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Holden Wasp International - Sydney-based manufacturer which originated in Christchurch
Ian Johnstone arrived in Australia in 1967 as a roadie from New Zealand and stayed to form WASP Industries with Doug Henderson, making valve amplifiers under the name of Holden which was a New Zealand company owned by Ron Holden. Ian bought Doug out in 1968. The WASP 200 watt bass amp became an Australian industry standard for many years, being used by bands such as Sherbet, Hush, Flying Circus, Blackfeather and Jeff St. John's Copperwine. Here, Ian tells the story in his own words .....
"I started Wasp in 1967. Ron Holden was at the time building Holden amplifiers in New Zealand that looked like Fender amps (with the controls at the top). I had Ron redesign the heads to resemble the classic English amps like Marshall and Orange etc.. I also had him totally design me a new model that had similar controls to the Marshall 100 lead amp. Wasp was originally a model name, but when we set up in Australia, we did not want to use Holden, as we had no Auto in our range! For the first two years or so Holden made the chassis in NZ and we did all the cabinetry in Australia. After that all amps were built under license in Australasia. I went through three models of valves in the 15 years I ran Wasp — EL34's, KT 88's and 6550's. In the mid seventies, Ron Holden sold Holden in New Zealand to Mike Lewis, and moved across to Australia. He and I formed another company called Holden Wasp International, which was mainly involved with importing and distributing components and parts for amplifiers and cabinets." |
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