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56-535: Between 2003 and 2018, LOUD Technologies owned or distributed several music instrument and pro audio product brands that it had acquired over the years. Transom Capital Group acquired the company in October 2017, renaming it LOUD Audio, LLC and within 12 months had divested itself of brands Ampeg , Martin Audio and EAW , leaving Mackie as the sole surviving subsidiary. Greg Mackie founded Mackie Designs, Inc. in 1988, following

112-416: A publicly held company. By 1964, Ampeg had 100 employees and needed more space, relocating to a larger space 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

168-699: A royalty payment for equipment sold by their influence. 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; 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 making

224-475: A German company, their chief executive officers and others. The lawsuit sought $ 109 million USD in actual damages up to $ 327 million USD in total damages under the law. By 1999, lawsuit had been dismissed in Behringer's favour noting that "Mackie's circuit board designs were not covered by the U.S. copyright office". Mackie's lawsuit against Behringer UK similarly failed with Justice Pumfrey concluding "citizens of

280-660: A compact upright electric bass created from the Zorko bass, whose design Ampeg had acquired from the Dopera brothers, along with a unique Oliver-designed, Ampeg-patented pickup. In 1962, Ampeg and its 40 employees moved to a new manufacturing facility 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

336-1150: A consulting role. Six months later, in July 2003, the company issued layoff warnings to 200 manufacturing employees and planned to outsource manufacturing of key products. In September 2003 the parent company was rebranded as LOUD Technologies, Inc. to avoid confusion between the parent company and the Mackie brand. In December, 2003, LOUD divested itself from its Italian operations, including RCF. In March 2005, LOUD acquired St. Louis Music , including Ampeg , Crate Amplifiers, Alvarez Guitars , and Knilling orchestral string instruments, and continued St Louis Music operations as an indirect wholly owned subsidiary. In March 2007, LOUD acquired Martin Audio. In November 2008, U.S. Band and Orchestra Supplies Inc. acquired St. Louis Music (SLM) and Knilling from LOUD, with LOUD retained ownership of Alvarez, Ampeg, and Crate. The following year, SLM entered into an agreement with LOUD to exclusively sell and market Alvarez Guitars. In October 2017, Transom Capital Group acquired all LOUD Technologies brands and rebranded

392-547: 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 "see-through" guitars and basses, with bodies carved from colorless acrylic plastic . The transparent bodies contributed to long sustain but were heavy. The guitars incorporated slide-in user-changeable pickups, and

448-827: A notable absence of rock artists, and Hull strove to minimize rock musician visits to 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. Through the 1960s, Ampeg amplifiers were designed for "clean, undistorted sound", with Hull saying "we will never make anything for rock 'n' roll". 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

504-626: 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. In

560-466: 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, and

616-522: A proper factory for their second product, the CR-1604 mixer. The CR-1604's feature set, performance, and competitive price was an ideal fit for a wide range of applications, resulting in hundreds of thousands of units sold over the course of the next five years, and accounting for over 48% of Mackie's overall revenues at that time. The company's ongoing growth of more than 100 percent annually necessitated relocating and expanding manufacturing every year. By 1994,

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672-517: A remake of the Dan Armstrong guitar and bass. Ampeg holds six U.S. patents under the Ampeg brand name. In the late-1950s Jess Oliver invented 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. In 1961, Ampeg became

728-532: A series of effects pedals. But after production issues and substandard sales, MTI declared bankruptcy a few years later. In 1986, St. Louis Music (SLM) acquired the assets of Ampeg, including the rights to the name and all remaining MTI inventory. SLM converted leftover V5 heads into SVT-100s and set out to re-create the SVT, setting aside a room at SLM Electronics for an intensive development project. Working from original SVT drawings and parts purchase orders from 1969,

784-494: 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. The Hulls relocated to New Jersey, and Everett met electrical engineer and amp technician Stanley Michael, who

840-407: Is almost identical in design and construction and the closest thing to any of the original SVT models produced by Ampeg. In the mid-1990s, SLM issued several guitar amplifiers under the Ampeg name. Some of these, the "Diamond Blue Series," used the names of vintage Ampeg models (such as Jet and Reverberocket ) and featured the bluish-colored diamond-checkerboard covering associated with Ampeg amps of

896-619: Is part of the Yamaha Guitar Group. Although specializing in the production of bass amplifiers , Ampeg has previously manufactured guitar amplifiers and pickups and instruments including double basses , bass guitars , and electric guitars . Everett Hull (born Charles Everitt Hull), a pianist and bassist from Wisconsin working with bandleader 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

952-538: Is the producer and exclusive worldwide distributor of Alvarez and Alvarez-Yairi guitars. Bernard Kornblum was a violinist who at the age of 19 emigrated from Vienna, Austria to St. Louis, Missouri. After working at a music store and as a necktie salesman, he purchased a shipment of instruments and accessories in response to a newspaper advertisement placed by German musical instrument wholesaler Seibenbrun. Due to falling exchange rates, Kornblum's purchase cost him less than anticipated and made it possible for him to offer

1008-584: The Electra MPC (Modular Powered Circuit) Guitar, unveiled at The NAMM Show in 1976. SLM bought Karpowicz's service and repair shop and established the SLM Electronics division. While visiting a Crate & Barrel store in Chicago, Gene Kornblum saw products displayed using packing crates and had the idea of making guitar amplifiers housed in wooden cabinets, resulting in Crate Amplifiers first product,

1064-710: The Ryman Auditorium ; and in the Hollywood Palladium in Hollywood. Ampeg chief engineer Bill Hughes and Roger Cox, with input from Bob Rufkahr and Dan Armstrong (a New York session guitarist and guitar expert hired as a consultant), were developing what Cox envisioned as the “biggest, nastiest bass amplifier the world had ever seen.” The Rolling Stones anticipated using Hiwatt DR-103 amps, as during their 1969 Hyde Park gig, which they brought from England. Their road manager, Ian Stewart , contacted Rich Mandella at

1120-529: The SVT tube bass amplifier with original specifications and refinements. In 1987, the company changed its name to St. Louis Music, Inc.. In 1992, SLM opened a new 20,000-foot R&D facility, and a second Yellville, Arkansas manufacturing facility two years later. In 1996, a 3rd generation of the Kornblum family, Ted Kornblum, joined the company. In March 2005, after a two-year search for potential buyers, St. Louis Music

1176-564: 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)

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1232-563: The Yellville, Arkansas facility in March 2007, outsourcing amplifier manufacture to contract manufacturers in Asia. In May 2018, following the purchase of Loud Technologies Inc. by Transom, the Ampeg brand was acquired from the restructured LOUD Audio LLC by Yamaha Guitar Group, Inc. The current Ampeg company is mainly known in the field of bass amps . They also have a line of guitar amplifiers and

1288-668: The ponderosa pine encased CR1 guitar amplifier, in 1978. St. Louis Music chose to manufacture the amps themselves rather than outsource manufacturing overseas, and the success of the CR1 grew into a full line of Crate amplifiers for guitar, bass, and keyboards. SLM Electronics moved into a dedicated facility in 1980, and a larger facility in 1986, while also developing the Audio Centron line of PA systems and mixers for live sound reinforcement. In 1986, St. Louis Music acquired pioneering bass amplification brand Ampeg from bankruptcy and reintroduced

1344-606: The 1960s. The circuit designs of these amplifiers, however, were new. The Portaflex bass amp was reissued, with updates intended to make it more appealing to modern bass players. The Ampeg GVT series, introduced around 2010, is a series of tube amplifiers built in South Korea, employing the Baxandall tone circuit . Ampeg also manufactured (or had manufactured for them) lines of quirky but distinctive instruments to complement their amplifiers. Baby Bass , introduced around 1962,

1400-402: The Ampeg office in Hollywood, and Rich arranged for the band to use five prototype amplifier heads of this new high-output model. These 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 prototypes and Mandella on tour, playing all guitars and basses through them for the entire tour. After the tour, Ampeg put

1456-750: 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). In 1971, Ampeg was acquired by Magnavox , which led to a distributorship deal with the Swedish guitar company, Hagström . In 1975, Ampeg and Hagström collaborated to develop their first guitar/synthesizer hybrid using

1512-554: The July 1996 NAMM Show , Mackie Designs product introductions marked its first entry into power amps , and active studio monitors , while also expanding into higher-end, large-format mixing consoles. The following year marked the introduction of the Digital 8-Bus Recording Console - the company's first digital product, and the Human User Interface (HUI) control surface, co-developed with Digidesign for Pro Tools . From 1998-2000

1568-575: The Kornblum Brothers Music name, and the business flourished during the 1920s, moving into expanded facilities twice by 1927. In 1929, while Bernard and David established European distribution headquartered in Belgium, Erna acquired sheet music wholesaler St. Louis Music Supply, with Kornblum Brothers Music assuming the St. Louis Music Supply name. In 1938, Erna and her husband Jack moved to California, and

1624-562: The Kornblum brothers ceased their efforts in Europe, returning to the US. St. Louis Music Supply, now 20 employees strong, expanded its product offerings to include band instruments, sheet music, and accessories. SLM survived the World War II-era by diversifying and selling paint, leather goods, and fine writing instruments. After World War II, the company expanded distribution of musical instruments with

1680-476: The SVTs with Mesa Boogie Mark I and Coliseum 300 amps. Armstrong designed a transparent plastic guitar and bass for Ampeg. The guitar was used by Keith Richards with The Rolling Stones during the same 1969, 1970, and 1971 tours and some early shows of the 1972 tour, and the bass version by Bill Wyman on the 1972 tour and some of the 1973 Winter tour shows. In 1971, citing lack of compensation for his contributions to

1736-581: The United States of America are not entitled to design right under the CDPA unless habitually resident in the European Union or one of the comparatively limited list of qualifying countries". In February 2003 after declining sales and 7 consecutive quarters of per-share losses, Sun Capital Partners acquired 65% of the company, and subsequently delisted from NASDAQ . Greg Mackie left the board, remaining only in

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1792-722: The V-series amplifiers, Armstrong left Ampeg, and refused to renew the agreement allowing manufacture his guitar and bass. In 1971, Ampeg was acquired by Magnavox , which owned musical instrument manufacturer Selmer , but was better known for televisions, radios and hi-fi components. 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

1848-475: The addition of brands like Harmony guitars , Kay guitars , Regal ukuleles, York Band Instruments , Zildjian cymbals , and Turner microphones. In 1954, SLM became a distributor of Thomas organs . Bernard's son Gene joined the company full-time in 1961, and the birth of Rock and roll and the mainstream popularity of bands like The Beatles created unprecedented demand for products like drum sets and guitars. Under Gene's direction, rather than only distributing

1904-444: 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

1960-629: The company acquired exclusive distribution rights to the Elka Rhapsody string synthesizer and moved into expanded facilities on Ferguson Avenue. At the same time, St. Louis Music refined its processes for importing unfinished string instruments with final assembly and setup in the U.S.. When Magnatone went out of business in the mid 1970s, St. Louis Music worked to develop a new guitar amplifier business. In 1975 SLM partnered with local electronic technician John Karpowicz to develop an electric guitar with interchangeable signal processing modules, resulting in

2016-932: The company as LOUD Audio, LLC. At the time of the announcement, Transom had promised to invest and grow each of the brands but the following year, Transom completed three divestments to focus exclusively on its core Mackie brand, selling Ampeg to Yamaha Guitar Group, Inc. in May, Martin Audio to Lloyds Development Capital in July, and EAW to the RCF Group in September of that year. In 2019, LOUD Audio announced that Mark Ureda had joined its board of directors after recently retiring as SVP at Harman Professional . At its peak, LOUD Audio operated out of two side-by-side buildings in Woodinville, Washington : Mackie Designs I (89,147 RSF) and Mackie Designs II (81,250 RSF) housing all company operations. With

2072-506: The company began expanding beyond the Mackie brand, acquiring Radio Cine Forniture S.p.A. (RCF) in 1998 and leveraging RCF technologies to develop Mackie's first powered loudspeaker, the SRM450, the following year. In 2000 the company acquired well-established commercial sound reinforcement system manufacturer Eastern Acoustic Works (EAW). By 2001, loudspeakers accounted for 55% of the company's total revenues. In 2000, Mackie Designs completed

2128-428: The company had grown into a 30,000 square-foot factory. The following year, as they celebrated the sale of the 100,000th Mackie mixer, the company moved into an even larger 90,000 square-foot factory and invested in automated assembly machines to achieve high productivity and quality with lower overall production costs. With just 8 products (all mixers), Mackie Designs, Inc. completed an initial public stock offering At

2184-435: The company. 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 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

2240-586: The contact of the strings on the frets as electric switches: In 1976 the Swede Patch 2000 was released, which required Ampeg Patch 2000 Pedals and an external synthesizer ( Steiner-Parker Microcon was designed for it). 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

2296-583: The design into production as the SVT, introducing it at the NAMM Show in 1969. After Armstrong and his amp tech Tom Duffy began modifying B-25 bass heads for rock guitar, the design team responsible for the SVT created the V series, introducing the V-3, V-2 and V-4 heads, VT-22 and VT-40 combos in 1970. The V-2, V-4 and V-22 were adopted by high-profile guitarists like Ron Wood and Keith Richards ; both would use Ampeg SVT heads and cabs until 1981, when they replaced

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2352-654: The first company to incorporate reverberation (reverb) in an amplifier with its Reverberocket , which preceded Fender 's Vibroverb amp by nearly two years. 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. 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

2408-407: The goods to music instrument retailers in St. Louis at exceptionally low prices. Following the successful sale of his initial shipment of inventory, Kornblum established himself with other manufacturers, and by 1922, he established a downtown office for his new import business and quit his other job. Within two years, the company also employed Bernard's sister Erna and his brother David, operating under

2464-480: The inevitable shift of manufacturing from USA to Mexico to China and the sale of several of its brands, LOUD downsized its US operations and relocated to Bothell, Washington in 2019. Ampeg Ampeg ("amplified peg") is a manufacturer best known for its bass amplifiers . Originally established in 1946 in Linden, New Jersey by Everett Hull and Stanley Michaels as "Michael-Hull Electronic Labs," today Ampeg

2520-530: The installation himself, Hull offered him a job. Oliver didn't join Ampeg on a full-time basis 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, Gertrude Hull as Secretary, and Jess Oliver as Vice President. In 1960, Ampeg introduced the B-15, a bass combo amplifier with an innovative flip-top function, invented and patented by Oliver. The B-15

2576-579: The mid- to late-1990s, Ampeg reissued the Baby Bass, the Horizontal Bass, and the "See-Through" instruments, as well as wooden instruments based on the "See-Through" design. St. Louis Music St. Louis Music ( SLM ) is a manufacturer and distributor of musical instruments , accessories, and equipment. SLM distributes products from over 260 music products industry brands, is the corporate owner of several string - and brass -instruments brands, and

2632-619: The purchase of Acuma Labs for an undisclosed sum. Acuma had been contracted by Mackie Designs for its services for several years before being acquired for its technology and scientists. In 2001, the company entered the professional audio production market with the purchase of Sydec, and created the Mackie Broadcast Professional line of products. Mackie Designs sued Behringer GmbH on June 18, 1997 alleging "trademark and trade dress infringement, copyright and patent infringement, and unfair competitive practices by two U.S. entities,

2688-672: The same products as other distributors, St. Louis Music became the exclusive distributor for Trixon Drums and developed the Apollo Drums brand. Additionally, SLM became a regional distributor for Magnatone guitars and amplifiers. In 1968, Gene Kornblum met Japanese luthier Kazuo Yairi through a Japanese trading partner, resulting in handmade acoustic guitars produced under the Alvarez-Yairi brand and attracting endorsements from notable guitarists such as Roy Clark and Waylon Jennings , with Alvarez later expanding into electric guitars. In 1971,

2744-573: The short-scale basses used two stacked coils with a "pan" pot for a wide range of tones. Production of the "see-through" instruments ended in 1971 when Armstrong left the company. 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

2800-561: The success of his first two professional audio equipment companies, TAPCO and AudioControl. Focused on the goal of producing a reasonably-priced high-quality mixer , he produced the company's first product, the LM-1602, in his three bedroom condominium in Edmonds, Washington . Mackie Designs, Inc. experienced tremendous growth over the next four years, with sales growing from $ 3.8 million to over $ 64 million. This success began with moving production to

2856-509: The team created a run of 500 amplifiers in 1987 dubbed the Limited Edition SVT-HD amps. SLM then 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 amplifiers , ending their production at

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2912-645: Was an electric upright bass with a full-size wooden neck and a cello-sized Uvex plastic body. 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, though popular only with bassists in Latin and salsa bands. In the early 1960s, Ampeg-branded guitars and basses were produced by Burns of London . These instruments did not sell well because import costs made them too expensive compared to Fenders and Gibsons. Baldwin 's purchase of Burns in 1965 ended

2968-520: 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. 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: in Chicago; in Nashville near

3024-895: Was selling a bass amplifier of his own design, soon renamed the Michael-Hull Bassamp. In 1946, they established Michael-Hull Electronic Labs in Newark, New Jersey, 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 Ampeg products , receiving

3080-521: Was sold to LOUD Technologies for USD$ 38.4M in cash and stock. At the time, SLM was generating USD $ 85M in annual revenue, and had 350 employees in its combined service and headquarters, warehouse, engineering offices, and manufacturing plants in Missouri and Arkansas. In November 2008, U.S. Band and Orchestra Supplies, Inc. acquired St. Louis Music and its divisions of Knilling string instruments and Austin guitars from LOUD Technologies, Inc., and in March of

3136-454: Was the first in the company's Portaflex series, and after becoming the preferred studio amp of session musicians like James Jamerson and Chuck Rainey . The B-15 and its subsequent variants went on to become the most-recorded bass amplifier in history. By 1963, the Portaflex series business had grown to 44% of Ampeg's amplifier sales. In 1962, Ampeg introduced the plastic-bodied Baby Bass ,

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