Whammerdyne Heavy Industries: A New Chapter Begins

If you’ve followed the Whammerdyne blog, website, or Facebook page, you may already know that Whammerdyne Heavy Industries changed ownership in late 2024. What you may not know—until now—are who the new owners are and our vision for Whammerdyne’s future.

To quote the International Man of Mystery and super spy, Austin Powers: “Allow myself to introduce… myself.”

My name is Garret, and together with my wife Susan—affectionately dubbed the “soldering champion” by Whammerdyne’s founder Pat Hickman—we’ve taken the reins of Whammerdyne and are ramping up production capabilities while laying the groundwork for long-term success.

Falling in Love with the Whammerdyne Sound

I first encountered a Whammerdyne amplifier at Echo Audio in Portland, Oregon. The moment I heard Whammerdyne’s Circuit Salad hybrid tube amp, I knew it was something special. Its sound was captivating—clean, warm, and dynamic. I was also drawn to its subtle, retro-futuristic design. A few weeks later, I called Echo to see if they had any units left, only to find they’d just sold the last one from that production run. Classic timing!

From that moment on, I kept close tabs on what Whammerdyne was doing. When I saw that Pat was putting the business up for sale, I felt this would be an amazing opportunity to work in a business I have a true passion for. I’m incredibly glad Pat agreed to move forward with the sale—not just because the amplifiers are stunning works of audio engineering, but because the community of people involved in this business, including Pat, have been welcoming, knowledgeable, and genuinely kind.

Building on a Legacy of Audio Excellence

Since taking over, Susan and I have had the privilege of meeting many of you at events like the Pacific Audiofest and Capital Audiofest, where we showcased our Single-Ended Triode (SET) tube amps in collaboration with our friends at Songer Audio. Pairing our SET amplifiers with their flagship field coil loudspeakers is an astonishing match.  The current line up of Whammerdyne amps showcases the engineering expertise of our legacy amplifiers that made Whammerdyne a highly sought after and award winning high end SET amp. The Truth, The Damn Awesome Amp, and the Damn Little Monster amplifiers all passed down critical technical achievements that make the Whammerdyne sound one-of-a-kind.  Our circuit topology has always been unique as we have no capacitors between the input tube and the output stage.  It makes music sound how the artist intended.

The Whammerdyne Mission: Damn Good Sound, Made in Oregon

Pat Hickman has been an invaluable mentor and still works closely with us (he lives just 20 minutes away). Our mission is simple: to continue crafting the best-sounding 2A3 SET and hybrid tube amplifiers on the planet—hand-built in Oregon, USA.

We’re deeply grateful for the support of the audiophile community and look forward to many years of delivering Damn Good Amps, Damn Awesome Monos, and, of course, Circuit Salads.

Stay tuned. The best is yet to come.

Want to hear a Whammerdyne amp for yourself?  Contact us or visit our Product Page to learn more.