Today we’d like to introduce you to Jeff Andrews.
Jeff, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
That goes way back! When I was about seven years old, I became interested in music and electronics at around the same time. My father plays sax and my mother plays piano so I think I have music in my blood. Both of my grandfathers encouraged me to tinker with electronics and my father helped be build a crystal radio at our home in Memphis, TN while I was still a kid. That was really fun to me so I guess it was the genesis of it all.
I took piano lessons and then played sax in the school band. Then at age 14, I became obsessed with the electric guitar and decided to become a rock star. Most of my spare time was spent trying to learn how to play like Jimi Hendrix, Jeff Beck, and all the other “guitar heros” of the 60’s and 70’s.
My parents wisely advised me to think about a back-up career “just in case” so I instantly chose electronics. I decided that this knowledge would be helpful with getting the sounds I wanted from my guitar rig so I took an electronics class in high school and another course at a local college after graduating. Very quickly, I learned that working on electronics brought in a steadier paycheck than jamming in the basement with my close friends and playing the occasional gig. I worked in various electronics repair shops in Decatur, Atlanta and Chamblee in the 70’s and 80’s before landing a job at Pioneer Electronics where I provided tech support and training on consumer and industrial audio and video products for 17 years.
In 2005, I left Pioneer and started Andrews Amp Lab to get back to what got me excited about electrics all those years ago. So, I’ve come full circle and I’m happy to be where I am now. I love working with musicians and I’m humbled that so many choose and trust Andrews Amp Lab to take care of their audio gear.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Opening the shop was scary and took several years of wondering if I would make it. With the help of a few good friends sending work my way, I always had some work to do but it was not always enough in the earlier years. I had an imaginary giant banner on the wall in front of my desk that said “Failure is Not an Option”. I had to read that sign thousands of times to get through the tough times.
I think the most difficult part for me has always been “sales”. The technical part of the job can be difficult but I’ve always been confident that I can find ways to handle those challenges. I don’t however have a natural talent for selling my products and services and have always found it difficult to get out and SELL. For me, my sales focus was learning some basic HTML, WordPress, SEO, and social media rather than making a lot of sales calls.
Another challenge is staying focused on “business”. It’s not enough just to follow your passion and do good work. It’s necessary to build business relationships, seek advice, join peer groups and learn about pricing, return on investments, record keeping and taxes. As a business, it seems that everyone you come in contact with wants a piece of the pie so controlling all the recurring costs can be a challenge as well.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
Andrews Amp Lab repairs professional audio gear and builds vintage style guitar amplifiers. The gear we repair includes guitar amplifiers, bass amplifiers, analog PA systems, analog mixing consoles, tape echo devices and tube HiFi gear. Our specialty is repair, mods and building of vacuum tube guitar amps, and especially, vintage and vintage-style gear.
I’m proud that so many of the top musicians and bands in the southeast trust us to take care of their gear and to help them achieve and maintain their signature sound. I’m also proud that we’ve been able to survive and thrive in a time when most electronic products have become disposable.
There are a couple of things that set us apart. I would say that attention to detail is probably number one. I call every customer to discuss the condition of their product and discuss the recommended course of action based on our diagnosis of the equipment. Another thing is experience. I’ve been repairing guitar amps for more than 40 years and that experience makes a huge difference in knowing how to address the wide range of issues customers have with their audio gear. There are no longer any electronic courses that teach what is needed to really understand the technology in vintage electronics. That means many younger techs don’t have the training background or hands-on experience that customers will find at AAL.
What were you like growing up?
As a kid I was a lot like I am today in many ways. I’ve always been curious and a bit of an introvert with a smallish group of close and often unusual friends. I’ve tended to seek the bizarre rather than the mainstream styles of music and art. Music, science and nature were and still are of key interest to me. Mountain views, walks in the woods and solitude have always made me happy. In contrast, I’ve loved loud distorted rock music, fast cars and high-performance motorcycles along the way.
Contact Info:
- Address: Andrews Amp Lab
4511 Chamblee Dunwoody Rd.
Ste E3 Dunwoody, GA 30338 - Website: www.andrewsamplab.com
- Phone: 770-671-0485
- Email: info@andrewsamplab.com
- Instagram: andrewsamplab
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AndrewsAmps/
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