Vintage Gear Info

 

ESTECHO’s music relies on many old and capricious musical instruments and devices. Keeping them in working condition is often a challenge, and for many of them, operation, maintenance and servicing information is very hard to come by. Often, pages such as this one are the only source of info available, pre-internet manufacturers having long since gone out of business or simply not remembering ever having these products for sale. For this reason, we’ve decided to share tips, tricks and info we’ve gathered while using, maintaining and repairing such devices.

Feel free to share or add information to the various pages on this site; it will be of much help to everyone stumbling here looking for that elusive, scarce and precious piece of information that can bring a machine destined to the junkyard back to life…

Here is a complete list of the tape delays, drum machines and keyboards featured on this site.

Jump to: Drum Machines | Keyboards

Tape Echoes

	Ace Tone Pro Echo EC-10 Grandfather of Roland Space Echo series, designed by Roland founder Ikutaro Kakehashi.
	Ace Tone EC-20 Later model by Ace Tone corp. Tension tape loop with individual head selection.
	Binson EC 3 Magnetic drum delay from renowned Italian company Binson.
	Denon Dic EM-1000 Rare, unusual and extremely heavy 1/4 inch tape machine from Denon corporation. Perhaps a prototype?
	Elk EM-4 Compact model based on Sony RE tape cartridge.
	Elk Echo Machine EM-1 Earlier model from Elk, using Sony RE tape cartridge
	Evans SE-780 aka Multivox MX-312. Fully-featured tape delay with spring reverb, sound-on-sound and unique tape transport design.
	Evans ES-5 Entry-level unit with tension tape loop and sliding playback head.
	Evans EE-3 Entry-level unit with limited features, sliding playback head and tension tape loop.
	Evans Nova 400 PA amplifier with integrated tape delay (tension tape loop) and channel sends.
	Evans Vocal Echo VE-200 PA amplifier with integrated tape delay (tension tape loop) and channel sends.
	Guyatone EM-77 Sony RE cartridge based unit with two playback heads.
	Guyatone EM-606 Entry-level, 8-track cartridge unit with limited features.
	Guyatone EM-808D 8-track cartridge unit with good amount of features.
	Guyatone EM-88 Top-of-the-line Guyatone unit with tension tape loop.
	Hawk 2-Channel Echo HE-2250 Stereo tape delay with fully independent delay lines and channels.
	Iwase Voice Echo Machine Very old unit from little known Iwase corporation, featuring tube circuitry.
	Kastam SS-102 8-track cartridge unit with good amount of features.
	Kastam Concert SS-100 Entry-level 8-track cartridge unit.
	Kastam SS-101 Very limited entry-level 8-track cartridge unit.
	Kastam SS-301 Very limited entry-level 8-track cartridge unit.
	Korg Stage Echo SE-500 Professional tape delay with full controls, very long repeat time and unique features such as CV input for delay time.
	Melos EM-200 Very unique magnetic disk design. Rebranded under various names.
	Mirano Echo Chamber 3 Early tape delay using tube circuitry.
	Mirano T-4 Solid state model from the Mirano corporation.
	Rexer RTE-3000 Late generation unit with free running tape loop and stereo output.
	Roland Space Echo RE-100 Early Space Echo model using Sony RE cartridge
	Roland Space Echo RE-200 Early Space Echo model using Sony RE cartridge, with spring reverb
	Univox EC-80A Simple 1-head tape delay using Apollon-type cartridge.

Drum Machines

	Ace Tone Rhythm Ace FR-6 Classic Ace Tone unit with standard features.
	Ace Tone Rhythm Ace FR-3 Standalone model enclosed in amp/speaker cabinet.
	Ace Tone Rhythm Fever Later model with updated exterior design but standard Rhythm Ace circuitry.
	Ace Tone Rhythm Producer Semi-programmable preset drum machine with two program lines.
	Amdek RMK-100 Very simple and compact unit with limited features.
	Hillwood Super Variation HR-2 Entry-level unit from Hillwood corporation.
	Hillwood Super Variation HR-30 Top-of-the-line Hillwood unit with generous preset selection.
	Korg KPR-77 Fully-programmable drum machine with advanced features.
	Korg Mini-Pops 120 Classic sounding Korg unit with good amount of features.
	Korg Rhythm 55B Excellent preset drum machine with great features such as sound mixer and swing control.
	National SY-50 Rare unit from Panasonic-Matsushita corporation.
	Roland PB-300 Compact model made to connect with Roland Keyboards and MIDI recorders of the era.
	Roland Compu-Rhythm CR-5000 High-quality preset drum machine with many features but cannot be programmed, unlike the CR-8000.
	Roland CR-68 Classic preset drum machine similar to the CR-78, but cannot be programmed.
	Teisco R-1A Standard preset drum machine with limited features.
	Yamaha MR-10 Very compact analog drum machine with presets, mixer and trigger pads.

Keyboards

	Ace Tone PS-1000 Monosynth Rare early generation monosynth from the Ace Tone corp.
	Ace Tone Top-9 Combo Organ Classic mid-level Ace Tone combo organ with good feature set
	Yamaha CS-15 Monosynth Mid-level Yamaha monosynth with dual oscillators.
	Columbia Elepian EP-61C Electric Piano Japanese-made electro-mechanical piano rarely seen outside Japan. Cross between Rhodes and Wurlitzer technologies.
	Hillwood PO-2000 Combo Organ Simple combo organ with standard features for the time
	Korg Polysix Synth Classic and versatile six-voice synth with preset saving.
	Roland SH-101 Monosynth Compact and lightweight performance monosynth with sequencer.