LISTEN UP
You want the Truth?
THIS
Is the TRUTH about
The Late GREAT Mr.Harry Joyce

This site and everything we do is dedicated to our dear friend Harry Joyce.Our Harry Joyce amplifiers are engraved with "In loving memory of Harry Joyce" to show no one misses him and appreciated him more than us. Harry hated "TRIBUTE " sites especially when he was still alive so this site is not going to be one of those "riding the coat tail" dedications. We dealt directly with Harry Joyce and only Harry Joyce as his wishes were carried out. Harry gave us the world exclusive distribution rights along with being the only "OFFICIAL HARRY JOYCE WEBSITE" which he personally gave us permission to post and no one else, no matter what claims are made elsewhere. We are the only holders of the "HARRY JOYCE " United States Official Trademark, so if you had any doubts who the original and authentic heirs are this should close the subject for those of you that still understand the legality of what this means.

    You have to remember you pretty much can say anything on the web and someone will believe it and tell the next person like its become law. We are here for you to keep it real for those who might get stung with suckering for one of those concocted stories of credibility just to sell you an inferior product or even bootlegged one.Everything we say and do about Harry Joyce is first hand information because if it is something about Harry Joyce that we claim , you can rest assured it came directly from his lips to our ears without anybody in-between confusing the information as second hand info normally does. 99% of the people that wrote or talked about Harry never even talked to him .Most people when talking about Harry don't like the real facts to get in their way. Harry used to tell us about reading something about "how it all started" and this and that.Harry would say "if these people want to be an authority , how come no one has ever talked to me directly about information that only I would know "?

    Harry Joyce himself turned HIWATT amplifiers in the 60's and 70's to what was to be quoted as the "Rolls Royce of guitar amplifiers". Harry learned how to hand wire point to point by US military men in 1952. Harry Joyce was the 1st ever to hand wire guitar amplifiers point to point to military specs. HIWATT was having repeated repair problems and that was the reason Dave Reeves had to seek out his expertise. Harry corrected all the problems (8 in total) in the design and wiring (of HIWATT) and brought amplifiers sales and quality to the highest levels.Harry stopped building HIWATTS in 1976 because Dave Reeves (original designer of HIWATTS) wanted to find a cheaper way of doing things to make more profits. He decided to build the amps with PCB which Harry refused to work with because he felt it was an inferior design which would only cheapen the sound/quality. (A note for trivia buffs) Harry Joyce himself said that, "I (Harry) never built a HIWATT combo design for Dave Reeves and he had never seen a HIWATT combo on Dave Reeves bench" (up to 1976) . Harry and Dave believed they were being knocked off by someone else in the UK. Harry never ever gave permission to have any amplifiers signed with his signature as "in his absence" . I'm sure all you HIWATT buffs have seen the so called Harry Joyce signature in magic marker along the bottom edge of the chassis and on some built after Harry retired from HIWATT. Well as Harry put it "complete rubbish and I've never signed a chassis there in my lifetime". Sad story was Harry was at a music convention in the US where the normal "anything for a buck" vendors were. He saw a young lad as he put it carrying a HIWATT head. Harry asked ( the young lad not knowing who he was talking with) "would you mind if I took a look at it"? The young lad was so proud of his purchase said "sure you can look at it, it was built by Harry Joyce himself ". "Right" Harry said, "lets take a look".

   They took off the box to show the exposed chassis and sure enough the counterfeit Harry Joyce signature was along the bottom rim of the chassis. Harry was so disappointed for the lad and was very delicate about what he was about to tell the new owner. Harry asked "would it be possible to return this amplifier to the person that sold it to you"? The young lad said "now why would I want to do that"? Harry gently broke the news to him by telling him that "this is not Harry Joyce's signature". Very defensively the lad said "now how would you know that"? "Well, I'm Harry Joyce and I didn't build that amplifier and that certainly is not my signature"! "I would suggest to you to tell the man you just bought this from that you just met Harry Joyce and he said that he did not build that amplifier and he can contact me if he's got a problem with that". Harry said the lad was crushed and never found out if the he tried to take the amplifier back to the bogus vendor. Nothing made Harry madder than someone using his name without his permission or authenticity. "In the UK it happens all the time" said Harry. "There's a guy down the road from me claiming to build authentic HARRY JOYCE amplifiers (2001) how's that for rubbish"? We asked Harry why don't you do something about it? Harry was such an honest and easy going human being that he hated conflicts even at his own costs and would avoid them if possible.

    In 1976 Harry walked out on Reeves and never looked back.Harry was retired from the military and received benefits so he was always in good shape.In 1992 he was talked into coming up with his own design (HARRY JOYCE AMPLIFIERS) and built them completely from scratch, as how they are still built by George Scholz today.The first three went to the "ROBERT PLANT GROUP" (formally of Led Zeppelin). He later found THE BLACK CROWES (Rich Robinson) as lovers of his amplifiers and they still use our amplifiers and speakers cabs to this day with the exclusively designed SCHOLZ drivers. Brad Whitford of Aerosmith also has been seen using a Harry Joyce among other players in the pro field. We came into play when Harry's US distributor was having a hard time selling Harry's equipment basically because the distributor didn't care much about it and was concentrating on a completely  different line of business . Harry was thoroughly disgusted and was thinking that no one was interested in his amplifiers in the US. Then there was George Scholz who was always a huge HIWATT fan and a huge fan of Harry Joyce. Long story short we contacted Harry only to find out how heart broken he was thinking that the US was not interested in his amplifiers (so he thought).We convinced Harry that his 1st US distributor did not take it seriously enough and it was certainly no fault of Harry's that his amps were not selling. Harry gave us a shot at it which proved to be a soul saver for him and his dream of becoming successful in the US came true for real.Unfortunately what happened in the years to come was also heart breaking.Harry was diagnosed with the worst type of cancer and did his best to hang on. He built his amplifiers for us right up until a few days before he died (2002).This is what kept Harry's spirits up and knowing that the US was behind him and that we were going to continue with his name and legacy to carry on the finest of hand built guitar amplifiers.This is a promise we made and we will keep doing it as long as we can.

    Harry affectionately called George Scholz his "GENIUS" because in the same way he (Harry) brought HIWATT to a superior level George Scholz did the same for him with the HARRY JOYCE design and came up with an exclusive speaker (SCHOLZ / SUGAR CONE™) and Harry Joyce cabinet design. Here we are, modern day, striving for bigger and better. The HARRY JOYCE amplifiers are built like no other.This was the reason Harry felt at ease with his legacy being continued by us. It started in the 1960's by hand building amplifiers for Led Zeppelin,The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, The Who, The Kinks, Queen, who are just among a few "Rock And Roll Hall Of Famer's" that made their way to the top with the help of Harry Joyce's expertise. Harry Joyce was one of the finest people that anyone would have wished to be associated with. He was our dear friend first and business partner second. We did everything we could to make Harry's time as worthy as his beginnings and Harry did everything he could to show us his love and appreciation for our love and dedication to him. Harry Joyce will be sorely missed by all but certainly never, ever forgotten.

"LONG LIVE THE KING"