VASE amplifiers have been made in Australia since the 1960s .
Tony Troughton – VASE founder With hand made steel guitar
Tony Troughton and his family, including his 2 young sons David and Gerard, moved to Brisbane, Australia in 1950. After a brief period of driving a taxi cab, Tony saw the opportunity to begin repairing and servicing guitar and bass amplifiers in Brisbane.
VASE given new life by Harry Lloyd-Williams
Harry worked in Ipswich during the early 1970s as a guitar teacher and salesman. He had been employed in a local music shop as a teacher and salesman and became well acquainted in Tony and his products as the store was a VASE amplification dealer, making regular excuses to go to his factory to pick up stock and hang out with Tony and his team for a while.
As a musician in Brisbane and regularly short of cash, Harry convinced Tony to just sell him a head so that he could build the speaker box himself. Tony was very accommodating of Harry’s interest in the early days and even gave him the correct vinyl and badges to finish the job off.
The modern incarnation of VASE continues to build amplifiers that represent that classic VASE tone much loved by guitarists and bass players throughout Australia and the rest of the world.
