In Memoriam: Rick Jones

We have sad news to share today as bass amp designer Rick Jones has passed away after a heart attack at the age of 75. The news was shared by his company, Acoustic Image, with a note stating “Rick was a very special human being and will be greatly missed.”

Jones founded Acoustic Image in 1998 and debuted the company at the 1999 NAMM Show. He was a bassist himself and was dissatisfied with the amp choices available to him until playing a Walter Woods amp, which helped to inspire his own concepts.

“My earliest ideas were about making amps that were compact. How do you get a full sound and keep it portable,” he told All About Jazz. “As an engineer, I was trained to think in whole systems, about the overall process, and so I thought about how everything affected everything else and what the trade-offs were with each decision.”

His designs would come to include downfiring low frequency drivers in small and uniquely shaped enclosures. Facing a woofer down gives a different sound dispersion that the company says is more natural and transparent in town. “Our designs have evolved over the years as a result of the improvement in the high frequency response of the drivers we use. The result is that we have recently focused on sidefiring and upfiring designs,” they write.

Acoustic Image produces a range of head units, cabinets, combo amps, and even a standalone preamp. The amps are generally utilized by double bassists.

For more on Dr. Jones and his approach, listen to this interview by Jason Heath of Contrabass Conversations:

Our thoughts are with the family and friends of Dr. Rick Jones.