The Electra Forums

Hello, I just bought what is referred to here as a X250 powered EQ (pictures coming...), and I was wondering if someone in the know could chime in on a few things. In the Index section of the website it is generally accepted that the X250 has Four knobs in a row (looks just like an Ultima from the front) whereas the X270 has three (kinda like a Walnut Invicta, with three switches under the knobs instead of just one for the Invicta). Unfortunately, the pricelist/catalog scans that I could find are more than a little vague. I know that these types of publications have limited space and can't always get into details, and this is further compounded by the fact that sometimes what was photographed, and what went into production have subtle differences. Also confusing things is that it seems like the description in the price list doesn't always correspond to the photo directly above or below the text, From the Price List:




The above price list scan is more than a little confusing, and has at least some errors, as it states that the Workingman has a 'Solid Mahogany' body and I'm pretty sure that the bolt-ons were made with a Ash plank body (anybody agree?). In addition, the Ultima is almost always seen with three mini switches (as are the X250 and X270's) and yet the two guitars at the top of the scan (may be the same guitar for all I know!) have only two mini switches.

I guess my main question is, who, or what documentation, determined that the X250 had four knobs and the X270 has three?

I'm thinking there has to be other major differences, as the pricelist indicates that the X270 is very close (within 50 bucks...) to the price of the MPC Ultima, whereas the X250 was $165 less than the X270... even though in the index part of this site the caption reads :

"Note that the X250 is in most respects identical to an X270, except that it has four knobs instead of the X270's three."


Finally, the blurb in the pricelist about the X270 is directly below the photo of the Four Knob guitar... anyway, is there any chance that these guitars, understandably so, have gotten switched around from their original 'designation'..? Any Ideas? Where is Tom Presley when you need him? Feel free to add your comments, photos coming, Mike.


** Update **
Found X270 Electra Advertisement (Power Punch Theme) and the guitar pictured appears to have only three knobs, still no details on other differences between these two models though.

** Update number 2 **
Few posts down I try to list the specific differences between the two models

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Electra Guitar Videos ===> http://www.youtube.com/user/mjm33mjm?feature=watch

Even more confusing info on this price list from January 1982:





Some of the interesting things I never noticed before, the X250 is referred to as 'Powered Invicta' (Invicta has three knobs...), the list refers to a 'Natural Workingman' (anybody ever seen a Blonde Workingman? Or, what does that $69 refer to?), no X935cs listed (yet), and it's curious that the Black Workingman is $10 more than the natural one.

On the guitar that I recently bought (four knob version) seems to be totally stock and has some interesting electronics:
First Knob is a Master Volume
Second Knob has a center detent, master tone when Active off, up to 5 works like a normal tone control nothing happens above 5 if Active is off, when Active is on it functions as a Treble Boost
Third knob has center detent and does nothing (that I can tell...) when Active off, acts as a subtle Bass Boost when Active on.
Fourth Knob is the Power Boost Volume when in active. Active volume is pretty versatile in that it can be dialed back and give you a treble boost without driving the amp harder, or turned up will absolutely make your Tube Amp burn (bigger boost than my Gain Pedal!), or if turned all the way down effectively makes the active circuit a 'Kill Switch'.

Switches from front to back are 1) Coil Tap 2) Phase 3) Active Boost, boost switch is the fabled 12 pin monster switch. Unit has TWO 9volt batteries, and the control cavity is absolutely stuffed (again, pictures to come), the Active circuit board is mounted to the brushed aluminum cover, and the batteries are stuffed on either side of the card inside. Would love to hear from insiders or old timers about this X250/X270 identification confusion. Thanks, Mike.

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Electra Guitar Videos ===> http://www.youtube.com/user/mjm33mjm?feature=watch

My X290 is mahogany. I can't be sure how amny pieces 'cus its black but judging from the pickup and control cavity it is at least three pieces. I don't know why a black one would cost more. I would think the other way round as the esthetics of the wood is imaterial in an opaque finish.

Well here she is, my newest Electra, got her off of Craigs List with a case for $195 total after shipping from a lady who played it sparingly (if at all). She bought it from her down on his luck cousin back in the late 80's. Had a broken off coil tap switch (already replaced it, $5 from Radio Shack, even has the flat switch!) and a little bit of road rash, almost no fret wear, but most importantly, seems to be 100% original, even has the huge brass strap hangers on it.






Flash makes it look lighter and more orange than it truly is, the hunk of wood above the pickups looks like Maple, even has some flame in it, most of the other wood I think is Ash, it's curious that they mixed the wood on these bodies, but hey it seems to work. Here is something I thought was pretty cool, the original setup sticker still on the backplate, signed and dated by SLM's technician "Rene Lopez 1/83"



Has a pair of MMK53's in it, older style with no ring around the numbers. There are some faint markings under the neck pickup, and also the screw holding the neck tenon exposed under the neck pickup, can supply a photo for those interested. Here's the Bridge pickup route showing the bottom of the pickup and a '32' in the pickup route:



And this is what blew me away, I mean I knew that there would be some kind of electronics in these Powered EQ guitars, but man this thing is just stuffed to the gills with TWO 9 volt batteries and the circuit board attached to the control cover:





In this last picture you can make out the huge twelve pin Active switch (4pdt??). I'm glad that switch wasn't the broken one. Even though the guitar was setup in 1983, I think it was manufactured long before that. The logo is a off yellow, almost looks like its painted on, not the rainbow Abalone you see a lot of. I have a feeling the inlayed logo were earlier production than these painted on ones, anyone know for sure?

I'm impressed at the sophistication of the electronics on these, and how well its held up after almost 30 years. As X189 has mentioned a number of times, Fender was only just experimenting with 5 way switches on the Stratocaster in the early 80's and this thing looks like NASA compared to a Fender wiring harness. I've only had it a couple of days, so I'm still getting used to it, I kind of prefer the simple push/pull of the Endorsers which I can get to with out even looking at, whereas on this I have to look down to see which switch I'm flicking, maybe in time it will become more instinctive for me. I described the control functions in the post above, but I will say that the power boost is pretty cool, another thing I've found is that you can use it to get decent clean tones by keeping the Master volume up all the way and backing the Active volume way down, this keeps the signal bright and you don't lose any high frequencies that you would if you turned the 'regular' volume down.

Still wanting to hear from anyone about the X250 / X270 differences... and where there may be any information to clear up the descriptions of these two models, as I find it really curious why there was such a huge price difference between the two. Anyone have any pictures of the innards of a X270 they can post? Enjoy, Mike.

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Electra Guitar Videos ===> http://www.youtube.com/user/mjm33mjm?feature=watch

Well, here is an absolutely horrible scan I found of a X270 advertisement from the May 1981 Guitar Player Magazine:



I've never seen this ad before, and the picture link above is for a eBay auction, so I don't know how long it will be available. The scan is poor, in black and white and you can barely even see the guitar details, but if I turn my monitor to the side and squint my eyes, it looks as if it does only have three knobs. Still this begs the question what was the difference between the two guitars, and why did the X270 list for $165 more than the X250? Anyone else even mildly baffled by this? Thanks, Mike.

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Electra Guitar Videos ===> http://www.youtube.com/user/mjm33mjm?feature=watch

From what I can tell, my X290 is ash, but it wouldn't surprise me if it's multi-wood plank like yours--the body shape's the same, wouldn't be too far a stretch to make the blanks that didn't
turn out well bolt-ons and paint them black.

Pretty impressive wiring on yours, though--I've worked on a few Electras that the local dealer sold, but I've never seen that setup.

Hell, there's a bit going on in there, eh!! My Vantage VA900 has the active set up too with the same sort of sophisticated wiring harness and the 2 9V batteries, one of which powers the pre-amp, and the other just powers the pre-amp 'on' light!

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Well Finally got a seller to send me pics of the innards of a stock X270! The circuit board is mounted above the potentiometers, screwed into the wood, I'm not sure if it's the exact same board that is in the X250:


Here's another one of the X270 with the circuit board removed:


I haven't played one, so I'm not sure what the control knobs do, I'm assuming master volume, passive tone/treble boost when active, bass cut/boost in active. Seller said knobs have the center detent. So the differences I see in the two models are:

X250
Chrome Bridge
fourth control knob, I believe to be the overall active volume which is a very versatile option
Circuit Board mounted to brass control cover

X270
Brass Bridge
tiny chrome control indicator for knobs
three control knobs
Circuit Board mounted inside control cavity


There may be different woods used also, confusing references in Electra literature. But there you have it, the X250 cost less and had more controls... go figure! Working on a audio clip for the X250, coming soon. Cheers, Mike.

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Electra Guitar Videos ===> http://www.youtube.com/user/mjm33mjm?feature=watch

Just put together a sound clip of the X250. Lots of repeated riffs to show off the range of the power boost, the theme for this one is American Artists:

http://www.box.net/shared/cangfhpjle

Neck Pickup
Santana

Bridge Pickup Single coil
Tom Petty
R.E.M.
Billy Squire (who'd have thought?)

Bridge Pickup Humbucker
Aerosmith: Lightning Strikes, Three Mile Smile

The emphasis here is not on all the different pickup sounds but highlighting the variety of distortion you can get by just varying the Active Master Volume. Recorded through my Mark IIb, clean channel at about 7, which really rocks when you put the 250's 18 volt preamp to work. Even though this guitar listed for less than any of my other Electras when new, it has become my 'go to' guitar for practicing and playing live lately. I'm thinking about putting all of the audio clips into another forum topic, unless you guys are sick of them! Enjoy, Mike.

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Electra Guitar Videos ===> http://www.youtube.com/user/mjm33mjm?feature=watch

Nice Family Photo Mike........

Cheers
Jim