Heil Sound is marking 2016 as “50 Years of Maximum Rock & Roll.”
The yearlong celebration will kick off at the Winter NAMM show in January.
A commemorative podcast series of interviews with company founder Bob Heil is also scheduled to debut in January.
This series will highlight the history of Heil Sound as well as the many innovations in live sound that Heil brought to the industry.
Founded in 1966, the company was first known as Ye Olde Music Shoppe, a music store located in Marissa, Il. The store had a reputation among the pros who were touring nationally as a place to shop and have repairs done.
In addition to running the store, Heil combined his interest in pipe organs – he became the house player for the Wurlitzer organ at St. Louis’ Fox Theater at the age of 15 – and amateur (ham) radio, and began experimenting with live sound systems. Soon Ye Olde Music was supplying full sound system packages for venues and festivals throughout the Midwest.
In 1970 Heil received a call from the Grateful Dead’s Jerry Garcia on a tour stop in St Louis asking for help. The band’s gear – and sound mixer – had been “detained” in New Orleans and Heil was asked to provide a sound system for the show. Heil and his crew brought his gear to the show, and it was such a huge success the band hired them on the spot to join them on the road….READ MORE
The local HAM radio club, the Rams takes a reporter out on a hidden transmitter hunt in 1965. They look up and down Eastern Ave and finally find their quarry at La Riviera under the Watt Ave over crossing. Bob King and George Mireman, (not... Read more
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