From Wikipedia:
“Bob Heil (October 5, 1940) is…most well known for creating the template for modern rock sound systems. He founded the company Heil Sound in 1966,which went on to create unique touring sound systems for bands such as The Grateful Dead and The Who. He invented the Heil Talk Box in 1973, which was frequently used by musicians such as Peter Frampton, Joe Walsh and Richie Sambora, and is still in use today.”
Bob Heil is a great American inventor. I’ve written about him before on this site; click here for an example. Here’s a quick look at some of Heil’s products from the mid 1970s. If anyone out there is still using any of these pieces, drop us a line and let us know…
The Heil HM88 Stereo Mixer
The Heil HM1000 Stereo mixer with optional plug-in phaser. Wow can you image. What would the modern equivalent of this functionality be? Built-in AutoTune?
The Heil HM1200 console with +/- 22DB equalization. Good lord.
The Heil Talkbox, the first of its kind. The bio-mechanical translation of a vocoder: pitch and formant information are supplied as distinct elements and a unique hybrid results.
3 replies on “Heil in the Seventies”
Bob is more famous in ham radio circles than in audio today. His Ohmega amplifiers were revolutionary, but blew up spectacularly, (and he wouldn’t tell anyone what the transistor part numbers were) and his RCA lookalike mics are great props from a distance but are not even in the same universe as the really good AEA Wes Dooley ribbon mics. In other words he’s kind of a schlockmeister, like a lot of ham radio people once the Art Collinses died off.
A few months back I found a Heil Sound mixer at a flea market for 30 bucks. I knew that the guy selling it had no idea what he had, so I picked it up immediately. I brought it home and turned it on, and of course it doesn’t work. But I found your post and discovered it was a HM 88! I emailed Heil Sound to inquire about the mixer and maybe to get some insight on how to go about fixing it. I received an email from Bob Heil himself and he spoke highly of the mixer, and mentioned that it was WAY ahead of its time. So figured i’d let you guys know that I found one!
Just picked up a Heil Sound Ohmega stereo amplifier Model number 200. I’m assuming it’s a 200 watt stereo amplifier. Not a whole lot of information on it.