Allen & Heath

Allen & Heath was founded in London in 1969, emerging directly from the progressive rock scene that was redefining British music. The company's earliest consoles were hand-built, custom instruments made for the bands themselves — Pink Floyd, Genesis, and The Who were early clients, receiving desks built to their specific live and studio requirements.

This origin in bespoke, artist-driven equipment gave Allen & Heath a practical engineering culture that distinguished it from the more commercially-oriented British manufacturers. Their approach was to build what was needed, built well, at a price that didn't require a major label budget. The GS3000 studio recording console — a professional in-line desk with a genuinely British character — represented this philosophy applied to the mid-tier studio market.

Allen & Heath became predominantly known as a live sound console manufacturer through the 1990s and 2000s, producing the GL, GLD, and eventually the SQ and dLive series that dominate touring and installation today. In 2017 the company was acquired by Audiotonix Group alongside SSL — a pairing that represents the twin poles of British console manufacturing, reunited under one roof.