Electro Harmonix Electric Mistress effects pedal (1976–1981)
The Electro Harmonix Electric Mistress Flanger/Filter Matrix, designed in 1975–1976 by David Cockerell, was the first ever flanger to be made in a pedal format.
This particular version was available between 1976 and 1981. “Flanger/Filter Matrix” is in ITC Serif Gothic. Knob labels are in all-caps Futura. The Electro-Harmonix logo is in Skjald, see the dedicated post.
Note: The unidentified type of the main Electric Mistress logo remains something of a mystery. Upon checking various forums, it’s been hypothesised that this typeface is either custom lettering, or a modified version of an existing type such as DeCoro or similar.
[Edit: it’s Raflo, see comments.]
The Deluxe Electric Mistress was offered along side the original Mistress between 1978 and 1981 and later reissued in 1999, and now is discontinued.
Deluxe Electric Mistress XO, 2015
7 Comments on “Electro Harmonix Electric Mistress effects pedal (1976–1981)”
Thanks for this contribution!
I’m pleased to say that I can contribute to solving this puzzle. The mystery typeface used for the Electric Mistress logo is called Raflo. It was designed by Jean de la Patellière and selected by Mecanorma, the French competitor to Letraset, as a contest winner in 1973. It doesn’t have caps, just lowercase letters and numerals. Apparently it didn’t sell well – Raflo disappeared from Mecanorma’s catalogs already after a few years. I don’t think there’s a digitization.
The first version of the Electric Mistress from late 1975 or 1976 used Broadway, alongside ITC Serif Gothic.
Electro-Harmonix also used Raflo for the Echoflanger and the Zipper Envelope Follower (1977).
Here’s an ad for the Electric Mistress from 1977: “Made on Earth for rising stars” is set in Friz Quadrata. The copy is in ITC Avant Garde Gothic.
Skjald is also in use in all samples above, for the 'electro-harmonix’ bit.
I know Raflo came at a later Mecanorma type contest, but it somehow reminds me of that caps font on the cover + title page of the Mecanorma 1969 catalogue. That caps font seems not to be listed or available in any of their catalogues I know — or was it available? I have seen this later redrawing from Greece called SF Think, but never found out about the original.
Hi Fernando,
True – it’s mentioned in the post. :) Since there is a dedicated post about the Electro-Harmonix logo, we figured it’s best to link to that, instead of tagging Skjald for every Electro-Harmonix post again and again.
For the letters on the 1969 Mecanorma catalog: I’ve been under the impression that it’s custom lettering. I haven’t seen this design anywhere else, neither in their catalogs nor in use. I’d assume that SF Think is directly based on that cover, and that Somethink extended it into a full alphabet plus numerals. Does the catalog include design credits?
Oh, I totally missed the mention to Skjald, and the nice post about electro-harmonix, sorry. As to the Mecanorma 1969 cap letters, I can’t find any design credits in there, only one of those mysterious codes (208-FAD-69) at the back cover. The letters reappear at the title page in black over white paper (most of the catalogue is printed in B&W) and at a smaller size, which makes me think there was a font — see image below — but this is still a mystery.
Thanks! I can’t help with solving the mystery …
… but I can offer some insight into the code. I don’t know about “208” – maybe an internal running number? – but “69” stands for the year, and “FAD” apparently for “French, Anglais, Deutsch”.
At least that’s what the code in my catalog published in 1970 suggests, which is “307/A.AL./70”: it’s in “Anglais/Allemand”. The cover (“maquette”) of that 1970 catalog is credited to “Laur”.
Nice, Mecanorma is always full of surprises. I knew that the last numbers were the years, but hadn’t thought about the mid-letters referring to languages. I’m just checking that my 1970's MN catalogue (purple cover with yellow N in the middle) says '307/F.H./70' — it’s in French and Dutch (Français / Hollandais, as it states before the code). I can’t find a credit to the cover design, though.