Preservation Sound

Author: chris

  • Electra Guitars of the 1970s

    Above: an Electra ad from 1979 which seems to be suggesting that by using their sound-effects controls incorporated into the guitar itself (rather than in foot-effect-pedals), you will develop a unique style and attain success.  Okey…  Anyone using one of these today?  Thoughts? 

    Electra was a brand-name for Japanese-made guitars imported by the St Louis Music Co. in the 1970s.  There were also Electra-branded amps:  I had a pretty rad solid-state piggyback with a 15″ driver and footswitchable phaser/reverb/overdrive (i think…) in the early 90s…  pretty good sound for a solid-state amp… Anyhow, I can’t find any info on the amps online but maybe someone can send us a catalog?  As far as the guitars: there is pretty good documentation on the web: start with this page.  These dudes also posted the full 1977 catalog, which is one of the best I have ever seen.  To wit:

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    Goddamn hippie cowboy space invader!  Nice.  Anyhow… here are some more interesting Electra ads from the mid seventies which I think no one else has bothered to upload yet… enjoy…

    The Electra MPC guitar with modular electronic-effect plug-ins.   Gimme TANK TONE baby.

    The Electra ‘Tree of Life’ guitars, part of a larger ‘carved-top-design’ trend in the 70’s…  see here for another example.

  • Key Break

    Man I love this image.  Yamaha YC Combo Organ advert circa 1971. “Organ Eyes.  It’s what happens when you see something in your mind.” Nice.  We briefly used a Yamaha YC20 In our band before we started touring.  It was just too damn heavy but wow are those things cool.  They were also dirt-cheap.

    Today: some random bits of 70’s keyboard culture.  If yr using any of these pieces in the studio these days, drop us a line and let us know…

    Above: The EML synkey circa 1976.  Touted as being the first user-programmable synthesizer, this piece also has a fairly unique feature for it’s day:  Aftertouch! Or as EML terms it, “Second Touch.” This advert also solves a little mystery for me… I was wondering what ever did happen to CT-based Electronic Music Labs (EML), and it looks like they ended up as part of the CT-based Kaman musical empire.  Click here for some previous EML coverage at PS dot com.

    Above: Felix Pappalardi endorses the mighty Mellotron.  These things are so classic that it seems almost unbelievable that these things were once advertised, stocked in shops, etc…  For those unfamiliar, the Mellotron was a very early sampling keyboard.  It accomplished this feat in the pre-digital-audio era by using a separate tape playback mechanism for each key.  The tape was not looped, but rather a spring-loaded strip of eight-seconds length, which has the unintentional effect of requiring unusual playing techniques for any musical passage with long sustained chords.  Get the whole story here.

  • The Obscure Emrad Guitar Amplifier circa 1971

    The Emrad amplifier was designed to the needs of jazz-guitar great Johnny Smith.  Handmade in a Colorado workshop, these 100-watt solid-state combos were soon also used by Sugarloaf, performers of this genre-defying 70s classic.

    I rank this track with other ‘it could only have happened in the early seventies’ hazy-vibed jams such as Ride Captain Ride and Brandy.  Is it rock music? Pop? Lounge music?  The Emrad saga was a brief one; follow this link for the details.

  • Preservation Sound Dot Com is now on Tumblr

    With the estate sale/ flea market season upon us, I thought it might be an interesting experiment to try a Tumblr account. I’ll be posting images, sounds, and videos of the various audio-historical related flotsam that I happen upon across this great land of ours.

    You can check us out at:  http://exploitandindustry.tumblr.com

    …or follow us, if you are a Tumblr user – it’s super easy, fast+free to join.  Just go to Tumblr.com.

  • Hondo II guitars circa 1980

    Hondo II: the First Name In First Bands.   Marketed as ideal beginner-instruments, Hondo II was the US brand name for certain guitars built by the Korean Samick corporation.  According to wikipedia, Hondos were built in Japan between 1974 and 1983.   Samick is among the world’s largest manufacturers of musical instruments, with much modern production of guitars taking place in Indonesia.  Anyways… by the time I started playing the electric guitar, the Hondo II name was already retired and they were simply branded ‘Samicks.’  Not sure what was up with the awkward name Hondo.  Was is supposed to invoke Honda, then known to Americans as a leading manufacturer of motorcycles? Here’s a look back at the company’s big push into the US market in the 1970s. 

    The Hondo Longhorns circa 1981; updated versions of the circa 1960 Danelectro instruments.

    The Honda II lineup circa 1981. We see copies of: Gibson’s THE PAUL, the Fender Lead II, an early Fender Telecaster, an EVH-style strat, as well as some generic-looking but original instruments.

    The Hondo 781 EXP, a lurid instrument sure to inspire fist-pumping.

    In 1979 Hondo offered Asian-made licensed-versions (not copies…) of the respected SD Curlee instruments. 

    Anyone out there using Hondos these days?  Are any of the models worth recommending?  Let us know…

  • Interesting Guitar Effects of the 1970s

    Rowe-DeArmond offers a volume-pedal sized for funky, funky boots. 

    Today at PS dot com: some interesting odds n ends from the audio-effects pedal market of the 1970s.  If yr using any of these boxes in the studio or on stage these days, drop a line and let us know…

    The Binson EchoRec, an electro-mechanical audio delay system that used a rotating disc rather than moving tape or oil.  Italian built; marketed and distributed by Guild in the US (much like Guild distributed the earlier Watkins CopyCat).  The EchoRec is best known as being the 70’s delay unit of choice of this dude, who certainly created a lot of significant sounds with it. 

    Hawk Effects: designed to hang off yr guitar strap rather than sit on the floor.  I have never seen one of these in the flesh (steel).  Anyone?  The Mushrooms look threatening.

    The Studer tape machine is the stove; Ibanez effects are the spice. Got it.  Compressor II, Phase Tone, Graphic Equalizer, Tube Screamer, etc…

    Korg X-911 Guitar Synthesizer.  Is this an actual synth with a pitch-to-CV convertor on the input (like my beloved MS20) or a complex filter/distortion unit?

    The Ludwig Phase II.  Not an actual synthesizer, but pretty far out regardless.  I remember seeing Thurston Moore using one of these back in the 90s.  Check it out here…

    Ross effects, from the man who brought you Kustom.  Wow I love this graphic design.  The only unit from this lineup to attain classic status is the Compressor; these trade for high sums due to their close association with one of the most visible guitarists of the 1990s.  Read this crazy story for the details….

  • Ole’ Ibanez part 2: Lawsuit era and beyond

    Above: The Ibanez Double Axe lineup circa 1974.  Bass/Guitar, 12 string/Guitar, and Guitar/Guitar models.

    Today as PS dot com: a few more interesting bits of Ibanez history.  Last week’s Ibanez-early-eighties post brought a tremendous number of new visitors to the site courtesy of Ibanez USA, who found us and spread the word.  See here for that post.  Hope y’all enjoyed yr visit; here’s some more for ya.

    An interesting phenomenon to note: although the 70’s ‘lawsuit’ Ibanez Gibson-copies were sold as lower-cost alternatives to American-made instruments, time has been kind to them: prices for set-neck 80’s Ibanez guitars are now often close to that of 70’s Gibsons.  This is partly due to rarity, but I think we’ve also begun to collectively embrace the idea that ‘copies’ are more desirable than ‘originals’ in some sense; in a world of endless duplications, fakes, and forgeries, the unapologetic ‘copy’ can actually seem more authentic than a supposed ‘original.’

    The Ibanez Rocket-Roll Flying-V copy circa 1974

    After Ibanez was compelled to cease US distribution of their Gibson copies, we see some interesting new lines to emerge.  This ‘Studio Series’ was part of the Alembic-inspired ‘hippie sandwich’ guitar-style of the mid/late 1970s. 

    Follow this link for more 70’s Ibanez coverage on Preservation Sound dot com.

  • Altec Public-Address in the Seventies

    Above: this one caught me by surprise.  Neil Young endorses Altec PA kit in 1971.  We see the Altec 1210A console and 1205A powered speakers.  Apparently Don Ellis and Merle Haggard were also endorsers at the time. 

    Today: some early ‘seventies adverts for Altec PA gear.  Altec equipment was no longer state-of-the-art studio gear by this period, but they seem to have enjoyed continuing success with sound reinforcement.  For a full catalog download that discusses much of the equipment featured, click here and visit this earlier post.

    Above: The Altec 1217A.  Powerful enough for ‘Boogie Rock.’

    Above: Altec’s young and photogenic employees circa 1974

    Above: (it’s 1974): ‘Rock’s grown up.  The Group’s grown up… Altec was there when the magic of rock and roll arrived. Woodstock.  Monterey.”

  • Baby it’s the Guitar Dude

    1971: Ovation instruments of New Hartford CT releases “the Guitar Dude,” a 100-watt 2×15 guitar amp.

    1972: Bread, the band that virtually invented lite-rock, releases the album and single ‘Guitar Man,’ one of the most melancholy songs ever written about the life of a rock musician, right there with Superstar and Turn The Page. 

    Who draws the crowd and plays so loud
    Baby it’s the guitar man
    Who’s gonna steal the show
    You know, baby, it’s the guitar man

    He can make you love
    He can make you cry
    He will bring you down
    Then he’ll get you high
    Somethin’ keeps him goin’
    Miles and miles a day
    To find another place to play

    Night after night who treats you right
    Baby, it’s the guitar man
    Who’s on the radio
    You go listen to the guitar man

    Then he comes to town
    And you see his face
    And you think you might
    Like to take his place
    Somethin’ keeps him driftin’
    Miles and miles away
    Searchin’ for the songs to play

    Then you listen to the music
    And you sing along
    You want to get the meaning
    Out of each and every song
    Then you find yourself a message
    And some words to call your own
    And take them home

    He can make you love
    He can get you high
    He will bring you down
    Then he’ll make you cry
    Somethin’ keeps him movin’
    But no one seems to know
    What it is that makes him go

    Then the lights begin to flicker
    And the sound is getting dim
    The voice begins to falter
    And the crowds are getting thin
    But he never seems to notice
    He’s just got to find
    Another place to play

    Either way
    Got to play
    Either way
    Got to play

  • Boxxes of Foxx(es)

    Above: a scan of the 1974 fOXX catalog: we see the O.D. Machine, the Loud Machine, the Fuzz & Wa & Volume, the Down Machine, the Clean Machine, etc…

    “Fuzz so thick it grew a coat.”  There’s no rule that mandates that effect pedals need to be built into painted metal boxes.   Just as Kustom rallied against the tolex-hegemony with their Naugahyde-plush guitar amplifiers, fOXX was a Chatsworth, California based company that burst onto the rock scene in 1971 with a range of guitar-effects pedals that were covered in furry, fuzzy material.  Shit, man, it’s a fuzz pedal, let’s cover that fukker with fuzz! There are certainly a number of secondary interpretations as well but… you can figure that out on yr own time.

    Besides the iconic fOXX pedals, fOXX also sold amplifiers.  Let’s see… if you have a company named fOXX and you want to sell some amps…  What other famous amp rhymes with fOXX?

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    fOXX amps were, apparently, real Vox AC30s with a new badge attached.  Read the whole story here.

    Don’t forget yr fOXX-brand coiled-cable.  I really hope these weren’t furry too…stale beer sticks to ordinary rubber cables well enough; imagine its attraction to furry cables.

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    Above: The fOXX Wa Machine, Fuzz and Wa, and Power Machine.  The Power Machine is one of a largely lost category of guitar effects that were intended to be inserted directly into the instrument rather than interface with a cable.  Other notable examples of this slightly awkward form-factor include the Electro Harmonix LPB-1 and the entire Dan Armstrong ‘Sound Modifiers’ line. 

    The fOXX Octave Fuzz, available in five plush varieties.

    fOXX is back (?), although I can’t find any indication that it’s actually the same folks responsible.  Visit their website here.  The reissue Tone Machine is available as a kit for $109 or ready-made for $149.

    Also… you might enjoy a visit to this great fOXX Tone-Machine tribute site.