Eric writes: "Metasonix introduces an all-new effect pedal which is aimed at the "Butt Guitarist" crowd. Because guitarists deserve, and WANT, some anus-stretching.
"The Metasonix TX-2 is entirely made of vacuum tubes. To be specific, three type 4BN6 beam modulator devices. They were intended for
use in crummy TV sets as FM detectors, and were NOT meant
for audio processing applications. They SUCK. Really, really, badly.
"...The third tube provides an extra way of modulating the
distortion. Basically, it is wired as a very bad bandpass
filter. Filter center frequency is controlled with a "Vactrol"
type optical resistor, and swept continuously with a low-frequency
oscillator built into the TX-2. The sweep may be disabled by
turning down the SCREW knob or by plugging an unassigned 1/4"
plug into the CV IN jack. If the latter is done, the SCREW
knob will tune the filter manually, giving a vast range of
NAUSEATING tonal effects not obtainable with any of the existing
effect pedals on the market. Anal lubricant is not included."
The Butt Probe costs $549, in a Ltd edition of 100, and comes complete with a manual illustrated by our very own Dave Lovelace. Sound samples on the Metasonix site.
UPDATE: Dave is selling his Butt Probe here.
Today the NY Times ran this great story about Mike Matthews, who founded Electro Harmonix in 1968, and now runs New Sensor, who make tubes in a factory in Russia (they pump out all those 12AX7 tubes in Korg gear). The NY Times story is about the endless horror of trying to do business in Russia - gangsters and the KGB conspiring to rob Mike of his factory. It ends with the chilling quote "It would be a catastrophe for the music industry if something happened to that plant."
I asked Eric Barbour from Metasonix what he thought of the piece. Eric knows more about tubes than anyone I've ever encountered. The headlines? Fresh tubes are now a $60m business with only a handful of producers in strange parts of the world, but the cool kids are using old stock. Here's what Eric said in full:
"Mike Matthews sent out a press release about this a few months ago. Such things happen in Russia all the time nowadays. Indeed, the word "bysnesmenyi" has become a cynical slang term for "criminal" among ordinary Russians. The massive corruption tends to explain how a hard-liner like Putin was elected. People figure, at least he's a law-and-order type.
"Mike Matthews does not have a monopoly on vacuum-tube production. The primary reason why guitar-amp companies do business with him: he offers them extra-low prices on bulk tubes. Plus, he's an aggressive self-promoter.
"Don't forget, there is also JJ, Ei, Svetlana (which is no longer allowed to use the name "Svetlana" in the USA, because Mike Matthews bought the trademark and is slapping it on tubes made at his factory), plus at least 2 factories in China that I know of. This doesn't count smaller firms that specialize in tubes for high-end audio, such as Western Electric or Tianjin. So, we have at least 6 factories making typical tubes for guitar amps and audio use (12AX7, 6L6, EL34 etc.).
"Here is a complete list of glass tube factories, as far as I can find out, as of 2003. Bear in mind that some of those firms are just resellers....there are actually only a few real factories making the tubes. Some resellers like to claim they are making the stuff, but they really aren't. A LOT of Chinese tubes enter the US under various brandnames, and are often claimed to be American-made. No, I won't name names.
"Even so, you see how many firms are still doing this? Ten years ago, I estimated that audio tubes (not amps or other audio devices, just the tubes) were at least a $40-million a year business worldwide. Since then it has probably grown by at least 50%, perhaps more.
"Metasonix doesn't use ANY currently-made tubes in any of its products.
I have good sources of NOS tubes, and I'm sticking to them. If I wanted to (and had the coin) I could easily lay my hands on hundreds of thousands of tubes usable in Metasonix products, such as 6AK5s, for which supplies are incredible and the demand is otherwise almost nil. Besides, 12AX7s are of limited use to me. One can do far more intersting things with old TV tubes, or pentodes like the 6AK5.
"I know of one surplus dealer who owns 260,000 military-surplus 6AK5s. He can't seem to sell them as a bulk lot, nobody wants them. They don't plug into guitar amps. One could MAKE an excellent guitar amp using 6AK5s, but people are conservative, so they keep using 12AX7s."
If you're interested in Eric and tubes, this interview from Synthtopia is a good place to start. (Thanks, Sean)
Metasonix' Eric Barbour is one of the cleverest, most original people I've come across since starting Music Thing. He knows everything there is to know about tubes. Now, finally, instead of making absurd things like four-voice polyphonic all-tube synths, he's made the Fucking Fucker, a two-channel guitar amp stuffed with things like "remote-cutoff pentodes". It's hideous, it's yellow, it will be pixellated every time a rich rockstar puts one in his video, and I'm sure it sounds incredible. Now that most tube amps are built on Chinese production lines, this is a truly wonderful thing.
Wow! This is the new Metasonix S-1000 tube mono synth. Available next year for around $2,500, it has two oscillators, is semi-modular and has many cool features. I particularly like the sound of...
- "6AL7 "eye" tube displays status of LFOs and A(S)R control voltages on three separate glowing green bar graphs.
- "Miniature joystick performs multiple jobs: vertical motion affects pitch of both VCOs, horizontal motion affects tuning of filter. Press joystick in to trigger envelopes. (Thanks Michael)
UPDATE: Here is a huge (3mb) image of this thing for enhanced drooling, courtesy of the ever helpful Analogue Haven.
Deviant Synth is the new blog from Eric Barbour of Metasonix (among other contributors). Eric has helped Music Thing out many times with facts/background/knowledge etc. The blog has a great manifesto - "We want readers to post twisted, schizophrenic synthesizer bullshit. Anything posted will be taken down if it is at all synth-collector oriented, chiptune-related, dull, or sheeplike... Links to schematics of exact copies of CS-80 filters are not welcome. Neither are links to fansites for Kraftwerk, Klaus Schulze, Can, Tangerine Dream, Ultravox, Gay Fairy Twinkle, or any other hideous 70s or 80s funny-haircut nostalgia keyboard act.... All tech must be ODD. Germanium transistors, arcane synth modules, vacuum tubes, steam-powered piston oscillators, whatever -- it has to be WRONG.. The picture above, of a prototype Sheryl Crow Sodomy synth is par for the course. Eric is looking for more contributors - anyone with a Wordpress account can post.
Eric from Metasonix writes: "One of the German members of the Tube Collectors Association has built a Nixie tube clock. But it's not a typical Nixie clock. The guy decided to make ALL the electronics out of tubes. I estimate about 90 tubes. Some people have far more time on their hands than I do. Text is in German but the photos will make your jaw drop." Tonnes of pictures here, and this coming from a man who builds synths from tubes. Makes this look even lamer, doesn't it?
UPDATE: It took 7 years to build, and contains 103 tubes.
I've never heard of the Theremin as a devotional instrument, but apparently it does happen: This 1965 vintage theremin has a great story - "My father, who is also a saw player, played it in his church ministry." Not totally sure that it's worth $3,000 (with two days to go), though. The top bidder is a very serious radio collector. (via Theremin World) UPDATE: Eric from Metasonix writes: "It wasn't made in 1965 - the owner's father bought it in 1965. It's an original RCA theremin from 1929. And $3000 is chicken feed for an UNRESTORED RCA in this condition. It should bring more like $10k. The top bidder, "firebottles", is a dealer. He will probably resell it. For a fat profit..."
This is a Blonder Tongue Audio Baton - a fully-working valve graphic equalizer from 1959, currently at $100. I have just one question. Why doesn't audio gear look like this any more?
UPDATE: Eric from Metasonix has got in touch: "The Audio Baton was definitely the first graphic EQ ever offered to the public, but it was a marketing failure. It cost $118 at a time when you could buy a Mini Cooper for $800, and it was mono, so you'd need two (Ben Tongue, the inventor, didn't understand the concept of stereo sound). And it wasn't really built for recording studios. In those days, electronic processing was frowned upon by unionized engineers. Engineers tried to fix frequency response problems by using a different mic or moving the mic.
"You oughta bid on that thing. It is a guaranteed collectible, and
guaranteed rare as hell. The only websites about it are this one, and this interview with Ben Tongue."
Thanks, Eric. Bidding is now up to $182, with a day and a half left!
Thanks to Eric from Metasonix for reporting on the Analog Heaven meeting in Oakland on Saturday. If you're looking for insane spaghetti-covered modulars, EMS Synthi's and a not-inconsiderable number of men with beards, this was the place to be. I rather suspect that Eric was the belle of the ball, turning up with this, his prototype polyphonic vacuum-tube synth.
What a day. It's hard to argue with a valve fuzzbox called 'The Womanizer", which costs $449, is loaded with weird controls and lights, has a switch with a radiation sign next to it, and a press release which says "The Womanizer's overdrive section cries out with all the emotive tonal character that any journeyman could desire".
Hard, that us, unless there's something new from Metasonix, who've got a nice line in reverse tech-psychology. They've just released a 'Special Unnaceptable Edition' of their gonzo valve superfuzzbox 'Agonizer', which costs $499. It's loaded with weird controls and lights, has a knob marked "strangle" and a press release which says "We've changed some of the circuit components to add just that little extra smidge of massive, atonal distortion effecto thingy. It's now fully OPTIMIZED for bad tone and crappy sound." (via Gizmodo)
Today the NY Times ran this great story about Mike Matthews, who founded Electro Harmonix in 1968, and now runs New Sensor, who make tubes in a factory in Russia (they pump out all those 12AX7 tubes in Korg gear). The NY Times story is about the endless horror of trying to do business in Russia - gangsters and the KGB conspiring to rob Mike of his factory. It ends with the chilling quote "It would be a catastrophe for the music industry if something happened to that plant."
Wow! This is the new Metasonix S-1000 tube mono synth. Available next year for around $2,500, it has two oscillators, is semi-modular and has many cool features. I particularly like the sound of...
Eric from Metasonix writes: "One of the German members of the Tube Collectors Association has built a Nixie tube clock. But it's not a typical Nixie clock. The guy decided to make ALL the electronics out of tubes. I estimate about 90 tubes. Some people have far more time on their hands than I do. Text is in German but the photos will make your jaw drop." Tonnes of pictures here, and this coming from a man who builds synths from tubes. Makes this look even lamer, doesn't it?