Category: Guitar Equipment

Small And Hot (1978)

“Acoustic”-brand Amplifiers advert c. 1978. What was I saying the other day about “stick a Porsche next to pretty much anything?”

“The 911 can trace its roots back to sketches drawn by Ferdinand “Butzi” Porsche in 1959.^[6] The Porsche 911 classic was developed as a much more powerful, larger, more comfortable replacement for the Porsche 356, the company’s first model. The new car made its public debut at the 1963^[1] Frankfurt Motor Show (German: Internationale Automobil-Ausstellung).^[7] The car presented at the auto show had a non-operational mockup of the 901 engine, receiving a working one in February 1964.^[6]

It originally was designated as the “Porsche 901” (901 being its internal project number). 82 cars were built as 901s.^[6] However, Peugeot protested on the grounds that in France it had exclusive rights to car names formed by three numbers with a zero in the middle. So, instead of selling the new model with another name in France, Porsche changed the name to 911. Internally, the cars’ part numbers carried on the prefix 901 for years.^[6] Production began in September 1964,^[7] the first 911s reached the US in February 1965 with a price tag of US$6,500.^[6]” (SOURCE)

Tags Acoustic

Guitar Equipment

New Ideas In Guitaring Technology (1982) (via Hondo)

Post author By chris
Post date 10/19/2013
2 Comments on New Ideas In Guitaring Technology (1982) (via Hondo)

Above: many are familiar with “The Chiquita,” the ‘original (banana shaped/coloured) travel guitar’; less well-known is The Nomad 3X, a les-paul-jr-styled, full-scale guitar with a built-in-amp; it promises to operate from AC, DC, or 12 volt power. Okay… Anyhow, for previous HONDO coverage on PS dot com, click here… oh, and you prolly aughta click here, too…

Tags hondo

Guitar Equipment

Ibanez Analog Guitar Effects of the early 80s

Post author By chris
Post date 10/17/2013
3 Comments on Ibanez Analog Guitar Effects of the early 80s

Above: the Ibanez AD202 c. 1981. A multimode analog delay with modulation section. I had one of these in maybe 1994 and it was a phenomenally great unit. What on earth did I do with it? No idea where it ended up. It had this great crunch to it when it overloaded.

Above, the Ibanez UE-400 and and UE-405, also c. 1981: 4x analog rack-mount multi-effects units. I found a UE-405 (the one with Delay) with the pedal+ a rack case in a Minnesota Guitar Center in maybe 2003? I paid about $150. I used it on a few tracks and sold it when I moved apartments. Bad move, even at a big profit… another great unit that I wish I had kept. BTW, above, I love that dude is using his UE-40X’s with a blond Fender Bassman piggyback. Pretty good, pretty good…

Above: the complete Ibanez FX lineup of 1984, right before the transitioned to the single-rackspace digital units. I recently found the ‘bass’ pedal-board unit (compressor, flanger, and envelope filter) for $60 at the flea market. Which seemed expensive, but I was given many assurances. Dude totally ripped me off! It had some weird distortion issue that I could not easily diagnose. To the transfer station with that one. Caveat emptor…Above, an ad for root beer, bad denim, and hairspray c. 1988. I think they lost my interest by this point.

Tags guitar effects, ibanez

Guitar Equipment

Want To Play The Guitar, But Don’t Have The Time Or Patience? (1985)

Post author By chris
Post date 10/16/2013
4 Comments on Want To Play The Guitar, But Don’t Have The Time Or Patience? (1985)

1985: The “Twang” by IC Sound, presumably an open-chord-tuned (or ocatve/5ths????) lap-steel with built-in fuzztone.

Guitar Equipment

Vigier – Hi-End French Electric Guitars of the 80s

Post author By chris
Post date 10/14/2013
1 Comment on Vigier – Hi-End French Electric Guitars of the 80s

Combining a Rickenbacker-esque body shape and BC-Rich style electronics, these circa 1986 Vigiers are pretty interesting, unlike the staid ‘super-strats’ that the company offers today. (Is it even the same company? Let us know,,,,). They also remind me a bit of certain older models of Killer, the high-end Japanese brand that’s never been offered in the US. These 80s Vigiers were astronomically expensive, so it’s not surprising that I’ve never actually seen one. Anyone?

Tags electric guitars, vigier

Guitar Equipment

Gibson Guitars in the 80s

Above: The Gibson Victory MV-X model guitar c. 1982

Gibson Guitars had a tough time in the 1980s; starting the decade, quality was indifferent at best, competition from Japan was intense, and Gibson’s strength as a ‘heritage’ brand was out-of-sync with the NEW NEW NEW vibe of hair metal, slick RnB, and new wave. The turnaround of this brand at the hands of Henry E. Juszkiewicz, David H. Berryman, and Gary A. Zebrowski was one of the most dramatic in the history of instrument-manufacture, and maybe even American industry in general. From a near-zero valuation in 1986, they grew the brand into a massive enterprise and improved quality significantly. I am perhaps a bit biased because Gibson was a generous and helpful benefactor of my brief career as a performer; and as I have noted before on these pages, I recently bought a shiny new (yup) J-45 and the I think the thing is just fantastic. But anyhow. Here are a few images from Gibson’s darkest decade.

Above: The Victory Bass (1982), The Les Paul Custom (avec ‘Ferrari’) (1986), The Les Paul (1981), and the introduction of the ‘BB KING’ ES-355 variant (1981).

Tags gibson, the 80s

Guitar Equipment

Some Weirdo Amps of The 80s

Post author By chris
Post date 10/05/2013
10 Comments on Some Weirdo Amps of The 80s

Nothing too heavy today, just some oddball 80’s amps that crossed my plane of perception. Above: “Vibration Technology” (catchy!) of Ontario announces their Nova, Deci Mate (nice), Phasor Twin, and Beta Amps in 1981. Best offering, tho, is the “6 Mice Mixer,” which sounds like a real fucking mess if you ask me.

Above: The “Tusc,” an obscure tube-amp from 1982. I feel like I may have seen one of these things, once. Jesus how much money did this guy lose on this operation?

Above: JMF’s “Spectra” line of solid-state amps c. 1981. I actually did own their 1×15 half-stack (or was it a big combo….??) with reverb and phase shift, and in all honesty, it was a really good-sounding solid-state amp. I traded it for (believe-it-or-not) a mint blackface Fender Bassman with a Standel 2×15 cab. Aaaaaaaaand then traded those on for the worst $300 LDC that AKG ever made. What comes around…

Above: the Seymour-Duncan 84-40: 4x EL84 combo amp c. 1989. Looks promising?

….well, that and your circa 1968 graphic design. The EMC B221 amp of 1981. Anyone?

There’s nothing inherently weird about VOX amps, they are rather a staple, but this 1981 advert serves as a good reminder that those things have been re-issued and re-launched countless times by countless entities, so if you are ever offered a VOX amp for sale, be very careful to determine exactly what you are buying. ‘Cos it probably ain’t “what John and George used.”

Tags EMF, guitar amps, seymour duncan, the 80s, tusc, VOX

Guitar Equipment

1977

Post author By chris
Post date 05/11/2013
No Comments on 1977

Today: a random display of offbeat bits from 1977 that caught my eye: a tiny homage to the wonder that is The Internet K Hole. IE., draw your own connections/conclusions.

Tags altec, Charvel, Cruman, electro-harmonix, electrovoice, kelsey, marshall, mixers, musicman, mutron, Randall, stage, Travis Bean

Custom Fabrication Guitar Equipment Uncategorized

King-Vibe Amplifier

As I mentioned on my Tumblr last year, I used the idle time during our annual Open Studios event to construct yet another Fender Champ-based guitar amplifier. I had purchased a pair of unused circa 1955 suitcase-PA speakers cabinets, along with a Shure Commando mic, as a set on eBay for a few bucks with the intent of turning them into lil combo amps.

Aside from some odd shopwear/discoloration, the cabs were very solid and the original 12″ drivers sounded good. Based on the interior space available (and the relatively low power handling of the driver) I decided to build a variation on the classic Fender Vibrochamp.

And so was born the King-Vibe. Similar in principle to a vibro-champ, the King Vibe has more power output (approx. 6 watts, courtesy of its 6L6 rather than 6V6 output section) and waaaaaaaaaaay more gain. The additional 20db of gain was achieved by eliminating the tone stack. The aluminum chassis was formed by hand; all wiring is point to point with Sprague and Solen coupling caps. I used a 6X5 rectifier tube, as the Edcor power transformer has only a 6.3V haeater winding. Output transformer is also an Edcor. The speaker is attached via a 1/4″plug at the top of the chassis so that an external cab can be easily connected. IEC mains socket is provided for convenience and a tidy appearance.

The tremolo is still fully variable and there is a lone Gain control, no bass+treble knobs. Whatever minor inconvenience this presents is more than justified by the insane amounts of distortion and fuzz that this thing is capable of. And like the early Tweed Champs (which have the same topology), it cleans up perfectly by simply backing off of the gtrs volume control. The 6L6 sees a little over 250V on its plate, which is the low end of the ‘textbook’ operating curve of that tube. This allows the amp to break up into smooth power-stage distortion relatively quickly, which is kinda the point of these small amps anyhow.

A detachable footswitch with a handy status-indicator jewel lamp completes this package.

Guitar Equipment

That’s it. I’m done.

There is no reason to go on. I have found it.

The all-time, ultimate, absolute pinnacle of guitar adverts.

Clearly, my work here is done. In case you missed it:

Jungle animals with red ‘Laser-eyes’? Check.

Pink Bandana tied above the elbow, to indicate that the wearer is looking to sell, rather than buy, (PCP? Ritalin? Advil Cold and Sinus?)? Check.