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John Teagle
Echoplex
Roots of Echo Part IV
For those of you checking out our Echoplex series for the first time (and regular readers, too), a brief glance back: Part I perused the groundbreaking use of echo by Les Paul, plus the first dedicated echo machine – Ray Butts’ EchoSonic amplifier. In a nutshell, the EchoSonic was the only commercially available echo-producing device…
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John Teagle
The Roots of Echo
Pre-Echoplex Devices, Part I
Post-WWII advances in recording techniques, including the use of artificial reverberation and delay enhanced music as opposed to merely capturing it. The sound became almost as important as the material and musical performance, with producers and engineers gaining celebrity status and appropriate financial compensation. The amplified electric instruments, first seen just prior to the war,…
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John Teagle
Echoplex, Part I: Pre-Echoplex Days
Don Dixon and Mike Battle
Don Dixon, Guitar Player Seeing the name Don Dixon, many think, “Producer for R.E.M., Smithereens, etc., recording artist, husband of songbird Marti Jones.” All correct. But when that Don Dixon moved to the Akron area 10 years ago he discovered a nimble-fingered guitar picker had been using his name for 30 years! Nowadays they take…
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John Teagle
Electro/Rickenbacher Amps
Pre-WWII Electro/ Rickenbacher Amps
Introduction Experiments at marketing electrified musical instruments and their accompanying amplifiers may have started in the late 1920s, but it wasn’t until the early ’30s that any long term commitments were made by manufacturers. Even though a number of short-lived attempts followed the 1927 release of “All AC”/battery-less radios, the first company to really dive…
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John Teagle
Magnatone Amps
More Magnatone!
Introduction Part I What started out as a one-time pictorial on mother of toilet seat (MOTS) covered amplifiers has turned into a running Dickerson/Magnatone history, covering both the amps and the Hawaiian guitars. Last month, the alligator-attired Professional amp was allowed space, due to its close association with the MOTS Hawaiian guitars. This month, the…
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John Teagle
Vox AC-30
The First AC-30?
Introduction That the Vox AC-30 Twin is a great-sounding amplifier goes without saying, since it spent the past 40 years creating music for countless artists of varying stature and styles. From the king-size extravaganza of Queen’s Brian May and his wall of sound, to the nightclub-filling single-amp assault of the A-Bones’ Bruce Bennett, the AC-30…
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John Teagle
Gibson Hawiian Guitars
EH-100 and EH-150
Introduction “No longer is the electric Hawaiian Guitar restricted to professional players – here is a genuine Gibson instrument that costs only $100, complete with instrument, case, amplifier with slip cover, and cord.” So introduced in Gibson’s Catalog X of very late 1936, the EH-100 Hawaiian set cost a third less than the company’s EH-150…
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John Teagle
Oliver Sound, Inc.
"Flex" beyond Ampeg
Introduction If you’ve read Gregg Hopkins and Bill Moore’s new book, Ampeg: The Story Behind The Sound, you know that Jess Oliver played a major role in the success of Ampeg. Oliver Sound Company, Inc. is to Ampeg what MusicMan and Randall are to Fender, and since space for non-Ampeg items was justifiably restrained in…
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John Teagle
Del Casher
Talks About the Ecco-Fonic
Although he claims to play guitar more like the late George Barnes than Les Paul, comparisons between Del Casher and his “adopted uncle” Leo reveal two outgoing youngsters who have played music all their lives, learned the ins and outs of technology while taking it a step or two further and show no signs of…
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John Teagle
Vintage Gibson Amplifiers
EH-100 and 125
“No longer is the electric Hawaiian Guitar restricted to professional players – here is a genuine Gibson instrument that costs only $100, complete with instrument, case, amplifier with slip cover, and cord.” So introduced in Gibson’s Catalog X of very late 1936, the EH-100 Hawaiian set cost a third less than the company’s EH-150 set,…
