News: EBS will present a little historic exhibition at the Frankfurt MusikMesse

EBS PROFESSIONAL BASS EQUIPMENT TURN 25 YEARS!

EBS launched its first product,
the EBS-1 bass preamp, at the Frankfurt MusikMesse 1988! This marked the birth of a new high end bass amp manufacturer dedicated to making the best bass equipment available.

The two young entrepreneurs and electronics designers that started it all still run the company.

Bo Engberg remains the CEO and Mats Kristoffersson is the Technical Director of EBS Sweden AB.

Bo Engberg (b. 1956) grew up in Sollentuna, a suburb north of Stockholm and showed an early talent both in music and selling – he was the number one seller of lottery tickets for the Boy Scouts, which won him a radio! As a teenager he started playing bass in local bands, but also started experimenting with electronics. In the late 1970s, Bo designed and built a series of guitar amps for Swedish guitar dealer and guitarist Jan “Halkan” Hallquisth, and later also a series of effects units for home recording – these were the days of the Portastudio cassette recorder!

By then, Mats Kristoffersson (b. 1965) had joined Bo. Mats, who grew up in the village Rimbo, some 60 kilometers north east of Stockholm, has a similar background as a bass player in local bands and a talented electronics designer. Beside making effect units in the Efekt company, the dynamic duo also made a living from installing equipment in concert halls, arenas, recording studios etcetera, but that was just the means to achieve the goal – making the best bass amps available.

In 1988, the first EBS-1 bass preamp saw the light. Bo and Mats took their new baby to the Frankfurt Musik Messe, in hope of making the music world realize that they were on to something really good for bassists. And luckily enough they ran into an American gentleman in a cowboy hat, Hershel Blankenship, who ran an exclusive business in L.A. assembling advanced electronics rack systems for some of the most prominent concert and recording artists on the American West Coast. Through Blankenship, the first three EBS bass preamps were delivered to three excellent bassists: Flea (Red Hot Chili Peppers), Jimmy Earl (Chick Corea Band), and Billy Talbot (Neil Young & Crazy Horse). Some start, right…? [...]

EBS will present a little historic exhibition at the Frankfurt MusikMesse along with the current program. Come by to see some of the early items now considered rarities!

To celebrate the Anniversary, there’s also the EBS 25 YEARS magazine available to pick up at the booth, featuring exclusive interviews with current and former EBS Artists, as well as a complete timeline and presentation of the current EBS product offering.

Visit EBS at Hall 4.0, E64