Vox Electronic Piano - (1974-1978)
Dallas Musical Industries (DMI), sometimes known as Dallas-Arbiter, purchased the Vox brand from the Birch-Stolec group in 1973. Dallas quickly refocused Vox on amplification, eliminating guitars and portable organs from the catalog. Their first priority was to restore the AC-30 and AC-50 amplifiers to the original hand wired construction techniques used in the JMI era.
Although the focus at Dallas was on reviving Vox's amplifiers, they didn't completely abandon the keyboard market. Instead, they partnered with the Italian contract manufacturer JEN to sell the JEN J600 Pianotone rebranded as the "Vox Electronic Piano."
The Vox Electronic Piano offered piano, harpsichord, and bass sounds, each with its own volume control slider. Activating the "Bass" rocker switch created a split that assigned the bass tones to the bottom two octaves of the keyboard. Two additional sliders controlled the speed and depth of a vibrato effect—a strange feature for an instrument emulating piano and harpsichord tones. A sixth slider allowed for pitch adjustment.
The 1975 Vox catalog described the "Vox Electronic Piano" as follows:
| "Sixty one note, five octave compass with true Piano and Harpsichord sound. Electronic tuner with variable pitch of plus or minus 1/8 of a tone. Illuminated on/off switch. Slider controls. Separate but intermixable piano and harpsichord volume controls. Vibrato with intensity and speed controls. Keyboard is 'split' to permit Walking bass on the lower octaves. Supplied with volume and sustain pedal control. Complete with carrying case. Dimensions: 39 3/4" x 9 1/4" x 4 1/4". Collapsible stand as optional extra. Weight: 23 lbs."
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In addition to Vox, Dallas (DMI) manufactured and distributed the "Sound City" brand of amplification equipment and related products. It is interesting to note that DMI not only rebadged the JEN J600 Pianotone as the Vox Electronic Piano, they also offered it labeled as the "DMI Sound City Piano." |
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