I just noticed that someone had recently purchased on eBay a somewhat rusted Model R2523 Champion head with a mismatched head. (I presume that the feet on the head did not match the seating holes on the cabinet.  In that case, the cabinet was almost certainly one from a Model 2503 Basso Grande.)

The listing had a combination of accurate and inaccurate information about Mr. Gentul.  It wasn't bad overall. But what I found unforgettable was the following line from the listing:  "The relatively obscure Hilgen brand is celebrated by the most fringe of tone connoisseurs... ."

I'll take that as compliment. It's not every day that one is given a
new title with a cool, edgy sound. The next time somebody asks me what I do, I'll be able to respond, "I am a fringe tone connoisseur, actually."  So can you!

Last week, I received from Jack Gentul's children a very heavy, flat box.  In it are the originals of what are likely the only surviving documents relating to their father's career.  I have been charged with inventorying them; scanning every document that is of the slightest relevance to Jack's work in general and Hilgen amplifiers in particular; and then returning the remainder to the family.

This is an honor I do not deserve, but a responsibility I am proud to undertake. .

I have not reviewed all the documents yet.  However, it has thus far been a moving, even eerie experience. After spending several years fruitlessly seeking any tangible evidence that Jack Gentul ever existed, I now feel as though I am looking over Jack's shoulder as he goes about his day-to-day business.  There are his handwritten notes, brittle carbon copies of correspondence, schematic sketches, and attempts to keep track of the business end of things. The record is fragmentary, like an ancient mosaic that was largely destroyed but that still retains identifiable patterns and themes. 

What a person saves and what he or she discards is telling.  It seems fair to infer that the items he preserved were of particular significance to him.  If so, it appears, sadly, that Jack was surprised by how coldly the marketplace, and even some of his closest business associates, reacted to his efforts at innovative amplifier design. Nonetheless Jack tirelessly pursued what, to his ears, was the most musically pleasing sound that an amplifier could make.  Perhaps that this may be why he chose names for his amplifiers such as "Challenger," "Champion," and "Victor."  He knew he had a battle on his hands.

I hasten to add that the negative influences on Jack's career did not include anyone affiliated with Brook Electronics, Sano, or the Zonfrilli family.  Indeed, the luminaries of the musical amplification industry were among Jack's chief supporters.  Unfortunately, they were not the ones with the money; and the folks who did have money were not interested in risking it on an iconoclast.

In the last analysis, Jack definitely made mistakes.  I would be deceiving you and myself if I indulged in idol-worship.  Yet the evidence objectively shows that Jack got an astonishing number of things right,  despite working in an environment that would cause most of us to lose faith in ourselves.  He was a courageous man, an artist in sound, a meticulous craftsman, and a hard-working stiff.

I hope you will enjoy looking over my shoulder as I puzzle over the documents in that heavy box, and encourage you to offer your own interpretations of the evidence that emerges from it.  
   

As I have mentioned elsewhere on this site, it is an article of faith on the internet, including Wikipedia, that the name "Hilgen" was derived by combining the first syllable of the word "Hillside" with the first syllable of "Gentul."  Several months ago I stated on this website that that belief is incorrect, and that the first syllable represents the first three letters of Frank Hill's last name. 

It was not altogether unreasonable for internet sources not to have accepted my explanation at that time. 

I had originally assumed that the "Hilgen" name was created in the mid-1960's when Mr. Gentul first began building amplifiers explicitly branded as "Hilgen."  There was a serious inconsistency in that hypothesis that I could not previously explain.  Frank Hill was Jack's co-worker at Brook Electronics,  where Jack first became involved in amplifier engineering.  So far as I knew, Jack had left Brook Electronics in 1952 or 1953.  I had no evidence that Jack continued an association with Frank Hill thereafter. There was no plausible reason (except for sentiment, which seemed improbable) why, during the mid-1960's, Jack would have incorporated his former co-worker's last name into the brand name "Hilgen."

As it turns out, my assumption that the name "Hilgen" originated with the launch of Hilgen-branded amplifiers was wrong.  In fact, Messrs. Hill and Gentul had formed a partnership in 1953 for the purpose of manufacturing guitar amplifiers and related equipment.  At that time, they named their enterprise the "Hilgen Manufacturing Company." Set forth below are the first and last pages of that partnership agreement:

Electro-archaeology is a humbling discipline. However, with the publication of the above document, I respectfully submit that there is no longer any evidentiary basis for the theory that the name  "Hilgen" has anything to do with "Hillside, New Jersey."

The Agreement, along with other documents I have recently received, changes substantially my understanding of Jack Gentul's endeavors after (and perhaps even during) his time at Brook Audio.  It appears that, in two different incarnations, Hilgen Manufacturing Company both preceded and followed Jack's work at Sano.  Moreover, Hilgen Manufacturing Company itself was responsible for more than the Hilgen-branded line of amps -- for example, the Hilgen-built Excelsior amplifiers.  Finally, Jack's work in musical electronics after Hilgen was considerably more significant than I previously realized.

Look for revisions to my history of Hilgen in the very near future.