Garnet
Garnet
Also known as: Garnet Amplifiers, Garnet Amps, Garnet Amplifier Company
UnclaimedGarnet is a Canadian amplifier brand founded by Thomas "Gar" Gillies in Winnipeg, Manitoba in the mid-1960s. Gillies, a TV and radio repairman, began building amplifiers and PA systems for local musicians out of an electronics shop in Winnipeg's Osborne Village, with early customers including Chad Allan & The Expressions — the band that became The Guess Who. Garnet built tube and solid-state gu...
Garnet is a Canadian amplifier brand founded by Thomas "Gar" Gillies in Winnipeg, Manitoba in the mid-1960s. Gillies, a TV and radio repairman, began building amplifiers and PA systems for local musicians out of an electronics shop in Winnipeg's Osborne Village, with early customers including Chad Allan & The Expressions — the band that became The Guess Who. Garnet built tube and solid-state guitar amps, bass amps, and PA equipment for working musicians, and by the early 1970s had grown beyond the Canadian market into the United States.
The brand is best known for the Herzog, a small tube unit developed with Randy Bachman that combines a 12AX7 preamp and a 6V6 power section in a stompbox-sized chassis, designed to produce overdrive and saturation while driving another amplifier. The Herzog became closely associated with the so-called "Winnipeg sound" of late-1960s and early-1970s rock recordings. Garnet's broader catalog included models such as the Pro, the Stinger, the BTO bass head, and the Rebel series combos.
The original company stopped manufacturing at the end of the 1980s, but Gillies continued building, repairing, and reissuing units — including hand-wired Herzogs — out of Winnipeg until his death in 2007. Vintage Garnet amps and Herzog units have since become collectible on the used market, particularly among players seeking a piece of Canadian rock history.
Garnet has 7 products cataloged on Equipboard, including Guitar Amplifier Heads, Combo Guitar Amplifiers, and Bass Amplifier Heads. Their gear is featured by 4 artists, with the strongest followings in Rock, Folk, World, & Country, and Pop. Notable users include Randy Bachman, Neko Case, and Gordie Johnson.
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