Maestro Rover
and Theremin
Like Electro-Harmonix,
Maestro was often found
on the cutting edge of
musical technology. The
company’s PS-1A is the
first commercially-available
phaser, and the FZ-1 is
the very birthplace of fuzz.
Because Maestro swung for
the fences an awful lot back
in its heyday, there were a
number of interesting rare
items. One such is the Rover,
a self-contained Leslie-type
speaker that looks as much
like a piece of furniture as a
piece of music gear. Another
is the Theremin, Maestro’s
take on the dual-antennae
electronic instrument.
Maestro’s Theremin is one
of the most bizarre piece of
music equipment you’ll ever
come across, as it looks like
a prop straight out of Fritz
Lang’s Metropolis.
26
TONE TALK //
Mu-Tron 1173
Digital Delay
Mu-Tron’s product line is
one of the most sought-after
in all of music gear, and as
such, nearly every stone has
been unturned. The full line
consisted of just the I, II, III,
Bar Trivia For Pedal Geeks
Micro V, Bi-Phase, Octave
Divider, Wah, Flanger and
the Dan Armstrong plugins.
That’s it—except for the
nearly-forgotten Digital
Delay. Released as a rack
unit at a time when most
everthing was analog, the
Digital Delay 1173 featured
a pushbutton time selector,
a rich modulation section
and a warm preamp. Two
footswitch jacks on the
rear panel let you connect
switches to access the Freeze
function, or to bypass the
unit like a pedal.