I'll never forget that photo shoot..It was a hot California day, and tempers were short..the photographer seemed sort of frazzled, but i soldiered on, standing tall and proud, until we got the shot with frame 37, just in the nick of time, before a small tremor shook my foundation...ahh..those were the days!
Well, yet another day of searching, and I have found partial if not the complete tube compliment for the Ray Butts Echosonic EA-1 amplifier, eventually also the Rickenbacker M-30 Ek-O-Sound amp.
Please see the attachment for a photo of an original tube chart. It is difficult to read but it looks like this:
The speaker originally used in the Ray Butts Echosonic EA-1 was a 12inch University model UC-121 Series 100, with a black basket and silver magnet - I also saw this speaker mounted in a prototype black Gretsch amp (like a 6163 model). I've seen some people have a University speaker that has a sage green basket with a gold magnet.
The speaker label on the magnet says that it's rated for 30 Watts and 8 and 16 Ohm (I've never heard of a dual impedance speaker until now..). This speaker is not very deep so it fit in the cabinet nicely.
I notice that these speakers have the JBL-like silver dust cap, and they also have a metal dust screen on the back in the centre of the magnet, again à la JBL.
Note: These speakers were made in White Plains, NY. Les Paul just died yesterday in White Plains, NY. Les Paul pioneered Sound-On-Sound, the very technology Ray Butts put into his Echosonic........ N I C E.
I think the Rickenbacker M-30 Ek-O-Sounds used a Jensen speaker, as did most Rickys at that period.
Deke Dickerson's Echosonic in a Ric cabinet (with Ric knobs) dumpster-found has a JBL silver-dome D-123 but I am not so sure that was in the cabinet when it was found.
Now that I look at Scotty's chart again, I think this is a more accurate transcription:
REAR BOTTOM: 12AU7 - 12AX7 - 12AU7 - 12AD7 - 5V4
FRONT BOTTOM: 12AX7 - 12AT7 - 12AD7 - 6L6 - 6L6GB
Right front side of chassis: 6AR5
That last one, the 6AR5, seems to be a new version of a 6K6, which is the reverb driver tube in Fender's best offboard Reverbs (the ones with the other types of tubes don't sound as good), so perhaps this is the tube that drives part of the tape echo. It is interesting to note that Roy's newer version has a 6C4 in it. What I'd give to see pictures of these chassis....
Hello everyone, (ESPECIALLY ROYCE - HERE's WHAT YOU'VE BEEN WAITING FOR!!!!)
Wel, I finally found a COMPLETE EK-O-SOUND!!!!
It appreared on ebay, and no one won went over the reserve. I kept emailing the guy who was selling it for the owner (original owner was Rick Waters, he is 90 this year). There apparently even was people 'representing Deke Dickerson' that wanted this amp, which surprises me. I say this because recently, Deke sold his '56 prototype Standel amp because he thought he would qualify for an episode fo 'hoarders'. Why would he turn around and try to buy a 2nd Ek-O-Sound?? Perhaps he only has Echosonics, and needs some spare parts...
Eventually, we settled on a price, and yes it was more than the eBay price. Plus the cost of the wire transfer, plus shipping, plus border fees, taxes, customs, duty, and I even tiped the delivery guy, and I had to take an afternoon off of work just so that I could get UPS to delivery this (what a hassle they are but their fone service/paging the driver service is terrific!!).
So it does seem that the amp was retolexed long ago with Fender stuff, looks maybe 20-25 years old (that's only as far back as 1990 so it may be earlier because it is worn). The grill cloth was also changed, as was the handle but the handle mounts are original. Casters were added a long time ago but I doubt they are from the factory.
The tape board is complete, I cannot find even one missing part. But it sure is corroded, and I'm wondering if there is anything broken. There is a large capacitor underneath for the motor assembly which has a disconnected terminal - easy fix but is it usable........
So far, one of the cap cans has black stuff coming out of the underside so it cannot be that good anymore. I replaced that one large 2-wire cable going from the power switch to the Amphenol socket because it was dry and crumbling. Since I had to redo the power plug connections for the same reason, I used a 5 inch peice of the power cable to replace the other crumbling one.
So I still don't know what the initials written inside stand for (DL) but the PAT 2804499 stamped on the back bottom edge is very nice and serves as proof that this is a Ray Butts Echosonic technology inside.
I'll be posting photos of every INCH of this amp for everyone, enjoy.
A Big THANK YOU to Gary Clauson (doctorwho on this forum). He was the first one who I found online that mentionned to us Patent # 2,804,499 , the patent for the 1955 Ray Butts EchoSonic model EA-1.
Upon examining my Rickenbacker Ek-O-Sound model M-30, I found this (see photo) on the bottom edge of the back panel.
