Illustrated questions

[jim4371]

Lots of us have questions about various things we've seen, but rather than just describe them, pictures could help.
So here goes, hope the images don't take too long to load in Korea.

From the Smothers Brothers appearance in 1968, any recollection as to why the covers were removed, since the instruments were canned anyways?

From studio footage of the recording of Wild Child in 1968.
What kind of organ is this? Were you responsible for it or was it just a one-off studio rental type thing?


How were the amplifiers set up in Miami with relation to the stage? There are only a handful of pictures showing just a few of them.


Ray used his old Vox Continental at PBS and at the Aquarius Theatre in April and July of 1969, respectively. Do you think he did this because he liked it better for recording performances or was there some other reason?

I have many more questions to ask but I figure 4 is enough for one time.
Thanks, Vince, hope this all works.

[jim4371]

Anything?
I have lots of these and I'm dying to know..

[vince]

The strange organ is a Hammond and it was, at that time, a rental unit. Later, we had a special B-3 made for Ray that could easily be transported. It was used during the various "Other Voices" tours.

The Smothers Broters was a rental.

So was the aquariou - it came from Ed van Sloten's Rental company. That is the only possible source of a vax for Ray on any location.We did not use the one he owned as it was not reliable.

Did you note that the piano bass was silver and there is only one acoustic amp on the "Stage in which Ray is shone playing a Vax - This is not a live set-up. There are insufficient number of amps for this to be a stage performance.

ALSO - the silver Feder bass was retired soon after I arrived. A really nice guy at the airpoert toss it onto a baggage cart while I was running toward him to tell him to stop abusing the equipment. The tone bars inside were literally torn apart by the impact. Thereafter we used it for parts. This is likely rental equipment or it predates my service.

I must be honest with you. There were about 100 performances between 1968 to 1970 (Very few by today's standards) It was 35 years ago. Details of every performance, without the assist of potos or input information, is not clear since the equipment for one was equipment for all.

In studio they rented all sorts of instruments and even used recordings for effects. The Gunshot in Unknown Soldier is made up of several combined gunshot sounds. The bells at the end are also a composit of individual bells, peals, and shange ringing. Things like that I remember because of the technical aspects. But average performances.... there was an almost boring sameness. It became routine to do a set up nad it did not matter what organ we used, the cords went to the same places.

I would really like to give you some positiv information. I am curious about the reasons Ray had a Vox at the Aquarius - aside from recording a special piece. In which case the venerable Kalamazoo would be nearby and likely plugged in and ready to go.

[MojoRisinRay]

The pics shown with the one acoustic amp and the Silver top Rhodes Bass are from Critique...the PBS Special. The Rear of the Silver top bass had THE DOORS stenciled on it. Here as some pics of the Black Rhodes bass with Silver Top.

Madison Square Garden


Miami


Critique (PBS Special)

[vince]

In your first inquiry about the Hammond organ - This is the "Soncert" model. It was sold to churches and other locations where two full keyboards were important as opposed to the offset keyboards used in the B-3 which was favored by Rock blues players.

Note in the upshot of Ray playing what has to be a Vox, uyou can see the new amps in the background. 6 Speakers and the Brains were atop the amp columns.

In the Smothers Bros, I think the instruments were live but the vocals were taken from the recording. Not certain of this - it had to do with musicians unions and pay rates

[jim4371]

Note in the upshot of Ray playing what has to be a Vox, uyou can see the new amps in the background. 6 Speakers and the Brains were atop the amp columns.

Pictures from Denver 1970 and Aquarius 1969 offer the clearest views of the new amps. I'm still confused as far as the amp setup at Miami is concerned.

In the Smothers Bros, I think the instruments were live but the vocals were taken from the recording. Not certain of this - it had to do with musicians unions and pay rates

Yes, this is true.

Thank you for returning to this thread.