LS - Harmonic Sound Synthesizer

Discussion regarding early stompbox technology: 1960-1975 Please keep discussion focused and contribute what info you have...
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analogguru
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Post by analogguru »

This is something neither Google nor I have seen before....
Even "discofreq" is bidding on it:

https://cgi.ebay.com/Vintage-50s-60s-Gu ... dZViewItem

from the components used (transistor in TO-106 case, blue caps, white coloured 0,5W resistors) and the term Synthesizer I would date it to the early 70´s - neither 50´s nor 60´s.

Seems to be a simple booster (maybe with ge-diode-clipping) and a tone-control.

Better guts or any information about it would be appreciated.

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Post by Stephengiles »

:roll:

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Post by Dirk_Hendrik »

analogguru wrote: Even "discofreq" is bidding on it:
That's not so "even" AG. :lol:

Discofreq bids on a lot of things and owns even a much larger amount of nice, weird or obscure stuff. I thought I had seen a lot but when I spend an evening at his place some 1,5 yrs ago I never stopped seeing new things.
Sorry. Plain out of planes.

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Post by analogguru »

Dirk_Hendrik wrote:
analogguru wrote: Even "discofreq" is bidding on it:
That's not so "even" AG. :lol:

Discofreq bids on a lot of things and owns even a much larger amount of nice, weird or obscure stuff. I thought I had seen a lot but when I spend an evening at his place some 1,5 yrs ago I never stopped seeing new things.
so "even" seems to be the right term....
He wouldn´t bid if he would already have one... :wink:

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Post by Dirk_Hendrik »

"even" that's not the case ;)
Sorry. Plain out of planes.

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Post by modman »

...
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Post by soulsonic »

Electra distortion with tone control!
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Post by soulsonic »

What I could get from the pics... still some values need filled in
Fixing a mistake in an earlier attachment
Fixing a mistake in an earlier attachment
edit: there was a mistake in earlier schematic...oops!
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Post by toneman »

Reminds me of the insides of an LPB-1.................(hand wired, no pcb)
Tone-to-the-Bone

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Post by modman »

soulsonic wrote: 07 Jun 2020, 23:19Electra distortion with tone control!
Transistor is TO-16 type, says WEC (Western Electric Company?)
Pot date code 196720... so may well be older than oldest Electra Distortion?
Also remarkable that it uses 1,5V like the earliest Maestro Fuzztone.
Most of all, what is this company, no other pedals? no full name even?
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Post by soulsonic »

It looks like 9v to me.

I'd also guess that most likely all the capacitors are 100nF. But there are pics of another unit on effectsdatabase that shows a very different style of capacitor on the tone pot, and different resistor values. The caps that can be seen look like different values as well.

History of this thing definitely seems curious. Overall impression is that it must have been very cheap. Everything about it looks cheaply made, even the printing on the face of the box is poorly done. The jacks have those thin stamped tin nuts that you only see on the cheapest junk vintage gear (in my experience, saw it on some dreadful quality amps). The footswitch was probably the most expensive thing in it. My guess is this was the one product from a wannabe garage-based company and when it didn't take off like the LPB-1 did, they gave up on it. Maybe someone might find a tiny ad for it in the back of an old music magazine somewhere? Or maybe it was only sold in a local shop.
Where do these seem to be located most often? Are they American or European? Construction looks American...
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Post by modman »

soulsonic wrote: 08 Jun 2020, 20:48 It looks like 9v to me.
Absolutely, I just got confused it with some other fuzz gutshots I was downloading...
soulsonic wrote: 08 Jun 2020, 20:48 Where do these seem to be located most often? Are they American or European? Construction looks American...
Again, I put the question nobody seemed able to answer before: are these carbon film resistors? Like quite a few of the Vox Wahs from the same 1967 year seem to have?

Blue molded caps seem to make this a sure bet... but I am still looking for a white bodied black top hatted TO-106 transistor. Luckily Discofreq has gutshots from another unit. After the WEC, it has a 1
The resistors are carbon comp in this unit, and the LS does not feature on the enclosure...
Screen Shot 2020-06-09 at 09.10.09.png
Screen Shot 2020-06-09 at 09.11.04.png
Screen Shot 2020-06-09 at 09.10.47.png

Also the ceramics are ERO - that's German - they were originally affiliated with Roederstein, which is now Vishay
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