About Us

“The adventure begins with education.” Joe holds a Bachelor degree in Electronic Engineering Technology (BSET, 1990) from Wentworth Institute in Boston, MA. From 1999-2008, Joe earned Certificates of Completion in 9 courses of study at Parson’s Center for Audio Studies (PCAS) in Wellesley, MA. Courses include ProTools DAW, Microphone Techniques, Audio Recording and Mixing Techniques. Joe began recording sermons on cassette tape in church at the age of 12. Today, Joe has over 36 years experience serving in houses of worship as live sound operator (Front-Of-House), recording engineer who made countless high-quality master CD’s, and as a stage/maintenance/repair technician. Joe is also a licensed home remodeler and highly skilled carpenter with emphasis on work quality and finish carpentry. Jos. A. Lipoma Co. (JALCO) Remodeling has been in business since 1984.

In 2005, Joe built a private recording studio in his house with the intent to be come a mastering engineer. He named it LION of JUDAH Recording Studio, for the Lord God is known as the Lion of Judah. There was not much recording work available at that time so he focused his attention on repairing audio equipment and cables for local musicians. Sub-contract work included sound system tune-up and repair services for Houses of Worship. In the background of all this, Joe spent 6 years privately studying vacuum tube electronics. In 2010, Joe obtained a Sunn Solarus 40 watt amp head, his first vintage instrument tube amp, which was in need of repair. Joe became interested in tube amp repair, but where do you go for that kind of training? Joe discovered Gerald Weber of Kendrick Amplification in Kempner, Texas. Gerald came to Maryland to teach a seminar or how to repair your own vacuum tube amp. Ever since then Joe was hooked. In 2011, he began designing his own 40 watt vacuum-tube instrument amp. The high cost of parts and production lead to smaller, yet still powerful 3, 7 and 10 watt designs. He named them “Gideon”™ amplifiers after the Lord’s mighty army of 300 men selected from 30,000. Joe loved the innovations and design/build/testing aspects of new designs, so he decided to include manufacturing of custom electronics as part of his company services. Audio Jock Co. (AJ) was born in May, 2012 as a service shop for the repair and new design of audio equipment. AJ is now the parent company of Lion Of Judah Recording Studio and original equipment manufacturer CIVIL Radio Speakers™.

In Summer of 2013, Joe designed and built three prototypes of portable loudspeakers The speakers were light weight, hand-crafted and furniture quality. Friends and family loved the initial designs and finish, and encouraged him to apply for patents. Joe named them CIVIL Radio Speakers™ (CRS), the acronym CIVIL stands for ‘Christ Is Victorious In Love’. ‘Radio speakers’ refers to the original radio speaker style available during the 1920’s through 1940’s. In Winter/Spring 2014, Joe purpose-built a cabinet shop in his basement. He spent 4 months crafting the necessary jigs that are used to build the individual parts for the radio speakers. Joe began his first production run of speakers on March 4, 2016. Photos of these speakers can be viewed online at AJ’s CIVIL Radio Speakers website page, and are slated to be featured later this year at the Handcrafter’s Barn, North Conway Village, New Hampshire, USA.

Speaker cabinet exteriors may be customized by adding original artwork in the form of hand-painted designs, which are available through three of our incredibly talented artists. All hand-painted art is sealed with 2 to 3 coats of hand-applied polyacrylic or urethane finish. Other option details include choice of 3 styles of top or side-mounted handles, screw hardware (brass, chrome, stainless steel), carved wood trim, speaker grills, 3” cabinet legs, and real leather over-lays. The first “leather” prototype used material reclaimed from an old leather chair found on the side of the road. Our production leather materials are still ‘reclaimed’ scraps, supplied by Patricia of the Franklin Mill Store, Union Street, Franklin, MA 02038. The Sylvan series of speakers are covered with real hard wood branches which are hand-carved at each end. Wood burned trim and a real flint arrow head give these speakers a log-cabin look with American Indian feel. These speakers are stunning to look at and completely functional, so they are, in fact, a work of art. Best of all, each design is custom-made, one-of-a-kind and uniquely your own. Order one today!

Joe would like all peoples to enjoy the beauty and quality of his products, and welcomes your ideas to improve models currently in production. The products that we build, after all, are for your enjoyment.