Rich Rottman, a drummer I've played with for a long time, just blew my mind with this old picture. I think it was taken in 1978, at a New Years Eve party right here in Cloverdale.
Before facial hair! It's a Sho-Bud guitar, with a Bosstone, a Roland phase shifter and the Webb remote reverb control.
Notice the Shure Vocalmaster column in the background. Remember them?
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<small><img align=right src="http://b0b.com/b0b.gif" width="64" height="64">Bobby Lee - email: quasar@b0b.com - gigs - CDs
Sierra Session 12 (E9), Williams 400X (Emaj9, D6), Sierra Olympic 12 (F Diatonic) Sierra Laptop 8 (D13), Fender Stringmaster (E13, A6)<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Bobby Lee on 20 May 2002 at 11:18 AM.]</p></FONT>
At the last Beatles concert @ Dodger Stad., they must have had 50 VocalSmasher's propped up around the infield stage area.
Don't know how it sounded, way too much screaming going on to hear the music!
JE:-)>
Yes indeed. Seeing that PA column gave me a memory rush from my first band circa 1975. I was the lead singer, and had to stand at the side of the stage with my head tilted torward a column just to (barely) hear myself! Had to be careful where my Shure Sergio Franchi model mic was, to avoid feedback.
I had that guitar's twin also in 1978! No kidding, I had a blonde Sho~Bud Pro 1 I found in a pawn shop for the incredible price of $275.00, virtually new! Great sound and I learned a lot on that old guitar.
I share the remarks of the others re: the Shure Vocal Master. Interesting their mikes are so good while that sound system was so mediocre. I struggled thru many solo gigs crooning thru a Vocal Master.
How about the phaser--still have that? I love the sound of a phase shifter with steel (Sneaky Pete on Jackson Browne's "Take it Easy"). If you know anyone selling one, lemme know.
Nice picture! The chair looks more comfortable than a Pac-a-Seat.
I "Shure" do remember the "Vocalmaster".
I remember the Columns were heavy, the knobs were BIG, built-in Reverb, SIX channels, and we thought it was good!
I don't remember the BOSSTONE, or ever being that young.
The guitar was a 6139 that I bought new in '74. I added 3 pedals and 2 knees to it, so it was 6+3 by the time this picture was taken.
I still have the phaser, but I vastly prefer the phase sound in my Lexicon MPX-100. The Bosstone was trashed long ago in favor of tube amps.
Yeah, the chair swiveled. It was real comfortable, but it was awkward to haul around. I gave up on swivel chairs a few years ago and bought a Steeler's Choice seat.
At the club where I played for over 10 years, we used that Shure system. We had 4 of the large (almost 6') columns spread around the club, and 2 of the short 3' columns over the stage for monitors. Worked pretty good back in the '60s and early '70s. After that, the columns went out of style, and the "big stuff" got popular. I junked the columns long ago, but still have the old head (with the backlit front panel), sure looked cool back then!
I always heard them called "Vocalblasters". Back then if you had a Shure Vocalblaster head and a pair of Altec Voice of the Theatre cabs,you were running "state of the art". How times have changed.
b0b, are those platform shoes? Ah, the original age of bell bottoms. Purple, to boot. And I also played in a band ('72 - '73) with a Shure Vocalmaster PA. It served us well.
I still think the natual finish curly maple
guitars were the prettiest ones ever made!!!
Bigsbys, ShoBuds, whatever....Bobbe can still
remember why I always loved blondes! (w/ blue
eyes!)
I remember all this equipment and remember it well. Many of the Vocal Master columns came equipped with Quam speakers which, to say the least, were not known for longevity, power-handling capacity, nor high fidelity.
But hey, before the Vocal Master and the tuck'n'roll Kustoms, many of us up here in the sticks made do with a "public address system" consisting of one or two pair of suitcase baffles and a Bogen amplifier or its equivalent. 10 to 15% THD was normal on these rigs. One old Oral Roberts-type microphone in the center of the stage; feedback was generally the order of the day. Nobody complained much though, but when the "nice" PA systems like the Vocal Master came out, everybody that could afford one bought one. They were the cat's meow, in their time.
Hey, Faron Young's road band used a Vocal Master PA well into the mid-1970's. It did the job just fine for the Young Sheriff. Needless to say they didn't mic the instruments!
The band I was in with the Vocalmaster was my high school rock combo we called Prism (or was it Prizm?). The lead singer owned the PA, as he did a bunch of other gear in the band. We even used to practice in his dad's furniture store (great acoustics). I remember we pushed that Vocalmaster head so hard the panel backlights would dim on every loud note the vocalist would sing. And they did that dimming thing a lot.
It's a Sho-Bud guitar, with a Bosstone, a Roland phase shifter and the Webb remote reverb control. 
