Dating an echoplex dating heart man
01-Jun-2020 09:37
Tube Models EP-1 (early-to-mid ’60s): While the original models did not have any designation other than the brand name, later upgrades would necessitate the EP-1 name be applied posthumously.This model is easily distinguished from later versions by the smaller box and separate controls for echo volume and instrument volume.Like the Ecco-Fonic, the Echoplex included a playback switch to disable the erase and record heads, allowing the signal that had been recorded previously to be played back over and over.This was long before cassette recorders were available and many musicians used this function as they would have a reel-to-reel deck – to play along with themselves, working out harmonies, listening critically, etc.An interview with Dick Denney of Vox in the book Stompbox (by Art Thompson, published by Miller Freeman, p.158), discusses these units “…coming into England in 1958.” Even if this date is accurate, the Meazzi had little if any effect on American popular music and Thompson’s line (p.Put another way, there were probably less than 100 American players using echo in the ’50s and since Tennessee, California, and Ohio all had more than their share, that works out to less than two players in each of the remaining 47 states.Last month, Part III introduced Don Dixon and Mike Battle, of Echoplex fame, along with a number of their prototypes from the late ’50s and early ’60s.
This arrangement provided longer tape life and smoother operation.
Along with the Echo Repeats control and the movable head to vary delay time, these three-knob Echoplexes were similar in function to the early-’60s Ecco-Fonics they displaced.
One major difference was the use of a sliding record head to vary delay time, an improvement over the rotating playback head of the Ecco-Fonic.
Nashville producer/session guitarist Vic Clay, who lived and played in Akron during the majority of the Echoplex’s production run (including his stint with Rex Humbard’s television show, seen in over 300 markets), received one of the first production models ca. The whereabouts of both units is unknown, as Clay traded in the brown box EP-1 (Serial No. He had to wind tape into the fixed cartridge on his prototype.
Once the surplus brown boxes were used, Market Electronics switched to the new grey color, otherwise the units were basically unchanged.Considering the continued demand for vintage models and replacement tapes, it seems safe to say a large number of guitarists still rely on this user-friendly tape echo.
