It must be Jason S.'s musical destiny to introduce the U.S. to every "next big thing" in the clonewheel universe. A few years ago, it was that Red company from the Norseland; now it's down to Brazil, of all places, with buzz from the rainforest about the newest contender for the throne.

How does he do it? What's his secret? Could it be an innate business acumen? A savvy and sincere sensibility for great instruments? Was he born atop a Leslie 122?

Tell us, O' Great Entrepeneur, what of this latest Quest, and how will it change our world?

Thanks for the complements. I need to tread very lightly here, though, so I'll just stick to a short history.

As Nord moved on to another distributor, I went to Winter NAMM 2009 looking for new opportunities for Armadillo, and the Brazilian church organ maker Tokai was on my short list. Serendipitously, they were at NAMM looking for an opportunity to break into the USA market with a planned pro keyboard line (not just organs). They were the nicest guys, the one English speaker (Fabio) is a fabulous player, and I was really impressed with their gear, their attitude, and their ideas. We hit it off famously.

A few months of discussion later, we realized this was going to be more than a distribution opportunity for Armadillo, so it was agreed that Armadillo would create a new brand - Ventura* - and work with Tokai (actually, their parent co. Kyodday) as our principle ODM/OEM. They'll do all the heavy lifting in terms of product development, but I'll play a very large part of that development from the concept-design stage.

* Tokai needed to be changed to prevent confusion with the coincidentally-named Japanese guitar company. I suggested "Ventura" - it has positive connotations and meanings in both Spanish and Portuguese ("happiness" "fortune" "opportunity" "luck" etc.), and has some American recognition as well (associated with southern California) - and the guys at Tokai really liked it.

The first instrument we're introducing to market (Nov/Dec) is an iteration of the Tokai TX5 organ (info at link in sig). The one that will ship to retailers will be have an aluminum chassis instead of wood (taking +/- 10 lb from its current 33 lb weight) and come with an expression pedal input. A new keyboard (sorry, no spoilers!) will debut at Winter NAMM 2010.

That's about all I can really say here without stepping over boundaries (if I haven't already; if so, dB do yo' thang!), so if there are any specific questions, feel free to email (jason@armadilloent.com) or PM me (email is faster).

Hey, Jason:

Thanks for the info - I appreciate your delicacy and evenhandedness even if forum boundaries were overstepped (i have no idea if they are/were).

I also had no idea Speakeasy was now marketing plastic self-powered PA speakers!

Hmmmm. A light clonewheel with real drawbars and highly tweakble... Could be very interesting!!!! Looking forward to seeing it in action.

aL

None that I can see. Brad's been a member here for several years, and he asked a legitimate question. As far as I can tell, Jason isn't overstepping any boundaries by answering - it's always been encouraged for manufacturers and their representatives who hang out here to answer questions directed at them by forum members.

dB

Jason,

Best of luck in your new venture! (pun slightly intended)

It's great to see more entries into the clonewheel market. Competition is good.

Sadly, unless something changes at my day job, I won't be able to go to NAMM this year. (Big data center move happening that weekend...) I'd love to try it out! I actually saw one at last year's NAMM, but the booth was crowded every time I went by and I only played with it for a second. IIRC, though, Eric spent some time with it.

--Dave

I played the Tokai, and it's a great clone! Excellent leslie sim, the best overdrive circuit I've heard on a hardware clone, and very fun to play.

As for the Speakeasy speakers, I don't think those are self-powered....yet!

Tony, would you say it's up there with XK3-C, Electro, CX3, VK8 ???
.

I hope that the Armadillo/Tokai partnership works well. Being from Brazil, I already see that the Armadillo expertise will make Tokai grow (as a company and even at the small things, such as the little details on the instruments) and I´m looking forward to this new keyboard. I have some guesses myself of what it´ll be

jpscoey, I know you asked Tony, but as a TX-5 owner myself and having played many times all the clones you mentioned (with the exception of the XK-3C, played just the XK-1), I think I can bring somthing to the table.

I can say that it´s right there with the usual clonewheel offerings and the leslie sim / overdrive combo is by far the best among them. It´s my clone of choice on organ-only gigs, and I also have a NE2.

Hope my opinion helps.

Hmm, I hope I can score a NAMM entry pass this year (already have my air tickets), as I'd really like to check this baby out. I'm not a full-time organ player, so this might be a better deal for me than anything else out there, as it sounds like it's a better all-in-one solution (I don't want to buy a Leslie and/or a Speakeasy for the few times that I feature organ at a gig).