Ampeg

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Ampeg is an American instrument amplifier manufacturer. Although the company specializes in the production of electric bass guitar amplification, Ampeg also manufactures electric guitar and orchestral upright bass amplifiers. Ampeg first existed under the name "Michaels-Hull Electronic Labs", as it comprised a partnership between Everett Hull, an accomplished pianist and bassist, and Stanley Michaels. The original goal of the company was to produce both a new microphone pickup that Hull designed, and to produce instrument amplifiers with a minimum of output distortion. In general, valve amps will break up into a distorted sound when punched hard, a sound that Hull (being from the Jazz scene) really disliked. The pickup was intended to fit onto the end of an upright bass, and was dubbed the "Amplified Peg" or "Ampeg" for short. After gaining sole proprietorship of the company, Hull changed the company’s name to "Ampeg Bassamp Company".

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[edit] Innovations

Ampeg prides itself on its innovative products, which have resulted in the company's six U.S. patents under the Ampeg brand name. In 1960 Jess Oliver (real name: Oliver Jesperson) created 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 became known as the "Portaflex" and remained a popular choice through the 1960s. Also in the 1960s, 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.

[edit] Super Valve Technology

Image:AmpegV4_head.jpeg

During the 1960's Ampeg only produced fairly low wattage combo amplifiers, and sales were declining. Concerts were growing larger and bigger amplifiers were needed. Ampeg hired technician and inventor Dan Armstrong to create a new line of high power amps with matching guitars and basses. Armstrong created the Super Valve Technology (SVT) amplifier line in 1969, consisting of the 300 watt SVT, the 120 watt V-4 (or VT-22 for the combo version), the 60 watt V-2 and the 40 watt VT-40. The SVT provided three times the output power of most bass amplifiers on the market, which established SVT as an amplifier for large venue use. After the Rolling Stones took SVT amps on tour for both guitar and bass (they initially wanted to use the British HiWatt, but the amps were delayed at U.S. Customs), the SVT amp would become the 1970's rock standard. Dan Armstrong also developed a bass speaker cabinet for use with the SVT. These large speaker cabinets used eight 10" loudspeakers in four rows of two speakers. Each row of speakers was sealed, which is called an infinite baffle design. From 1972 until the purchase of the company by SLM electronics, Ampeg used Eminence loudspeakers. The use of 10" speakers for a high-powered bass amplifier was a major departure from the prevailing wisdom of the era, which was that large diameter drivers were required for low-end sound reproduction. The SVT bass amp and the companion 8 X 10" speaker cabinet have been reissued by Ampeg.

[edit] Collectability and playability

Compared to the major brands Fender and Marshall, the collectability and playability is a mixed affair. While vintage Fender amps always command high prices, Ampeg amps can most of the time be found for less money. Aside from the sometimes too clean for modern use sound, the valves found in older Ampegs can be hard to find as some valves are not produced anymore and old stock has dried up, which makes replacement of old valves difficult. In general, Ampeg amps until 1964 are not very much wanted as they have a dark, moody sound and remain very clean, even when pushed hard. From 1964 until 1967 amps became higher in wattage, reverbs were added and nowadays easier to find valves were used. Some of these amps (like the Gemini G-12, Revereberocket II and the 6V6 valve equipped Jet II) are superior amps, rivaling Fender Tweed amps. From 1969 until 1979 the SVT line was introduced, and most of these amps are incredible amps if you are into 1970's rock (Rolling Stones, Faces). Original SVT bass amps are very much sought-after for their fat sound, and the V-4 head and VT-40 combo are sought after for the classic 70's Rolling Stones sound. The only problem with the SVT-line of amps is that they are incredibly loud, and therefore impractical to use with today's on-stage monitor systems.

[edit] Instruments and Accessories

Ampeg also manufactured (or had manufactured for them) lines of quirky but distinctive instruments to complement their amplifiers. This began around 1962 with the Baby Bass, 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.

In the early 1960s, Ampeg-branded guitars and basses were produced by Burns of London, but this 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.

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). 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.

In 1969 the Horizontal Basses were replaced by the Dan Armstrong-designed and -built "See Through" guitars and basses. The guitars incorporated snap-in replaceable pickups to change the sound, and the short-scale basses used two stacked coils with a pan pot to gain a very wide range of tones. The see-through lucite bodies were Armstrong's original idea and contributed to incredibly long sustain but were very heavy. They were quickly copied by other companies. Production of the "See Through" instruments ended in 1971 due to financial disagreements between Armstrong and Ampeg over amplifier designs.

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. 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). In the late 1990s, Ampeg reissued of the Baby Bass, the Horizontal Bass, and the "See Through" instruments, as well as wooden instruments based on the "See Through" design.

Ampeg also produced effects pedals, including stand-alone reverb units in the 60s, the Scrambler from 1969 (a resurgence in interest resulted in an updated Scrambler being reissued in 2005), the Phazzer from the mid- to late-70s, and a line of nine stompboxes produced in Japan in the mid-80s. There were also Ampeg-branded picks, strings, straps, polish, as well as two practice amps, the Sound Cube and the Buster (a Pignose clone).

[edit] Ampeg Now

The current Ampeg company is mainly successful in the field of bass amps. They also have a line of guitar amplifiers and a remake of the Dan Armstrong guitar and bass, but with mixed results.

Lee Jackson designed the VL line of guitar amplifiers for Ampeg in the late 1980s, early 1990s. They were available in both 50W and 100W heads and a 50W 2x12 combo.

[edit] References

[edit] Further Reading

[edit] External links

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