltage safety margin. 20% overrating is considered safe. So a 10,000uf 100volt cap is what I installed and it should not fail due to voltage."
Chris: "Who the hell are you, and why do you work at Chick-Fil-A"?
Lane: "Look, I'm going to level with you. I'm in treatment right now for drug abuse. About two years ago my like was very messed up, and I was ready for it to be over."
Chris: "If you can repair amps so easily - do you think you can design one?"
Lane: "I don't see why not".
Chris: "Let's start an amplifier company"
Jimmy
After 4 months of design and build and 8 months of live shows on the road with Chris (each followed by a design tweak), the Jimmy was born!
August 2011
The Jimmy was the first amp we built and we took it to Summer NAMM 2012. Everyone loved the diversity of the amp. The Jimmy was named after Chris' dad (who loved horses). So Chris' Jimmy was built with the western tooled leather tolex and the serial number is Chris' dad's birthday. Chris continues to play the amp to this day.
July 2012
Mean Jean
We knew that we wanted to build smaller amps for the gigging musician with different needs. The "Mean Jean" (named after Chris' mother-in-law) was born! A killer 15 watt class A tube amp for everyone and introduced at Summer NAMM 2013
2013
Mr. Terry
Following the Mean Jean, we decided to build a 30 Watt Class A amplifier. With even more power for live shows, we decided to name this one after Chris' Father-in-law "Mr. Terry".
2014
Jimmy Junior
The number one request we got from people who owned a Jimmy was to make a smaller version. We designed the Jimmy Junior with one shared EQ but with all the features and wattage of the Jimmy!
2015
Francine
Paving a new path for Devilcat (the ammo can series), Chris and Lane developed a new 30 Watt Class A Amplifier head. Named after Lane's wife (yes - he remarried!), the Francine is not your daddy's lunchbox!
2016
Gussie 317
We introduced a new low wattage amp in the Ammo Can series that is perfect for that low wattage breakup associated with class A amps. With 3 and 17 watt modes, the Gussie is perfect for live and the studio!
2017
New Extension Cabs
With two new amps in our ammo can series, it was clear that we needed to build new cabinets that were tuned to our new amplifiers. We revamped our cabs to include the 112H and the 112 Mini.
2018
Missy
Named for Chris' sister, the Missy is the only class AB amp in the ammo can series. At 60 watts, it's the most powerful (and highest gain) amplifier that we make!
2018
Packer
The Packer is introduced at Summer NAMM 2019 and is our first in a lightweight tube amplifier series. It's also our first amp featuring a tilt-cab design!
2019
Flyin' Ace Wah
We introduced our first pedal (the Flyin' Ace Wah) at Summer NAMM 2019. After a long and tedious development process, we will release the pedal this year in 2024!! We didn't want to manufacture the chassis in-house because our tooling isn't set up for metal fabrication. On a whim, we found an AWESOME partner (just 30 miles away) and now we're in production!! This will open new doors for Devilcat as we make a foray into the pedal market.
Today
Devilcat Amplifiers is Located at:
1993 Randy Lowery Road
Statesboro, GA 30461
(912)764-3230
Statesboro, GA 30461
(912)764-3230
About us:
Devilcat Amplifiers is a small amp builder in Statesboro, Georgia. We're making the music world better - one amp at a time!