Guitar Echo Units By Singapore 60s Music Maker Jimmy Chng: Part 2

     UP TO 500 VIEWS,   

20+ CHATS, COMMENTS

Hi Andy, 

Looks like there's still some interest in the article as new comments keep trickling in? Thought I'd add some comments regarding the Copicat Echo Unit. 

Vacuum Tubes Or Valves:

1. The electronics in use then was based on vacuum tube technology. This was followed by transistor (solid state) technology. There are several vacuum tubes (also known as "valves") used in the electronic circuit and one of which is the 6BR8A as depicted in the picture below.

2. Due to wear and tear, these tapes would sometimes burst whilst in operation. As replacement tapes were quite costly I had also resorted to make spare ones [like what Cedric Cork, the Vietnam War drummer, did], that is, cutting appropriate lengths from open reeled 1/4" magnetic tapes and splicing them.

3) As for the Schaller, it's true that the magnetic coated drum does get hot as mentioned by Michael Lee. Not only that. The magnetic coating on the drum would get worn out after sometime and a replacement drum is costly. What my dad did was to cut short pieces of open reeled magnetic tape and dissolved them in a solvent (acetone) and brush painted it over the worn part/s of the drum. Another cost saving measure.

Separately, a reader who's close to my heart commented that the article was an interesting read but kind of ended abruptly. I had indeed shortened the article by omitting a small part about DECIBELS' performing at hungry ghost festivals - i.e. Getai. Appended below is the part I omitted.

An example of a getai performance with the

guitar group accompanying a-go-go girls and singer.

https://sites.google.com/site/integrateddeyigrp6304/pop-culture-performers/ge-tai

The Decibels with Jimmy Chng 

on drums in the background.

Getai Performances With 'Decibels':

Getai [歌台] is a Chinese term which literally means, song tower, stage or street concert. It is one of many activities to entertain the Chinese gods, with a related 'officer' from Hell and people who donated funds for the annual Hungry Ghost Festival celebration. It falls during the seventh month of the Chinese lunar year; around August.

From the recesses of my fading memory cells, I could recollect that our very first Getai performance was at Strathmore Avenue. The stage was on the open space between a row of SIT (Singapore Improvement Trust) flats facing the QSTS (Queenstown Secondary Technical School) school field. 

On another occasion, we played somewhere in Kampong Bahru. And on the third occasion I played (as stand-in drummer for the Wong family who were all professional musicians) somewhere off Bencoolen Street. I felt truly honoured to be invited to play alongside them.

Jimmy Chng 

The article is

Ⓒ Copyrights Reserved.

Guitar Echo Units By Singapore 60s Music Maker Jimmy Chng

DECIBELS (L to R - Jimmy, Charles, Patrick, Steven)

Ⓒ Copyrights Reserved.

   UP TO 700 VIEWS,   

20 CHATS, COMMENTS

My thanks again to Jimmy Chng, one of the best drummers during the Singapore 60s pop music era, for this article:

Hi Andy,

 

A decade back, after contributing the article on DECIBELS pop band to your blog, you had generously invited me to join you as a team writer. I replied that I wasn't up to it but added this comment - “Nevertheless should I recollect any interesting stories pertaining to the 60s pop scene, I’ll let you know.” And to that, your response was - “I shall always be waiting for your next tale pertaining to the 60s pop scene.”

Ten years is a pretty long wait by any measure. However, as the saying goes - " Patience is bitter but the fruit is sweet." And so here's my next tale pertaining to the 60s pop scene. 

With the year of the Rabbit, here's wishing you good health and happiness in the coming lunar new year and the years ahead. Gong Xi Fa Cai.

Best regards,

Jimmy.

With the lunar new year fast approaching, I willed myself to tidy up the little store room of my HDB unit. It has been filled to the brim over the years (think hoarder?). Sifting through the clutter in the tiny storeroom, I was pleasantly surprised to find a remnant of DECIBELS pop band’s musical instruments - a WATKINS COPICAT ECHO unit!

Apart from two Hofner guitars (a bass and a lead) which I had passed to my elder brother a long time back, the rest of the other instruments had either been discarded/damaged or given away. I remember that I sold the drum set to the Foo Chow Methodist Church in Race Course Road through a colleague of mine who’s a member of the church. This was way back in the mid 70s. 

Watkins Copicat Tape Echo

YouTube video from: blondegraemey

In the early years of our local pop band history, the WATKINS COPICAT Echo Unit was a sought after add-on to the basic guitar amplifiers that most aspiring bands could only afford. Before the introduction of echo effects producing equipment, guitar amplifiers had only the tremolo/vibrato effect feature built-in. Guitar amplifiers with built-in reverb feature soon followed.

Arguably, it was the Shadows that popularized the echo effects in pop music with their iconic recording of APACHE although the tape echo unit used by Hank Marvin for the recording wasn’t the Watkins Copicat Echo Unit.

DECIBELS’ first Echo Unit - a pre-owned

 WATKINS COPICAT ECHO UNIT.

Two other brands of echo units were also available in Singapore. One was the Schaller and the other, the Swissecho. I do not remember which of these two brands was more popular but most fledgling bands would start off with the Copicat and later “upgrade” to one of these. So too did DECIBELS, as our band subsequently “upgraded” to a pre-owned Schaller unit like the one pictured below:

Schaller Echo Unit

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/822258844442087368/

SwissEcho 

https://www.vintagehofner.co.uk/gallery/gallery3/gallery6/swis.html

Dunearn Secondary Technical School Concert:

DECIBELS was the main band in attendance for a concert held at the Dunearn Secondary Technical School sometime in the mid 60s. I cannot remember if the concert was held to mark the school’s opening or for some other event. I had received a call from a school teacher by the name of Mr. Lai (can’t remember his full name) asking if our band would like to perform at the concert. Incidentally, he (Mr. Lai) had participated in one of the RTS talentime contests singing his very own rendition of “Isle Of Singapura” to the tune of "Isle Of Capri". 

If there are readers out there who are former students or teachers of DSTS and had attended the concert, hopefully some of them would be able to provide additional information about the concert. 

The guest band for the concert was Willy Jokers. Up to that point in time, our band did not have any echo unit. We only relied on the tremolo and reverb effects that came with the Fender amplifier. The COPICAT Echo unit which the DECIBELS band eventually owned was acquired from Willy Jokers.

As in any article, this post deserves comments. Please...

[Latest: 12 comments within 2 hours of posting. Thanks guys.]

Charles and Jimmy [right] having some fun 

before the DSTS concert. Ⓒ Copyrights Reserved.

Jimmy Chng 

article, photographs.

Ⓒ Copyrights Reserved.