ACME Musical Instrument Co., LTD. is a musical instrument accesory manufacturer. Their range includes digital tuners, instument pickups and amplifiers.
In the early 1960s the Unicord Corporation, a manufacturer of electronic transformers purchased the Amplifier Corporation of America of Westbury, New York. They began marketing a line of amplifiers under the brand name of Univox. The company was purchased by Gulf + Western in 1967. Guitar making operations moved to Japan in 1975 where they continued making guitars until 1982. Production under the Univox name was halted after a fire at the Matsumoku factory. After this time instruments were made in Korea under the name Westbury. The Unicord Corporation was purchased by Korg in 1985, effectively ending the line for good.
Build Your Own Clone sells a good range of guitar DIY guitar effects pedal kits, which are great for the inexperienced maker. Each kit is based on a famous effects pedal and comes with absolutely everything you need to build the pedal. Step by step instructions should make assembly a breeze.
Jen Electtronica was a company in Pescara, Italy who made electronic musical items such as organs, wah-wah pedals, fuzz boxes and ring modulators in the 1970s and 1980s. Jen made products for other companies & brands including Vox, Gem, Elka, Crybaby and Gretch.
BOSS is the division of Roland Corporation most easily recognized for its line of colorful guitar and bass effects pedals.
For over 25 years BOSS has also developed innovative multi-effects, rhythm machines, personal digital studios and other easy-to-use instruments for musicians of all types.
Z.Vex is the brandname for effects and amplifiers made by Zachary Vex. His effects have the hand-made boutique look about them, and he is the guy responsible for the world's smallest tube amp.
This is an introductory video guide from Gary Schutt about compression effects. Gary gives a quick run though of the uses of compression. The best part is when he says:
"It's a really subtle effect, if you don't know you're using it you probably won't know you're using it."
Two brothers Kim and John Rishøj founded TC Electronic in 1976 in Risskov, Denmark. For several years they made guitar effects pedals before moving into the rack-mounted product area. They currently produce a wide range of guitar effects.
Currently TC employs close to 185 people worldwide working in 15 different countries. TC Electronic is very focused on new technologies and products with its approx. 40 R&D staff. Today, the company is not only a leader in digital signal processing, but also a major player in other aspects of the digital audio technology world, such as digital amplification and networking.
Prince Tsushinkogyo Co. Ltd. (Prince Telecommunication and Engineering) was founded in 1950 in Nagoya, Japan. They concentrated on making tuners and solid state musical instrument amplifiers. The company began to use the Arion brand name and in 1980 and began making guitar effects pedals. The company's fortunes declined in the 1990s and by 1997 Arion was sold to Ueno Kaihatsu Center Ltd., who continued making the effects pedals and tuners (now in Sri Lanka), but discontinued the amplifiers.
Guyatone was founded by Mitsuo Matsuki in 1930s Japan and was initially as the Matsuki Seisakujo company. The first products were Hawaiian lap steel guitars. In the early 1950s Matsuki started using the Guyatone brandname and also diversified in making amplifiers and audio gear. Production levels took off in 1956, as Guyatone began making OEM instruments for distribution under other brand names including Star, Ibanez, Antoria, Futurama and Kent.
Located in Benicia, California, Dunlop Manufacturing, Inc. was founded as a small, family-owned and operated company in 1965, and has since grown to be a leading manufacturer of electronic effects, picks, capos, slides, strings and other musical instrument accessories. Dunlop is the home of such products as the Cry Baby wah and Tortex picks.
Dunlop brands include MXR, CryBaby and Way Huge Electronics.
Xotic Basses was founded in 1998 as a one man company in Southern California, producing high-quality bass guitars and bass preamps. In 2000, in order to further grow Xotic as a brand, the corporation Prosound Communications Inc. (PCI) was established as a parent company to acquire the Xotic brand. At this point, marketing of Xotic Effects started and Xotic guitars and basses were made in larger quantities to meet increasing demand. PCI’s main focus was exporting of other US made brands to Japan to fund the continual manufacturing. By 2009 Xotic’s brand came to be more recognized throughout the market and it outgrew its garage location in San Fernando Valley. PCI moved to its current production offices in Van Nuys, CA. Today the Xotic Research and Development and manufacturing team is still based in Van Nuys California, but they also use satellite locations in Taiwan and Japan to supply some Xotic products at more affordable prices.
Trace Elliot originated in 1979 in the Soundwave music shop in Romford, Essex. The Soundwave owner, Fred Friedlein, and staff which included Alan Morgan (sales) and Stuart Watson (design engineer) were building and hiring out PA systems. Musicians began using these amplifiers for basses and the Soundwave staff went on to developed range of products that using MOSFET output stages driving large cabinets, including 15” drivers, and a 4 x 10” cabinet, now an industry standard for bass amps. The brand became Trace Elliot: by 1989 they were also making acoustic amplifiers. The company was bought by Kaman in 1992. It was sold again in 1997 as a management buy-out and again in 1998 to the Gibson Guitar Corp. By 2002 UK manufacturing had stopped & Gibson moved production of any remaining products elsewhere. By 2015 Peavey had aquired the rights to the brand.
