Welcome to the new Mahaffay Amplifiers at mahaffayamps.com!

Born and raised in Oakland, California, Dave has been an icon for guitar players worldwide and a Bay Area guitar and vocal hero for three decades. Through his childhood, Dave was influenced by some of the great varied rock, R&B and Jazz artists of the '60s and '70s such as Hendrix, James Brown, Led Zeppelin, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, AllmanBrothers, Coltrane, and so many others. Dave's love for many types of musical expression is one of his great strengths & is evident in his soulful approach to playing & singing.

At sixteen, Dave was blown away by the guitar mastery of JimiHendrix, and he was inspired to pick up the guitar & he never looked back. Even though he started playing guitar late by most standards, Dave's fire and passion for music allowed him to learn at an accelerated pace. Self taught, Dave quickly developed his unique style and found himself in a national recording band, developing a guitar hero fan base-all within only a few short years of picking up a guitar.

After being so impressed with Y&T and Dave's playing at a live performance, Bay Area manager HerbieHerbert(Journey), a guitar player fanatic himself, signed the band to a management contract in 1974. Dave released his first record with Y&T(Yesterday & Today) on London Recordsin 1976 and started on his way to a long career of making records and touring the world. Early on, Dave's bluesy style of rock guitar playing came to the forefront. When at a show in a Hollywood club in 1979, John Mayallwas so impressed with Dave's performance in Y&Tthat he grabbed the club owner and demanded to go backstage to meet Dave and asked him to collaborate on a record. By 1983, as Y&Thad achieved worldwide respect & was continuing to gain popularity, Dave won a BammyAwardfor "Best Bay Area Guitarist", beating out other great players such as Neil Schon(Journey), Craig Chaquico(Starship), and several other guitar heroes. Dave has been listed in Guitar PlayerMagazine's"Best of" polls numerous times over the past several decades.

"This amp kicks some serious butt -it's a real Giant Killer! I've used the Little Lanilei amp in rehearsals through a 4x12 Marshall cabinet & people are amazed at how much sound this thing puts out. I've also used this in the recording studio for a few guitar overdub sessions, where this amp was the preferred sound over a Marshall or Boogie. Tris has done a great job in voicing this amp -a worthy investment! Every lead player should have one of these in their arsenal . -Dave Meniketti

When Y&T decided to break from recording and performing, Dave knew it was time to move on to other musical avenues. Though he's been primarily a rock guitarist for most of his career, Dave felt his passion for "blues" drawing him toward his first solo recording On The Blue Side-made up of a passionate blend of blues/rock material, knowing in his gut that it was a natural thing to do. Coupled with a band of all-star players including bassist Myron Dove(Santana, RobbenFord), this first solo effort outsold previous Y&T records in Japan & Europe and met with critical acclaim worldwide.

With newfound solo inspiration and a great live band behind him, when Dave went back in the studio to come up with new tunes, he felt a pull back to his rock roots for his second solo effort. More rock-oriented, yet still a hint of blues in the mix, Dave's sophomore solo CD Meniketti was released in summer 2002.

Currently, Dave tries to find the time to further develop his solo band while continuing to tour the world and come up with new materialwithY&T. For more information visit www.meniketti.com