ResonantLive Sound Archive

Equipment file · Vocal PA amplifier and column system

WEM vocal PA

Watkins Electric Music · Late 1950s–1960s

Evidence status · verified

Claims in this file are tied to item-specific sources.

British column systems and mixers designed to carry vocals over increasingly loud guitar amplifiers.

Introduced
Late 1950s–1960s
Category
Vocal PA amplifier and column system
Intended use
British club, ballroom, festival, and touring vocal reinforcement
Production
1960s–1970s

Equipment photographs · 1

WEM PA columns and amplifier

1 / 1 · WEM PA columns and amplifier

WEM PA columns and amplifier·21st CENTURY GREENSTUFF·CC BY 3.0

Why it mattered

  1. 01

    Helped move British groups from repurposed amplifiers toward dedicated vocal PA.

  2. 02

    WEM systems scaled into foundational British outdoor festivals before modern touring packages existed.

Engineering record

Typical early scale
Period retrospectives describe systems based around approximately 40-watt amplifiers and 6×10-inch columns.[2]
Early mixing
The WEM Copicat's microphone inputs were sometimes pressed into service as a rudimentary mixer before dedicated desks were common.[1]

Original pricing

No reliable period price located

2026 equivalent

Not calculated without a reliable original price.

No contemporary WEM price list sufficient to identify one representative system configuration was found.

Use in the field

WEM supplied systems for the Rolling Stones at Hyde Park in 1969 and the Isle of Wight festivals from 1968 to 1970.[3]

Manuals & original documents

Sources

  1. 1The History of PAMusic Technology archive · reference
  2. 2A perspective on early WEM PASound On Sound · reference
  3. 3Charlie Watkins, WEM PA and the rise of festival soundReverb · reference

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