Local Heroes
Lab.gruppen’s first amplifier, the SS 300, achieved notable success based on its sonic qualities and reliability. But PA rental companies wanted more power. Lab.gruppen responded with the SS 1000, which boasted a hefty 2 × 500 W of output.
The SS 1000 was first shown at a local fair in Gothenburg as an empty box: the Lab.gruppen founders were confident that they could finish their design and build the amplifiers if any orders were forthcoming. Orders quickly exceeded the modest expectations, and production soon advanced to more than 30 amplifiers per month. SS1000 was also the first Lab.gruppen product displayed at the Frankfurt Musik Messe.
With the success of the SS 1000, Lab.gruppen moved out of its cramped quarters inside the hi-fi store to its own modest, redbrick building. The company already had grown to become one of the more substantial businesses in the town of Kungsbacka, and the fact that the company had become a significant exporter throughout Europe attracted notice in the local press.
Several of Sweden’s leading PA rental firms quickly adopted the SS 1000 as their preferred amplifier. Promotional posters show the number of amplifiers incorporated in each system, and a selection of the artists supported on tour. By the early 1980s, Lab.gruppen had become the leading Swedish manufacturer of professional amplifiers, and was on the threshold of becoming a major provider throughout Europe.
The SS 1000 established Lab.gruppen as a first-rank maker of touring amplifiers. Eva Dahlgren, one of Sweden’s best-known singer-songwriters, toured with Lab.gruppen amplifiers beginning early in her career. Photos taken on tour in 1985-86.
With the introduction of the SS 1400, Lab.gruppen had become a full-line amplifier supplier. This occasion warranted production of the first Lab.gruppen catalog in 1985.