Categories
Uncategorized

The Seventies

For the next two weeks at PS dot com: we’ll be taking an extended journey through the 1970s.  I was born in 1976, and according to a lot of very smart people, the early impressions that we experience become deeply imprinted on our minds.

(image source)

As far as audio culture, sartorial style, musical taste, etc: which of these impressions formed my Hero paradigm?  Which became sublimated to create my Shadow self?  My Anima?  How might these concepts be present as projections in my conscious life?

(image source)

Perhaps a scan through the RocknRoll audio-culture of the 1970s will shed some light on these hidden operations.  Join us for what promises to be an interesting journey…

Categories
Synthesizers

PAiA : Synth DIY circa late 70’s

From the pages of various musician’ mags of the late 70s: The Collected Works of the PAiA Electronics marketing department.  PAiA is, and has been for decades, the standard-bearer for good-quality kits for musical instruments and musical accessories.  I am not aware of any other company that spanned the original DIY electronics era with the modern ‘circuit bending/group DIY ing/ craft-boutique-audio etc’ eras.  They are still very much alive+ kicking and I’m glad for it.   When I was in school I built a PAiA theremax theremin  – it cost $175 complete at the time and went together with no issues in 6 hours – i used it on a ton of recordings, both as an audio source and as a dual-control-voltage generator for dramatic filter-frequency cut off in live performances (this was the Electroclash era, after all).  Anyway.  The other weekend a fellow was selling a decent-looking but untested PAiA 4700 modular synthesizer system from the mid 1970s.  He was asking $800, seemed ready to take $500, and eventually got his $500 on eBay from an eager Swede via eBay. Let’s take a look back on what else this venerable company was offering in that era…

The PAiA Drum Percussion Synthesizer circa 1979 – seems to be like an 808 minus the sequencer

The PAiA GNOME micro-synth c. 1981

The PAiA programmable drum set c. 1979

The PAiA Proteus Synthesizer circa 1981

If you ever come across old used PAiA gear: remember: most were user-built, and usually by people with little or no experience in electronics assembly.  So caveat emptor.

Categories
Guitar Equipment

Concept 1 Delta Guitar Amplifer circa 1974

I stumbled across a 40yo advert for a guitar amplifier that I had never heard of: the 300-watt Concept 1 Delta, of which only /as few as 10 or as many as 100/ were ever sold.  In attempting to research it, I came across one of the most obnoxious GearS____ (sorry I can’t bring myself to type that word) posts that I have ever read.  Check it out if you want to become irritated.  This pretty much sums up my feelings about the worst elements of online culture.  Good god.  The gentlemanly figure involved here (and designer of the intriguing Delta) is Harvey Gerst, who owns this joint (and what a saint he must be, with those crazy low-fixed-price production packages for local bands) and wrote a few of the early Byrds’ songs.

Is anyone aware of a blog that tracks the most obnoxious, moronic, or otherwise awful GearS____ threads?

Categories
Guitar Equipment Uncategorized

DOD Effects Pedals Circa 1980

DOD.  The effects pedal brand that spanned the (original) MXR and BOSS eras, never having quite the cachet of either, but keepin’ on keepin’ on well into the 21st.   They are solid products – I have owned many and nary a complaint.  However… I would love to know what ever happened to their graphic design.  Check out these circa ’80 adverts.  Fantastic, clean-looking things, soon to devolve into a swirling mass of ill-advised colors and garrish type-treatments.   Perhaps focus-group tested to appeal to a younger consumer?  Anyone out there ever do art direction for pro audio gear?  Drop us a line and weigh in…

Categories
The 4-Track

The Introduction Of The 4-Track

1979.  Teac/TASCAM introduces the 144 Porta-Studio, the first four-track integrated tape machine/mixer.  The first 4-track.  A truly revolutionary product for many reasons, and the first of a product category that would have a profound effect on musical and audio aesthetics of the next 30 years.  The two-page spread above is the advert that introduced this product to the public.

For all its importance, the 4-track was actually the lesser of two novel cassette-based products introduced by Japanese companies in 1979 which would have a profound global cultural impact.  The other one?  Click here if you haven’t guessed yet.

For an earlier discussion of the 144 and its legacy, click on this link

 

Categories
Antique Hi-Fi Archive

When Hi Fi was a hobby, not an industry

Download a four-page article from High Fidelity, 1966, on the subject of ‘early hi-fi’:

DOWNLOAD: High_Fidelity-6604-How_It_All_Began

Thanks to TF for sending us this piece.  The article provides an interesting perspective on the changes in state-of-the-art sound reproduction between the years 1950 and 1966.  The main themes worth noting: early hi-fi required more craft-work on the part of the consumer (fabricating cabinets, etc), had worse ergonomics, and of course: it was mono.

Categories
Guitar Equipment

Ibanez Guitars of the early 1980s part 1

When I was learning to play the guitar in suburban CT in the late 80s, the name Ibanez was pretty much synonymous with ‘guitar.’  Every shop sold Ibanez guitars, and most kids owned them.  My brother and I had imported Fenders, which were considered old-fashioned at the time (this was pre-Cobain).  I still have (and use) my $380 1990 ’52 Telecaster reissue.  I can’t imagine that I would have kept a 1990 Ibanez RG for all this time.

Big Cats (Tigers)/Tiger-stripped maple tops, git it?   Before Ibanez introduced the RG and S lines, they had a large run of transitional models that bridged the gap between the ‘Lawsuit’ -era Gibson copies that first allowed them to gain traction in the US market and the ‘super-strat-shredder’ things that sold so vigorously in the late 80s.   The AR series was their Les Paul-type instrument, and I believe that some variety of AR has remained in production since 1979 or so.  Just a few years ago I picked up a 1980 Ibanez AR50 (very similar to the object depicted above, minus the flame maple top, inlay, and binding) for …$80?  at the flea market.  Fantastic guitar.  Within a few weeks I bought a circa 1975 Ibanez Rickenbacker-copy bass…  for $65.  Yesterday, at the same flea market, I found another circa ’75 Ibanez Rick bass, poured out of the back of a box truck along with old shirts, patio furniture, and chipped crockery.  “Five Hundred Dollars,” said the truck-owner.  “It’s a lawsuit model.”  The cat is clearly out of the bag.

The Ibanez AS series, their 335-type instrument.

Ibanez guitar effects circa 1981.  Still highly-coveted units.  We have an AD80 analog delay at Gold Coast Recorders and it gets used on a great number of productions.  It’s unusual in that it uses two 9V batteries rather than one.  I’ve never done a side-by-side comparison with our similar-era Boss DM-2 delay pedal but maybe soon…

More early Ibanez coverage to come soon to PS dot com…  If yr into this sort of thing, I highly recommend this book: “Ibanez The Untold Story”... which seems to be out of print…  but well worth seeking out.

Check out some previous early Ibanez Guitar coverage on PS dot com:

Ibanez Guitars 1975

Ibanez Guitars 1977

 

Categories
Uncategorized

Ladies of Psychedelic Folk, take 2

Daion guitars were built in the Japan in the late 70s/early 80s.  I believe that the model depicted here is the L999 Legacy. Note the stylized ‘tuning fork’ logo on the headstock; Yamaha has used a similar motif for a century.

For previous Ladies of Psychedelic Folk coverage on PS dot com, click here.

Categories
Synthesizers

1981: Battle of the ’55s

1981: Korg and Roland both release prosumer drum machines designated 55.  The KORG KR-55 is a non-programmable drum machine with many preset patterns and individual volume controls for each sound.  Regardless of what this advert claims, trust me, this thing does not remotely sound like an acoustic drum kit.  The sounds are pretty charming tho.  I had one of these for years and now i have somehow ended up with only an empty KR55 box.  The Boss (ROLAND) DR-55 is quite different: despite the very crude prototype-esque appearance, the DR-55 is a programmable drum machine.  We have one of these at Gold Coast Recorders and while it seems to be overlooked in favor of our TR606, it is a worthy unit.  For some odd reason the DR55 seems to command a higher price than the 606 on eBay.  Anyone have an idea why?  Has the DR55 been embraced by a leading contemporary artist?

Categories
Guitar Equipment

Sex Sex Sex Sex (guitar accessories)

No explanation necessary

I manage to do a fair amount of business selling bespoke microphone preamps, filters, amplifiers, etc; but I could stand to sell more.  Perhaps the problem is my marketing technique.  Perhaps I could stand to ‘spice things up’ a bit.  Perhaps the vacuum tubes in my designs could be given a more phallic character through quasi-clever wordplay and/or illustration technique.  Or perhaps the complete pieces could themselves entirely become metaphorically represented by a female body/persona, and the potential buyer could be encouraged to ‘inject them full of life’ with your ‘signal.’

Does sex really sell or do we simply gravitate towards the easiest possible metaphor for any product message?  And if sex DOES sell, then why not ingestion?   Eating?  As important as procreation is to the survival of the species, a starving man will surely choose a cheeseburger over a romantic dalliance.  Perhaps the dominance of sex-based, rather than food-based, advertising in our culture, signifies nothing so much as the fact that we’re not hungry enough.  If we were hungrier, would be be less easily aroused?  And how about the other two ‘F’s of human instinct (fuck, feed, fight, flight)?   Why not more combat-based or fear-based advertising?  All the ads in the series come from a single 1981 issue of GUITAR PLAYER magazine.

Which ‘bone’ exactly is the ‘mojo bone’?  And how could this ‘bone’ interact with a ‘back door’?

If you have been feeling/touching one body for sometime now, consider the improved sensation that could be possible from… oh never mind.

The heels have come off and the couple has exited the scene.  Crucial to the progression of the movement from LR to BR: the fire; the wine; the dulcet tones of your Ibanez Artwood.  All helpful tools in mastering the art of (reproducing human) life.

Those who have mastered their technique need not execute their practices in a darkened room.  Consider our mood lighting.  Mirrored (balls/ceiling panels) sold separately.