IN THE BEGINNING…
The CTI Pixy Mk V
Transistor micro
guitar amp
“In 1966, I built my original studio on
the first floor of a commercial building I had
rented in Amity Road,
Stratford, East London.
Neighbours soon started to
complain about the noise,
so I had the idea of making a miniature transistor
guitar amp and fitting it
with an earpiece.
CTI stood for ‘Cooper
Technical Industries.’
About a year later, other
companies were bringing out similar products
which could be used with
headphones.
I made the Pixy ampli-
fier on a tag board and I
found that this worked
very well. The earpiece
was a crystal design made
by ACOS and the amp
itself was powered by a
9-volt battery which [fit]
into the base of the unit.
For the case, I rolled thin
aluminium using a metal
form, and covered it in
black vinyl. The circuitry
[fit] into this case. I named
it the CTI Pixy Mk V …
there weren’t any earlier
ones but I figured Mk V
was a good starting point.
“I named it the CTI Pixy Mk V … there
weren’t any earlier ones but I figured
Mk V was a good starting point.”
—Cliff Cooper
