Amps For Christ was founded by Barnes, guitarist and electronics wizard of Man is the Bastard and co-founder of Bastard Noise. Barnes has been building and playing stringed instruments, tube oscillators and caveman electronics in his home sound laboratories most of his life.
Traumatized by the piano at age 7, Barnes picked up his mother's guitar at age 8, and started his first band at age 9. Performed live at a 3rd grade talent fest; won First Place. Gave up the guitar soon after, rediscovering it at age 12, and "sitting in" with the San Vicente Mariachi Band on a street corner in Baja California. Track 4 was composed that summer. At age 11, Barnes purchased a ham radio from a neighbor for $15 and constructed an elaborate antenna that encompassed 400 yards of bailing wire...200 yards across the canyon to the top of the hill, and another 200 yards woven onto and around the roof of the house. He began experimenting with electronics to receive and make sound.
A case of mistaken identity led to Barnes ' 63 Sunburst Stat being repossessed by a very scary guy. Impossible to replace, Barnes measured and traced a '54 Strat at The Guitar Store in Pomona, CA., bought ancient brick ash for the body and Pacific Coast maple for the neck, and made his first guitar at age 19. While working for Grover Jackson at Charvelle San Dimas, Barnes realized "an electric guitar with a solid body is only half the instrument... the power surging amp is the other half, truly an extension of the stringed instrument itself." Barnes continued experimenting with tube electronics, multistage tube overdrive, power amps and oscillators - searching for the ultimate electric guitar sound. Currently working by day as a Luthier / Instrument Repair & Craftsman in Claremont, CA., Barnes has an instrument in his hands - of one sort or another - 50+ hours a week. "If you build instruments, you can get lost in the process. The highest form of the art is playing the instrument.”
Traumatized by the piano at age 7, Barnes picked up his mother's guitar at age 8, and started his first band at age 9. Performed live at a 3rd grade talent fest; won First Place. Gave up the guitar soon after, rediscovering it at age 12, and "sitting in" with the San Vicente Mariachi Band on a street corner in Baja California. Track 4 was composed that summer. At age 11, Barnes purchased a ham radio from a neighbor for $15 and constructed an elaborate antenna that encompassed 400 yards of bailing wire...200 yards across the canyon to the top of the hill, and another 200 yards woven onto and around the roof of the house. He began experimenting with electronics to receive and make sound.
A case of mistaken identity led to Barnes ' 63 Sunburst Stat being repossessed by a very scary guy. Impossible to replace, Barnes measured and traced a '54 Strat at The Guitar Store in Pomona, CA., bought ancient brick ash for the body and Pacific Coast maple for the neck, and made his first guitar at age 19. While working for Grover Jackson at Charvelle San Dimas, Barnes realized "an electric guitar with a solid body is only half the instrument... the power surging amp is the other half, truly an extension of the stringed instrument itself." Barnes continued experimenting with tube electronics, multistage tube overdrive, power amps and oscillators - searching for the ultimate electric guitar sound. Currently working by day as a Luthier / Instrument Repair & Craftsman in Claremont, CA., Barnes has an instrument in his hands - of one sort or another - 50+ hours a week. "If you build instruments, you can get lost in the process. The highest form of the art is playing the instrument.”
