RARE Wurlitzer Swingin' Rhythm EX....for sale!

Submitted here for your consideration is a very vintage drum machine that was manufactured by Wurlitzer. It was sold as an add on to go with some of the organs of the era. I am unsure of the exact date of manufacture, but would guess that it probably dates to the early to mid '70s. It measures roughly 4" tall x 7.5" wide x 9" deep.

All of the various rhythm patterns (Waltz, Latin, Foxtrot, Teen, March) work as they should and all the buttons (Drum, Brush, Snare, Block, Cymbal) operate also. The Drum button is supposed to be the bass drum. The cymbal button sound like a loosely closed hi-hat and the brush sound more like a tightly closed hi hat. Of course when I say "sound like" I use that term pretty loosely. This thing has the vintage, cheezy sound that is so sought after these days. More like thuds, clicks, and ka-cha than anything else.

The volume knob doubles as a push on/off switch and works fine. The amber lamp on the left side is the power indicator and the one on the right flashes with the beat of the rhythm. This is a mono unit and the available output is a single RCA jack on the rear panel. The cable that is included is male RCA to RCA and is about 5' long. It has been damaged and taped and can be easily replaced. The 110v power cord is in good shape. The Auxiliary multipin jack on the rear panel was probably to connect this to the control panel on a compatible Wurlitzer organ with th same controls located on the keyboard panel.

GO TAKE BID HERE!

WURLITZER Swingin' Rhythm Analog!

Vintage Wurlitzer Swingin' Rhythm Analog Drum Machine.

WURLITZER Sideman...aged photo heaven!

The Sideman was the first mass produced drum machine in the 50's and has AMAZINGLY crazy sounds, each sound having its own vacuum tube and the ability to dial in or out volume and 'umpf'. There are beats with use of a motor, belt, and rheostat (mambo, cha cha, etc) but the best part is the button board where you can play the sounds yourself. The sounds are weird and crumbly and great....very DEVO or Raymond Scott electronic era. All units are noisy with big ground noise but somehow that adds to the sound. I got this in a music store on the far west side of Chicago who thought it was broken. I bought it for $40 and brought it home and tightened one screw and it worked perfectly. I now have five of them. They come in different finishes, I have found, as well as with different grill clothes. I assume when you bought one new you were trying to most match the organ it was going to be the sideman to.

THE 1960's SideMan advert!.....

The Wurli Sideman is generally referred to as the first drum machine, you play it sweet, Side Man Gives the Beat some oscillating tubes, housed in a cabinet sitting next to your piano, guitar or flooglehorn, can turn you into a one-man orchestra, the cabinet, actually a new electronic instrument called Side Man, produces a variety of instrumental sounds from bass drum, torn torn and wood block to maracas, brush and cymbal, the instrument will play in such rhythms as a waltz, cha cha, beguine, tango, march, rumba or 72 variations of a fox trot, any of the rhythms can be varied from a slow 30 to a fast 195 beats per minute. Side Man (named after the members of a band who accompany the soloist) plugs into any a-c outlet, has three speakers and an 11-watt amplifier. Cost of the unit in a mahogany cabinet is $395. Manufacturer is Wurlitzer the Co., De Kalb, Ill.

Wurlitzer SideMan, the worlds first drum machine?

The Wurlitzer SideMan is a 1950's tube drum machine and it was arguably the world's first drum machine. obviously It depends on whether you count the Chamberlin Rhythmate, which was apparently introduced some years earlier, but featured tape loops instead of electronically generated drum sounds, the SideMan is definitely the first "beat box." this was picked up for $50. It's got all its guts exposed so you can see how it works...