The Ultra Lo
NEWS
A Lot Can Happen In 75 years!
By: Dino Monoxelos
Ever since the earliest known early humans banged two rocks together to communicate amongst themselves, the need for sound, specifically being able to produce, low, guttural vibrations that could be felt, more than heard has been needed. We obviously know it probably took several million years for that sound to develop into what we now consider music. But, consider this if you will, the first known music stems back to approximately 1500BC. So from this we can estimate that actual “music” has been around for roughly 3500 years. Out of that 3500 years, “bass” instruments have been around since the 1400s which brings us to about the last 624 years of actual bass.
Now taking this one step further with Ampeg celebrating our 75th Anniversary this year, we can say that we’ve been innovating and developing bass amplification for approximately 12% of that time. I know… This was a pretty long-winded way of getting around to me saying “hey… Ampeg is celebrating its 75th year of being a “bass amp” company!!! But hey, you got a bit of a history lesson out of it, didn’t you? You’re welcome… I hope!
Speaking of history… Let’s talk about Ampeg history! (Cough… cough… Segue) So first off, even though some of the first Michaels-Hull amplifiers and the first “amplified peg” were introduced more than 75 years ago, the Ampeg Bassamp Company was officially incorporated in 1949, thus making 2024 our 75th year officially as Ampeg.
A lot can happen to a company in seventy-five years. Six changes in ownership, even more in changes of geographical locations of main offices and factories. Changes in management, leadership and personnel. Changes in products, development and marketing. Heck, just look at how many iterations there are of the Ampeg logo and script fonts used to spell our name. Even changes in how our amps look! How many times have you heard the question of what era of Ampeg is cosmetically your favorite? The “blue diamond cheque” of the 50s and 60s? Or how about the blue and silver grilles of the 70’s and 80’s which we now refer to as the AV (short for anniversary) cosmetics. And of course the latest Classic look with the “black with white piping?” Believe me, it’s a lot to keep track of and even harder to appease so many different fans of so many different eras of Ampeg.
But one thing will always remain constant and unwavering…. Ampeg’s commitment to innovating and developing the very best in bass amplification and what we like to call “bass solutions.” Because lets face it, not all bass players are looking for a bass amplifier. In today’s world, whether it be live, studio, or simply practicing in your bedroom, there is a myriad of needs for bass to be heard and felt, and not necessarily with an amplifier. And not all players looking for a way to amplify their “bass” are bass players. (Wink wink)
So from the first time our founding father Mr. Everett Hull developed the “amplified peg” by installing a microphone on the endpin of his upright bass, all the way through the innovation of the “flip-top” B15 and the earth-shattering SVT, we here at Ampeg will always have your bass interests in OUR BEST interests. Even one of our old ads slogans used to say “designed by musicians… FOR musicians.” And speaking of ads… (another segue coming up…) the Ampeg ads over this past seventy-five years have been priceless. We hope you enjoy this small montage of ads that we’ve put together for you. These are just a few of some of the ads found in the Ampeg archives. If you want the full monty of ads, along with the complete story and amazing photo journal of the history of Ampeg, please be sure to check out this book… Ampeg – The Story Behind The Sound by Gregg Hopkins and Bill Moore (Hal Leonard)
Dino has spent over 25 years in the Ampeg world conducting seminars and clinics all over the globe. He’s also the author of four instructional bass books by Mel Bay and his own publishing company, MonoTunes Music. His favorite bass to play is his MTD 534-24.
NEWS
Venture VB-88: A Heavy Story About Light Weight
By: Dino Monoxelos
Okay… I get it! If you’re an Ampeg fan like me, we all love driving the “big rigs.” There’s nothing like an SVT pumping through a big ol’ 810 cabinet. But if you’re also like me, the thought of having to move that monster, even with the easiest of load-ins makes my back, and few other assorted body parts hurt. How many times have we seen that meme of the 810 at the bottom of a staircase with the caption “name a more iconic duo”?
Unless you’re one of the very fortunate to have your own roadie, or you’re playing a festival where the SVT and 810 is already back-lined, the chances of you taking an 810 to every gig is increasingly diminished because of the thought of having to move it. Or just the logistics of having the means of transportation to bring the 810 to a gig just isn’t possible. Although I do remember my early days of gigging, I actually removed the passenger seat of my 1969 VW Beetle so I could lay my 810 cab on its side and lay it front to back on the passenger side, and lay my SVT in the back seat along with my basses. Yeah… I was that obsessed back then, and whole lot younger and could recover from injuries quicker.
In more recent years, I actually did an instructional video on how to load and unload an 810 cab into your vehicle without hurting your back for this very reason.
Fast forward to today… Bass players are increasingly downsizing their rigs, or replacing them altogether with IEMs and pedal board preamps. But, the need to move some air on stage still remains. Or again if you’re like me, you long to have your 810 on the gig, whether it be a visual thing, or just need to move some air. For many reasons, the SVT and 810 continue to remain the industry standard for many touring and gigging professionals. But let’s face it, it is big and cumbersome to move every night on your own.
Enter the VB-88. As we jokingly say around here at Ampeg… “we took the 810 and put it on a diet” while also “cleaning” it up a bit. At roughly two-thirds the size of an 810 cab and, less than half the weight (140lbs versus 67lbs), the VB-88 is the answer to wanting that big format, big stage presence, big air movement cabinet without that big chiropractor bill!
So how’d we do it?
Like all Venture cabinets we did a ton (no pun intended) of research and development to find the lightest yet durable cabinet construction materials available. Combine that with precision internal bracing, front-shelf porting and a birch baffle board and you’ve got the foundation of a great sounding, lightweight and amazingly loud cabinet. But what good would all this research and design be if we just slapped eight heavy ceramic speakers in there. So we enlisted LaVoce® to design a neo driver to our exacting specs that would bring this cabinet to life.
Oh… here’s that “clean” part I mentioned earlier, because of the nature of neodymium speakers as well as a LaVoce HF driver, the VB-88 has a bit of an inherently cleaner sound to it than the 810. But don’t be fooled, the VB-88 can also give you a nasty bark like you would expect from any Ampeg cabinet, especially the 810. The other part of cleaning it up meant giving it the same carbon fiber style tolex as all the Venture cabs combined with a new blacked out grille and re-designed logo plate.
And if moving this cabinet wasn’t easy enough, we kept the towel bar and dolly style casters, same as the 810, as well as adding side handles. This way, even your guitar player or better yet, singer, would be able to move it for you if you ask them nicely.
So next time you say you’ll never move an 810 again… well that may be true but now you have no excuse to not be able to still bring the thunder with a VB-88.
Dino has spent over 25 years in the Ampeg world conducting seminars and clinics all over the globe. He’s also the author of four instructional bass books by Mel Bay and his own publishing company, MonoTunes Music. His favorite bass to play is his MTD 534-24.