Yamaha acquires bass amp brand, Ampeg
The brand beloved by bassists joins Line 6 as part of Yamaha’s brand-new guitar-focused subsidiary.
Yamaha Corporation has just announced some very big news: It has acquired Ampeg, a brand known for its bass amplifiers and pedals, from LOUD Audio.
Ampeg will join Line 6 in Yamaha’s recently set up guitar-focused US subsidiary, Yamaha Guitar Group. While no details of the new entity have been released, the conglomerate mentioned the three brands—Line 6, Ampeg and Yamaha—will combine their “technology and know-how” into new products and marketing efforts. So we could see a mash-up of Line 6’s modeling algorithms and Ampeg’s robust bass cabs, for instance.
“Following the acquisition of the Ampeg brand line-up, Yamaha has secured a position in the market for specialized bassist products, an area where [we have] not been fully able to respond to artists’ needs thus far,” the company said in a statement.
Ampeg was founded in 1946 as a manufacturer of pickups for upright basses, then branched out to producing instruments and amps. But it was only in the mid-noughties that it found its niche in bass gear: amps, cabinets and pedals, specifically. And that’s not likely to change—so rejoice, all you bassists out there.
For more information, check out yamaha.com.