PHIL JAMISON MATCHLESS
Plenty of small-shop amplifier manufacturers have laid claim to having kickstarted the ‘boutique’ phenomenon. Few guitarists who swim in those waters would disagree, however, that Matchless was the biggest fish of the 1990s and 2000s boutique revival, and still represents the epitome of construction quality and endurance, not to mention ungodly tones.
Much has been made of Mark Sampson’s role with Matchless, from co-founding the company in 1989 and his contributions to design, to the firm’s eventual decline and bankruptcy about 10 years later. But if there’s a steady hand we can credit with reinvigorating the flagging company and guiding the brand back to its rightful place atop the hand-wired heap, it’s that of Matchless’ chief operating officer and 21st-century visionary Phil Jamison.
CALIFORNIA DREAMIN’
Jamison was born and raised in Spring, Texas, which he recalls was “a great place to grow up”. He came to the guitar early and, long before he would discover his apparently innate knack for fixing up valve amps, he intended to forge a career with the instrument when the time came to leave the nest.
“I started playing guitar when I was nine,” he says. “I taught myself. I took my stepdad’s nylon guitar, which was made by Gibson, as well as a Bob Seger songbook and a Bob Seger record, and just followed the pictures
