# Ray Butts EchoSonic

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Guitar amplifier

The **EchoSonic** is a [guitar amplifier](/source/Guitar_amplifier) made by [Ray Butts](/source/Ray_Butts). It was the first portable guitar amplifier with a built-in [tape echo](/source/Tape_echo) [effect](/source/Effects_unit), and it allowed guitar players to use [slapback echo](/source/Delay_(audio_effect)), which dominated 1950s rock and roll guitar playing, on stage. He built the first one in 1953 and sold the second one to [Chet Atkins](/source/Chet_Atkins) in 1954. He built fewer than seventy of those amplifiers; one of them was bought by [Sam Phillips](/source/Sam_Phillips) and then used by [Scotty Moore](/source/Scotty_Moore) on every recording he made with [Elvis Presley](/source/Elvis_Presley), from the 1955 hit song "[Mystery Train](/source/Mystery_Train)" to the 1968 TV program *[Comeback Special](/source/Elvis_(1968_TV_program))*.[1] [Deke Dickerson](/source/Deke_Dickerson) called the amplifier the [Holy Grail](/source/Holy_Grail) of [rockabilly](/source/Rockabilly) music.[2]

## History

Ray Butts, an "electronics wiz," owned a music store in [Cairo, Illinois](/source/Cairo%2C_Illinois), in the early 1950s. By this time, [rockabilly](/source/Rockabilly) and other guitar players (such as [Les Paul](/source/Les_Paul)) had discovered the "slapback" echo effect, which had become generally used but could, however, only be made in a studio setting.[1] Butts thought that maybe guitar players would want to use the effect on stage,[3] and using a Gibson 15-watt amplifier with a pair of [6V6](/source/6V6) tubes,[1] he fabricated a combo amplifier with a built-in tape echo[3] for a local guitar player named Bill Gwaltney.[1]

Butts took the second version of his EchoSonic to [Nashville](/source/Nashville), where he looked up Chet Atkins in the phone book; the next night, Atkins used the amp at the [Grand Ole Opry](/source/Grand_Ole_Opry), having given Butts $395 and a 100-dollar [Fender combo](/source/Fender_Amplifiers) for it (this at a time when a top-of-the-line [Fender Twin](/source/Fender_Twin) cost $239).[1] The collaboration between the two produced more than just good advertising for Butts: he helped Atkins set up a recording studio, and in 1954 or 1955, prompted by Atkins, he invented a [humbucker](/source/Humbucker) [pickup](/source/Pickup_(music_technology)) which was adopted by [Gretsch](/source/Gretsch) and introduced in their Atkins-endorsed [Gretsch 6120](/source/Gretsch_6120) in 1957 as the FilterTron pickup, creating what would become the legendary "twangy" Gretsch sound.[4] Atkins recorded much of his music of the 1950s with the Echosonic,[5] and in his autobiography spoke of the connection between the amplifier and the humbucker (the first humbucker, according to Atkins, but [Gibson](/source/Gibson_Guitar_Corporation) patented their [PAF](/source/PAF_(pickup)) before Butts did): the pickups on Atkins Gretsch produced an awful hum in conjunction with an unshielded transformer in the EchoSonic, leading Butts to connect two single-coil pickups in series and out of phase, creating the first humbucker.[6]

Scotty Moore, who at the time was recording with [Sam Phillips](/source/Sam_Phillips) (whose [Sun Studio](/source/Sun_Studio) had the equipment for slapback echo), became aware of the Echosonic from listening to Atkins on the radio[1] and called Butts to have one built for him;[7] according to Moore, this was the third EchoSonic ever built[8] though Dave Hunter claims this is incorrect, that Moore's has serial number 8.[1] He bought the EchoSonic specifically to emulate Atkins's sound,[9] and bought another one in the late 1980s or early 1990s, serial number 24—an amplifier that had belonged to [Paul Yandell](/source/Paul_Yandell) and that Moore later sold to Deke Dickerson. Since the EchoSonic lacked power for large live venues, Butts later made a set of 50-watt "satellite" amplifiers and cabinets, "to enable Moore's lithe rockabilly riffs to be heard on a stage in front of thousands of screaming Elvis fans."[1]

The combination of Moore's [Gibson Super 400](/source/Gibson_Super_400) with the Echosonic ("a jazz classic meets a rock'n'roll revolution"[10]) became legendary. Soon, many seminal rock and roll players, including [Carl Perkins](/source/Carl_Perkins), started using an EchoSonic, which in turn led to other manufacturers producing individual tape echo units that could be used in the studio as well as on stage.[11] One of those tape units was the [Echoplex](/source/Echoplex), which started as a copy of the echo unit from an EchoSonic, and became one of the most important echo effects of the twentieth century.[12]

## Description

The EchoSonic is a combo amplifier "the size of a traveling salesman's battered suitcase" with, like most tweed amplifiers of the era, the control panel on the top. It has a single 12" speaker (made by University). The first versions produced 15 watts from 2 6V6 tubes but lacked "punch"; by the time Scotty Moore bought his amplifier, Butts had replaced the 6V6s with [6L6](/source/6L6) tubes, increasing the output to 25 watts. The pre-amplifier section had four [12AU7s](/source/12AU7), two [12AY7s](/source/12AY7), a [12AX7](/source/12AX7) (originally a [12AD7](/source/12AD7)), and a [6C4](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=6C4&action=edit&redlink=1). The amplifier has a control for bass/treble (whose functionality (but not implementation) resembles that of a [Baxandall circuit](/source/Peter_Baxandall#Baxandall_circuit)), two volume controls for microphone and instrument, and three controls for the echo circuit, but the delay time is not adjustable. The amplifier is delicate and requires a lot of maintenance: tubes run hot, and the echo circuit is delicate and needs frequent cleaning, oiling, and de-magnetizing. But according to amplifier restorer [Frank Roy](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=WWW.ECHOSONIC.CA&action=edit&redlink=1), the wiring is "meticulous", all done [point-to-point](/source/Point-to-point_construction) and with "top-quality components".[1]

## References

**Notes**

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-hunter_1-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-hunter_1-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-hunter_1-2) [***d***](#cite_ref-hunter_1-3) [***e***](#cite_ref-hunter_1-4) [***f***](#cite_ref-hunter_1-5) [***g***](#cite_ref-hunter_1-6) [***h***](#cite_ref-hunter_1-7) [***i***](#cite_ref-hunter_1-8) Hunter, "The Ray Butts EchoSonic" 46-48.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-marcus_2-0)** Marcus 42.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-bacon_3-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-bacon_3-1) Bacon 44.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** Hunter, *Electric Guitar Sourcebook* 48-49.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** Hunter, *Guitar Rigs* 50.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** Atkins 80.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-7)** Moore and Dickerson 100.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-8)** Molenda and Paul 76.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-9)** Millard 36.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-10)** Hunter, *Guitar Rigs* 40.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-11)** Hunter, *Guitar Rigs* 54.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-12)** Hunter, *Guitar Rigs* 55.

**Bibliography**

- Atkins, Chet; Cochran, Russ; Cochran, Michael (2003). [*Chet Atkins: Me and My Guitars*](https://books.google.com/books?id=UjIj7tCvbtwC&pg=PA80). Hal Leonard. p. 80. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-634-05565-2](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-634-05565-2). Retrieved 11 February 2012.

- Bacon, Tony (2005). [*50 years of Gretsch Electrics: half a century of White Falcons, Gents, Jets & other great guitars*](https://books.google.com/books?id=GMn4rhg7N9cC&pg=PA44). Hal Leonard. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-87930-822-3](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-87930-822-3). Retrieved 10 February 2012.

- Hunter, Dave (2006). [*The Electric Guitar Sourcebook: How to Find the Sounds You Like*](https://books.google.com/books?id=u8qxXFvsqeMC&pg=PT48). Hal Leonard. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-87930-886-5](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-87930-886-5). Retrieved 10 February 2012.

- Hunter, Dave (2005). [*Guitar Rigs: Classic Guitar & Amp Combinations*](https://books.google.com/books?id=p1-kULtG9tgC&pg=PA50). Hal Leonard. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-87930-851-3](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-87930-851-3). Retrieved 10 February 2012.

- Hunter, Dave (April 2012). "The Ray Butts EchoSonic". *[Vintage Guitar](/source/Vintage_Guitar_(magazine))*. pp. 46–48.

- Marcus, Greil; Dregni, Michael; Guralnick, Peter; Luc Sante; Robert Gordon; Sonny Burgess (2011). [*Rockabilly: The Twang Heard 'Round the World: The Illustrated History*](https://books.google.com/books?id=06VWZ69WBAEC&pg=PA42). Voyageur. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-7603-4062-2](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-7603-4062-2). Retrieved 10 February 2012.

- Millard, A. J. (June 2004). [*The electric guitar: a history of an American icon*](https://books.google.com/books?id=zUlt7Q71_ssC&pg=PA36). JHU Press. p. 36. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-8018-7862-6](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-8018-7862-6). Retrieved 11 February 2012.

- Molenda, Mike; Paul, Les (2007-11-01). [*The Guitar player book: 40 years of interviews, gear, and lessons from the world's most celebrated guitar magazine*](https://books.google.com/books?id=zu3owmYkpZ0C&pg=PT76). Hal Leonard. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-87930-782-0](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-87930-782-0). Retrieved 11 February 2012.

- Moore, Scotty; Dickerson, James (1997). [*That's alright, Elvis: the untold story of Elvis's first guitarist and manager, Scotty Moore*](https://books.google.com/books?id=SFcIAQAAMAAJ). Schirmer. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-02-864599-5](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-02-864599-5). Retrieved 10 February 2012.

## External links

- [Scotty Moore's Echosonic](http://www.scottymoore.net/echosonic.html)

- [Frank Roy's Ray Butts Echosonic EA-1 site](http://www.echosonic.ca)

- [Video: Scotty Moore playing through Deke Dickerson's EchoSonic, 2003](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5I3rWiseBU)

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Ray Butts EchoSonic](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Butts_EchoSonic) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Butts_EchoSonic?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.