Tony (@Toe_Knee) of Aurora Audio has died

DLM

Was very sad to hear this news from the MetalMusicians.org (former members of M****Guitarist.org) community, who learned this through that other FB (that I don't use).

Perhaps someone who knew Tony better can find more fitting words, I just thought he was a remarkably helpful chap who was exeptionally generous with his expertise online, we never met.

I shall also remember some great guitar tones coming from his creations: (here expertly demoed by @Mattayus)

More can be heard here: https://aurora-audio.co.uk/aurora-audio-demos/

Dave8

What. I’ve been trying to get hold of Tony for days. I can’t believe this. I’ve known him for over 20 years, he was one of my best friends.

I'm in no state of mind right now to write anything, but I will soon... Tony was a really great guy and ill miss him.

Mattayus

Thanks for posting this. I found out just before New Year's. I'm absolutely devastated and have been in a deep depression ever since.

Not only was Tony an amp genius, he was also one of the sweetest and most giving guys I've met, particularly from the guitar community. Infinitely generous with his time and expertise, and I can't think of a time when he wasn't prepared to drop everything and give me a hand.

RIP.

Dave8

I met Tony in the early 2000s when we were chatting on the Metallica forum and decided to start a band... or he was looking for a guitarist for his band. He played drums at the time. Ever since then we chatted about guitar almost daily.. Went to music festivals, saw Metallica and Megadeth for the first time. We went to the same crappy metal club.

We ended up working in the same building but for different companies for a short while in 2012-14.

I remember Tony wanting to learn about music production, and he bought a Line 6 tone port and started learning… the first early recordings were rough, but for the time… much better than anything we had done to that point.

A few more years learning and changes in tech brought improvements and we did some more

After that, Tony was bitten by the amp building bug and got started on a SLO clone, learning everything he could. He became so knowledgeable and started designing his own circuits and started Aurora Audio. All the comments on his Trust Pilot page are a reflection of how helpful he was. https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/aurora-audio.co.uk

Tony always wanted to help and was always willing to spend time talking about what he loved… anything guitars and amps.

He was my guitar brother, for me guitar is absolutely linked completely with Tony. I can't look at my guitars without thinking of Tony. We used to drive his ex up the wall by constantly sending links to things on eBay to see what each other thinks.. modding our gear to find that impossible unobtainable sound. It will be extremely difficult to pick up a guitar for some time.

We must have put 1000 hours into playstation online together, between The Last of Us multiplayer and Destiny.

He was 38, no age to be gone. He leaves a young son, I'm absolutely devastated… Rest in Peace Tony

Bod

So sorry for your loss Dave. 

Supportact

I didn't know him, but sorry to hear this. That's no age to go.