Liverpool, England / From the Spamp Cave
An engineer, an empty tin and a late-night flash of inspiration. Meet the man behind the music in a can.
“Instead of making my fingers bleed, I learned how to do stuff with transistors.”
Meet the man
Tell us about yourself.
I’m based in Liverpool, England, in the quarter where the Beatles grew up. I left school and spent a few years in the Merchant Navy before going to college to study electronic engineering. After about ten years as an analogue electronics engineer, I was seduced by the dark side of $ales.
I ended up working for a company in Torrance, California, and almost moved there full-time in 2012. A takeover changed those plans, but I still have a soft spot for Southern California.
Away from the bench: guitar-led rock, Scotch whisky, the Great Outdoors and football — the English kind.
What inspired you to create the Spamp?
Music, beer and Spam! I’d been to see a local guitarist. When I got home, I was hungry, so I made myself a Spam and egg feast. Somewhere in that moment of satisfied hunger, the Spamp was conceived. I made a prototype, used it for a while — and I still have it.
When was that?
Back in the early 2000s. My day job involved travelling all over the world, so the Spamp Man alter ego had to wait.
How did that become the Spamp we know?
I wanted to reconnect with my inner nerd and get back into engineering. After years in sales, I wanted to demonstrate that I could still design something. So I designed the Spamp.
My friend Woody the Stringman tried it, told me it was good enough to sell, and encouraged me to do just that. During the day I work on industrial electronics; by night, I’m the Spamp Man.
Inside the tin
What does a Spamp actually do?
The technical answer: it’s a cascaded JFET amplifier with a warm, clean tone — or “chilled”, as I prefer to call it. Used as a preamp, it can also overdrive the amp that follows it. The distortion engine uses soft diode clipping, with half-wave “fried” and full-wave “grilled” settings.
The less technical answer: a low-noise preamp that sounds great, offers a tasty helping of distortion and gives an empty Spam tin a new purpose.
Do you make them yourself?
Yes. I assemble the circuit boards, do the mechanical work, and build and test every Spamp myself.
Are there other flavours?
Alongside the original, there’s the Spamp+ with a speaker, the Spampeko with echo, the SpamPhaser with analogue phasing, and the Spamp QuackTastic envelope filter. Different flavours; the same fondness for putting proper circuitry into unlikely tins.
What else has been on the drawing board?
The Spampressor — a Spamp with a compressor — and a Tuna. Need a clue?
A look back at ideas from the original interview; this is not a product announcement. Check the Spamp Store for current availability.
The important Spam questions
Do you eat all the Spam yourself?
No! Well, I do eat quite a lot. But I also have a network of SpamPals who save their empty tins for me. When I need to buy Spam for the tins, the contents go to friends, family or a charity for people experiencing homelessness. None of it goes to waste.
Favourite Spam recipe?
A Hawaiian pizza should be made with Spam. But Spam eggs Benedict is truly awesome.
Do you play guitar?
Not as well as I would like. Instead of making my fingers bleed, I learned how to do stuff with transistors.
Away from the bench
Favourite place on Earth?
A three-way split between Southern California, Portugal and England’s Lake District.
Favourite band?
Queen.
Favourite film?
Highlander.
Any inspirational words?
If you don’t like what you are doing, do something else!
Hand-built in Liverpool. Served loud.
Visit the Spamp Store ↗