It was back in the early fifties that Sergio Montanari started to build his first sound amplification systems, at first under the name "Super MB", later "Montarbo". Our trademark, the one still shown on our products, was introduced in 1962.
In those days Montarbo owed much of its success to a very special product: an innovative device that quickly made the company famous in Italy and in the rest of the world. It was a special powered mixer featuring a revolutionary ergonomic principle. A six-channel mixer, a 100-watt power amp and a "magnetic-memory" echo unit were built into a portable metal case with lids doubling as supports when opened. The magnetic memory echo unit was a groundbreaking Montarbo patent, which needed no maintenance and no cleaning thanks to the complete absence of any mechanical friction, a great benefit compared to tape units popular at that time.This original success was inspired by the same product philosophy which still guides Montarbo today: ease-of-use, versatility, top quality, appropriate materials, technological innovations, and, foremost, reliability.
The company continued to create new products in keeping with this philosophy of excellence, including a wide range of amplified mixers, followed in 1965 by the first self-powered speaker enclosures, and shortly after by the first quadriphonic mixers and by the bass amplifiers with separate head units. In the early eighties we were one of the first audio companies to design software-assisted effects processors.