From Mixers to Amps
When Kenneth Andersson and Dan Bävholm first met in their hometown of Kungsbacka, they were still young schoolboys who shared a passion for electronic tinkering. After absorbing the fundamentals of electronics from library books, they scavenged parts from old radio and TV sets in order to construct their own new devices. Neither youth was musically inclined, but mutual friends referred them to local musicians who were seeking quality equipment at low cost. The first products — hand-made audio mixers — were good-sounding and durable, and they were sold for less than the mass-produced models of the day. (The teenage builders were willing to work with essentially no profit margin.)
Their intermittent manufacture of mixers and guitar amplifiers continued through the formal establishment of Lab.gruppen in 1979. The company was originally located inside a local hi-fi store, where the duo serviced consumer equipment for additional income. In the meantime, they continued to develop new products such as the AXE-AMP and SS 300 power amplifier.
