From atomic@netcom.comMon May 29 14:16:29 1995 Date: Mon, 29 May 1995 14:06:09 -0700 (PDT) From: atomic city To: Jamie Heilman Cc: analogue@hyperreal.com, electronica+@andrew.cmu.edu Subject: Re: Electro Harmonix Frequency Analyzer - what's it? Jamie Heilman writes-- > >On Mon, 29 May 1995, Malte Rogacki wrote: > >> does anybody out there know what the above box actually does? I've only >> heard that it was kinda "secret weapon" among guitar players during the >> early 80's. And what's it worth today? > > I belive it was a ring modulator of sorts (I could be totally wrong). Actually, you're close but not quite spot on. It's a balanced modulator, with one of the inputs a built-in oscilator whose frequency is tuned by a knob on the front panel and the other being the guitar or whatever you fed into it. I owned one for several years and used it on occasion for mangling my Xpander and my bass before selling it to a rabid EH box collector. It is quite similar in operation to the Dan Armstrong Green Ringer, but with a few more controls. >Adrian Belew (used to play for Zappa, more notably perhaps with King Crimson) >I belive had one in his setup along with a couple of other EH effects. I >hear it wasn't real acurate at doing what it did, and glitched out enough to >make what ever you were playing sound like jazz, but I've never personally >played around with one. I've no idea what its worth these days. The >vintage market being what it is I'd say its possible to get quite a bit >for one, depending on an inverse proportion between one's ethics and price. I don't know; boxes like this one have no immediately obvious use other than to make very, very weird noises, so they're less valuable than, say, a tube preamp or a classic fuzztone. You could probably find one cheap in decent order, but be sure it has a power cord; the FA was an AC powered device with a very weird detachable cord. mike -- mike metlay * atomic city * p. o. box 81175 * pittsburgh, pa 15217-0675 usa atomic@netcom.com * atomic-city@netcom.com * http://pd.net/atomic-city --------------------------------------------------------------------------- "If the masses were, intellectually, as advanced as they are musically, Mr. Rogers Neighborhood would be on network prime time Friday nights." (k. moore)