LOUD Technologies, the company that purchased St. Louis Music in 2005, has closed this long-time (since 1922) locally based company, a designer and distributor of Ampeg, Crate, Dan Armstrong, and other top brands of musicians gear. In May 2007, Loud closed the Ampeg and Crate engineering department in St. Louis, preferring to have new models designed by their own engineers, as well as an Asian engineering group. This followed Loud ceasing manufacturing of Ampeg and Crate at the Yellville, AR, manufacturing facility, outsourcing the manufacturing to contract manufacturers in Asia, and firing the entire sales staff. As if all of this wasn’t bad enough, Loud has also decided to put the final nail in the SLM coffin by eliminating the distribution facility.
Hence, some of the former employees of St. Louis Music are throwing a funeral/party on Saturday December 13 at the Kat Club, 1440 North Broadway, next to Shady Jack’s. Doors open at 7:00 p.m., the cover is $5 and is restricted to 21 & up. The event will feature bands whose employees are part of the SLM family, featuring The Trip Daddys, Giants in the Sky and TBA. Steve Dachroeden is leading the eulogy as well as putting together some pretty cool shit to give away, rumored to be Ampeg and Dan Armstrong shtuff and maybe some of the platinum records that have been given to the company by sponsored artists. There will be two tattoo artists and a mobile soul food unit and I believe PBR is donating beer. Hopefully I’ll have more details to come.
ANYONE can come to this; this event is for past and (until recently) present employees of St. Louis Music/Loud Technologies, as well as SLME. It is ALSO for anyone who has worked with SLM, used or admired Crate, Ampeg, Dan Armstrong, etc., as well as ANYONE who is sad to see a St. Louis company that started eighty-six years ago die.
10 comments ↓
Although I don’t know much about the company’s history, this is a spectacular idea. Hope I can make it!
Somehow I hope this is not the end of an era but possibly the beginning for someone. The worst about all of this is they kept the names that meant a lot for a long period, namely Alvarez Crate and Ampeg. They don’t deserve these long standing great product names. Bert
WOW! I’m stunned to hear all of this news. I had no idea that things were this bad. I agree with Bert above, LOUD has NO right whatsoever to the fine names of Alvarezz, Crate, and most importantly… AMPEG. Ampeg bass amps have an outstanding reputation that is worldwide. Some bassists would give their left nut to be able to own a vintage SVT, or most notably… a “Blue-Line Special”. The bass/guitar dual amp. I remember hanging out with Doc backstage in the Amp Shack at Riverport, talking with Stevie D. of Buckcherry and he was telling the both of us how he urged the company to bring back this Classic amp (note pic above). He stated, “Have you ever seen “Gimme Shelter”, the movie about the Rolling Stones at Altamont? If you ever watch, look closely at the stage. It’s filled from one side to the other… A fuckin’ wall of these Blue-Line Specials. They used them for both their guitar and bass amps for that event.” How fuckin’ cool is that?? I first met Doc for a little over 10 years ago while sitting in the backstage dressing room with Kid Rock. Turned out, we had a common interest… the video show, “Velocity”. He was one of the very 1st producer/director/camera guys who did anything and everything to capture some GREAT bands in the heyday of Mississippi Nights (moment of silence please), including The Descendants & The Red Hot Chili Peppers. Turns out, I took over the show from the Producer that Doc had trained years before! Crazy shit… Running into him backstage in the Dome when Linkin Park played… or in the basement of The Galaxy where he brought an amp for the keyboardist of a band whose name escapes me at the moment, Doc was always there at the top of his game…. ready to offer up whatever any musician needed to help make their sound better. Come Dec. 13th… I will be in attendance!
Shame to see it come to this. I worked at SLM in 1976 as a tech. John Karpowitz was the owner at that time and had just developed the Crate concept. I remember his son was in charge of speaker re-coning and Loved that job! There was also an organ tech that was also a part time funeral director,…. so many crazies that I fit right in. Sad to see it go. Anyone else around from then?
Pete Zimmer
wow, i worked there for about 6 -7 years. i thought it died long ago. i hope i can make it. i often run into a few of the past wesport slm people
Sounds like a great party for a sad deal.
My passion is for Ampeg, and as the historian for that name, I can say, without hesitation, that the years 1985-2005 (the SLM years) were the new golden era for that logo, the products that bore it, and — most importantly — the players who chose to utilize these tools of their trade.
I came to know many people at SLM and their associated brands from Gene Kornblum down to the guy who cleaned the bathrooms and took out the trash at Westport.
From the top down there was a sense of responsibility, not only to be a profitable company, but to be a good employer, to provide for the needs and the wants of the end user, and to see that the network of distributors and dealers enjoyed a reliable stream of product and service.
From the bottom up, I saw a group of people who felt a personal responsibility for upholding the reputaion of the company and its family of brands.
Additionally, most of these people know how to PARTY! I hope to see many of them at the “funeral.”
I worked in the service department from 2000 until it closed doing the bulk of the antique equipment and Artist Relations repairs…. I even had the pleasure of going to China to train our replacements. I look forward to meeting some more people who I fixed amps for! I’ll be the guy with the mohawk who isn’t Dachroeden!
(BY THE WAY, PLEASE REPOST AS WE HAVE PEOPLE WE NEED TO REACH WHO MAY BE EX-EMPLOYEES OR FRIENDS OF SLM. THERE ARE MANY OUT THERE…THIS POST SAYS IT BEST….)
REPOSTED FROM RIK DACHROEDEN:
SATURDAY DECEMBER 13TH..
THE ST LOUIS MUSIC FUNERAL GATHERING.
PLEASE COME. THIS PARTY IS FOR EVERYONE…IF YOU HAD ANYTHING TO DO WITH ST LOUIS MUSIC.
(OR NOT)
THAT MEANS IF YOUR FIRST PRACTICE AMP WAS A CRATE WE WANT YOU THERE. IF YOUR A BIG ROCK STAR THESE DAYS AND YOU PLAY AMPEG YOU SHOULD COME. IF “DOC” EVER GOT YOU A SWEET DEAL ON AN SVT YOU SHOULD COME.
COME PAY YOUR RESPECTS TO A COMPANY THAT LASTED OVER 80 YEARS AND DESTROYED IN 2 BY (LOUD TECHNOLOGIES).
THERES MUSIC TO ENTERTAIN YOU BY ST LOUIS BEST … THE TRIP DADDYS,GIANTS IN THE SKY,MATHEW ROSS,AND SPECIAL GUESTS…
FOOD,DRINKS,BEAUTIFUL BARMAIDS. WE ARE HAVING A RAFFLE TOO.
(I’VE SEEN THE STUFF THATS BEING DONATED AND ITS SWEET.. YOU got TO BUY A TICKET…)
WHERE IS THIS FINE EVENT GOING TO BE HELD.
(LIT) OR FORMALLY THE CAT CLUB 1440 N BROADWAY (NEXT TO SHADY JACKS).
THERES A $5 COVER
DOORS ARE AT 7PM 21& UP
(If you still dont know where this place is its really close to the edward jones dome on broadway)
Wow, I turned in my resignation just hours after they announced the acquisition by Loud, you could see the writing on the walls. Kinda surprised it lasted this long.
I am deeply saddened that such a beautiful dream (that of Bernard, Gene & John K) could be run into nothing.
I hope that the great memories most of us share are not lost on this tragic mistake, I wish I could be there but I don’t think that will be possible.
GodSpeed!
Please email me if you would like pictures… carmenstonerock@hotmail.com - make the subject all caps : ST. LOUIS MUSIC FUNERAL
Thanks so much for showing up and making it as fantastic as it was!
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