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JVC instruments rebranded as Lowrey
Oddly, JVC did not sell any instruments under their own
brand name in America. However they did sell their KB series there rebanded as
Lowrey - a well known organ manufacturer. To make it clear these are JVC
designed instruments and manufactured by JVC in Japan, but the cases were
branded as Lowrey and Lowrey handled the marketing. In some countries, such as
Australia and England, instruments were sold under both brands concurrently.
Apart from the KB series, none of the other JVC instruments made it to the US.
Some of the rebrandings were straight copies, some had small changes, while the V-105 had no direct equivalent. I believe in all cases the Lowrey versions used their own fingering system for automatic cords rather than JVC’s.
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Lowrey model |
Rebrading of which JVC model |
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KB-300 / KB-303 |
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KB-500 |
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KB-500 |
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Somewhere between a KB-600 and KB-808 |
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KB-700 |
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KB-808 |
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KB-800 |
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Carnival L-80 |
Similar to the Lowrey L-90, but little else is know about this model |
|
KB-808 built into an organ body |
Notes
- There are other Lowrey portable keyboards with the V prefix, but they were not made by JVC (I believe they were Hohner rebrandings), and probably didn’t have the Micro Genie tag. The non-JVC models in the V series include V40, V50, V70 and V130. Likewise, there are other Lowrey models in the L/Carnival/Festival range that JVC were not involved in.
- A fairly new discovery is that JVC manufactured some of Lowrey’s Genius range. To what degree, if any, they were involved in the design of these instruments is unclear. More research is under way!
|
Model |
JVC Involvement |
Year |
MIDI |
Notes |
Pic |
|
G-80 |
At least manufactured by JVC |
1984 |
No |
Portable keyboard. All others are probably organs. Probably PCM drums, analogue voices. |
|
|
G-100 |
Name plate in Lowrey style, therefore probably no JVC involvement |
1983 |
|
Fairly basic model, single keyboard, a small organ. |
|
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G-101 |
-- |
-- |
-- |
--Not part of Genius range-- |
|
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G-105 |
|
1984 |
|
Spinet pedals optional |
|
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G-150 * |
My hunch is no JVC involvement |
1984 |
No |
Spinet pedals optional. Analogue drums and voices. |
|
|
G-160 * |
My hunch is no JVC involvement |
|
No |
Analogue drums and voices. |
|
|
G-200 |
My hunch is no JVC involvement |
1984 |
|
Spinet. Analogue drums and voices. |
|
|
G-201 * |
My hunch is no JVC involvement |
|
No |
PCM drums and voices. |
|
|
G-210 * |
My hunch is no JVC involvement |
|
No |
PCM drums and voices. |
|
|
G-250 * |
My hunch is no JVC involvement |
|
No |
PCM drums and voices. |
|
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G-260 (GS) |
|
1986 |
|
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G-265 (GS) |
|
1987 |
|
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G-300 (GS-1) |
|
1986 |
|
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G-365 (GS-1) |
|
1987 |
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G-395 (GS-2) |
|
1988 |
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G-400 (GX) |
|
1986 |
|
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G-500 (GX-1) |
|
1986 |
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G-565 |
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G-600 (GX-225) |
|
1986 |
Yes |
MIDI |
|
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G-700 (GX-325) |
Confirmed uses same JVC PCM drums as KB series |
1986 |
|
3 keyboards |
|
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G-700 A |
|
1986 |
|
|
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G-7000 (GX-361) |
Probably no JVC involvement |
1989 |
|
3 keyboards |
|
* Uses same service manual
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