User:Ralph Morris/Tyco

The concept of a recording-studio quality portable concert sound system was developed in the early 1960s by John Judnich, a recording engineer at A&M Records, who designed a portable system for The Beach Boys, using the same professional-series loudspeakers made by the JBL Corporation that are used in nearly every professional recording studio. Shortly afterward, Judnich designed and built a similar sound system for a new nightclub in Hollywood called "The [[Whisky a Go Go]."

By the end of the 1960s, Rock 'n roll concerts were moving from college gymnasiums and small venues into civic auditoriums and sports arenas. The public address systems in these venues were totally unsuitable for the vocals to be heard above the level of amplified guitars. Due to the growing demand for adequate concert sound systems, Judnich was approached by two young entrepreneurs who were producing local concerts in Los Angeles under the banner of Pinnacle Productions. Gary Perkins and Sepp Donahauer introduced Judnich to their friend Robert Bogdanovich, who formed a new company to manufacture portable concert sound systems similar to the one Judnich had built for The Beach Boys. A name for the new company had to be chosen, and during one of their early meetings at Judnich's house in Hollywood Hills, Bogdanovich noted that Judnich was an amateur astronomer, and he saw a book describing the work of 16th Century Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe. Dropping the first "h" and combining the first and last names gave the new company a unique name; Tycobrahe Sound Co.

Ralph Morris was hired as Director of Marketing. He was also a recording engineer and former marketing director for a commercial studio in Hollwood. A local artist was hired to draw a scroll/frame around the company's name, similar to The Racing Form's masthead. The trademark was unique and appealing.

Tycobrahe Sound Co. then hired a brilliant electronics engineer named Jim Gamble, who designed and built portable mixing consoles that were sturdy enough to withstand the rigors of touring. First eight channels, then 16 and finally 24 channels, with a second console to provide a totally separate, multi-channel monitor system on stage in order for the artists to hear their voices, and later to provide a separate instrumental mix for each member of the band.

Jim Chase, a manager at Hughes Electronics, was hired as Director of Operations. His job included tracking every piece of several touring sound systems, their location, status and maintenance schedule, as well as training and supervising up to 40 tour technicians.

Jim Gamble also designed a series of solid-state, direct-coupled amplifiers to replace the off-the-shelf amplifiers used in The Beach Boys system. This effort ultimately produced the BFA-2000, which provided 2,000 watts RMS into a load of 2 ohms. As many as 10 of these would be used for arena-size venues in the 1970s, for a total of up to 20,000 watts! Compare that figure to in-house theater and auditorium PA systems of 200 or 300 watts.

For non audiophiles, the purpose of having 20,000 watts is not to be a hundred times louder than 200 watts. It doesn’t work that way, and the purpose is to avoid distortion caused by demanding more output than an amplifier can deliver. Audio engineers call this “headroom.” Morris called it “hearing the quiet between the notes.” http://www.audioheritage.org/html/readers-photos/morris.htm

As the demand increased, the company built more mixers, amplifiers, cables and speaker systems, while recruiting and training technicians to set up and maintain the systems on tours. Soon after the company was formed, a concert was held outdoors in the football field at a local college featuring the first LA appearance of the English band Jethro Tull. Flautist/vocalist Ian Anderson was so impressed with the sound, he asked if he could take the system along for the remainder of his tour. Unfortunately that system was booked solid by local promoters, but Jethro Tull arranged then for a Tycobrahe Sound System to accompany them on all of their subsequent tours.

During the first half of the 1970s Tycobrahe sound systems were used by those groups who demanded a "clean" sound, from The Beach Boys to Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention, Boston, Stevie Wonder and the best of the "second English wave," including Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Faces with Rod Stewart, Procol Harum, The Rolling Stones and Ten Years After. Those groups could have any sound system they chose, and they all chose Tycobrahe.

In the mid 1970s Jim Gamble also designed a series of unique guitar effects pedals; The "Octavia," which was an improvement on the original harmonic-effect fuzz-tone designed by Jim Morris, who was Jimi Hendrix’s sound technician and original partner at Kelsey-Morris Sound Co. in London. The original design, which Hendrix called the “Octavio,” required two nine-volt batteries and its effect was unstable. Gamble’s design required only one nine-volt battery and made the effect more accessible. The other pedals included a sophisticated “PedalFlanger,” a tone bender in which the pedal movement could be switched to control either the speed or the sweep, and a wah-wah pedal with extended low frequency which appealed to bass players as well as guitarists. It was used effectively by Geezer Butler of Black Sabbath. The wah-wah was called the ParaPedal.

Note that “Octavia,” “ParaPedal” and “PedalFlanger” are currently registered trademarks of Chicago Iron, as well as the Tycobrahe logo. http://www.chicagoiron.com/

No doubt the pinnacle of Tycobrahe Sound Co.’s achievements was The California Jam in 1974, when the Tycobrahe sound systems on tours with Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Earth Wind and Fire and Black Oak Arkansas were combined to create the most powerful concert sound system ever assembled. Emerson, Lake and Palmer’s complete sound system was set up ½ mile from the stage, working off a tape-delay system to match the sound emanating from the stage. Total power was reported to be 54,000 watts RMS. http://www.gambleboards.com/jamtext.htm

Tycobrahe Sound Co. stopped operating in 1977, the remaining equipment was sold, and an era ended. Jim Gamble formed his own company, GambleBoards.com, where he continues to make the most advanced audio mixing consoles in the world, combining the sound quality of analog audio signals with digitally-controlled systems which can be programmed to recall the individual artist’s requirements. In the 1970s that was done with pencil and paper. Now it’s done with computers.

Robert Bogdanovich now operates a bed and breakfast in Costa Rica. John Judnich died in 2005 of natural causes at age 67. Ralph Morris is retired and lives in Arizona. Jim Chase continues as an audio consultant, specializing in wireless microphone applications. John DeBord, a long-time Tycobrahe technician, formed his own company called “Compact Monitor Systems,” where he designs and builds custom stage monitor systems for touring bands.