The Steel Guitar Forum

Does anyone have any Mu-Tron-Musictronic effect boxes or pedals?

Sneaky Pete used a Mutron Biphase on the Jackson Browne album "For Everyman"~ absolutely knocked my socks off- still can't find 'em! Terrific connecting solo between Take It Easy and Our Lady Of The Well~ best use of a phase shifter I've ever heard~~~

The last time I was in Oceanside, I was in the Marine Corps. I do remember going to a nightclub in Oceanside and there was this unusual guy playing a steel. He was a heck of a player. As I remember, it looked like a Fender 400 and he had a bunch of coat hanger wires hooked up under it. Do you know who this fellow might of been?

That was probably the 101 Club (Rose Maddox's I believe) and the player would have been Johnny Wolfe who was a monster player and died some years ago due to a kidney ailment (I think)

You got that right, he was a "monster" player. I couldn't believe what he got out of that Fender 400. I was freeked out when I saw all the coat hangers he had wired up under the steel.

I used to have one of the Mu-Tron envelope filter things, and it was awesome. The Lexicon MPX-G2 efx unit has a *perfect* reproduction (this uses the analog circutry in the unit, not digital modeling, probably the reason it sounds so good).

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www.tyacktunes.com

I have an early Musitronics "Dan Armstrong" Orange Squeezer compressor, great for that Steely Dan sound on guitar. Mu-Tron / Musitronics made these for Dan Armstrong for a while. I also have a Mu-Tron Octave Divider, which sounds truly amazing.

The "famous" Mu-Tron units were the Mu-Tron III, (the Clavinet sound on "Higher Ground" by Stevie Wonder) the Bi-Phase, which was actually 2 phasers in one box that worked independently or together, and the Octave Divider. These are all the big aluminum boxes with the primary color graphics. Mu-Tron made some really great pedals, including the Wah/Vol, the Phasor II, the Dan Armstrong series of plug-in effects (Blue Clipper, Orange Squeezer, Red Ranger, Green Ringer, Purple Peaker, Yellow Humper) and the --- GIZMOTRON --- which is the most insane piece of gear ever devised.

The Gizmotron is basically a box that plugs into the wall, then gets mounted to the front of your guitar. It has 6 buttons on the top, and 6 plastic rollers underneath. You press a button, and the roller comes down and rubs on the string, powered by an electric motor. Lets you get bowed effects, sort of. Invented by Godley and Creme, formerly of 10cc. That's the string sounds on their hit "I'm Not In Love..." Of course, it eventually killed Musitronics.

Why do you ask, Keith?

Matt Farrow



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Matt Farrow
Marlen 9-string 6+2
Kustom K150

http://surf.to/pharaohamps

I didn't know the Orange Squeezer was made by the same company. This was by far the best compressor for steel, IMHO. But they were flimsy (I destroyed two of them).

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www.tyacktunes.com

Keith....Tim Cagle (Zeke) of Plummer Family Show had one. I don't remember which model? It had a wah effect in it and something else that gave it kind of a moog sound. He used it on "Eastbound and Down". If he's around there somewhere, check with him.

Pharaoh, you know a lot about Mu-Tron Musitronics. Everything you posted is correct. The GISMOTRON did eventually kill, or break the company. As I understand it, it was only used on that one hit recording, and there was only one person in the world who could ever really play it. I have a picture of one, and it is truly wierd. Seems strange to me a company believed in such a wierd product so much that they let it sink the company. Talk about not seeing the forrest for the trees! I am most interested in the Mu-Tron III units--Clavinet sound. Pharaoh says, "Why do you ask, Keith?" Two reasons: I still play steel and would like to experiment with the Mu-Tron III hooked to my system when playing out. Second reason; I am thinking about starting a somp box collection. For the same reason people collect arrow heads. Dennis, Tim "Zeke" Cagle isn't around Branson anymore. Dennis, you are correct about it having a moog type sound. I will probably wind up buying one of Bob Moog's units before long. If anyone is interested in the history of Stompboxes, here is a great book: Stompbox: A History of Guitar Fuzzes, Flangers, Phasers, Echoes & Wahs. Written by Art Thompson. I got my copy at Barnes and Noble book store. It tells about everything that was made over the years. It also tells about the companies, and the people behind the companies. A real intersting book.

I still have a Mu-Tron "Micro V", which is kind of an automatic wah-wah pedal. I was told it was designed for bass guitar, but it did a great job on my steel back in the '70s when we were playing everything from Marshall Tucker to the Bee Gees to Waylon. Got some really neat rock-type sounds from it!

Also...here's an interesting little "sidelight" on the 10cc song I'm Not In Love. It was probably the most overproduced song in music history. The haunting Goldman/Stewart song had vocals and backing vocals which amounted to 256 tracks. They were assembled and produced by 3 voices recorded 16 times each on a 13-note chromatic scale. <FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Donny Hinson on 16 March 2001 at 04:05 PM.]</p></FONT>

Well, guitar players are a pretty traditional lot - most guitarists want guitars that haven't changed in design since the late 1950's!!! So the Gizmotron, being unusual and innovatove, not to mention expensive and unreliable, quite failed to spark the public's interest. Oh, well.

The Mu-Tron III is the "big daddy" of envelope filters. If I were looking for an envelope filter today, I'd go with either an Electro-Harmonix Q-Tron Plus or a Lovetone Meatball. If you can find the Meatball for less than $300 you should buy it. You can get anything from Starsky & Hutch to outer space mutant intestine squelching. Amazing. The Q-Tron Plus is designed by the guy who originally designed the Mu-Tron III. I highly recommend it, and you can probably demo one at your local guitar store type place.

A collection of stomp boxes? Sure, why not. Essential stompboxes (and the most lusted-after by guitarists) include (this is all IMO)
Ibanez: TS-9, TS-808, Flying Pan, AD-9
Mu-Tron: III, Bi-Phase
Electro-Harmonix: Big Muff Pi, Memory Man (any), Small Stone, Small Clone, 16-Second Delay
Arbiter: Fuzz Face, Trem Face
Colorsound: Jumbo Tone Bender, Phasex, Tremolo,

The list goes on forever. I have quite a few pedals, but I have gotten rid of just as many once I started building my own.

Matt Farrow


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Matt Farrow
Marlen 9-string 6+2
Kustom K150

http://surf.to/pharaohamps

Your description of the Gizmotron reminded me of an automated violin I saw, which was about 90 years old. Apparently before jukeboxes came out, there was a brief but enthusiastic movement to automate music by automating the instruments. The player piano and the caliopie are the best known, but there were others. This is on a stand in a glass case, with an electric motor in the box underneath. drive belts spin little cotton disc wheels, sort of like dremel accessories. These are rosined, and a paper punch roll triggered the actuation of the spinning wheels onto the strings, while stops would press onto the strings. Sounded sort of like an emotionless nikelharpe. It was with a collection of similar instruments, and fantastic caliopies in the tiny "reconstructed" town of Nevada City, Montana (near Virginia City). It has been decades since I was there- don't know it it is still around. Very worth seeing if you are in the area (and it's still there).

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T. Sage Harmos
Musical Instruments

If you want the Mu-Tron III envelope filter (auto wah) sound, go get an Electro Harmonix Q-Tron. I've had about 5 of the original MuTrons and they are rare and unreliable. The Q-Tron is based on the same circuit and sounds great. It's what I use now in place of my old MuTrons. If you know the Grateful Dead, this is the sound on Shakedown Street, Fire on the Mountain, Estimated Prophet, and others.

Brad Sarno

The "wheel on a string" idea was derived from old "Hurdy-Gurdys", which had a hand-cranked wheel and also used a drone string...definitely a unique sound! (The Hurdy-Gurdy sounds like a cross between a violin and a set of bagpipes.)

Brad, have you tried any of the new or old Moog stuff? I am really glad you told me about the old Mu Tron III's. What made them unreliable? I read where the guy who invented the Mu Tron III had done a new version for Electro-Harmonix.