Let's see your 70's rig

[mate stubb]

This doesn't count because it's more like early 80s, but it's the biggest rig I ever gigged.

 

 

[Brad Kaenel]

 

My very first "rig" was an Elka Elkapiano; all transistor; circa 1977.  My parents bought it for me because my high school jazz band director told them I needed an "electric piano". He was probably thinking more like a Rhodes, but my parents didn't know any better, and it was probably all they could afford. It was a great surprise! Plus, a *huge* 2 X 12 combo amp and a curly cord.

 

I never learned where they got that gear, but it was spankin' new and I gigged it until about '81 when *I* bought my first keyboard, and that *was* a new Rhodes MkII Stage. I think I bought an ARP Quartet (aka Siel Orchestra) at the same time, and that was my first "synth" (no knobs; only four presets that you could layer -- exactly like the Elka!)

 

[JoJoB3]

'71 over a 73

[counterpoint]

College rig circa 1979: Rhodes, Mini-Korg, Elka Rhapsody, and an Electrovox accordion that had a Crumar organ built in...all running through a Twin Reverb (only thing I still have). Had no stand for the Korg/Elka so used any desk or table I could find when we played at frats, etc.  If all else failed, I stacked milk crates and put the Rhodes cover on top as a stand.  As limited as this set-up was and as difficult as it was to move it and set it up, gigging was much more fun for me then than it is now. 

 

 

[Dave Bryce]

Got no 70s pics, but this one was from 1980.

 

 

 

Yamaha CP30 on the bottom, Korg Lambda in the middle, (out of sight) Mini-Moog on top.

 

dB

[jerrythek]

Not as impressive as some of yours, but here goes:

1976: B3, 73 Stage Rhodes MKI, and Elka String Ensemble. 

 

1979: Minimoog and Prophet 5 atop Suitcase 73 Rhodes MKI. Edit: I can't find any pictures when I added a clavinet to this setup...

 

1981: Same Mini/Prophet/Rhodes, with a Casio CT-1000P run through a Multivox Full Rotor for a pseudo organ role. 

[Delaware Dave]

i have to dig up some of the pics my wife took back in the day, but in the late 80's, early 90's my rig was a CP70, Wurli 200a, Rhodes 73, Clav D6, Hammond B3 with a 147 leslie and a Realistic MG1 as I didnt have the cash for a Moog. Later I swapped out the MG1 with a Prophet 5 that a friend of mine sold me. I also used my repair tech's SuperContinental. Pumped this through two Ramsa mixers (one of them which I still have), Crown power amp, JBL 15" three way speakers and carted all of it in a trailer.  Took well over an hour to setup and I was always the last one out of the parking lot. The Ensoniq VFX, SD1 and TS12 as well as the Motion Sound leslies were all instrumental to my entrance into both the digital world as well as the scale down.  The last piece to go was the organ/leslie and I first went down to a Porta-B with the Motion Sound but eventually went the Voce route with my Motion Sound. Loved the sound of that old analog stuff but would never go back to those days.

[The Real MC]

11 hours ago, Threadslayer said:

Did you happen to work on a dairy farm in high school? (referring to the custom stool you're sitting on).

 

Good eye.  It didn't belong to me - we practiced in the party room which had a bar, I probably grabbed the milk can because the bar stools were too high.

[Dave Keys]

You must've either had rich parents, or gigs paid better, or you had to work 7 days a week to pay for all this gear, 70's bretheren!

 

Oh, and giant muscles (or back ache) from schlepping this gear everywhere. Or roadies, from the well paid gigs 🙂

[mcgoo]

1 hour ago, Dave Keys said:

You must've either had rich parents, or gigs paid better, or you had to work 7 days a week to pay for all this gear, 70's bretheren!

 

Oh, and giant muscles (or back ache) from schlepping this gear everywhere. Or roadies, from the well paid gigs 🙂

 

I had 7 or 8 keyboards before I had my first car. Had a pretty good sized loan that my mom co-signed for me. And no roadies, but bandmates that were collectively on a mission to conquer the world, so schlepping band gear was part of the gig. 

[ABECK]

14 hours ago, matted stump said:

This doesn't count because it's more like early 80s, but it's the biggest rig I ever gigged.

 

 

Please tell me you had a cape and platform boots (And a roadie).

 

[ABECK]

4 hours ago, Dave Keys said:

You must've either had rich parents, or gigs paid better, or you had to work 7 days a

Slight OT tangent:  I listen to Craig Garber's podcast "Everybody Loves Guitar"  (He interviews a ton of big names and well accomplished supporting musicians - not all guitarists either).  One of the most common threads for many of the most successful career musicians is supportive parents.  Not necessarily just financial support either - often just acceptance was enough.  Steve Lukather tells a great story in his book how he took the usual Saturday trip to the music store with his dad and when it came time to leave, he discovered that his dad bought him the gear he was demoing.  He knew it was a financial stretch and a sacrifice for him and understood the importance and value of that. 

[Theo Verelst]

I didn't own a 70s rig, I was mostly in primary school then. Bonafide synthesizer purchase took place in 1984.

 

T

[ProfD]

Nice KB rig pics. 

 

Like a few others around here, I was too young for that level of fun back in the 1970s.

 

My Rhodes Mark II hadn't even been born, er, manufactured yet.😁

 

I can also see why there was so much hate for the DX7 too.🤣😎

[zxcvbnm098]

On 11/30/2023 at 9:31 AM, Canoehead said:

I learned to drive in a Chevy 3 in the tree half-ton.  I will always remember that reverse was ‘back n up’😀

And I still own my grandfathers '65 Ford F100 that I learned to drive on, and has the ubiquitous "3 on the tree"...

[zxcvbnm098]

23 hours ago, DaveMcM said:

Making tapes wasn't really all that difficult, just time consuming. As long as you made sure each note was in tune while recording and you left enough leader between each note, it was then just a matter of cutting them apart and stringing them up making sure to have the attack portion located right at the playback head of each note. Hmm, come to think of it, it was kind of a pain in the !@#$. As for my own tapes, I had done an assortment of guitars, acoustic and nylon. Bass guitar, my old pump organ (easy t here  ) and sound effect stuff. The 1/4" tape kit consisted of a new tape guide and a contraption to give four detents for the head block since you had four tracks instead of the original three.

Dave, where were you living that you could even find not one but two Mellotrons to buy? Even here in SoCal in the late 70's, I don't remember ever seeing one in a store...and that includes the original GC in Hollywood and then later Goodman Music, which was the keyboard Mecca store in the greater LA area...

[DaveMcM]

8 hours ago, ABECK said:

Please tell me you had a cape and platform boots (And a roadie).

 

You asked, you received 😁 And yes I really did wear this with silver sparkle platform shoes and tux pants with the same material down the sides. And NO, there is no way I'm going to model it now. 🤪

[drawback]

1975... what you don't see on top of the L-100 is a Mini Moog D. 

 

[Motif88]

hmm... I think I only have pics from the early 1980's. No iPhone's and lots of pics like today. I thought I had a great pic from 1982 but I have a Yamaha TX7 in my hand, I think would make it 1985?

[The Real MC]

My parents certainly weren't rich.  They bought me the Rhodes as a present at the same time they bought a guitar for my older brother on his 21st birthday.  Everything else I worked and saved money for.  I grew up in an area with virtually no keyboard/synth products in the local stores or classifieds.  As for iconic synths I remember checking out a Minimoog and Moog Sonic-6 in stores - no one had the bigger synths like Polymoog or CS-80 or P5.  As the 1980s dawned I became a poor college student; by the time I graduated and landed a good paying job, the DX-7/D-50/M-1 reigned and the Great Analog Synth dump was going on.  That's when I started acquiring the analog synths in my collection.  I tried to like the new stuff but they just did not appeal to me.

[linwood]

1980....

 

[Bosendorphen]

On 11/30/2023 at 2:22 PM, DaveMcM said:

Very cool. My very first keyboard was a Farfisa Mini Compact through a Gibson 1X12 guitar amp. I ran my EP200 through a Maestro Phase PS-1 which sounded great. On the top left of the Crumar T3 is a Univox EC 80 Tape Echo.

Nice! Yeah, the Univox Tape Echo was the same one I used on the Mini-Korg. Until I got a Roland digital delay pedal in 1983.

[Bosendorphen]

On 11/30/2023 at 9:24 PM, Dave Bryce said:

Got no 70s pics, but this one was from 1980.

 

 

 

Yamaha CP30 on the bottom, Korg Lambda in the middle, (out of sight) Mini-Moog on top.

 

dB

I wanted and almost bought the CP30. But the keyboard salesman (very good guy) talked me out of it knowing my budget at the time (gigging while paying for college). Then he showed me the Roland MP600 with weighted action and built-in EQ. Loved that, especially through the MXR Chorus box which gave it a sound not unlike a CP70. At least to my ears.

[Dave Bryce]

2 hours ago, Bosendorphen said:

Loved that, especially through the MXR Chorus box which gave it a sound not unlike a CP70. At least to my ears.

I’m on board with that.  Note the Phaser pedal sitting on the end block of my CP30 in my photo.

 

dB

[Moonglow]

I will have to search for some '70s rig pics, but I did find a picture of a wooden brace I fashioned for my Fender Rhodes (Mark I) Stage 73, on top of which I placed a Farfisa VIP 345, on top of which I placed an Arp Omni-2. Everything fit like a glove.

 

 

[AnotherScott]

8 minutes ago, Moonglow said:

Fender Rhodes (Mark I) Stage 73, on top of which I placed a Farfisa VIP 345, on top of which I placed an Arp Omni-2

I think my earliest boards were a Farfisa VIP345, Rhodes 73, and Mini-Korg.

[jerrythek]

My first keyboard was actually a Gibson G-102 - the dual manual organ... But I don't have any pictures of that. Had it from 1969 - 1971.

[Baggypants]

I don't have any pics of my rig from the 70s, so you are just going to have to imagine a 4yo with a bowl haircut playing a melodica.

[Delaware Dave]

On 12/1/2023 at 3:35 PM, ProfD said:

 can also see why there was so much hate for the DX7 too.

I hated pop music then and i hate pop music now.  My musical association with the DX7 is that back in the day when I heard pop music I could hear (k/b wise) that DX7 in the music.  I think my hate for the DX7 has as much to do with the music I associate it with as much, or more, than the instrument itself.

[16251]

Circa 1972

Bought, or should I say, Mom and Dad bought me Vox Continental which came with Ampeg B-18

Sold B18, got Univox Amp (size of Peavy KB100)

Got Leslie 825 still Continental

Added old wood Wurlitzer

Circa 74 - bought used Farfisa Professional (also had a Farfisa Compact for short time, never gigged with it)

Added Moog Satellite to go along with Fafisa Professional. Bought used Leslie 900.

Bought first Fender Rhodes stage. Stop playing organ (sold all organ stuff and Wurlitzer)

Bought Arp Odyssey

Bought upgrade Satellite speakers with pre-amp for Rhodes.