Category: Guitar Equipment

Categories
Connecticut Audio History Guitar Equipment

Most Tragic Bands of All Time, part 1.

Badfinger endorse the Connecticut-made Ovation acoustic/electric guitar

What is it about Ovation guitars that repulses me so?  They don’t sound awful.  They were made in Connecticut.  They are very very circa ’71.  I once even saw a video of Thom Yorke in the studio cutting “Exit Music…,” a not-awful song from a not-awful album,  with a black Ovation something-or-other.  And yet.  Faced with the prospect of a playable $40 70’s Ovation at the flea market last week, I passed.  God only knows where that $40 went.  Just kinda feel like those things are cursed.

Also cursed: Badfinger!  So you’re a band.  Shit, you’re a great band.  The Beatles sign you to their new record label.  Paul writes one of his best-songs-ever for you, and produces the MFkkr.  You even go so far as to to pen ‘I can’t live if livin’ is “Without You,”‘ which becomes the defining song of one of the definitive vocalists of the (soon-to-be-over?) era of commercially-sold-recorded-musical-performances.   By the end of the decade, two of you have killed themselves and somehow you lost (like, literally, shit, i can’t find it) one million dollars.  You are Badfinger.

One of the best rock bands ever.

Categories
Guitar Equipment Publications

Selling Fender Kit In The Mid 1970s

Fender Stratocaster and Quad Reverb as characterized by Detroit-musician caricature ‘Bumpwell Blues’; note Strat-as-phallus reference.

The mid 1970s is the most maligned period of Fender’s history.  Musicians and collectors alike complain of such indignities as three-bolt necks on Stratocasters and Jazz/Telecaster basses, ‘high powered’ tube amplifiers which managed their impressive-on-paper ratings through the use of frequency-sucking suppressor caps, and of course the dreaded 70s heavy-guitar syndrome.

OK so how did Fender manage to sell so many of these instruments which we now regard as sub-par?  Could it be possible that the goofiest ad campaign in guitar history might have had something to do with it?  No disrespect intended to the illustrators/art-directors/copywriters who crafted these curiosities; I am sure that they were just doing what they were told, and the work is certainly of a consistent quality.  But really?  This was a good idea?

On a more serious note though: what does is mean exactly when a manufacturer creates an entire (expensive) ad campaign that does not show the actual products or even reference any concrete product specifications or claims?  Is this good marketing?  Hubris?  How do we feel about the products?  Does it make us more or less curious?  Do we accept that these products are in fact ‘icons’ by virtue of the fact that we are shown only icons that represent the products rather than seeing the products themselves?

Fender PA100

Fender Quad Reverb

Fender Stratocaster

Fender Twin Reverb Amplifier (presumably; this ad does not even reference a particular product)

Along similar lines…  ROGERS drums was the drum-division of Fender-Parent CBS musical instruments at the time.  Here’s an example of the very similar ROGERS campaign of the same era.  They chose a different illustrator (smart) and it seems like they used a different copywriter as well; we also see the actual product in a small window at the bottom, so there was probably a different marketing person responsible for this campaign. The overall effect is similar though.  Also consider the implicit statement that only males play drums.  Not surprising given the era; hell Dean Markley was still running sexist ads last week AFAIK. 

 

Categories
Guitar Equipment

Circa ’75

Download a twenty-three-page excerpt of the 1975 catalog from Music Emporium of Bethesda, Maryland (h.f. ‘ME’):

DOWNLOAD: Music_Emporium_1975_Catalog

Products covered, with vague text, no specs (or prices), and moody photography/impressionistic illustration, include: 1975 Martin D-18, D-28, D-35, etc; Gibson Les Paul bass, Triumph, Signature, ES-335TD-SV, ES-345TD, among others; Gibson J-200, Blue Ridge 12, and J-55; Dobro 60D, 33, 90, and 35 resonator guitars; Guild F-50, F-40, D-50, F-212XL, among others; Fender Telecaster, Telecaster Deluxe, Thinline, Precision, Jazz, and Telecaster Basses; the Bradley line of directly-imported MIJ ‘Lawsuit’ guitars, including the Doubleneck, FV-60, ES-775, TE350, JB60-W, ST50-N, LP65-N, and LP54; Amplifiers and PA from Acoustic, Ampeg, DB Sound (look similar to Heil, which is also represented), Gollehon PA from Grand Rapids, MI, including their 8218/M, 8218/A, MR-90 Horn, 8220/M and /A models; AKG, Shure, and Maruni Mics; ARP and Moog synthesizers; and a pile of guitar effects pedals that no one can afford anymore.

ME was the catalog division of the family-owned Veneman instrument retail-store business.  Veneman was purchased by Guitar Center in 2004.  Check out these sepia-tinted photos for a second.  Veneman could easily have opted to re-print the images that manufacturers supply through their distributors, but they really went the extra mile; the mood of these images, combined with the glaring lack of any sort of pricing or specifications, seems impossible today as a sales strategy for guitars: ME was selling you an attitude and a vibe first; the particular instruments were secondary.  Consider another interesting fact about the images in the catalog: apart from the High Priestess on the cover, there are no almost no photographic image of people in the catalog.   Instead we get some beautiful line-illustration work.  While this could have been a talent compensation/rights issue, I feel like it’s more of a deliberate move that allows the musician/customer to more easily insert themselves into these instrument-scenarios.  I mean, who wants to buy a Les Paul that you see slung around the neck of some bro in a (insert yr least favorite sartorial signifier) shirt?

 

A possible overall explanation?  It’s the Whole Earth Catalog Effect.  If yr not familiar with the Whole Earth Catalog (h.f. WEC), and you have any interest whatsoever in American culture of the 1970s, get a copy of an early edition and check it out.  It is one of the most seminal documents of the era, as well as being an early precursor of the peer-to-peer information exchange style that we now experience in the form of….yup…  the internet.  There were about a billion (or googleplex…) copies printed and you can find if for a few bucks at most community book sales or used book shops.  Anyhow,  WEC was such a powerful and ubiquitous presence among the more liberal and artistic elements of American Society in the 70s that we start to see its editorial and visual style reflected in actual catalogs of the era that were directed at a similar demographic.  For another example of this phenomenon, check this…

**************

*******

***

The only really interesting bit as far as the equipment offered is the BRADLEY line of guitars.  Bradley was apparently the house-brand of directly-imported Japanese-made guitars which ME exclusively sold.

These sure look like Ibanez to me.  Anyone own a 70’s Bradley?  Tell us your thoughts.  Read some discussion online here.

Categories
Guitar Equipment

UPDATED: Schaller Guitar Amplifiers and Effects Units of the 1970s

Download the complete 1974 Schaller musical electronic catalog (with price-list) (in German):

DOWNLOAD:Schaller_1974catalog

Products covered, with text, specs, and photos, include: Schaller Piccolo amplifier; KV 10 amp; KV 25 amp; and KV 40 amp.  Schaller amp heads Solo, Selection G II, Selection B1, and GS100 PA head; Hallgerat reverb unit, Rotor-Sound leslie emulator, and Echo-Reverb-Machine 2000; Schaller What-Wha, Tonverzerrer, Fuzz-Sustainer, Tremolo Tr., and Treble-Bass-Boost.  Also featured: Schaller SG 50, SG 100, and SG 75 PA cabinets; SU 60, SU 120, SJ 40, SJ 150, and SB 100 musical instrument speakers; plus a range of parts and accessories (e.g.., lautsprechers).

I can vaguely remember the Schaller Tremolo Pedal as being a cult-ish item in the US; the other units here don’t ring a bell. Schaller is mostly known in the US as the manufacturer of high-quality tuning pegs for guitars, a role they have filled since the 1970s.  You can still to-this-day find many otherwise flawless vintage electric guitars with amateurishly-applied Schaller tuners.

*************

*******

***

Update: a reader from the Netherlands sent in some pics of his recently-acquired  Schaller KV25; an earlier vintage with top-mounted controls.  Hope you fire it up and play some Shocking Blue riffs thru it Frans.

SAM_4117SAM_4118SAM_4119

…and here’s Frans entire Schaller collection:

Frans_VDB_Schallers

Categories
Guitar Equipment Icons

Meridan, Mississippi 1973

Download the twenty-four page 1973 Peavey Electronic Sound Equipment catalog:

DOWNLOAD: Peavey_1973_catalog

Products covered in this catalog include: Peavey Musician amplifier head; Peavey Bass amplifier head; Peavey F-800G and F-800B ‘festival’ high-power amplifier heads; VTA-400 tube amplifier head (with 4x 6550 power tubes); Peavey Vintage model 110 watt combo amp; Peavey Deuce 2×12 combo amp; Peavey Standard amplifier head; Peavey PA120, Standard PA, and PA 400 boxtop-style public-address mixer/amplifiers; Peavey PA-6A and PA-9 console-style PA mixer/amps; and a full range of speaker cabinets include the Peavey 115, 212, 215S, 215, 610, 412, 215H, 11bS, 612H, 118FH, and 412S cabinets.

Oh that logo. So much has been said about that logo.  Here it is, already firmly in place in 1973.    It’s jagged, angular lines, amateurish lack of balance, and simple hi-con style seem to make it the granddaddy of all 1980s hair-metal graphic identities, and by extension, the graphic aesthetic of an entire youth subculture of the 1980s.  Could this be?  Or is it just a coincidence?  Peavey did try a re-design in the 1990s, but came back to the ‘classic’ in short order.

Has there ever been a more disliked logo in the very image-conscious world of popular music?  Does Peavey (the company or the man) realize this?  And do (they/he) give a fuck?  Maybe that’s the answer itself. Considering that Peavey Electronics began as the basement-industry of a high school kid, a self-taught kid who by age 24 would have his own factory in Mississippi, and less than ten years later the owner of one of the largest audio manufacturers in America, at a time when so much of the American electronics industry had fled this country for Asian manufacture:  I think it’s safe to assume that yes this is a confident, proud man who flies this awful logo as if to say:  this is me.  and yeah i can get away with it.  My amps are still gonna sell.  Semiotically it exists somewhere at the intersection of the Freak Flag/Pirate Flag/Confederate Flag/American Flag.  Complicated anyhow.  Oh let’s add Texas flag to that as well.  ( I know that Peavey is not based in Texas but how many people have you seen with Mississippi tattoos if you catch my drift).

Indeed.  What is power.  Is it an expression of man’s will to independence, his resiliency, his ability to triumph in the face of a difficult environment?  Or is it simply his desire to dominate other men?  It’s fascinating to note that in this lengthy catalog there are no guitar amplifers with less than 110 watts of power output.  There are no amplifers with less than two twelve-inch speakers (or four ten-inch speakers).  These are big amps.  Only big amps.  Peavey would eventually become (along with Crate) the standard-issue ‘small practice amp’ for kids and beginners in the 1980s, but there initial thrust was limited to these big, loud stage amps.

Above, the Peavey ‘Festival’ stacks of 1973.  Tube-powered VTA400 at left, followed by the 4oo watt solid-state guitar and bass versions.   I’ve owned and used several Peavey amps, but I have never plugged into a Festival.  I will say this, based on my limited experience with Peavey amps:  the solid-state circa 1985 Bandit 65 that I briefly used in high school was the the best-sounding solid state guitar amp that I have ever used.  The distortion character was incredibly tube-like; really uncanny (my other amp at the time was an all-tube Fender Champ 12, so I did have some limited frame of reference).  I later had one of those 2×12 dual-6L6/solid-state preamp combos from the 1970s; it sounded great in the room, probably due to the open-backed cabinet, but always fell short when close-mic’d.

Lately I’ve been noticing that folks are trying to get in the area of $400 for these old Peavey stacks; this is much more money that they were ten years ago, so I suppose the ‘vintage’ tag is getting attached to them finally.  I’m not sure if anyone’s buying them; I don’t see as many bands live in clubs as I used to; if you’re a young band who has chosen to rock an old Peavey solid-state stack over a (vintage or modern) tube amp, drop us a line and let us know why.  There’s nothing inherently better or worse about solid-state or tube amps; it’s purely a preference, a matter of aesthetics; the balance of favor has been with tubes for the past twenty years but that could certainly change someday.

 

 

Categories
Guitar Equipment

Kay Electric Guitars c. 1968

Chicks go wild (in my mind)

Goddamn I am playing this bass real fast

My mom didn’t like her, but Ms Friedman was totally the best teacher

(We don’t want) your war

Someday they will realize.

***************

*******

***

Download fourteen pages of electric guitars and amplifiers from the Kay Instrument catalog circa 1968:

DOWNLOAD: Kay_Elec_Gtrs_Amps_1968

Models on offer include: Kay K400, K401, K402, K403, K404, K405, K406, and K407 K400 series “Professional” deluxe solidbody electric guitars w/ vibrato; K365 Apollo II guitar; K370 top-end “Artist” guitar, K355 Titan II; Kay K326, K327, and K328 Vanguard II guitars; K 310, 311, and 312 Value Leader guitars; Kay K318 and 319 Speed Demon guitars; Kay K561, 562m 563, K6530, K585, K625, K6262, K659, K651, K682, and K683 hollowbody electric guitars; K5951, K5952, K 5921, K5922, K5923, K5924, K5925,  K5926, K5935, K5917, K5918, and K5919 electric bass guitars; and a whole slew of forgettable solid-state amplifiers.

Kay Instruments (by this point, a division of the Seeburg Jukebox company) was, along with Harmony, one of the Chicagoland giants of mass-manufacture of musical instruments in America throughout much of the twentieth century.  Their guitars tended to by a little flashier and a little worse-playing than those made by Harmony, but there are of course some notable exceptions.  The late-60’s Kays in this catalog are some of the last American-built Kay-branded instruments to be sold, and they are not among the more collectible of the Kay oeuvre (for that, see for example the Kay Jazz II).  Many of the instruments in this catalog are pretty common, the exceptions being the higher-priced 400 series and the kinda outrageously expensive K370.  Anyone out there ever owned one of these?

Categories
Guitar Equipment Publications

Out-of-Print-Book-Report: “The Guitars Friend” 1977

Download a thirteen-page excerpt from “The Guitars Friend” (no author credited), Quick Fox publishers, ISBN# 0-8256-3072-X:

DOWNLOAD: GuitarsFriend_Elec

 

Billed alternately as a ‘Catalog’ and a ‘Guide,’ “The Guitars Friend” (h.f. “TGF”) is a charming artifact of the late-hippie-era.  From the self-description offered in the book, TGF began as a mail-order catalog begun by former (owners or employees – unclear) of ‘Music, Strings, and Things’  a Detroit-area music store.  Seems that these retailers wanted to move to the country, and they took their business with them.  A few years later, they had stopped the mail-order business and took to solely publishing this guidebook to current musical instruments.  We’re not trying to sell you anything, man.  Just sharing.  (Although they apparently will sell you much of the gear if you write to them?  it’s all very vague.) Check it out in their own words:

The entire 180-pp volume is entirely hand-lettered and largely hand-illustrated.  It’s a pretty fantastic relic of the post-woodstock-youth generation as well as the back-to-the-land movement.

The book features descriptions and advice concerning mainly acoustic instruments, but there is a good ten pages devoted to electric guitars (no mention of amps and effects).  I’ve included the electric bits in their entirety in the download link at the head of this article.  Guitars depicted and discussed include: Ibanez Firebrand, Rocket Roll, MoonLight 59, F.M. Jr, Howie Roberts, Rick Bass, Old-Style Strat, and Strato Model; Gibson Les Paul Custom, Les Paul Deluxe, ES 335, SG Custom, Standard, L6S, and the Gibson Ripper and Grabber Bass; Fender Stratocaster, Telecaster, Mustang, Precision, Jazz, and Mustang Bass (es); Rickenbacker 4001; The Seagull Guitar, described as being built by Bernardo Rico (better known in the 80s as B.C. Rich);The Travis Bean TB1000 Standard and Deluxe; The Sunrise Electric Guitar (no model name given; made in Kalamazoo MI); and finally the Alembic Long Scale Bass and guitar, a steal at $1750 (that’s $6200 dollars in today’s bread).

Anyhow.  DL the file and give it a look…  some of the writing is pretty amazing; as in the discussion of Ibanez, who were then churning out thousands of what we now term ‘lawsuit guitars’:

“The Ibanez people…can make a copy of almost any stringed instrument and make it as good but cheaper than the original…The only complaint people seem to have is status-wise – that it is a Japanese copy.  Once they get past their own ego and conditioning, they are amazed at the quality.”

Let go of yr hangups and order a copy of “The Guitars Friend.”  Four currently available on Amazon dot com.

Categories
Guitar Equipment Uncategorized

Carvin Co. electric guitars of 1978

Continuing our series on Carvin Musical Instruments of the 1970s:  the complete Carvin electric guitar line-up of 1978.  Download a twelve-page scan of the 1978 catalog:

DOWNLOAD: Carvin_guitars_1978

Products on offer include:  Carvin DC150C, DC150B, CM140, CM130, and CM120 electric guitars; the Carvin CB100 stereo bass, and the DT630 and DB630 doubleneck instruments.

By 1978, Carvin had abandoned the slightly Fender-influenced European-made guitar components they had been using since the late 60s; the 1978 lineup is much more Gibson influenced; or maybe Gibson-by-way-of-Alembic.   Noteable late-70s trends at work here include: solid brass hardware; heavier (8.5 lbs) instruments; humbucking pickups with coil taps; ‘natural’ finishes; and plentiful control knobs/switches ala Alembic and BC Rich.

One odd holdout from the earlier era of the electric-guitar is the fact that these instruments shipped with a guitar-cable included.  I wonder when this practice finally ended.  Seems like a cable more ought to come with an amplifier than with a guitar… Also notable that the bass-instruments shipped with flatwound strings standard.  I have noticed that there is a definite trend lately for electric-guitar players to use flatwound strings again; I have been really enjoying the sound of flatwounds on my 60s Fender and Harmony guitars; it’s kinda the secret ingredient to get the sound of 60s records (assuming yr using an old gtr and an old amp as well).  The only problem is that they are more expensive.   $12 vs $5 for roundwounds.  On the other hand, they rarely break, and it’s not necessary to change them as often, as a ‘dulled’ sound is sorta the point.

Previous 1970s Carvin coverage on PS dot com begins here…

Categories
Guitar Equipment Publications

Out-Of-Print-Book Report: “Electric Rock,” Richard Robinson 1971

“Electric Rock” (Pyramid Communications, 1971, 224pp) was written by Richard Robinson.  It’s a small paperback volume, mainly text, which offers an assessment of hundreds of the guitars, basses, amplifiers, and PA equipment that were available to the American public in 1971.

There is also ample text devoted to basic explanations of subjects such as ‘What is a piggyback amp?’

And in case you were wondering:

Try saying “The Shape Most Often Used For Rock Is Darkened In” 10 times.  It will assume a mantra-like quality.  And then you will know the shape of rock (darkened in).  “Electric Rock” is filled with plenty of such slightly-off prose.  It’s written in a circa ’70- streetwise-hipster voice, and this is not at all surprising once you learn a little about the author.  Richard Robinson is a fascinating character.  His slightly mean-spirited AllMusic profile tells most of the story.   RR is most famous for co-founding ‘Rock Scene’ magazine and for producing Lou Reed’s unsuccessful first solo album.  But he also produced a few of my personal favorite records of the era.  Check these tracks out…

Teenage Head by the Flaming Groovies

Sifting Around In a Haze by Andy Zwerling: 06 Sifting Around In A Haze

Reachin’ by Hackamore Brick

Anyhow.  Point is, RR had his finger on the pulse of a lot of music which would never amount to much commercially, but which has very much stood the test of time artistically.  Kinda like…  Reed’s first band the Velvet Underground.  Pretty interesting… this guy definitely knew what he was doing.

In case you’re wondering what ever happened to Richard Robinson, well…  apparently, here he is in 2007.  Different line of work. Life is funny, huh?  RR, if you are still out there, drop us a line.

Oh BTW one more thing to add about “Electric Rock”:  Lenny Kaye wrote the forward.  The-Lenny-Kaye as in, created ‘Nuggets‘ (basically the holy canon of Garage Rock) and also plays guitar (since the ’70s) for Patti Smith.

Check out ‘Electric Rock.’  One copy currently available at Amazon dot com.

Categories
Concert Sound Guitar Equipment

Carvin Guitars, Amplifiers, and PA equipment: 1973 Catalog

Download the thirty-two page 1973 Carvin catalog (presented in two sections):

DOWNLOAD AMPS, SPEAKERS, AND PA: Carvin_1973_part1

DOWNLOAD GUITARS: Carvin_1973_part2

Products covered, with images, specs, and text, include: Carvin Lead amps LM1000, BL1250, FR1200, LP600, SM450 and TM565; Carvin Bass Amps ABM850, BM900, BM355, and FH2500; Super Amps SBL2000, SLM1600, SABM1800, and SBM1900; Combo amps VTR-212, ML212, and MB212; Tube amp head VTR2500 and TV2500; Solid-State heads ST4000, ST2400, B3000, B2000, and B1500; Carvin P2500, P4500, and P5000 PA heads; plus numerous speaker cabinets and components.

Guitars and bases include: Carvin AS50B, CM95, SS75B, SS65B electrics; Carvin SB60, SB40, and AB45 bass guitars; DBS98B and DTS90B doubleneck guitars; PRO-S8 and PRO-D6 steel guitars; plus more.

Above, some of the new offerings for 1973: we see a Folded-Horn bass enclosure (popularized by ACOUSTIC corp in the early 1970s); we see a return to tube amplification in the form of the VTR2500 amp head (seems similar to Ampeg V4 of the era); and we see a larger PA head with 8 inputs and some sort of quasi-notch filtering: power output is 170 watts into 4 ohms.  Can anyone hear the singer?

1973 Carvin AS50B.  AFAICT, this instrument uses the same body as the earlier OVATION “Tornado” guitar.

The 1973 Ovation SB60.  Identical to the cheaper SB40 save for the 1.5lbs heavier maple body. We’re near the start of the unfortunate ‘heavier-is-better’ guitar trend of the 1970s.

Doubleneck guitar/mandolin has been replaced by doubleneck guitar/12-string guitar.

Guild CopyCat tape echo has been replaced by Maestro ‘Sireko.’  Anyone out there have any experience with the merits of one vs the other?