Watkins Electric Music (WEM) is a British company known for manufacturing musical instruments, guitar, bass and PA amplification and the CopiCat tape echo machine. The company was founded in 1949, initially as a record shop in Tooting Market, London, by Charlie Watkins and his brother Reg Watkins. Two years later the brothers moved to a small shop in Balham, London and began selling guitars and accordions.
In 1967-1968 The Who used the WEM (Watkins Electric Music) Audiomaster five-channel mixer and multiple WEM 100-watt transistor PA amplifiers chained together as their sound system. [1] In the concert movie Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii (1972), the band is shown using WEM PA equipment as it performs in the ruins of an ancient amphitheatre in Pompeii, Italy.
A scaled down version of the company still operates, focusing on accordions and a new handmade version of the CopiCat tape echo units. The firm continues to be run by Charlie Watkins, 61 years after founding the company.