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Michaels-Hull Electronic Labs | |
Private | |
Industry | Musical instruments |
---|---|
Founded | 1946; 73 years ago |
Founder | Everett Hull, Stanley Michaels |
Headquarters | Calabasas, California, US |
Global | |
Products | Bass & guitar amps Electric & acoustic upright basses pickups Bass guitars Electric guitars |
Parent | Yamaha Guitar Group, Inc. |
Subsidiaries | Dan Armstrong |
Website | Ampeg.com |
Ampeg is a manufacturer best known for its bass amplifiers. Originally established in 1946 in Linden, New Jersey by Everitt Hull and Stanley Michaels as 'Michaels-Hull Electronic Labs,' today Ampeg is part of the Yamaha Guitar Group. Although the company specializes in the production of bass amplifiers, it has previously manufactured guitar amplifiers, pickups and several instruments including, double basses, bass guitars, and electric guitars.[1]
- 1History
- 3Amplifiers
- 4Instruments and accessories
History[edit]
Early years (1946-1959)[edit]
Everett Hull (born Charles Everitt Hull), a pianist and bassist working with Lawrence Welk in Chicago, had invented a pickup for upright bass in an effort to amplify his instrument with more clarity. Hull's design placed a transducer atop a support peg inside the body of his instrument, inspiring his wife Gertrude to name the invention the 'Ampeg,' an abbreviated version of 'amplified peg.' On February 6, 1946, Hull filed a patent application for his 'sound amplifying means for stringed musical instruments of the violin family,' for which U.S. Patent 2,430,717 was awarded the following year. Hull and his wife relocated to New Jersey, and he met electrical engineer and amp technician Stanley Michael, who was selling a bass amplifier of his own design, the Michael-Hull Bassamp. Together, they established Michael-Hull Electronic Labs in Newark, New Jersey in 1946 to sell their two products. Michael left the company in 1948, leaving it to Hull, who relocated the company the following year to 42nd Street in Manhattan, above the New Amsterdam Theatre, renaming it 'The Ampeg Bassamp Company.'
Michael-Hull advertised in DownBeat magazine, listing bassists like Chubby Jackson and Johnny Frigo as endorsers. Additionally, Eddie Safranski signed on with Michael-Hull to promote their products and receive a royalty for each product sold. After Michael's departure, Hull continued to leverage connections with well-known musicians to increase awareness of his products within the New York jazz community, and Ampeg's new location between Carnegie Hall, NBC Studios in 30 Rockefeller Plaza, and the Paramount Theatre helped establish relationships with bassists like Oscar Pettiford, Joe Comfort, Amos Milburn and Don Bagley.
In 1955, local musician and electrician Jess Oliver visited Ampeg's offices to purchase an amplified peg, and upon easily installing the amplified peg himself, Hull offered him a job. Oliver didn't join Ampeg full time until 1956, the same year that Ampeg's name was simplified to 'The Ampeg Company.' In 1959, the company was incorporated as 'The Ampeg Company, Inc.,' with Everett Hull as President, his wife Gertrude as Secretary, and Jess Oliver as Vice president.[2]
Growing pains and a changing market (1960-1967)[edit]
In 1960, Ampeg introduced the B-15, a bass combo amp with closed-back reflex cabinet, double-baffle porting system, and an innovative flip-top function, invented and patented by Oliver. The B-15 was the first in Ampeg's Portaflex series, and after becoming the preferred studio amp of session musicians like James Jamerson and Chuck Rainey, went on to become the most-recorded bass amplifier in history.[3] By 1963, the Portaflex series business had grown to 44% of Ampeg's amplifier sales. In 1962, Ampeg introduced the Baby Bass, a compact upright electric bass created from the Zorko bass, whose design Ampeg had acquired, along with an unique Oliver-designed, Ampeg-patented pickup.
In 1962, Ampeg and its 40 employees moved to a new manufacturing space in Linden, New Jersey. At 8,000 square feet, it was three times larger than their previous home. In June of the following year, after continued struggles to meet production demands and maintain cash flow, Ampeg announced an initial stock offering and became a publicly owned company. By 1964 Ampeg had 100 employees and needed even more space, so it relocated to a larger space just one block away.
The combination of the rising popularity of rock and roll and the shift of bassists from upright bass to electric bass guitar during this time posed a challenge to Ampeg’s core business. The company's ads continued to feature prominent classical, jazz, and country artists, but with a notable absence of rock artists, and Hull strove to minmize the amount of time that rock musicians spent visiting Ampeg's facilities. Hull's distaste for rock and roll music was further compounded by the success of Ampeg's chief competitor, Fender, as they continually bested Ampeg in overall sales.[1] But from the company's inception through the 1960s, Ampeg amplifiers were designed for 'clean, undistorted sound', with Hull quoted as saying 'we will never make anything for rock 'n' roll'.[4]
The company continued to experience growing pains - by October, 1966 with 200 employees and 40,000 square feet of space, Ampeg's production capacity had increased to $350,000 per month, yet had $3.5 million in unfulfilled backorders. Amidst company struggles related to growth and manufacturing, as well as disagreements with Hull, Oliver resigned from Ampeg. Hull began to seek potential buyers for the company.
Ampeg enters the rock market (1967-1970)[edit]
In September, 1967 Ampeg became a subsidiary of Unimusic, Inc. when the newly formed investor group acquired a majority share of Ampeg stock. Unimusic consisted of investors interested in capitalizing on opportunities in the highly-fragmented music equipment manufacturing market of the time, not unlike CBS (which owned Fender and Rhodes), or later Norlin (which owned Gibson Guitars, Lowrey and Moog Music). While Hull was retained as President of Ampeg, Unimusic had purchased the company with the intention of using as a starting point for change. After a year of conflict between Hull and Unimusic, Hull tendered his resignation on October 3, 1968.[2] Unimusic introduced a redesigned Ampeg logo and a new series of advertisements targeted at the rock market. In an effort to establish an Ampeg presence in key music markets, Ampeg opened regional offices: one in Chicago, another near the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, and another in the Hollywood Palladium in Hollywood.
Also during this time, Ampeg’s Chief Engineer Bill Hughes and Roger Cox, with input from Bob Rufkahr and Dan Armstrong (a New York session guitarist and guitar expert who Ampeg had hired as a consultant), were developing what Cox envisioned as the “biggest, nastiest bass amplifier the world had ever seen.” When The Rolling Stones began rehearsing for their 1969 U.S. Tour in Hollywood, a power conversion failure blew up all of their UK Fender amplifiers. Their road manager, Ian Stewart contacted Rich Mandella at the Ampeg office in Hollywood, and Rich arranged for the band to use five prototype amplifier heads of this new high-output model. These new amps employed a 14-tube design to generate 300 watts of power in an era when most tube amps generated less than 100. The Rolling Stones took these prototype Ampeg amps on tour along with Rich Mandella, playing all guitars and basses through them for the entire tour. After the tour, Ampeg put the SVT into production, introducing it at the NAMM Show in 1969.[5][6][7][8][9][10]
After Armstrong and his amp tech Tom Duffy began modifying B-25 bass heads for rock guitar, the same Ampeg design team responsible for the SVT created the V series, introducing the V-3, V-4, and VT-22 in 1970. The V-4 was quickly adopted by high-profile guitarists like Ron Wood, who was working with Rod Stewart in Faces, as well as the Rolling Stones’ Keith Richards.
In addition to his contributions to the design of SVT and V series amps, Armstrong designed a clear Plexiglas guitar and bass for Ampeg, with the guitar being used by Keith Richards and Bill Wyman with The Rolling Stones during the same 1969 U.S. Tour as the SVT prototypes. In 1971, citing lack of compensation for his V series contributions, Dan Armstrong left Ampeg, refusing to renew his guitar and bass agreement.[11]
Changes in ownership (1971-1985)[edit]
In 1971, Ampeg was acquired by Magnavox,[12] which also owned the Band Instrument manufacturer Selmer, but was better known for televisions, radios and Hi-Fi systems. The following year, Magnavox dissolved Ampeg’s incorporation and moved Ampeg’s management to the Selmer-Magnavox offices in Elkhart, Indiana. In 1974, amidst economic struggles and production capacity surpluses, Magnavox closed Ampeg’s Linden plant, moving production to a portion of a Magnavox electronics factory there. In 1978, SVT designer Bill Hughes left the company.
In 1980, Ampeg was acquired by Music Technology, Inc. (MTI), a wholesaler specializing in amplifiers from Japan and keyboards from Italy looking to expand. Under MTI management, SVT and V series amps were prototyped for production in Japan (though V series were never produced). MTI also introduced five new solid state amps and six new tube amps for Ampeg., as well as a series of Ampeg effects pedals. But after struggling with production issues and substandard sales of its redesigned and new Ampeg products, MTI declared bankruptcy a few years later.
St. Louis Music and LOUD (1986-2018)[edit]
In 1986, St. Louis Music (SLM) acquired the assets of Ampeg from bankruptcy court, including the rights to the Ampeg name and all remaining MTI inventory. SLM converted leftover MTI V5 heads into SVT-100s and set out to re-create the SVT, setting aside a room at SLM Electronics to establish the “skunkworks.” Armed with original SVT drawings and 1969 parts purchase orders, the team succeeded in creating a limited-edition run of 500 amps. These 1987 Limited Edition SVT-HD amps each included a brass plaque engraved with the unit's number within the production of 500 total units.[13] After the skunkworks project, SLM re-established Ampeg manufacturing in its Borman Avenue factory in St. Louis, introducing fourteen new Ampeg guitar and bass amps and the world’s largest bass amplifier at the 1987 summer NAMM Show.
In 2005, LOUD Technologies Inc. purchased St. Louis Music and its brands (including Ampeg and Crate amps), ceasing production of Ampeg and Crate at the manufacturing facility in Yellville, Arkansas in March 2007 and subsequently outsourcing Ampeg and Crate amplifier manufacturing to contract manufacturers in Asia.[12]
In May 2018, the Ampeg brand was acquired from LOUD Technologies by Yamaha Guitar Group, Inc.[14][15]
Ampeg now[edit]
The current Ampeg company is mainly known in the field of bass amps.[16] They also have a line of guitar amplifiers and a remake of the Dan Armstrong guitar and bass.[17]
Innovations[edit]
Ampeg holds six U.S. patents under the Ampeg brand name.[citation needed]
Amplifiers[edit]
Ampeg Portaflex B-15N (early 1970s)
Ampeg Portaflex[edit]
In the late-1950s Jess Oliver invented[1] a combo amplifier with a chassis that could be inverted and tucked inside the speaker enclosure to protect the vacuum tubes. This combo bass amp was introduced in 1960 as the Portaflex, and remained a popular choice through the 1960s.
Reverberocket[edit]
Ampeg R-12-R Reverberocket
In 1961, Ampeg became the first company to incorporate reverberation (reverb) in an amplifier with its Reverberocket, which preceded Fender's Vibroverb amp by nearly two years.[18] Despite Hull's distaste for rock and roll and resistance to distortion, the Reverberocket employed 6V6 -type power tubes which sounded 'Fendery' and did break up in a way that rock and roll players could use.[19]
Dan Armstrong[edit]
After Ampeg was sold to Unimusic in 1968, Dan Armstrong would be brought on board, and along with the opening of regional offices in places like Nashville, and the West Coast, the company's previously stodgy image would be dealt with, once and for all, especially with the creation of the all-new SVT amp, which would be 'field-tested' by the Rolling Stones during their 1969 concert tour. Additionally, Keith Richards would be playing (at least part-time) Dan Armstrong's newly designed see-through body guitar.
Super Valve Technology[edit]
Ampeg SVT VR 'Vintage Reissue'
During the 1960s Ampeg only produced fairly low wattage combo amplifiers. Rock concerts were becoming increasingly large affairs and bigger amplifiers were needed. In 1969, Ampeg's Chief Engineer Bill Hughes designed the Super Valve Technology circuitry for the amplifier of the same name. At 85 lb (39 kg), the Ampeg SVT provided 300 watts of RMS power, considerably more than most other bass amplifiers of the era. The high power rating made the SVT a candidate for use in larger venues. The SVT saw widespread use by rock acts in the 1970s and is still considered by many to be the world standard reference bass amp. The SVT-VR (Vintage Reissue) is almost identical in design and construction and the closest thing to any of the original SVT models produced by Ampeg.
Recent amplifiers (after 1990s)[edit]
Ampeg
SVT Classic
SVT Classic
Bass rig with Ampeg SVT-6 Pro
In the mid-1990s, SLM issued several guitar amplifiers under the Ampeg name. Some of these, reissued under the 'Diamond Blue Series' designation, used the names of vintage Ampeg amplifers (such as Jet and Reverberocket) and featured the bluish-colored diamond-checkerboard covering associated with Ampeg amps of the 1960s. The circuit designs of these amplifiers, however, were new. The Portaflex bass amp was also reissued, this time with updates to make them more appealing to modern-style bass players.
The Ampeg GVT series, introduced around 2010, is a series of tube amplifiers built in South Korea, noteworthy because they employ the Baxandall tone circuit.[20]
- SVT Classic:
SVT-350H (head), SVT-410HLF (cab.) - SVT Pro:
SVT-3 Pro (head),
15E, 210AV (cabs.) - Portaflex:
PF-350 (class D head) - Diamond Blue:
B-200R bass amp
Collectability and playability[edit]
Ampeg V4 (1970s)
Ampeg B-25 (c.1969), and
Ampeg V-4B (1970s) bass heads
Ampeg V-4B (1970s) bass heads
Compared to the major brands Fender and Marshall, the collectability and playability of the guitar amps is a mixed affair. While vintage Fender amps consistently command high prices, Ampeg guitar amps such as the Reverberocket can often be found for prices atypical of vintage amplifiers.[19] In general, Ampeg guitar amps until 1964 are less desirable as they have a darker, cleaner sound even when pushed hard. With the introduction of the Galaxy line (Gemini, Mercury, Reverberocket) in 1964, treble boost circuits and spring reverbs were added, and higher wattage models (such as the 30 watt Gemini II) were made available. Original SVT bass amps are highly sought-after for their pleasing sound and were used by many professional bassists in the '70s. V series guitar amps (V2 and V4 heads along with the VT-40 and VT-22 combos) are sought after for the classic 70s crunchy but clean sound. The V4-B is another sought after bass amp head; it has the SVT pre-amp section mated to a 100 Watt power amp section.
- vintage Ampeg amps
at RCA Studio B - Gemini II G-15L (1965-1968)
- GT-10 solid state guitar amp (1971-1980)
Instruments and accessories[edit]
Zorko Bass
Ampeg Baby Bass
Ampeg also manufactured (or had manufactured for them) lines of quirky but distinctive instruments to complement their amplifiers.
Baby Bass[edit]
Baby Bass, introduced around 1962, was an electric upright bass with a full-size wooden neck and a cello-sized Uvex plastic body (not fiberglass, as is often stated). The design was purchased from Zorko, re-engineered by Jess Oliver, and manufactured in a corner of Ampeg's Linden, New Jersey factory. It appeared in Ampeg's price list until about 1970, and overall, weren't terribly popular; the exception being with some bassists in Latin Salsa-music bands, on account of the instrument's reputedly 'thoompy' sound[citation needed].
Guitars by Burns[edit]
In the early 1960s, Ampeg-branded guitars and basses were produced by Burns of London, but these instruments did not sell well, because the cost of importing the instruments made them too expensive compared to Fenders and Gibsons. Baldwin's purchase of Burns in 1965 ended the association with Ampeg.
Horizontal Bass and Devil Bass[edit]
- 1966–1969, designed by Dennis Kager, etc.
Ampeg AEB-1 Horizontal Bass
Dan Armstrong see-through (1970)
In 1966, Ampeg introduced their home-built line of long-scale 'Horizontal Basses' (aka 'scroll' or 'f-hole' basses), both fretted and fretless (reputed to be the first production fretless electric bass)[citation needed]. Some with different bodies were produced as the 'Devil Bass' with distinctive horns, but the circuitry was identical. Originally using a transducer below the bridge, they were redesigned around 1968 to use a conventional magnetic pickup. At the same time, short-scale fretted and fretless basses, with magnetic pickups, were also produced.[1]
Dan Armstrong 'see-through'[edit]
In 1969 the Horizontal Basses were replaced by the Dan Armstrong-designed and -built 'see-through' guitars and basses (aka 'Plexi,[21] 'Lucite' or 'crystal' named after various brand names of acrylic glass). The guitars incorporated slide-in user-changeable pickups, and the short-scale basses used two stacked coils with a 'pan' pot to gain a very wide range of tones. The transparent lucite bodies were Armstrong's original idea and contributed to long sustain but were very heavy. Ampeg's production of the 'see-through' instruments ended in 1971 due to financial disagreements between Armstrong and Ampeg over amplifier designs. It was also during the Unimusic era that Ampeg became a distributor of Grammer acoustic guitars, a small company founded by country singer-guitarist Billy Grammer, probably best known for his 1958 crossover hit, 'Gotta Travel On', and his appearances on entertainer Jimmy Dean's TV show.
Hagström distribution[edit]
Swede Patch 2000 (1976-1979)
Big Stud electric bass (1973-1975)
In 1971, Ampeg was acquired by Magnavox, and it would lead to a distributorship deal with the Swedish guitar company, Hagström. In the 1975, Ampeg and Hagström collaborated to develop their first guitar/synthesizer hybrid using a contact of string with fret, and in 1976, Swede Patch 2000 was released. The Patch 2000 consisted of a Hagström Swede with frets wiring, Ampeg Patch 2000 Pedals, and an external synthesizer was required (Steiner-Parker Microcon was designed for it).[22]
Stud series[edit]
In the mid-1970s, Ampeg had a line of Japanese-made guitars and basses under the 'Stud' name. The guitars included the Stud, Heavy Stud, and Super Stud, and the basses included the Big Stud and Little Stud. The Studs were knock-offs of popular Fender and Gibson instruments (although the Fender copies sported rather incongruous 3/3 and 2/2 guitar and bass headstocks). Some of the Stud instruments were poorly built (e.g. the plywood bodies and necks on the Little Stud), while others had good-quality features (e.g., gold-plated hardware on the Super Stud).
Effects pedals & Accessories[edit]
Ampeg also produced effects pedals, including stand-alone reverb units in the 60s, the Scrambler (distortion) from 1969 (a resurgence in interest resulted in an updated Scrambler being reissued in 2005 along with Sub-Blaster (octaver) that produced a note one octave down), the Phazzer (phaser) from the mid- to late-70s, and a line of nine stomp boxes produced in Japan in the mid-80s.
There were also Ampeg branded accessories that included covers, picks, strings, straps, polish, as well as two practice amps, the Sound Cube and the Buster (a Pignose clone). Currently, Ampeg mostly offers covers, some outerwear, and a few other accessories with their logo.
Recent instruments (after 1990s)[edit]
In the mid- to late-1990s, Ampeg reissued the Baby Bass, the Horizontal Bass,[1] and the 'See-Through' instruments, as well as wooden instruments based on the 'See-Through' design.
References[edit]
- ^ abcdeHopkins & Moore 1997.
- ^ abHopkins, Gregg; Moore, Bill (1999). Ampeg: The Story Behind the Sound. Milwaukee: Hal Leonard Corporation. p. 175. ISBN9780793579518.
- ^Fuchs, Andy; Hopkins, Gregg. 'Remembering Jess Oliver, Inventor of the Ampeg B-15'. Premiere Guitar. Gearhead Communications, LLC. Retrieved 18 April 2019.
- ^Hunter, Dave (2012). Amped: The Illustrated History of the World's Greatest Amplifiers (First ed.). London, England: Voyageur Press. p. 62. ISBN978-0760339725. Retrieved 29 April 2019.
- ^Massey, Sylvia. 'Gear Stories With Sylvia Massey: Her Satanic Majesty's SVT Beast: The Dangerous Ampeg Tone'. MixOnline. Future plc. Retrieved 29 April 2019.
- ^'Learn the Differences and History of Three Iconic Ampegs'. Universal Audio. Universal Audio. Retrieved 29 April 2019.
- ^Henry, John Paul. 'American Muscle: The Ampeg SVT'. voodooguitar.net. John Paul Henry. Retrieved 29 April 2019.
- ^Herrera, Jonathan. 'A Brief History of Bass Amplification'. Bass Player. Future Publishing Limited. Retrieved 29 April 2019.
- ^Fliegler, Ritchie; Eiche, Jon F. (1993). Amps! The Other Half of Rock ’n’ Roll. Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S.: Hal Leonard Publishing Corporation. p. 38. ISBN9780793524112.
- ^Kies, Chris. '1969 Ampeg SVT Head and 8x10 Cabinet'. Premier Guitar. Gearhead Communications, LLC. Retrieved 29 April 2019.
- ^Feser, Phil. 'Ampeg Dan Armstrong Plexi Guitar'. Vintage Guitar. Vintage Guitar, Inc. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
- ^ abFjestad 2010.
- ^Bober, Jeff. 'Ask Amp Man: Limited Edition Ampeg SVT'. Premier Guitar. Gearhead Communications, LLC. Retrieved 29 April 2019.
- ^'Yamaha Guitar Group Announces Acquisition Of Legendary Bass Amp Brand, Ampeg'(PDF). Yamaha Guitar Group. May 10, 2018. Retrieved May 10, 2018.
- ^'Yamaha announces acquisition of Ampeg'. MusicRadar. Retrieved 2018-11-05.
- ^'Review: Ampeg Classic Analog Bass Preamp and Scrambler Bass Overdrive'. BassPlayer.com. Retrieved 2018-11-05.
- ^'Ampeg AMG100 Review'. Retrieved 2018-11-05.
- ^Hunter, Dave (2017-03-01). 'Ampeg's Jet Reverb Prototype'. Vintage Guitar® magazine. Retrieved 2018-11-05.
- ^ abHunter, Dave. 'The Ampeg R-12-R Reverberocket'. Vintage Guitar (January 2013): 58–60. Retrieved 5 November 2018.
- ^Thompson, Art (13 February 2012). 'Ampeg GVT5-110, GVT15H, and GVT52-112'. Guitar Player (December 2011): 96–102. Retrieved 5 November 2018.
- ^'New Ampeg Dan Armstrong Plexi Bass'. Ampeg. March 10, 2008. Archived from the original on July 7, 2011.
- ^'Patch 2000'. Hagstrom.org.uk.
Bibliography[edit]
- Books
- Hopkins, Gregg; Moore, Bill (1999). Ampeg: The Story Behind the Sound. Milwaukee: Hal Leonard. ISBN0-7935-7951-1.
- Fjestad, Zachary R. (2009). 'Ampeg/Dan Armstrong Ampeg'. Blue Book of Electric Guitars (12 ed.). Blue Book Publications. ISBN978-1-886768-93-2.
- Fjestad, Zachary R. (2010). 'Ampeg'. Blue Book of Guitar Amplifiers (4 ed.). Blue Book Publications. ISBN978-1-936120-05-5.
- Magazines
- Hopkins, Gregg; Moore, Bill. 'Ampeg Horizontal Basses: From Liden, NJ. to Linden Avenue, Burbank, CA'. Vintage Guitar (March 1997). Archived from the original on 2007-11-14.
- Fjestad, Zachary (August 17, 2010). 'Ampeg B-15N Portaflex'. Premier Guitar.'Much like all of Ampeg’s amps, the B-15 underwent constant change, and the B-15 was replaced by the B-15N in 1961. In 1962, Ampeg updated the B-15N with a solid-state rectifier called the B-15NB and introduced their famous “blue check” vinyl covering to their entire amp line. Ampeg went back to a tube rectifier and changed to a printed circuit board in 1964 (B-15NC). This model lasted until mid 1965, when they introduced the B-15NF with fixed bias tubes and a single-baffle cabinet. ...', '... Ampeg went through numerous ownership changes over the next two decades with Unimusic taking over in 1967, Magnavox in 1971, and MTI in 1980. / St. Louis Music bought Ampeg in 1985 and finally returned some stability and respect to the brand. The company also reissued the B-15N Portaflex with blue check covering in 1995. Ampeg was purchased by LOUD Technologies in 2005, and in 2010, they introduced the new Heritage Series that is produced in the US.'
- Others (web sites, etc.)
- 'Dan Armstrong: The Man and His Guitars'. DanArmstrong.org. Archived from the original on 2014-09-29.
Further reading[edit]
External links[edit]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ampeg. |
- Ampeg.com - Official Site
Retrieved from 'https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ampeg&oldid=894895526'
The Ampeg Horizontal Bass, perhaps because of its rarity and odd beauty, has become quite a collector’s item. And because production records for Ampeg products were lost or destroyed after various corporate buyouts, it is impossible to say exactly how many of these instruments were made.
The Mid 1960s
By the mid 1960s, the Ampeg Company, Linden, New Jersey, had displayed great musical equipment achievements and run into sticky economic difficulties. The upright acoustic bass pickup, invented in the late 1940s by company founder and President C. Everett Hull, was still useful. The classic B-15 flip-top Portaflex bass amp, invented at the end of the 1950s by Vice-President and Plant Manager Jess Oliver, was in much demand. The first generation of combo guitar amps with built-in reverb, like the Reverberocket and Gemini I from the 1960s, were popular. But Ampeg had not geared up early enough for the decade’s pop music explosion to fulfill orders effectively. The company was backordered six to nine months, and when orders were finally delivered, many customers had bought Kustom or Standel, Fender or Vox.
The music world had leapt from the big band jazz Everett Hull loved – and which had inspired him to make the sound of his upright bass louder with the “amplified peg” – to the sounds of rhythm and blues and rock and roll. The Motown sound was being driven by James Jamerson’s snaky bass lines, powered by a Fender Precision Bass through an Ampeg B-15 pushed to the edge of overdrive, which Hull disliked. Elvis had revolutionized American pop music, the British had invaded, and it seemed everyone growing up in the ’60s wanted to get with it, buy a guitar and an amp, and wail. Ampeg had tried to sell imported “Burns by Ampeg” basses and guitars – but they were too expensive to catch on. Despite impressive growth in its product line and factory space, Ampeg was stuck in the past. An advocate of clean amp sounds, Hull was shocked when Gibson offered musicians an electronic distortion box!
By 1966, Hull (at age 62) was worried about the company’s cash flow and the value of his stock shares, so he began wooing corporate suitors to buy and support Ampeg. He still wanted to produce his seasoned line of products and serve the needs of jazz musicians, although the future of the business lay in serving pop and rock groups. Studio musicians who had used upright basses and Ampeg’s Baby Bass – the portable plastic-bodied electronic upright, whose sales had stagnated since its introduction in 1962 – were being asked to use horizontal basses, like Fender’s Precision or Jazz. The opportunity for a new Ampeg product presented itself. According to upright bass virtuoso Gary Karr, an Ampeg endorser in the ’60s, Hull had said to him, “I want to put a dent into CBS’ Fender.”
Design
Jess Oliver, evidently with Hull’s blessing, looked to the future and asked Ampeg quality control specialist and Service Manager Dennis Kager to design a new Ampeg bass. Kager had joined Ampeg in 1964, at age 21, and then quickly rose through the ranks. Both Hull and Oliver admired him for his troubleshooting expertise and his inventive imagination. Kager got to work. By March 30, 1966, he had filed his patent for the “ornamental design,” Ampeg’s new instrument.
The shape of the instrument was inspired by Kager’s own favorite axe at the time, the Fender Jazzmaster he played in The Driftwoods, one of north Jersey’s most popular bands. The Jazzmaster’s long bass bout and shorter treble bout were reflected in what Ampeg would advertise initially as the “new Ampeg Fretted Bass,” Model AEB-1, referred to nowadays as the Ampeg Horizontal Bass or F-Hole Bass or Scrollhead Bass. Kager’s original idea for the headstock shape was triangular, which would have permitted a catchy “A” logo, but someone – probably Hull- decided to use the scroll-style headstock of the Baby Bass, which linked the new product to the past, and allowed Ampeg to utilize known production methods in late 1966.
The distinctive elements of the new bass included F-holes, cut through each bout of the instrument’s four-piece semisolid maple body with plywood back. Originally, the F-holes were to face in the same direction, but in production it was decided they should be opposed. The neck was maple with either a rosewood or ebony fingerboard, with a zero fret. Besides the rectangular muting bridge cover, which was adjustable, another unusual feature was the overall string length – 45″ with tuner windings, from the tuners to the extended block tailpiece with nifty dual strap buttons, helpful for stability when the bass was set down and leaned against an amp. The long, custom-made LaBella strings made the action somewhat stiff – despite the traditional 34″ scale length – putting strong pressure on the bridge/pickup assembly, necessary for the effective functioning of Ampeg’s “Mystery Pickup.”
“Mystery Pickup”
Ampeg tipped its hand about the mysterious transducer when it printed the patent number of its 1963 Baby Bass pickup on an early set of “operational instructions”: the pickup for the new Ampeg bass was a modified version of the older one. Now the aluminum bridge would sit on a Bakelite pedestal, which itself rested on a “silectron steel” diaphragm. Under the diaphragm, two magnets and two large coils – nested in a block of epoxy – would translate the acoustic vibrations of the strings, bridge, and diaphragm into electrical impulses for amplification. This arrangement would permit the use of non-magnetic gut strings, not just steel or tapewound, and would – it was advertised – simulate the sound of an upright acoustic bass.
“I never liked the sound of it,” Dennis Kager revealed in an interview, speaking about the Baby Bass pickup and its application to the bass he designed. “That’s why on the original Horizontal Bass, I wanted a magnetic pickup on there.” But this was not to be, at least at first.
The tone of an AEB-1 is an acquired taste, ranging from dark and boomy to abrasively nasal with odd overtones at the extremes of tone setting. Some owners turn down the treble nearly all the way, then tweak their amps to produce decent upright-bass-like depth and timbre. Others – like The Band’s Rick Danko – installed a P-bass pickup and did away with the mystery pickup. Good strategy for instantly-usable tones, but not so good for vintage value! Originally, these basses listed for $324.50 – while now they cost an average of about $1,000. A popular early endorser was Joe Long of the Four Seasons, who used an extremely rare lefty AEB-1.
The Fretless Revolution
Besides the oddly-gorgeous appearance of the first Horizontal Basses – available in “cherry red, white, blue, and burnished tones” – Ampeg could be proud of its revolutionary development of a fretless version, Model AUB-1, four years before Fender would offer this option on its P-bass in 1970. It seems the AUB-1 was more popular than the AEB-1, as upright bass players and others sought the model with the smooth fingerboard. The first AUB-1 may have been made for symphonic soloist and Baby Bass user Gary Karr, who was not comfortable with a fretted instrument. Introduced at the July, 1966, NAMM show in Chicago, and put into production late in the year and in 1967, both the AEB-1 and the AUB-1 caused a stir, but no great bounce in sales, probably because of the limited sound quality. The AEB-1 and the AUB-1 are, nevertheless, the more numerous of the Horizontal Basses.
Metamorphosis
Throughout 1966, Everett Hull stepped up his search for a corporate buyer. He must have sensed the economic hard times ahead for the music equipment business, due to increased competition and product glut. Certainly, he knew Ampeg’s precarious position, along with its potential. Ampeg’s sales had grown roughly tenfold in a handful of years, culminating in the nine month period ending in February, 1966, with net sales of over $2,290,000.
But all this was in jeopardy. He needed to back up his life’s work with strong capital, and he wanted to cash in on his stocks while he could. He had a deal signed, sealed, and delivered – it seemed – with AVNET corporation, but Lester Avnet backed out at the last minute, in the early fall of 1966. Dynaco pursued Ampeg, as did Hammond and Pickwick, but those deals also went unconsummated.
On the personnel front, amp designer Bill Hughes had signed on in Ampeg’s engineering department, and jack-of-all-trades Roger Cox had moved into sales, then product development – both in the mid ’60s. These men would later make their marks at Ampeg by creating huge, powerful amps for mass -audience, big-time rock and rollers.
On the other hand, after over a dozen years of a productive but sometimes wrangling business relationship, Hull and right hand man Jess Oliver parted ways over stock options and job security – and maybe Ampeg’s introduction of solidstate amps – in late September of 1966. Oliver set up shop as Oliver Sound, and began producing his own line of musical products – including the Powerflex amp, a redesign of the B-15 with a motorized head, and the Orbital Sound Projector – a mini Leslie cabinet.
Finally, in 1967, a group of investors and managers began planning the acquisition of a high-profile music manufacturing business. The goal? To form a major music equipment conglomerate and ride the boom in rock and roll. The name? Unimusic, as in “unified” or “universal” music company. The music business to buy? Ampeg! After lengthy negotiations, Unimusic – under the leadership of Al Dauray, Ray Mucci, and John Forbes – bought Hull’s company in September of 1967, making Everett Hull and his wife, Ger-trude, wealthy.
Les Paul recalls Hull visiting him to discuss the sale. Dennis Kager left Ampeg at this time to start Dennis Electronics, which became one of the largest electronic equipment service centers in the U.S. He continued to consult with Ampeg, and eventually designed and marketed Sundown amplifiers. Hull – long used to being the captain of the ship at Ampeg, but scarcely consulted as Unimusic looked ahead – resigned in October of 1968.
The Devil In New Jersey
Ampeg made a last stab at a bass with the mystery pickup in 1967 and early 1968, the scarce and odd-looking Model ASB-1, nicknamed the “Devil Bass” because of its prominent, scary horns. Woodshop worker and former coffin maker Mike Roman had been impressed by Danelectro’s Longhorn Bass, so he urged Ampeg to make its own version. The dual-cutaway body allowed extraordinary access to the upper register, another Ampeg innovation – and of course, Ampeg offered a fretless companion, Model AUSB-1. Both models were available, like their cousins, for the list price of $324.50. But by 1968, under Unimusic, it was clear to the company’s new leadership that the mystery pickup models had to go.
New Pickups
In mid 1967 and 1968, Ampeg experimented with a small number of short-scale Horizontal Basses – the fretted Model SSB and the fretless SSUB – using a magnetic pickup with four visible polepieces. The tone of these instruments, despite their dinky 301/2″ scale, was surprisingly good. An intriguing feature of the fretless model was an F-hole pickguard mounted on a solidbody. Unlike the longer-scale basses, before and after the SSB, the short-scales lacked adjustable bridge saddles for intonation adjustments. The headstock on these small basses, favored by Television bassist Fred Smith, went back to Dennis Kager’s original A shape. Colors available on this limited production instrument were “apple red, black, or gold sunburst,” with an occasional blue. The list price? An economical $189.50.
By the summer of ’68, Ampeg – now called “A Division of UNIMUSIC, Inc.” – was testing a new, larger magnetic pickup, its four polepieces concealed beneath a plastic cover, for the last vintage generation of full-scale Horizontal Basses. At the end of ’68 and into ’69, Ampeg produced a trickle of the new basses – Models AMB-1 and the fretless AMUB-1 – for $324.50 again and then, oddly, for $325, in the fall of 1969. Various-hued AEB-1s and AUB-1s were still in stock and advertised for sale. The magnetic-pickup Horizontal Basses – far fewer of these were made – are the ones to find and play, if tone is the name of the game. The four polepieces of the new pickup were wired alternately, creating a spectacular humbucker that has – if the epoxy sheath hasn’t cracked and fractured the coil wires – a wide range of rich tones, with a deep growl and piano-like singing overtones.
The body construction of the new basses had grown more advanced. The earlier Horizontal Bass bodies had four parts, glued after shaping: the two F-hole bouts, the center block with routing to make space for the “mystery pickup,” and the plywood back. The magnetic-pickup bass bodies and their F-holes were carved smoothly from two or three pre-glued pieces of maple with more sophisticated routing machines. The earlier bass bodies had balanced red and black burst paint around the F-holes – or the custom colors – while the new bass bodies barely showed the standard cherry red under the black overcoat. The tailpiece was incorporated on the end of a bridge plate, shortening total string length to about 43″, with windings on the tuners. The large, rounded bridge cover sported the new Ampeg logo – a stylized “a” or “helmet head.” The earlier “Mystery Pickup” had been concealed beneath the bridge, but now, the adjustable magnetic pickup was plain to see, mounted through the pickguard between the bridge and the neck.
Ebony was now the wood of choice for the fingerboard. The volume pot had a “pull to kill” function, so gigging musicians could turn off the axe without turning it or the amp down. But the bass was not a money maker, so its production was terminated before 1970, ending for a quarter of a century the illustrious career of a weird and wonderful instrument.
Oddities
Besides the main Horizontal Basses, it is worth noting a few intriguing oddities. Chief among them are the two scrollhead 6-string guitars shown at the July, 1966, NAMM show in Chicago, when the first AEB-1s and AUB-1s were introduced.
One of these prototypes – like the one pictured in George Gruhn and Walter Carter’s Electric Guitars and Basses, A Photographic History – is the spitting image of an early Horizontal Bass, including prominent F-holes and a large black pickguard, along with two pickups and a whammy bar. The other, pictured here probably for the first time, is an elaborated version of the first, with subtle F-holes, along with three pickups, a whammy bar, and checkered binding. Where are these unique instruments now? Also, after Mike Roman left Ampeg, he seems to have continued building basses and guitars of his own, but hard information is sketchy on this point for now. Lastly, there are some Japanese-made Horizontal Bass clones. These can generally be distinguished by the anachronistic extended block tailpiece (AEB-1-style) together with an original magnetic pickup (AMB-1-style) and sometimes by the lack of a zero fret.
The Late 1960s
By the late ’60s, Unimusic, with Al Dauray, Roger Cox, Bill Hughes, and others, was in hot pursuit of the rock and roll market, facing the future, but unaware of the impending pitfalls of music business competition, a dipping economy, fickle investors, and personal tragedy.
Everett Hull was retired, travelling and spending time with his family, dreaming of making the Baby Bass popular again. Jess Oliver and Dennis Kager had new businesses. Ampeg – having invented the SVT bass rig and the V-4 guitar stack, among scads of other music products – seemed ready to compete against Acoustic and Marshall in the wattage wars of the 1970s. Suddenly, the Rolling Stones were using Ampegs on the 1969 and 1972 tours. So would The Faces and, later, Black Oak Arkansas. There were cool new Ampeg basses made from clear plexiglass by Dan Armstrong. There would be cheesy Stud basses made for Ampeg offshore in the mid ’70s. But there would be nothing like the adventurous and weirdly wonderful Horizontal Basses from Linden, New Jersey – until a contemporary California inventor would set up his design shop, Extremely Strange Musical Instrument Co., in 1994.
Linden Again
Twenty-five years after Ampeg stopped production of the Horizontal Basses, Bruce Johnson decided he would devote his skills as a mechanical engineer to updating the classic Ampegs.
His first bass – an Ampeg “Devil Bass” – was an inspiration. In the machine shop where he lives, on Linden Avenue in Burbank, Johnson began collecting and analyzing data on the old Ampegs, planning how to create a cutting-edge version of the AEB-1 and AEB-2. He wanted to make an instrument that would have the odd attractions of the original but that could function at the top level of the modern-day music profession. Today’s Ampeg company, under current owner St. Louis Music, introduced Johnson’s AEB-2 and AUB-2, at the winter NAMM show in Anaheim. The new bass is no reissue: it is a redesigned, high-tech instrument that combines tradition with innovation, an Ampeg hallmark.
The AEB-2’s look, along with that of its fretless brother, is well-rooted in Ampeg’s past, but its construction and electronics are spaceage. The scroll headstock is now carved from the solid maple of the neck, instead of having the plastic scrolled end-caps of the original. A brass nut block above the zero fret adds sustain, replacing the aluminum string spacer on the original. The stiff neck is slender throughout its length, supported by “…a proprietary truss rod and neck reinforcement technique,” unlike the sometimes-clubby neck of the old bass. The scale length is a modern 35″, while the body is now ash with a durable polyurethane paint finish in classic black/red sunburst, solid black, or natural. The active electronics combine piezo crystals in the two-part aluminum bridge saddles with a magnetic pickup and custom preamp designed by bass pickup expert Rick Turner. The extended tailpiece is now a 1″ thick block of brass anchored by brass bars deep in the body, enhancing sustain and counterbalancing the long neck.
Reports from NAMM indicate that interest in the AEB-2 and the AUB-2 was high among players, dealers, and the press. Evidently, another chapter of Horizontal Bass history is about to be written. It must have something to do with the classic Ampeg vibe and the range of modern sounds the new basses produce – from the old jazzy upright timbre to the new punch of rock and roll.
“These basses have growl and snarl in the bottom end together with clear highs,” explains Bruce Johnson.
Serial Numbers
Serial numbers can be found in two places on the Horizontal Basses. For the AEB, AUB, ASB, and AUSB models (all with the “mystery pickup”), look under the block tailpiece. For the SSB, SSUB, AMB, and AMUB basses (all with a magnetic pickup), look on the bridge/tailpiece plate. The serial number prefix M, perhaps for “Master,” seems to indicate a prototype bass. The serial number suffix C may indicate a “Custom .” Serial numbers run chronologically, but mixed among the various models of basses, as if the relevant parts for the different models were kept in one bin. Serial numbers seem to run from 1 to nearly 1,200, then start over, with a triple zero prefix, from 0001 to nearly 000600.
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Horizontal Bass Users
Joe Long the Four Seasons – lefty Model AEB-1
Rick Danko The Band – Model AUB-1
Boz Burrell Bad Company- Model AUB-1
George Biondo Steppenwolf- Model AMB-1
Fred Smith Television – Model SSB
Billy Rath Johnny Thunders’ band – Model AEB-1
Michael Been The Call- Model AMB-1
Christ Novoselic Nirvana Model AMB-1
Chronology
Early 1966 – Dennis Kager designs Horizontal Bass with F-holes.
July, 1966 – Horizontal Basses introduced at Chicago NAMM.
Late 1966 to 1967 – Production of AEB-1 and AUB-1 basses (most numerous, perhaps 1,200 made).
1967 and early 1968 – Production of ASB-1 and AUSB-1 “Devil Basses” (rare, perhaps 100 made).
September, 1967 – UNIMUSIC buys Ampeg.
Mid 1967 to 1968 – Production of SSB and SSUB basses (very rare, perhaps 50 made).
Late 1968 to 1969 – Production of AMB-1 and AMUB-1 basses (hard to find, perhaps 600 made).
Late 1969 – End of vintage Horizontal Bass production.
Late 1996 – Start of contemporary AEB-2 and AUB-2 basses (available!).
Note: Production figures are estimates based on incomplete information, since no relevant records have survived.
Everett Hull presents the fretted and fretless Horizontal Basses to his salesmen, NAMM, July ’66. Courtesy E.A. Hull.
This article originally appeared in VG‘s March ’97 issue.