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EchoSonic Amplifier
Scotty purchased the EchoSonic custom built by Ray Butts on May 24, 1955. It was ordered by him on January 20, 1955 and financed through the O.K. Houck Piano Co. in Memphis where they gave him $65.00 in trade for his 52 Fender Deluxe. It wholesaled to Houck's for $330.00 and retailed to Scotty for $495.00.
The first recordings he used it on was when he recorded Mystery Train at Sun Studios in July of 1955 and used it on every subsequent recording and performance throughout his career with Elvis up through the 1968 NBC-TV Special. He used it still when he returned to performing but has since retired it for fear of damage in transit. The 25 watt amp featured a built-in tape delay system that allowed the ability recreate the signature slapback echo sound of the Sun recordings done in the studio. Scotty first heard Chet Atkins using one in a recording and after some investigation located Ray and bought one.
Scotty said, "I don't remember the name of the record, but I heard one of Chet's instrumentals on the radio. His guitar had the same slap, but it was a little bit different to what I was use to hearing Sam do with us. I said, "Damn. How is he doing that?" So I checked around and someone told me that he got a new amp that someone had built for him. So I kept digging and finally I got the guy's name who built it and called him. His name was Ray Butts. He lived in Cairo, Illinois. He played accordion in a little band. he was an electronic genius. He had built this amp for a guitar player he worked with on weekends (Bill Gwaltney), just experimenting and trying it out. It sounded good so he brought, I guess, that one to Nashville and showed it to Chet and he liked it and bought one. I believe mine was the third one."
Scotty's original cabinet to the amp was damaged during a gig
and early pictures of it look different than later ones. The
cabinet design and rear panel for these amps were modified by Ray
overtime. Ray
recalled "The first ones I made, the grill cloth was flush with
the front of the amp. He
was playing a show with Elvis in
There were only about 68 of these amplifiers ever made
and they were all handmade one at a time. In addition to Scotty
and Chet Atkins, some of the other professional notable performers to
own one of these amps were Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison and Luther
Perkins. Scotty's however was unique in that due to the ever
increasing size of the audiences that he and Elvis were performing for,
the initial 25 watts of output soon proved inefficient. He then
had Ray design two additional 50 watt booster cabinets to be used in
conjunction with the main amp serving as a pre-amp bringing the total to
125 watts.
Scotty said, "I had the first high power system onstage. This little amp is only 25 watts and as the crowds got bigger, well you couldn't hear it. So Ray built me two 50-watt boosters with four 8-inch Lansing speakers in each one. Then I could set one on each end of the stage and crank them wide open and use the main amp as like a pre-amp. So I had a whole 125 watts, and you still couldn't hear it (laughs)." While Elvis was in the Army and Scotty began working with Fernwood records, he broke up the extension cabinets to use them as studio monitors.
In the early days of performing the guys were dependent on a PA being supplied by the venue and on more than one occasion it became necessary for them to also plug a microphone into the Echosonic so that Elvis could sing. The amp originally had two inputs, one for a microphone (1st on left) and the other for and instrument (2nd on left). Two outputs to the right of side of the rear of the chassis were added for the external booster speaker cabinets. The amplifier is 18" wide, 20" high, 9.5" deep at the top and 11.5" deep at the bottom. It has a 12" University UC 121 speaker and powered by two 6L6, a 5e4 rectifier, several 12a7 and 12ax7 tubes.
In the early 90's Scotty had Ray install an on-off-on polarity switch. He retired the amp for fear of losing it after it was nearly damaged by the airlines while transporting it on a tour. He kept it until June of 2008 when it was sold privately. He had another that he picked up several years ago from Paul Yandell but it was never used on an Elvis recording or performance. By the end of the year Scotty sold that also, to Deke Dickerson.
originally added 2002
The original Echosonic cabinet that was replaced for Scotty by Ray in 1957 was to be auctioned by the surviving members of Ray's family on eBay on March 6, 2007 but the amp did not sell.
The March auction failed to meet the reserve price so it was decided that there was more interest in a complete amplifier. Another prototype was located, this one intended to be made for/by Gretsch but never put in production. The components were swapped out and into the original Echosonic cabinet and offered as a package on eBay in October of 2007. It again failed to attract buyer so the amp will now be sold privately.
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All photos on this site (that we didn't borrow) unless otherwise indicated are the property of either Scotty Moore or James V. Roy and unauthorized use or reproduction is prohibited. |
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