Blackstar had its origins in 2004 when four friends & bandmates decided to form a company to create new and innovative guitar amplifiers and pedals. Having spent two and a half years doing intensive technical research in a garden shed in Northampton England, the first Blackstar products were ready and in March 2007, Blackstar was officially launched at the Frankfurt Musik Messe. Since then they have moved from the garden shed to our own premises, which has a purpose built lab and studio.

Source: Blackstar Amplification website (7 October 2019)

Carlo Robelli is a house brand of the American music store Sam Ash. The Carlo Robelli range includes guitars, basses, folk instruments, bowed instruments and accessories.This brand has been around since at least the 1970s.

The Quilter Sound Company was founded in 1968 by Patrick Howe Quilter. Patrick Quilter was an engineering student with an interest in electronics and music, who built his first amp in 1967 for a friend. In the early 1970s the company operated out of a store in Costa Mesa, California and the amplifiers were built and sold on the same site.

Over the years, the Quilter Sound Company became more focused on developing professional power amplifiers and the guitar amp side of the business became less important. In the 1990s Quilter developed network audio systems to control and monitor amplifier systems remotely and also moved into loudspeaker research and development. The company was renamed QSC, LLC in 2015.

Patrick Quilter retired from QSC in 2011, but then founded Quilter Labs to develop portable, solid-state, high-power guitar amplifiers.

Rocktek was a brand name of affordable (plastic) effects pedals and amplifiers. Rocktek was distributed in the USA by D'Andrea Inc. and the the UK by JHS. Rocktek products were available from the 1980s until around 2004.

Source: Rocktek website (archived 2004)

Sola Sound is an effects and amplifier brand of Macaris Musical Instruments. In 1964 Larry and Joe Macari founded Sola Sounds Limited to develop a range of products made for and sold by the Macaris Musical Exchange shops, as well for distribution nationwide. The product range started with fuzz and effect pedals, but later grew to include amplifiers, mixers, spring reverbs, and microphones. Sola Sound also made Colorsound effects & amplifiers from 1967 onwards.

Source: The Tone Bender Timeline (10 November 2018)

Source: Macaris website (10 November 2018)

Gorilla was a budget amplifier brand in the 1980s onwards. For many guitarists a low powered, solid state, Tawainese made Gorilla was their first amplifier. When Howard Chatt bought the Pignose Amps company in 1985, he re-named it Pignose-Gorilla - possibly Chatt was behind the launch of the Gorilla brand? Circa 2002 the Gorilla line up included:

Futuristic Aids Limited (FAL) was a company in Leeds founded in the 1970s, UK who specialised in budget solid-state PA and lighting equipment, aimed at the moble DJ. There were also FAL instrument amplifiers and in 1979 FAL aquired the Roost guitar amplifier & cabinet company. The FAL company was founded as an offshoot of Linear Products Limited of Leeds, both companies sold their products through the RSC chain of shops as well as Sona Electrical in Leeds.

Source: Andy Duke - Roost history (29 October 2018)

Source: Champ Electronics - The Linear Products Company (29 October 2018)