Sound City Phaser Piano... ever seen one?

Discussions about anything analog, digital, MIDI, synth technology, techniques, theories and more.
Post Reply
User avatar
WhinyLittleRunt
Active Member
Active Member
Posts:481
Joined:Fri May 19, 2006 1:41 am
Location:CT
Sound City Phaser Piano... ever seen one?

Post by WhinyLittleRunt » Thu Jul 26, 2018 5:02 am

I picked this up at an estate sale last weekend... $15.

Image

Image

Image

Yeah, it's nothing special, it's a divide-down organ and sounds like every other analog piano (ie: Univox Compac). But what's cool about it is A) it's got a built-in phaser that actually sounds pretty good, and B) I can't find anything on the internets about it. That right there makes it interesting enough for me. Sure, I've seen the standard Sound City Piano. But the Phaser Piano?

I have no way of estimating a date of manufacture on this but at the sale they marked the tag with '1972'. I'm not sure where they got that from, unless they were the original owners. But it certainly looks newer than 1972 once I popped it apart:

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Anyway I thought I'd share it because it seems to be a rare one.
I like vintage synths....

justin_havu
Junior Member
Junior Member
Posts:165
Joined:Thu Aug 31, 2006 3:23 am
Real name:Justin
Gear:Yamaha MODX7, DX7, PSR-530, PSS-270 / Korg Trinity ProX, 01/W ProX, Karma / Ensoniq ESQ-1, VFX-SD / Roland RD-1000 / Behringer Deepmind-12
Location:Rochester, NH
Contact:

Re: Sound City Phaser Piano... ever seen one?

Post by justin_havu » Thu Jul 26, 2018 5:36 pm

I've never seen the phaser model, but there's also a flanger model.

User avatar
tim gueguen
Senior Member
Senior Member
Posts:795
Joined:Thu Jun 08, 2006 2:31 am
Location:the Canadian Prairies
Contact:

Re: Sound City Phaser Piano... ever seen one?

Post by tim gueguen » Fri Jul 27, 2018 12:21 am

Sound City were a British brand, owned by Dallas Arbiter. They're best known for their amplifiers, some of the early ones being designed by Hiwatt designer Dave Reeves. I would imagine this piano is probably an Italian import badged as Sound City. Matrixsynth had a post last year about a Sound City Jo'anna piano that is actually labeled as made in Italy.
Keys: Realistic Concertmate 500, Korg K25, Korg Micro X

Guits: '86 Fender Japan '50s Reissue Strat, '80 Aria Pro II TS-300 Thor Sound

Mooger5
Expert Member
Expert Member
Posts:1459
Joined:Tue May 06, 2008 5:11 pm
Location:Lisbon

Re: Sound City Phaser Piano... ever seen one?

Post by Mooger5 » Fri Jul 27, 2018 10:29 am

It´s a rebadged Jen Pianotone.
Herrare umanum est.

User avatar
WhinyLittleRunt
Active Member
Active Member
Posts:481
Joined:Fri May 19, 2006 1:41 am
Location:CT

Re: Sound City Phaser Piano... ever seen one?

Post by WhinyLittleRunt » Sun Jul 29, 2018 3:10 am

Mooger5 wrote:It´s a rebadged Jen Pianotone.
Seems like it was a rebadged Vox piano also... wow. So this thing has been around the block as a generic analog piano....

The flanger piano might be cooler... if anything else, curious to know what chips are doing the flange...
I like vintage synths....

Mooger5
Expert Member
Expert Member
Posts:1459
Joined:Tue May 06, 2008 5:11 pm
Location:Lisbon

Re: Sound City Phaser Piano... ever seen one?

Post by Mooger5 » Sun Jul 29, 2018 7:37 pm

The flanger is most probably done by BBDs.
Now that phaser is done by FETs and Opamps, like the MXR Phase 90.
Herrare umanum est.

Post Reply