• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

What can we possibly expect from Yamaha taking over Ampeg?

#241
basscooker said:
Have there been any hints of Yamaha ingredients in the pipeline with an upcoming Ampeg release? Something new from Ampeg that might have some Yammy DNA?

It's got to be tough to incorporate any big changes to a company with such a rich and storied legacy without turning off the die-hards. Could there maybe be a collaborative brand in the works? Possibly a means to leave Peg and Yammie as-is but still use proprietary IP from both?

Just curious, really. I have very limited experience with either.

It is fascinating and has me anxious for the future of Ampeg, Mesa Boogie and Aguilar now at least somewhat under the umbrella of companies with deep roots in lots of pretty high-tech offerings.
Click to expand...

My take on this is Yamaha bought Ampeg for a reason, to get the brand and the customer base and the cachet.

Yamaha has made a number of bass amp products in the past and none of them seem to ever catch on. The basses yeah but never the amps.

I figure they got tired of bashing their head against a very crowded marketplace and decided to just buy an existing brand, one that is probably the best selling brand in the world for bass amps (I suspect Fender sells a lot more amps but Ampeg sells more bass amps).

If there is any collaboration between Yamaha and Ampeg I suspect it will be in the realm of parts supplies, manufacturing facilities and distribution, not actual products.

At this time, in the US market Yamaha does not even offer any bass amp products.

They make some nice and interesting basses but not bass amps*.

They might offer bass amps in other markets I don't really know.

*One of the pictures on the website for bass gear shows an Ampeg amp in the background and way far away is one of those vintage early 1980's Yamaha bass rigs. You can't even tell by the picture but I assume it's that B100 head.

Analogeezer
 
  • Like
Reactions: basscooker
#242
I spitballed an idea, maybe mentioned already, of a collaborative brand. The more I think about that, the more I see it appealing to both of them.

Neither has to change anything about their current business

Some of the Ampeg all star engineers get to play with Yamaha modeling and have access to well established digitally based R&D facilities

Yamaha gets to cherry pick legendary tones for impulse responses, cab sims, and modeling platforms

They've both got bunches of smart guys and gals that can whip up a neato name, branding scheme, marketing campaign and sales push

Ok, now someone can poke a million holes in that. Thanks for indulging my probably crazy idea for fun though.
 
  • Like
Reactions: BasturdBlaster and agedhorse
#245
Yamaha has never built a bass amp that was worth a **** but their basses (and acoustic pianos) have been mostly good to excellent for decades. They strike me as conservative enough not to mess too much with the tradition Ampeg brings. Of course I could be horribly wrong...
 
#248
iAsh said:
Yamaha has never built a bass amp that was worth a **** but their basses (and acoustic pianos) have been mostly good to excellent for decades. They strike me as conservative enough not to mess too much with the tradition Ampeg brings. Of course I could be horribly wrong...
Click to expand...

Anthony Jackson seemed to disagree, and he wasn't the only one using those old Yamaha bass amps (the ones that looked like Fenders). In some parts of the world they were pretty popular.
They just stopped making them. They even had an early Class-D model - that, unfortunately, wasn't popular - a lot of people joked that it was small and light and couldn't possibly be good.
Joke's on them, I guess.
 
  • Like
Reactions: agedhorse
#249
seamonkey said:
Line 6 developed SVT Suite
https://ampeg.com/svt-suite/
They should have release it through their Helix line and made it portable. Helix is an excellent amp sim platform.
Click to expand...

They do... I'm looking at my HX Stomp right now and it has both the regular SVT and the "Bright Channel" SVT modeled - and an 810E cabinet.
 
  • Like
Reactions: JimmyM, agedhorse and JKos
#250
frankie5string said:
26111160[/URL], member: 120092"]Anthony Jackson seemed to disagree, and he wasn't the only one using those old Yamaha bass amps (the ones that looked like Fenders). In some parts of the world they were pretty popular.
They just stopped making them. They even had an early Class-D model - that, unfortunately, wasn't popular - a lot of people joked that it was small and light and couldn't possibly be good.
Joke's on them, I guess.
Click to expand...

I agree that in some ways those old Yamahas were ahead of their time and I won’t fault the quality. I did use a couple of different ones in the early 80’s and to me they sounded very clean and somewhat....I dunno, artificial? It’s been forty years though. They might have been a little better than I’m giving them credit for. I did like them ok with the double bass but I was using a B-15 a lot at that time the and the Yamahas probably didn’t have enough of the harmonic distortion warmth I wanted on the electric bass. I dig Anthony Jackson immensely (his GP mag column was like the bible to me) but I have never gone for that hifi sound. And how long did he or anyone else really use them? I mainly recall seeing live shots of AJ at that time with rack systems.

But ok, I guess I was was a little harsh in my judgment. There are reason the things didn’t have much longevity in the major North American market though. Probably a combination mostly of sound and form factor but also marketing and maybe bad timing. If they did well long term in other markets it’s probably because they were better than other options which is very believable.
 
#252
There was a 1x15 B100 at a rehearsal space. It was heavy like a beast but I never much cared for the tone.

BTW, it will be 4 years in May since Ampeg was sold.
They must have some incredible amp coming out that took 4 years to design and build.
One would think that they are in the perfect place to build the first professional grade, high output, dedicated Class D sampling bass amp.
 
#253
Yamaha, has always had a very well funded R&D Department. Least we forget, they excelled at building Grand Pianos and were the first major competition for Steinway and Baldwin in the U.S.. They entered woodwind and brass musical instrument manufacturing
competing head to head with Selmer and other U.S. builders. Then there's the early PF 70 and DX7 digital keyboards which everyone moved to in the 80's from their Fender Rhodes. So, when they decide to do something new with the Ampeg brand I'm pretty sure
we'll all be talking about it. Just my take of course.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Luther, agedhorse, JimmyM and 1 other person
#254
Ric Vice said:
Yamaha, has always had a very well funded R&D Department. Least we forget, they excelled at building Grand Pianos and were the first major competition for Steinway and Baldwin in the U.S.. They entered woodwind and brass musical instrument manufacturing
competing head to head with Selmer and other U.S. builders. Then there's the early PF 70 and DX7 digital keyboards which everyone moved to in the 80's from their Fender Rhodes. So, when they decide to do something new with the Ampeg brand I'm pretty sure
we'll all be talking about it. Just my take of course.
Click to expand...
Well they did intro a line of combos, and there's nothing wrong with their current gear, either :D
 
  • Like
Reactions: Geri O, tombowlus, agedhorse and 1 other person
#256
Jim C said:
...BTW, it will be 4 years in May since Ampeg was sold.
They must have some incredible amp coming out that took 4 years to design and build.
One would think that they are in the perfect place to build the first professional grade, high output, dedicated Class D sampling bass amp.
Click to expand...

Ampeg, Mesa and Aguilar were sold recently and it seems that nothing changed at the moment... no news = good news?
 
#257
Ric Vice said:
Yamaha, ...... Least we forget, they excelled at building Grand Pianos...
Click to expand...
The first time I saw Chick Corea (R.I.P.) he was carrying his own Yamaha grand piano on tour (I watched as it was being loaded onto the truck after the show while I was getting a lesson on playing the berimbau from Naná Vasconcelos. This was in 1982 during the Tap Step tour.
 
#258
Jeff Scott said:
The first time I saw Chick Corea (R.I.P.) he was carrying his own Yamaha grand piano on tour (I watched as it was being loaded onto the truck after the show while I was getting a lesson on playing the berimbau from Naná Vasconcelos. This was in 1982 during the Tap Step tour.
Click to expand...

Keith Emerson used a Yamaha Midi-Grand on the Black Moon tour in 1993ish.

This was not a synth in a piano case, it was a full on grand (well not concert grand, those are 9 feet long) which had internal MIDI he used to trigger external modules. But yeah a regular grand, strings and all it just had the ability to send out note, aftertouch and velocity data.

Analogeezer
 
  • Like
Reactions: wcriley

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back