Rock 'n' Roll Legend

Legend amplifiers, made in New York state, still have no distributor in the UK, but continue to make a big noise the other side of the water, attracting players as diverse as Craig Chaquico of Jefferson Starship, Nile Rodgers of Chic, Walter Becker of Steely Dan, and Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top to their high-quality, professional looks and sounds.

The latest Legend products are the Series II Rock 'n' Roll 50 and 100 units, and the MS-570 professional miking system. The 50W and 100W versions of the Rock 'n' Roll amps feature hand-crafted solid-oak cabinet work, cane grilles, valve preamps, transistor power amps, 4-band EQ (described by Legend as 'English'), something called a Dual Mode footswitch, pre-amp out and power amp in jacks and a separate control for pre-amp out level, and another 'English' touch, Celestion drivers in the loudspeaker cabs. Shure's MS-570 miking system places a shock-mounted low-impedance Shure SM57 mic into the actual speaker cone, giving what is claimed to be optimum miking under any conditions, both in the studio and on stage. The rear panel of Legend MS-570-equipped cabinets feature an XLR connector and on/off switch.

More info on Legend amplification from Legend Musical Instruments Inc, (Contact Details).

Altec

Altec professional sound equipment has a new distributor in the UK and the Republic of Ireland: Rank Strand Sound, whose MD, Ben Hogan, described Altec equipment as fitting perfectly into Rank's existing activities in the pro-audio and cinema fields. "We are looking forward to their providing first-class sales and service to back up the world's finest professional loudspeakers," he said.

More information on sales and service facilities from Rank Strand Sound, (Contact Details).

New Combos from Vox

Vox recently introduced two new amplifiers to their range, the Escort 50 Lead Combo, and the V125 Combo.

The Escort 50 Lead Combo features a newly-developed Vox loudspeaker which is claimed to give 'exceptional clarity and performance'. The combo's pre-amp boasts master and pre-amp level rotaries for complete control over overload sounds, along with three-band EQ, feeding the integral 50W power amp. Suggested retail price of the Escort 50 Lead Combo is £160.

The V125 Combo is a 125W valve unit featuring five-band active EQ, which Vox reckon is unique among valve amps. Overload sounds are induced thanks to the master and pre-amp rotaries along with something labelled a 'volume compensatory distortion circuit'. The V125, too, has new Vox drivers, and retails for a suggested £??

Vox Ltd, (Contact Details).

Alembic in London

Musimex of north London are now sales agents for Alembic guitars in Europe and Scandinavia, and they recently told us of the top-class American company's latest superaxe, the Distillate 8-string bass. It features a five-piece maple and amaranth laminated neck-thru-body, the Explorer-shaped body itself having a mahogany core on to which are laminated various exotic hardwoods. The 24-fret fingerboard is of ebony and fretless options are available. The hardware includes a brass nut and backplate, Schaller machines (eight, of course!) and the Alembic 'quick-change' tailpiece. Electronically, the Alembic is pretty wide-ranging, as is their wont. It has two wide-band, low-distortion, specially wound Alembic pickups feeding an active pre-amp and tone filter control system with a two-position Q switch, frequency control, and bass and treble cut/boost switches. A rotary pickup selector and a status LED complete the control functions.

More info: Musimex, (Contact Details).

Belli Bares New Wares

Remo have unveiled a new series of pre-tuned 'membranic' percussion instruments and drum heads which require no tuning adjustments or tensioning after manufacture, using a plastic film mounted and tensioned under controlled conditions. Remo Inc., of North Hollywood, California, have patent applications pending for various techniques involved in the production of the new heads and drums. President of the company is Remo Belli, shown above with one of his new drum heads, who first developed the plastic drum head in the late 1950s. Belli said that the technology involved in his new pre-tuned heads, which had taken over a year to develop, would herald, "The next major advance in the evolution of drum making"; and expected deliveries of the heads and other percussion instruments to begin in early summer 1982. Apparently, various other percussion manufacturers have already expressed interest in the 'membranic' head. Initially, Remo will offer the pre-tuned drum heads in the Ambassador Coated style, with a choice of bright, mellow, and dark tonal variations, in 12in, 13in, 14in, and 16in batter heads, a 14in snare head, and a 22in bass drum head, with other sizes and types becoming available in due course.

Remo Inc, (Contact Details).

New Pieces from Peavey

Peavey have been expanding their guitar range and, in addition to the T20 bass mentioned in the NAMM report in April's E&MM, have announced the new T15 and T30 electric six-strings.

The T15 is a two single-bar pickup solid with a compact 23½in, 20-fret scale maple neck, single volume and tone controls, a neck adjustment similar to Fender's micro-tilt, and a pickup selector switch down on the lower horn. There's a satin sunburst finish, and the suggested retail price is a reasonable £166.75 (inc VAT and case).

The T30 is similar to the T15 in overall dimensions and the shortish scale, although it features three single-bar pickups in typical Strat-like configuration, plus a five-way selector switch. The body of the T30 is of ash, and confirms that Peavey have well and truly dumped their earlier plastics experiments in favour of now-cheaper conventional woods. The T30 has a suggested retail price of £217.35 (inc VAT and case).

Both of these guitars can be obtained with Peavey's new 'electric case' which has a built-in 10W amp with gain and EQ plus speaker: with the T15 £217.35 (inc VAT), and with the T30 £256.45 (inc VAT).

Peavey Electronics (UK) Ltd, (Contact Details).