Wednesday, June 25, 2014

Our Ampeg Start



Don Russo (left) and Frankie Carle

Scott Russ Music has a history that has ties with the company Ampeg.  Our founder, Don Russo, was involved with Ampeg Bassamp Company, an innovator in amplified upright bass pickups, early on.  Don worked with Ampeg founder Everett Hull in the late 1940's and early 1950's.  At the time, Ampeg was producing a pickup for the upright bass, and instrument amplifiers with minimal output distortion. They were looking to magnify the sound of the bass so it would stand out more in the music. Don, a musician, worked with Hull on research and development.  In addition, both Don and his wife Sandra worked with Hull in the evenings to test the amps. The voltage in the building the company was located in fluctuated a lot during the day, due to the heavy use and Con Edison not having enough generators.  This made it difficult to test the amps during the daytime.  As a result, they had wait until nighttime to test the amps so they could tell if the they were working correctly.  According to the book Ampeg:The Story Behind The Sound, by Greg Hopkins and Bill Moore, Don "... enjoyed working for Hull and learned enough about the business to set up a music equipment shop himself later on."  This music shop is now run by Don's son Scott and is called Scott Russ Music.




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