In Woodville, Wahington, there is an instrumental amplification company that has continuously developed some of the best sounding electric bass guitar amplifiers out there. This company is none other than Ampeg and is actually the second name the company held. When it first opened its doors and started to produce amps for the electric generation, they were known as the Michaels-Hull Electronic Labs as a microphone and amp company. From the beginnings, their microphones and amps were nothing less than perfect, featuring low distortion these tube amps soon made a name for themselves in the electric bass industry.

The company Ampeg prides itself and its products with being some of the most innovative in the market totaling six patents. Back in 1960, Olive Jesperson created a combo chassis and amplifier for Ampeg that could easily be tucked into a speaker enclosure in order to protect the sensitive vacuum tubes. Soon, these combos became known under the name of the Portaflex that stayed a popular item throughout the 60’s.

Ampeg was also the first company to incorporate the Reverbrocket, a reverberation into an amplifier which was before Fender released their Vibroverb by almost two years.

By the end of the 1960’s Ampeg was only producing lower powered amplifiers while the world wanted more and more power. As a result, the sales began to decline so as a result, Ampeg created the Super Valve Technology or SVT, which is still a popular seller today. The original SVT amps weighed in at 85 pounds each, but produced a whopping 300 watts which was more than most of their competition at the time. This paved their way into the large venue arenas and soon Ampeg made a comeback. The SVT became one of the most popular amps throughout the 1970’s and even Rolling Stones used them on tour when their HiWatt amps had been delayed by customs.

Even today, the original 1970 models of the SVT amps still find their way into use and they continue to be the standard that many of the newer amps are based on and also see some of the highest prices in the market. These original SVT amps, had 8 separate 10” loud speakers which are arranged into two rows of four. Using an infinite baffle enclosure, the SVT amps are sealed and originally came with CTS speakers. The CTS Speaker use however, would soon decline after Ampeg bought out SLM Electronics to continue to use the loudspeakers in their bass cabinets. This also continued to differ from the other amp manufacturers of the time who opted to use larger diameter speaker as it was the belief at the time that the larger diameter speakers were needed to produce the lower-end bass.

Ampeg still makes the SVT bass amps today and still continues to follow with its pursuit for excellence and continue to use their original 8 10” speaker design. They are the yardstick in which all major competitors still continue to follow when it comes to high-end bass amplifiers.