please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . november 2012 learn how and when to remove this template message ampeg formerly called michaels hull electronic labs type private industry musical instruments founded 1946 ; 70 years ago 1946 founder everett hull stanley michaels headquarters woodinville washington united states of america area served global products bass & guitar amps electric & acoustic upright basses pickups bass guitars electric guitars parent loud technologies subsidiaries dan armstrong website ampeg.com ampeg is a manufacturer of musical instruments especially the musical instrument amplifier established by everett hull and stanley michaels in 1946 and now headquartered in woodinville washington . although the company specializes in the production of bass amplifiers for bass guitars and double basses they also manufacture guitar amplifiers . in the past ampeg also manufactured several instruments including pickups double basses bass guitars and electric guitars . contents 1 overview 1.1 history 1.2 ampeg now 1.2.1 recent amplifiers after 1990s 1.2.2 recent instruments after 1990s 2 amplifiers 2.1 innovations and characteristics 2.1.1 ampeg portaflex 2.1.2 characteristics 2.1.3 reverberocket 2.2 dan armstrong 2.2.1 super valve technology 2.3 collectability and playability 3 instruments and accessories 3.1 baby bass 3.2 guitars by burns 3.3 horizontal bass and devil bass 3.4 dan armstrong see through 3.5 hagstr m distribution 3.6 stud series 3.7 effects pedals & accessories 4 references 5 bibliography 6 further reading 7 external links overview edit history edit everett hull a pianist and bassist and stanley michaels an electrical engineer and amp technician established michaels hull electronic labs in newark new jersey in 1946 . their first products were a pickup designed by hull for upright bass and instrument amplifiers that had minimal output distortion which jazz musicians favored . the pickup was called the amplified peg which became ampeg . michaels left the company in 1948 leaving it to hull who relocated to 42nd street in manhattan the following year and renamed it the ampeg bassamp company . in 1956 ampeg s name was simplified to the ampeg company which became the ampeg company inc. when the company incorporated in 1959 . in 1962 ampeg relocated to linden new jersey and became a publicly owned company after an initial public stock offering the following year . 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 the later norlin which at times owned various music instrument brands including gibson guitars lowrey and moog music . everett hull was wrongly under the impression that the new owners would act more as a partnership ; instead his role within the company was reduced . he tendered his resignation in october 1968 . 1 in 1971 ampeg was acquired by magnavox 2 which also owned selmer the band instrument manufacturer but was better known for televisions radios and hi fi systems . in 1980 ampeg was acquired by music technology inc. mti . mti declared bankruptcy a few years later and st. louis music slm acquired the assets of ampeg in 1986 . slm was subsequently bought by loud technologies in 2005 . 2 ampeg now edit ampeg svt classic bass rig with ampeg svt 6 pro the current ampeg company is mainly known in the field of bass amps . they also have a line of guitar amplifiers and a remake of the dan armstrong guitar and bass . in 2005 ampeg and its parent company st. louis music also makers of crate amps was purchased by loud technologies inc. in march 2007 loud ceased production of ampeg and crate at the manufacturing facility in yellville arkansas outsourcing the manufacture of ampeg and crate to contract manufacturers in asia . recent amplifiers after 1990s edit in the mid 1990s vintage guitar amps like the jet and the reverberocket were reissued under the diamond blue series designation ; complete with original bluish colored checkerboard covering synonymous with their amps in the 1960s . 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 . 3 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 recent instruments after 1990s edit in the mid to late 1990s ampeg reissued the baby bass the horizontal bass 4 and the see through instruments as well as wooden instruments based on the see through design . amplifiers edit ampeg portaflex b 15n early 1970s innovations and characteristics edit ampeg holds six u.s. patents under the ampeg brand name . ampeg portaflex edit main article ampeg portaflex in the late 1950s jess oliver invented 4 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 . characteristics edit a particular characteristic of ampeg amplifiers in the 1960s is that they were designed to be used for jazz and other types of music where distortion was not sought after as everett hull had a major contempt for rock and roll music and his hope that it being merely a passing fancy never materializing had merely manifested his dismissive attitude towards the genre . not only did he loathe the presence of rock musicians visiting the then new jersey based facility but also his narrow minded bias served as something of a corporate liability in his apparent unwillingness to market ampeg amps to rock musicians ; as ampeg didn t go out of its way to seek endorsements from pop rock bands and musicians despite plenty of them using ampeg products at one time or another . the closest they came to a rock n roll endorser at one point was by way of joe long a left handed bass player of the four seasons who played the company s horizontal bass . this was further compounded by the one chief competitor hull disliked the most ; fender as they continually bested ampeg in overall sales . 4 hull also naively believed that the accordion was just as popular as ever and denoted accordion jacks on certain amp models . hull would grudgingly acknowledge rock n roll music via advertising copy for ampeg s supercombo bass amp introduced in 1959 . reverberocket edit ampeg r 12 r reverberocket the reverberocket would become another exception to that rule as an amplifier with 6v6 tubes which sounded fendery and did break up in a way that rock and roll players could use . 5 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 . dan armstrong edit main article dan armstrong 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 main article ampeg svt 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 . collectability and playability edit ampeg v4 1970s ampeg b 25 c. 1969 and 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 always command high prices ampeg guitar amps such as the reverberocket can often be found for a decent price . 5 in general ampeg guitar amps until 1964 are not very much wanted as they have a dark moody sound and remain very clean 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 . many of these models are underrated take pedals well and are the best buys for guitar amps from that time period . original svt bass amps are very much sought after for their fat clear punchy sound . 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 ; being 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 . 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 . 4 dan armstrong