Matamp

Matamp is a UK based manufacturer of guitar amplifiers. This company was founded in 1946 by Mat Mathias, a German Jew. He was nicknamed the "The Radio Doctor" because of his ability to fix anything electronic.

Mat launched the first Matamp amplifier, the Matamp Series 2000 in 1963. The Matamp Series 2000 was used in Peter Green’s hit track "Albatross", wherein it was used in conjunction with a Matamp 'piggyback' valve reverb unit. Mat entered into a partnership with Clifford Cooper in late 1960s, who then began selling Matamp products in south England. During this period Mat also manufactured 100-watt and 200-watt amplifiers for Fleetwood Mac and Jimmy Page. The slave versions of the Matamp amplifiers rose to fame when the BBC Radio 1 adopted them as their preferred choice. After the Mat-Cooper partnership came to an end, the Matamp brand went into a slump. Mat Mathias died in 1989, and was succeeded by his long-time associate Jeff Lewis.

Some of the amplifiers in the current Matamp line-up are GT 1, LX, Chino and MiniMat. The MiniMat is a 2-watt/4-watt guitar amplifier which was launched in 2005. It featured a point to point hand wired professional-grade Studio Head and one ECC83 (12AX7) pre-amp valve. Matamp MiniMat is available on sale in all Matamp stores, and can also be found on the Matamp website.