Scot and Jim met in Little River, South Carolina to talk about the history of Evans amps, their research and development, their innovations,
musical style and customer base, and their future.
The Evans name has been around a long time. Can you give us a brief history of Evans amps?
In the late 50’s, Jim Evans
was playing on the Louisiana Hayride, and he really couldn’t find an amp that was powerful enough and clear enough…that was
the problem back then…they had these killer guitars but they had to play through these really wimpy amplifiers. So, he finally developed
his own amplifier, and he would have people come up and want to buy them off the stage. Soon after, people would use the amps at rodeos,
for loudspeakers and PA’s! The earliest models came in a speaker cabinet, a head, and a reverb…all tube. And the price for one
was 650.00, and people lined up to buy them at that price….that would be an astronomical price today, probably four or five thousand
dollars. Jim had the company and at one point, around 1982, sold out to an employee, Darrell Stevens. Darrel and Brenda Stevens would
work jobs and then come home and build amps in the evenings and weekends. This moved the company from
When my dad and Tim went down there to buy the whole company, they had the truck loaded so heavy that they were blowing tires off this thing…they’d put brand new tires on it and be blowing them after going through about two states. They got it all back and we unloaded it. My dad was so smart…he had gone down there and figured everything out they did in one week. He figured out how to do it and remembered how to do it all, in one week. That’s how we started.
What’s your current
role in the company? You’re the CEO…
Right. My mother and father owned the company, and last September my mother sold it out to me, so I own 100% of Evans Amps. I’m the president, and I’m also the grunt too. I’m the president, the shipping department, and the janitor, all in one! Someone told me I was the Evans amp builder for the universe.
Can you describe your facility?
Basically, my house is on two lots…I have one of the shortest commutes…I walk outside one door and walk right in [the shop]..it’s all under the same roof but the company’s on a different lot, and has its own address. Once I’m in my house, I can’t get to the company without going outside…so I can kind of leave it over there when I go home.
The shop is around 1500 square feet…something like that. It’s not that big…but the main thing is we need a long table to glue the amps [cabinets] on, laying the vinyl on. You need a certain amount of room but you don’t need a factory to build an amp….it can be done in a small area.
As far as big heavy shop equipment
– sanders and the like – you don’t have a lot of that?
I’ve been getting rid of what I’ve got. A lot of that stuff I don’t even need anymore.
There’s a lot of cabinet makers that have missing fingers. Rich Raezor said he left the blood on the saw to remind him. If you’re cutting wood all you have to do is have your mind wander for one second. Like most good guitar players, I want to keep all my fingers on my hands! So I basically pay a cabinet maker to do it. And somebody that can do a better job than me…and then I don’t have to deal with all the sawdust!
What’s your favorite type of wood to use in a cabinet…what sounds the best to you?
The cabinets are matched to the speakers. I don’t just pick a size because it fits a twelve inch speaker. Whatever size it needs to be to get the maximum amount of bass without muffling the highs, is the size that it’s going to be. I use a certain wood that gives a really good punch. It’s designed to jar the floor and the walls and everything but not lose any upper end clarity.
Do you use your ear by itself to determine what is the
optimal size for a particular amplifier?
Yeh, and I listen to top artists too. Not one person can hear everything.
Is there
any engineering equipment that helps you determine that, or is it based solely on the human ear?
No matter what I can show you on a scope or blackboard, what’s important is if it sounds good. Playing music is maybe the same way…you could keep every music theory rule there is…or break every rule there is!...and still, if it sounds good, it’s good. You have to use your ears, and they have to be trained. That’s where I really have to take my hat off to my trusted endorsers that I rely on…they’ve been through it; they’ve dealt with all kinds of amps; they know every little pitfall. They’re not going to let me get to where it sounds wimpy or anemic. It’s like Ronny (jazz guitarist and endorser Ron Eschete) told me one time, “If I didn’t tell you the truth I wouldn’t be your friend”. Sometimes you have to take that brutal truth, but it all ends up with a better product, that’s the bottom line.
When it comes
to top level, high-quality cabinets, people have different opinions as to what wood is best – solid woods, void-free plywood….what
do you like?
I like the void-free plywood that’s furniture grade on both sides. That’s what I use. The reason I like it is that it gives the cabinet a good punch. And it really depends on the speaker…some speakers might need a different kind of wood or a different size cabinet…you really have to match it to the speaker. The size of the cabinet, and the type of wood, must be matched to the speaker. By being matched to the speaker, you will get the maximum amount of bass response without losing any upper-end clarity. There’s a point to where you can keep getting more and more bass, but then you start muffling the highs. I start backing off…I want to push the bottom as far as I can without muffling the highs.
So you’re listening, looking for that sweet spot, where it’s got optimal
bass and optimal clarity in the high end…
Yes, that’s our thing.