Last Updated on Tuesday, 01 June 2010 13:48

I am the EH Man, Keeper of the Electro-Harmonix flame. In this column, We’ll be exploring the histories and purposes of those products we all know and some of us love. In this first column, I’ll be examining the EH Attack Equalizers.

First, the facts: The Attack EQ appeared very early in EH’s history. There are catalogs stating its availability as far back as the early 70’s, making it a triangle-knob model. There were no pics of this version in the catalog and so far, one hasn’t come to light. Perhaps it only existed in the ads and none were actually produced.
The Electro-Harmonix Knockout Attack EQ, model # EH-3004, made its appearance in or about 1974. Its first appearance in my literature collection is in Guitar Player’s “It’s New” column from Jan. 1975. It was housed in the standard 3 knob, Big Muff Pi style box and features a nifty boxing glove logo .

Controls for this edition consisted of (l-r): Volume, Blend, and Tone. According to the description from an EH catalog, the Knockout “takes the output signal from any guitar and amplifies the highs and lows while simultaneously allowing the guitar player to mix out the midrange.” Does it do this? Well, I plugged it in and played the trusty ol’ Guild Thunderbird (refinished, you guitar hounds) through it into a Mike Matthews Dirt Road Special and here’s what I found. Volume does just what it should and yes indeed, the Blend control does allow a blending of the straight signal with the EQ’d signal. I’m not certain that the Attack control does what the ad says, but it does have a wide range that takes you from a boomy bass to an annoyingly crisp treble. Different settings of the Tone and Blend knobs allow you to dial in (or out) that extra little touch of treble or bass you’ve been wanting. Try Blend on full and Tone on minimum. OUCH!!!
The KO Attack EQ operates on a single 9 volt battery which supplies power to the sole chip in the effect, the LM324 op-amp.   An on/off switch on the back allows you to leave your guitar plugged in without running down the battery.

In April 1976, Guitar Player’s “It’s New” column announced a new Attack Equalizer. Same chassis, but now “Knockout” was deleted from the name and “Every guitar sound can be obtained from any guitar with the simple setting of a dial and flick of a switch.” was the bottom line here . The Attack Equalizer was designed to allow the guitarist to “convert his Les Paul into a Fender or vice versa.”

This is where the fiction comes in. In reality, the Attack Equalizer is a glorified 3-band rotary EQ. The controls are labeled as (l-r): Fundamental, Blend, and Attack but the schematic lists the controls as Bass, Mid, and Treble. After seeing the schematic, former EH engineer Howard Davis remarked:

“If I were to redo it, I’d certainly improve those PRIMITIVE low pass and high pass filters! Also, what is called the “midrange” control is actually a direct signal level control, not a bandpass, as a midrange control should be.”

Don’t get me wrong though, the Attack EQ is just as good as the KO. To me the sound is about the same, but I’m a bass player so what do I know?
The main (only) disadvantage to this model is that the circuitry was changed to accommodate two 4558P dual, internally compensated, high performance op-amps, which required positive and negative power supplies. This resulted in, yes, 2 nine volt batteries for operation which are switched on or off by a rear-mounted power switch.
The original Knockout Attack EQ carried a price tag of $69.95 as did the later Attack EQ. By the early 80’s though, the Attack EQ had increased its price to $89.95. The Attack EQs are not as popular with players as some other EH stuff, so you can probably pick them up for under $100 in working condition. Hey, it’s cheaper than buying an extra guitar! Pick one up, plug it in, and make a new guitar out of your old one.

Thanks to Kevin Macy and Al Pepiak for their help in getting this article put to paper.

Last Updated on Friday, 20 August 2010 07:57

Now here’s an unusual item I bought from a guy in Germany. It’s a copy of the EH Small Stone that was most likely made in Turkey. The previous owner attributes this due to the fact there was a piece of tape on the bottom with the name of a previous Turkish owner. I saw one similar to this offered by Abalone Vintage Guitars on Ebay a few years ago, but missed winning it. One interesting note is that it’s labeled as EH4600, which is the Small Clone model #, instead of the Small Stone’s EH4800.

The circuitry is based on the last version of the Small Stone which used (2) LM324 and (1) LM13600 (similar to 4 of the EH1048 or CA3094E ICs the Small Stone usually used). On the left is the clone’s circuit board, on the right the original EH circuit board. Nothing like a good copy, is there?

Notice also the funky footswitch and jacks as well as the fact that the board is not secured anywhere inside. It’s a free-range circuit board, allowed to roam at will within the case.

Last Updated on Friday, 16 December 2011 09:46

This month’s article is unusual in that it is actually a history of a Guild effect. Along the way, though, it became linked forever with Electro-Harmonix and even the Mosrite company. So, without further ado, let’s look at the EH Axis, the Mosrite Fuzzrite, and the pedal that links them all: the Guild Foxey Lady.

We’ll start at the beginning with the Mosrite Fuzzrite, a very basic 2-knob fuzztone. It was designed by Ed Sanner, originally of Mosrite and later of Rosac (Nu-Wah, Nu-Fuzz, etc). Ed’s original plan was to make a fuzz for a friend of his, steel player Leo LeBlanc. Leo used a Maestro Fuzztone on his steel, but it wouldn’t work on cold concrete floors. When the transistors got too cold, they would shut down and refuse to pass any signal (if you don’t believe that, try spraying the inside of one with freeze- spray while playing through it). Semie Mosely liked the fuzz, so he put it into production. It turned out to be a very good product for Mosrite, selling about 1000 units a month. Mosely made about $10 profit from each unit, so it definitely kept him in Pop-Tarts for a while.

The layout had the two controls (Volume and Fuzz) at the upper end of the pedal, the jacks on the sides, and a power switch on the lower left side. Originally, it was constructed of discrete components, but later an encapsulated circuit was used that was made for them by Sprague. Even later, it was made with discrete components once more, sometimes at Mosely’s kitchen table.

Around 1967, Mosley came back from the NAMM show with an order from the Guild company to build Foxey Lady fuzztones for them. Guild was a company that was well known for its guitars, but they just didn’t want to go to the trouble of tooling up for fuzzbox production. What Mosrite did for Guild was simply repackage the Fuzzrite by moving the controls and power switch to the top of the pedal, putting the power switch between the Volume and Fuzz controls. They made approximately 1000 of these units for Guild until Mosrite suffered financial problems and went under for the first time.

While we’re on the subject, another interesting variation on the Fuzzrite was the ZB Custom fuzz, which was probably produced in the mid 70’s. At the time, Mosrite was sharing a building with ZB Custom, a manufacturer of steel guitars. Ed Sanner believes that the ZB Custom fuzz was either made for them by Mosrite or was made by ZB Custom from units they found in the building after Mosrite’s departure. It is identical to the Fuzzrite except for the name. Interestingly enough, I’d never heard of ZB Custom until one of these pedals came in for repair. The next day, I ran across a ZB Custom pedal steel at a local music store. Deja vu abounds!

Back to Guild. With Mosrite’s demise they began casting about for a new manufacturer of the Foxey Lady and happened upon Mike Matthews. Take a look at the photo below. According to Mike Matthews, these are PRE-EH Foxey Ladys, which he had made by a company called Aul Instruments in 1967. The circuit, which is extremely similar to the Mosrite Fuzzrite with hints of the later EH Axis, was designed by Bill Berko – the first EH designer. The unit is the same size and shape as the early triangle-knob pedals, but has a much heavier steel chassis. Some may not have the Foxey Lady logo on the top. These had been popping up sporadically over the years, but I finally got the dirt on them from Mike Matthews himself.

When EH was formed in 1968 the Foxey Lady became a renamed version of their very first effect, the Axis fuzztone. It had a 2 transistor circuit also designed by Bill Berko, a tech from 48th St. in NY. The controls consisted of Volume and Fuzz, with a power switch located on the back of the Volume control. An interesting feature in the construction is the use of a DPDT footswitch soldered directly to the circuit board. Unlike later EH products, this greatly reduced the number of loose wires and made for sturdier construction. Instead of being wired for true bypass, however, the switch was set up so that one side switched the output of the circuit while the other side switched power to the circuit on and off. The same sort of switching arrangement was used in the Mosrite Fuzzrite and the Mosrite-made Guild Foxey Lady. Neither pedal was made in huge quantities, but the Axis seems to be rarer of the two. Mike says that the Axis was created to cash in on the big fuzztone craze of the 60’s and estimates that only about 2000 – 3000 Axis and Foxey Lady pedals were manufactured before the introduction of the Big Muff Pi. Currently a reproduction is being offered by RonSound. You can see it here: RonSound Foxey Axis fuzz

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With the introduction their soon-to-be-legendary Big Muff Pi circuit, they changed the Foxey Ladys to use this design and discontinued production of both the 2-knob Foxey Lady and the Axis. Again, these are identical to Big Muffs internally and are available in two versions: a triangle-knob configuration which is equivalent to the earliest Big Muffs (series 1) and a straight-knob version equal to the series 2 Big Muff. They continued with the production of the Foxey Lady until approximately the mid 70’s.

Finally, here are some Guild ads showing the 3 incarnations of the EH-made Foxey Lady.

It’s possible that there are other variations on the Mosrite Fuzzrite just as there are on the Big Muff. If anyone has a fuzz that they suspect may also fit in this story, please contact me.

Thanks to Pedalman for the photos of the Mosrite-made pedals and Kevin Macy for the Aul Instruments Foxey Lady pic.

Last Updated on Friday, 04 June 2010 08:34

The 64 Second Digital Looping Recorder

The RAREST of all Electro-Harmonix products!!!! According to Mike Matthews, only a few prototypes were built, but they tended to break too often, thus ensuring their non-production. Unfortunately, EH had already announced the release of this unit to several magazines. This copy came from the Dec. 1983 issue of Guitar Player. The price was one of the highest as well, second only to the rackmount Guitar Synthesizer.

ELECTRO-HARMONIX DIGITAL DELAY. The 64 Second Digital Looping Recorder is a rack-mountable unit that can create delays of up to 64 seconds in length and can provide an audio bandwidth of 15Hz to 12kHz at a delay length of 8 seconds. It can be used to store loops of sounds without tape-with infinite hold, reverse playback, double- or half-speed playback, and sound-on-sound-and can function as a digital chorus, flanger, echo, and doubler. A 4-digit display shows loop lengths from 8 seconds to 64 seconds, and a click track allows for synchronization of echoes and stored sounds with other sounds. Silence can be recorded into the entire memory via a Fast Erase button, allowing new material to be recorded. The list price of the 64 Second Digital Looping Recorder is $1,195.00. Electro-Harmonix, 27 W. 23rd St., New York, NY 10010.