Having always assumed this to be the famous Watkins Copicat unit, an amazing discovery from this photograph is that it actually was a Selmer-Truvoice Model 200 Echo Unit. Launched around 1960, this unit, like the Copicat of the time, had three record heads, a playback head, a demagnetizer and a continuously rotating loop of recording tape around 20inches in length.The source (guitar or microphone) was plugged into the unit and the sound recorded on the tape and played back multiple times – thus producing the echo. It was then erased on its way back around the loop. Fed through the amplifier, variations of the level and duration of playback produced quite amazing results.

So much for the theory! In practice the units proved temperamental and the tape loops fragile – always at key moments in a number of course! Often it proved a step too far! Folklore dictates the Watkins Copicat to have been more reliable, and the fact that amazingly it's still possible to buy Watkins units may indeed give some credence to this. For further research, try the links opposite.

A Musical Inspiration

 If we were to name the greatest influences on the Cyclones choice of music, then the obvious answers would lie with many of the Rock n Roll and R&B greats. And in the more “modern” era, perhaps the Beatles and others.

 However an LP that arguably had the most immediate impact and our great admiration was“Bobby Vee Meets The Crickets”. Released in 1962 after the death of Buddy Holly in 1959, many of the tracks reflected both R&B and the music and style of Buddy Holly.

To this day we continue to play, and attempt to master(!), several of the songs from this album. For any newcomer to this music it is heartily recommended listening.