Comparatively few AMUB-1 fashions had been produced by Ampeg for less than two years throughout the late 1960s, making this upright-inspired electrical a uncommon hen. Photograph by George Aslaender of Retrofret Classic Guitars

Whenever you learn varied accounts and sources on the historical past of Ampeg within the ’50s and ’60s, you sometimes see founder Everett Hull characterised as skeptical of—if not actively against—rock ’n’ roll as a musical style. Hull was a giant band participant by background and the corporate’s foundational product was an amplification system that was put in within the peg of an upright bass. This “amplified peg,” after all, inspiring the identify Ampeg. He seemingly thought of rock music to be beneath the eye of his firm, and when, within the mid-’60s, the agency got down to compete with Fender by producing its personal bass guitar mannequin, it did so in a decidedly upright-influenced and jazz-oriented means.

The Band’s Rick Danko and Boz Burrell of Unhealthy Firm/King Crimson are among the many mannequin’s different notable gamers.

First launched in 1966 and designed by Dennis Kager (who is claimed to have taken inspiration from the offset form of the Fender Jazzmaster), the brand new Ampeg line featured two fashions: the AEB-1 and the “unfretted” AUB-1, one of many first fretless bass guitar fashions. Different upright-oriented appointments on these basses included the distinct scrolled headstock, exaggerated f-holes, a 45-inch string size, and, maybe most intriguing, its thriller pickup. This system relied on two giant magnets and a diaphragm put in beneath the bridge that picked up vibrations all through the physique and was in a position to seize the sound of intestine strings along with metal.

Belt rash and end checking are the one indicators of damage on this in any other case all-original bass. Photograph by George Aslaender of Retrofret Classic Guitars

Given Hull’s affinity for upright tones and the corporate’s origins making upright amplification, the pickup is smart, however its low microphonic output rendered it considerably unviable for the more and more loud levels of the last decade. In 1967, Ampeg went by way of a change in possession and, with Hull leaving the image, the corporate refined these basses with a brand new bridge, an up to date physique building method, and the swapping of the thriller pickup for a brand new design with 4 separate coils set inside a block of epoxy resin. The fretted model was dubbed the AMB-1 and the AMUB-1 was the fretless variant. Comparatively few of those basses had been produced from late 1968 to early 1969. This month’s featured bass comes from this batch.

The scroll headstock and open tuners are a robust indicator of this mannequin’s upright-bass inspirations. Photograph by George Aslaender of Retrofret Classic Guitars

As if this mannequin’s evolution and origins weren’t fascinating sufficient, it so occurs that this specific bass was beforehand owned by the late, nice Walter Becker of Steely Dan. (The Band’s Rick Danko and Boz Burrell of Unhealthy Firm/King Crimson are among the many mannequin’s different notable gamers.) This black-finished instrument is listed on Reverb for $5,500 by Retrofret Classic Guitars of Brooklyn, New York, who describe its sensational really feel and “darkish, growly” tone, and its “all-original situation, displaying some play put on however with no repairs or alterations.” The bass is accompanied by its unique black-Tolex hardshell case. In its itemizing, Retrofret additionally emphasizes that the “AMUB-1 is just a kind of sadly underappreciated classics, a much better instrument than its relative obscurity would counsel.”

This instrument comes with its unique Tolex case and was a part of Becker’s blue-ribbon assortment of 4-strings. Photograph by George Aslaender of Retrofret Classic Guitars

It’s inconceivable to understand how or when Becker used it or if it may be heard on any notable Steely Dan recordings. As a fan, although, I can’t assist however ascribe some metaphorical weight between this Ampeg fretless bass, which sits at a historic intersection between jazz and rock, and the music of Steely Dan, which does the identical.

Additional info may also be present in Ampeg: The Story Behind the Sound by Invoice Moore and Gregg Hopkins, and Dave Hunter’s Amped:The Illustrated Historical past of the World’s Best Amplifiers.