A couple of years ago during another late-night deep dive for the old and stompy, I came across a pretty crude and low-fi scan of the 1970 edition of Burnstein-Applebee electronics catalog. Among the thousands of components and DIY gear was a photo and description for the "Fuzz Maker Sound Kit". It looked cool, but unfortunately with the scan being as bad as it was there was no way I could figure out if it had a brand name, who made it, or really any of the integral details I typically hope for. So I saved the image and filed it away with dozens of other fuzz kits from that time period, and honestly, just kind of continued on without a second thought.
Fast forward to last month where I was talking with my good friend Bart from Effects Database and he pointed me to an ebay listing for a stack of Burnstein-Applebee catalogs, ranging from 1967-1971. And while I've tried to cut back gambling on old print media lately, the price was low enough that it was worth a shot! So the wait began, and with it, the speculation of what hidden fuzzy gems could be lurking in the dusty pages of those long forgotten catalogs.
Well a week later my curiosity was quelled; the packaged arrived safely and I began going through of every page, line by line and olde timey wholesome illustration by olde timey wholesome illustration. But would all of this waiting and work pay off?
Kind of...
The image above is the only page from any of the catalogs with something pedal-related. It also happens to be the same exact page I found two years prior. womp womp.
But maybe if I could make a new hi-res scan we could glean some NEW information from it and crack the code!
So I went to work (aka, drove to my mom's house and used her scanner) and began to decode the image below.
There it is!
Ok, so this image is significantly better than the older one but still leaves some important details to be imagined. Like, what is that brand logo on the top left? Is that a model number (72-Z)? What are the two controls (Volume, Tang WIANAV//)?
And as I sat there staring at this picture, it hit me: I may not be able to answer the questions above, BUT! I definitely recognized that pedal and had seen it before.
Those knobs, that enclosure, the upper-right portion... This fuzz is definitely related to APPLIED AUDIO!!!
A couple months back I posted a long and (what I thought was) comprehensive history of Applied Audio Products. Based directly in the heart of the late '60s East Coast audio gear mecca, this NJ-based company was responsible for thousands of fuzz boxes for the better part of a decade.
But while I knew they were knee-deep in the OEM manufacturing world, I was unaware until now that they may have also had a hand in the wild world of electronics project kits.
The enclosure, that ridiculous battery tester, those odd knobs, everything we can see here points to Applied Audio. But until we get a glimpse of the inside, this theory may need to remain in land of speculation. And in addition to the unknown circuit, we still have the question of what brand was this being sold under?
To find the answer I had to go back and slowly comb through every page of the Burnstein catalog, because for some reason they really tried to hide the branding on these kits. But my persistence paid off, and I finally was rewarded with a name: Bowman Electronics.
After more internet sleuthing I was able to discover that Bowman had been around at least as early as 1966, they also went by the name "Bowman Leisure Industries" and were based out of both Roselle, NJ and Garwood, NJ. Mostly known for project kits, the fuzz was part of a series of personal electronics called, "Mod-U-Kits", which included everything from spy gear to handheld amplifiers.
Unfortunately there weren't a ton of mentions online of Bowman, and absolutely zero of the fuzz, but the handful of kits we did find gave us a few more clues as to how it would look when you ordered one of these.
Each kit was ready for in-store displays at your local Lafayette Radio Electronics or Radio Shack stores back in the day. They also had what I assume is the paper instruction sheet with an image of the finished product staring at you from behind a thin layer of ancient plastic.
Upon opening it the enthusiastic builder would have been met with an enclosure, PCB, wires and components in a small baggy. All fairly standard for electronics project kits, and it's probably safe to assume that opening the fuzz box was a near identical experience. Basically you pop the transistors, caps, and resistors in, pull out your trusty solder iron and a few moments later you had "built" yourself a cool new noisy gadget.
As I sat there trying to connect the dots I remembered something about Applied Audio's history; they had a partner/parent company called Trans-Tek who they shared a South Plainfield, NJ warehouse space with.
Well prior to moving to that warehouse, Trans-Tek (known for selling surplus/bulk electronic components and PROJECT KITS) was located in Garwood, NJ.
And when I checked both addresses, Bowman and Trans-Tek were located down the block from each other! As in, you could probably take a leisurely stroll from one building to the other in under 10 minutes. (see the green flags in the map below)
One option is that the two companies had been working together since the mid 60s, with Trans-Tek supplying Bowman Electronics with the necessary components for their kits. So when it came time for Bowman to get into the fuzz game, they had an easy call to make.
Another option takes into account that the fuzz kits don't appear until 1970 (or at the very least, I haven't seen anything prior to this date). That being said, if you read the Applied Audio article you may remember that only the earliest units (1967/68) appear to use those tophat knobs and larger battery tester lamps. The fuzz in the Bowman Electronics photo clearly has both of those features, so is it possible that they simply purchased dead/old stock parts from Trans-Tek (Applied Audio) and then sold them as a kit? If this is the case, it's also possible that the circuit inside is completely different from a typical Applied Audio pedal.
The last detail to mention here would be that the enclosure of the Bowman Fuzz Box appears to be wider than the Applied Audio "Big Fuzz" but not as wide as the "Fuzz and Treble Booster".
And you may be thinking that they just stretched the image to fit the ad, but the labeling is different as well. On the typical Applied units the knobs are "Attack" and "Intensity" with the word "Fuzz" just above the two, creating the shape of a triangle. But on the Bowman you can see that the labeling on the right knob is perfectly centered and stacked. Which leads me to believe that this is not only a unique enclosure, but potentially one made specifically FOR this Bowman Electronics kit.
That is all to say, I honestly don't know what happened here. lol
But that's why we do these types of articles because maybe YOU DO? And if that is the case, please feel free to shoot me an Email or find me on Instagram.
Thanks for reading,
-ed
