A French company: Garen

Hello Airfrance, For this day of positivity, I thought it might be interesting to tell you about a French brand: the amp brand **Garen**. **A little bit of history:** In 1946, Jean Guen, a French electronics engineer, began working on creating a microphone for electric guitar. In an attempt to obtain a richer sound than the piezoelectric sensors then available, he developed a first model of microphone from a telephone earpiece connected to an amplifier. The prototype microphone began to be talked about for its quality and guitarists came to order this microphone from Jean Guen’s workshop. In 1947, the latter created a brand called **Stimer** (originally, the brand was to be called *Stimul* since it manufactured battery chargers for car batteries, and then he found that Stimer sounded better). In 1948, Jean’s brother, Yves, joined him in the electronics workshop. Jean was more interested in design and prototyping. Yves was more down to earth and mentored his brother in terms of orders to be fulfilled, etc. The affair is starting to gain momentum. That year, the first guitar microphone produced on a large scale by Stimer was released: the ST 48. It is a single-coil microphone that is placed at the soundhole of the guitar. Over the same period of time, the first amplifiers were created. We will initially find three models (M6, M8 and M12). What is interesting to note is that the speakers as well as the tubes which equip the amps come from French suppliers. So, you have to understand that at the time these amps were manufactured, the electric guitar was still in its infancy. Leo Fender hasn’t created his Telecaster yet, and it’s a completely new instrument. As a result, initially, Stimer amps will have difficulty finding their audience and their resellers. The curious are interested in these new products but it is still a niche area. In 1950, the incredible Django Reinhardt equipped himself with an ST 48 microphone and an M12 amp and from that moment on, the brand took off. We even find advertisements with Reinhardt in specialized magazines like *Jazz Hot*. The links with the guitarist strengthened (there are anecdotes about the fact that Django took Les Paul and his wife Mary Ford to see Jean Guen to buy microphones from him). Little by little, new amps are created. Sometimes more powerful (the Nuance model from 1955 which is 18W) or intended for specific uses (like an accordion amp). Jean Guen also develops other electronic devices but it would take too long to tell here. In 1957, the two brothers separated and decided to set up two different companies. Yves kept the Stimer brand which continued until 1986 thanks to Yves’ son, Christian. As a result, Jean Guen decided to launch a new brand called **Garen** (name inspired by the town of La Garenne-Colombes). In the Garen catalog, we will initially find the continuation of the amps manufactured by Stimer then new models arrive: *Contrast*, *Classic*, and *Clavier*. These new amps are equipped with fashionable innovations: tremolo, reverb (spring obviously) and sometimes a little more complex equalization. The company gradually expanded (in 1963, there were around twenty employees) and moved into larger premises. The problem is that in the 60s, many other brands of amps appeared on the market (Fender, Vox, Marshall, Farfisa, Orange, Echolette etc.) and the brands entered into rivalry. And obviously, as the amps that we see on the covers of fashionable English or American groups appeal to them, guitarists are turning even more towards Garen’s competitors). The Garen company’s response to this craze for other brands will be to create a new one: the **Shade** brand. The English name suggests an English or American origin and yet, it is indeed a French brand. There will be a change in design to be more in tune with the times and also a change in suppliers (Jensen speakers like those in Fender amps will be put in the amps). In 1966, to add another layer, the Shade amp models were named after an American state. We therefore have the models *Nevada*, *Colorado*, *Kansas* etc. Overall, it’s a profitable strategy since the amps sell well. In addition to amps, the company also manufactured the fashionable effects pedals at the time: fuzz, wah-wah, etc. In 1967, we will have other products such as proto-synths or proto-drum machines or lighting effects for musicians. At the beginning of the 1970s, the business did less well. Jean Guen created two new brands: **Shelton** and **MK** (Music Kit, amps to assemble yourself). It is not a huge success and the competition has become too big to compete. The company changed its approach and ended up manufacturing anti-theft protection devices (alarms, motion detectors, etc.). In 1976, the Garen company disappeared and gave way to the Guelec company specializing in anti-theft systems. Jean retired in 1981. He died in 2020 at the age of 99. In 2017, a manufacturer bought the Garen brand and offered new ranges of amplifiers: [https://tsfsepelliere44.e-monsite.com/pages/amplis-garen.html](https://tsfsepelliere44.e-monsite.com/pages/amplis-garen.html) As for the Stimer brand (the one owned by Yves), it was registered by a luthier in 2004 who offers microphones. I don’t know the ins and outs but it seems that the luthier in question took a swipe at the real creators of the brand: [https://yves-guen-original.fr/](https://yves-guen-original.fr/) To learn more about the Guen brothers, it’s here (the most complete site with lots of photos and visual documents): [http://stimer-garen.fr/](http://stimer-garen.fr/) I had a few Garen amps in my hands as part of my repair job. And I still have a sort of tenderness for this disappeared brand. When I renovate these old cuckoo clocks, I take great care of them because they are amps that are part of our heritage. The first was a **Classic Vibrato** and right now in the workshop, I’m redoing a **Classic 11.** Otherwise, personally, I have a **Shade Kansas** amp (a big tube sound system in fact) which was found in an Emmaüs for around thirty euros. I have a lot of work on it and since I’m short on time, it’s a dragging project. ​ Let’s talk about sound. As there are amps that are very different from each other, both in terms of their design and the technology used, there is no real Stimer/Garen/Shade “sound”. Additionally, these amps spanned years with very different musical styles. Between the sound of Django Reinhardt and the sound of kids inspired by rhythm and blues, there is already a big gulf. There are few resources online for these amps, including few schematics. What I did for the Classic Vibrato was that I copied the entire diagram to put it back online. I will do the same for the Classic 11 when I have finished working on it (the diagram is copied, I just need to put it online). And obviously, I would do the same for the Shade. Well, that’s all for today. I hope you enjoyed learning more about an element of our technological and musical heritage. Good positivity.

https://old.reddit.com/r/france/comments/1c63ckh/une_entreprise_française_garen/

Posted by morinl