Artistic Amplification

It’s everyone’s favourite time of year~ time to spend money on things that don’t appear on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. In many ways I’m awfully bad at being a girl. Several years ago, while my fiancé wondered what piece of jewelry to buy me for Christmas, I told him not to waste his money, I’d rather have a new external hard drive. And so an external hard drive I got.

Mac Books, iPhones, iPads, anything even slightly gadgety and geeky, I love. Last week I found a new gadget to love; amps made out of really fun things! Lunch boxes, thermoses, old Ninetendo or Atari game systems, old telephones, terra cotta ducks, and, my personal favourite, a Hungry Hungry Hippos game, all appear in galleries on the Artistic Amplification web site in their altered and electrified glory, and I want one! I actually want several!

They have a store on their website, which features amps that are already built and ready to ship.  Robert Brenne, the founder of Artistic Amplification, builds the amps himself and they can be made for iPods/MP3 players or for guitars.

Brenne states very clearly on the web site that these are novelty items and you should, in no way, plug your guitar in and expect the same results you’d get from an actual guitar amp. As Mr. Brenne states on the web site “A duck amp will sound like a duck amp.”

The amps, either for iPod or guitar, are powered by 9 volt battery.

There are many items in the store, already made and ready to ship, ranging in price from $50-$125.  Artistic Amplification also does custom orders. A quick email to the company will determine if an item can be turned an amp, how long it will take, and what the cost will be.  Brenne said he doesn’t work with glass materials, as drilling into it is too difficult, but based on the galleries, it appears most other materials are fair game.

Check out the gallery, it’s so fun! http://www.artisticamplification.com/Gallery.html

The guitar amp store~ http://www.artisticamplification.com/Gallery.html

The iPod amp store~ http://www.artisticamplification.com/AuxGallery.html