Dan Armstrong - Man & Guitars

Just as Matt Umanov had made the prototype acrylic instruments for Dan back in the day, Ampeg had also produced prototypes not only for the AMG1 & AMG100 instruments, but for models that never went into production. Sold as 'one-offs' they eventually found their way into players and collectors hands. The following pages show just a few of them.

First off is the ADA5 - a prototype 5-String Bass that was made in Japan by FujiGen in 2005. Seen at left and right, its mahogany body has an all natural finish with black scratchplate, pickup and other trimmings.

At left and right, a closer look at the 5-string Gotoh bridge/tailpiece unit.

At left, and according to Mr. Tom Kruszka at St. Louis Guitar Service this bass is equipped with active preamps, As such the scratchplate is adorned with three controls consisting of a volume plus a bass & treble knob. It is unknown for certain just how the mini selector switch works but one guess is series/parrellel switching of the coils given what looks like a Seymour Duncan 'BassLines' humbucker.

On the right, this bass features a 34" scale length 3-piece laminated maple neck. Notice the light areas in a few of the laminates, which are bits of 'flame' meaning the laminates are quarter-sawn for added stability and strength. The neck features a 'D' type profile and its thickness in inches is .8" at the 1^st fret moving up to .91" at the 12^th fret. The neck features a rosewood fingerboard sporting 22 frets. Notice the battery compartment and the Ampeg 'a' which is etched into the neck plate. Photos courtesy of Mr. Richard Merriman.

At left the headstock, like the body, features a natural finish. The enlarged view reveals the three laminates quite easily. The nut width is 1^3/4" while the scratchplate matching truss rod cover has the Ampeg name blazed into it in white. At right, the unusual arrangement of the five tuners show what is obviously a replacement tuner. Judging by how perfectly the replacement 'Gotoh' tuner matches the factory 'Ampeg' tuners would seem to suggest the factory tuners were, in fact, a set of Gotoh tuners that had the Ampeg name slapped onto them..

At left, with the scratchplate removed and turned over, some of the 'electronicals' of this bass can be seen. Notice a bit on the upper right of the photo that the instrument's control cavity can be seen, and which appears to be shielded, no doubt due to the active electronics.

At right, notice that unlike many of the Dan Armstrong styled instruments this prototype has its output jack mounted on its wooden side - much like a Les Paul guitar. Both images are better seen in the enlarged views.

This bass weighs in at 9lbs 4oz making it approximately 10-11 oz lighter than a Dan Armstrong acrylic bass. According to Tom Kruszka "This is a one of a kind proto that never went into production. Would have been the next generation of Ampeg basses and been labelled the 'AMB2' but they elected not to produce them. I have no other details other than I have a Teal Blue version hanging on the wall here in my office."