Univox
In the early 1960's the Unicord Corporation, a manufacturer of electronic transformers, purchased the Amplifier Corporation of America in Westbury, New York. They began marketing a line of amplifiers under the name of Univox. The company was purchased by Gulf+Western in 1967. Guitar making operations moved to Japan in 1975 where they continued making guitars until 1982. Production under the Univox name was halted after a fire at the Matsumoku factory. After this time instruments were made in Korea under the name Westbury. The Unicord Corporation was purchased by Korg in 1985, effectively ending the line for good.
Univox was best known for making copies of instruments from better known companies such as Mosrite, Fender, Gibson, Rickenbacker, Ampeg/Dan Armstrong, Epiphone and others. These copies are often referred to as lawsuit copies among collectors. The Univox Hi-Flier was largely based on the Mosrite Ventures guitar; it was popularized in the early 1990s by Kurt Cobain, almost two decades after original production had stopped.
Around 1967, Unicord merged with Merson, an importer of various headstock-brand guitars such as Tempo, Giannini and Hagstrom. This new company was called 'Merson Musical Products, A Division of Unicord Incorporated, A Gulf+Western Systems Company.' Around 1968 they started producing the Univox guitars. In 1975 Unicord and Merson split. However, Unicord continued to make Univox guitars until around 1978, even adding some newer models.
A number of tube and solid state amplifiers were produced by Univox over the years. These ranged from small practice combo amps to powerful heads with separate cabinets. Some models had built-in spring reverb and tremolo effects. In 1971 Univox introduced the B Group amplifiers, covered in two-toned blue or gray Tolex with distinctive ovalesque cosmetics.
GuitarsArtist SeriesBadazz Bicentennial Coily Custom Deluxe Dove Eagle Effie Flat-Top Acoustic (various) Gimme 'Grass Hi-Flier HR-2 Limited Edition Series Lucy Mother/Rhythm and Blues Pro Ripper Thin Line Series UC-2/UC-3 Westbury Performer |
Bass GuitarsBadazz BassBicentennial Bass Coily Bass Eagle Bass Hi Flier Bass 'Lectra (1970F) Bass Lucy Bass Model 3340 Bass Naked Bass Precisely Bass Professional Bass Stereo Bass Thin Line Bass UB-1 Bass |
AmplifiersModel BT505 Bass AmpModel Tube Lead Amp Model U45 Trem Amp Model U45B Bass Amp Model U65RD Lead 65 Amp Model U75 Amp Model U130B Bass Amp Model U13OL Amp Model U155-R Amp Model U305-R Amp Model U1011 Amp Head Model U1061 Bass Amp Head Model U1220 Amp Model U1246 Bass Amp Head Model U1246L Lead Amp Head Effects EC-80 Echo EC-100 Echo Echo-Tech EM-200 Micro 41 FCM41 mixer Micro Fazer Noise-Clamp EX110 Phaser PHZ1 Pro Verb Square Wave SQ150 Super-Fuzz Uni-Comp Uni-Drive Uni-Fuzz Uni-Tron 5 Uni-Vibe Uni-Wah Wah/Volume |