Korg USA buys revered bass guitar brand Aguilar Amplification
Aguilar are the makers of the celebrated DB680 studio bass preamp.
Image: Aguilar
Aguilar Amplification, the bass guitar brand best known for its amplifiers and pedals, has been acquired by Korg USA.
Aguilar broke the news about the acquisition in an email [obtained by MusicTech] sent out to its retail partners. According to the email, the company has been renamed to Aguilar Musical Instruments LLC as of 1 January, 2021.
Aguilar president Dave Boonshoft will stay on as a consultant leading product development. The brand’s factory address and staff are to remain unchanged, and orders will continue being fulfilled under the same procedures.
In the email, Dave Avenius, managing director at Aguilar, called the acquisition “the next chapter in Aguilar history”.
“Aguilar Amplification has spent the last 25 years designing legacy products and continually raising the bar for the bass guitar world,” he wrote. “To help us take the brand to the next level we have decided to sell the company to Korg USA, one of the most well-respected businesses in our industry.”
Musictech.net has reached out to both Korg USA and Aguilar for comment. Stay tuned for more on this story.
Aguilar Amplification launched in 1995 with the all-tube DB680 bass preamp. Boonshoft, a working New York bassist, teamed with technician Alex Aguilar to create a preamp with the qualities of studio equipment, such as those by Neve and Telefunken. The DB680’s name, itself was a nod to the Fairchild 670 tube compressor – of which Boonshoft was a big fan of.
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