Blackie Pagano is one of the greatest living audio designers and tube technicians in the world. Seriously. I have used him for both guitar amps and audio equipment. Everybody knows he works miracles on guitar amps, but I only truly started to appreciate his talents when he overhauled a pair of 300B monoblocks for me.

The audio world is rife with marketers who sell $2,000 worth of gear for $15,000, dressing it up with pseudo-science fed to the reviewers they rent advertising sapce from.

Blackie is the opposite: he is an artist, someone who cares about results. He will give you honest work for a completely reasonable fee. He truly understands amp design and will look at a schematic, immediately understand its strengths and weaknesses and know which parts to use from which manufacturers. He loves music and he loves his art form.

His knowledge of tubes is like that of a sommelier, particularly when it comes to 300bs. He has talked me out of buying the most expensive, most hyped items on numerous occasions. He has a great ear and knows how to integrate that gift into the work that he does.

Having seen what he’s capable of when given a blank canvas and a broad mandate, and haivng paid an exceptionally reasonable price (in fact, I have paid more than he asked for on occasion because of the value he delivers) allows me to make a simple observation: If you can deliver the goods on a big job, you can deliver the goods on a small job.

Blackie delivers on everything, and in doing so he sets the gold standard by which all other service providers should be measured.

James B.
Los Angeles, CA