Do any of the Top-Quality mics in the above scan look familiar?
I seem to see… an RCA BK-1A?
….a shure 777 crystal mic?
an Electrovoice 664?
…and what is this thing exactly?
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I picked up this Lafayette PA-46 for a few dollars at the Flea Market yesterday. It appeared to be unused; the odd 3-pin socket was unsoldered. I hooked it up and it works well. I wired it ‘hi-z’ and the sound is good for a 50 year old dynamic mic. The design seems to be an ‘homage’ to the contemporary Electrovoice 636. Here they are side-by-side:
…although it also seems to have connection to the earlier Altec 21b ‘coke bottle’ condensor mic:
Lafayette Electronics was an importer and retailer of consumer-electronics active from the mid 1920s through the early 1980s. They were a competitor of Radio Shack and Allied electronics; when those two retail giants merged, Lafayette was squeezed out of the market. So what happened to all of the Lafayette shops? Turns out that may of them became Circuit Cities. Crazy. Anyhow, a lot of Lafayette’s merchandise in the 1960s was re-branded Japanese goods that bore a certain resemblance to US-made goods of the period. These microphones are a good example. When the Japanese designers got the ‘copy’ exactly right, it’s not that interesting… but the odd pastiches, such as the PA-46, have a certain weird-dream charm to them. Check out the complete history of Lafayette at this link.
Included in this download: “Echo Buss Vol II, Take 1,” a FOSTEX newsletter to pro-sumer users of the 80s. Plus 2-side product sheets for the 2050 line mixer, 3030 Graphic Equalizer, 3070 Compressor/Limiter, 3180 Reverb, and 6301 powered monitor speakers.
The 3180 offers a unique feature among line-level stereo spring reverb units: a non-adjustable 24ms pre-delay hardwired before the spring drive amp.
Interesting to note that FOSTEX makes no attempt to disguise these pieces as pro-studio equipment; they were designed and marketed specifically for use in the new ‘personal studio’ of the early 1980s, alongside such other FOSTEX offerings as the personal reel-to-reel multitrack and the FOSTEX 250 cassette four-track. See previous posts here, here and here for information on these recording devices.
The Fostex 6301 powered monitors did enjoy wider use, though; true to the photo at top, these compact 10w powered speakers did in fact experience wide use in video-facility machine rooms as basic program monitors. Many are still in use in this role.
Not sure where I came across this obscure volume. Written by one S.J. Begun, then VP and chief engineer of recording-tech pioneer Brush Development Corp, ‘Magnetic Recording’ (h.f. ‘MR’) was completed in June 1948 and published the following year by Murray Hill Books.
There is a lot of information in this 235pp volume; the best feature by far, though, is that it contains diagrams and schematics for a great number of the recording devices discussed.
Here’s a quick survey of the machines covered in MR. Most are wire recorders. Remember that tape recording was still incredibly new in 1948; wire was still the dominant format. If you have any of these machines and need to service it, seek out this book. You might find what you need. Names are beneath each image.
The original circa 1948 Ampex tape recorder, which promised an unheralded 30-15k (+/- 1db) frequency response.
The WW11-era German Magnetophone, from which the Ampex was largely derived. The Magnetophone ran at 30 ips in order to achieve its (then) excellent performance.
The Armour Master wire recorder.
The Armour Model 50 wire recorder
The Bell Labs Mirrorphone
Brush Labs Model BK-303
Brush labs model BK-403, the portable Sound Mirror
Brush Labs model BK-503 ‘mail a voice,’ which recorded a magnetic signal on coated paper discs.
Brush Labs SoundMirror
Brush Labs model BK-401
The Lear Dyanport (pictured with American Dynamic mic)
The Magnecorder SD-1, a predecessor (prototype?) of my beloved Magnecord PT6.
It is 1955. WWII-era German military-communications equipment has been successfully deconstructed, economized, and introduced to the American public as the Tape Recorder (via Bing Crosby, incredibly). Economies of scale allow these devices to be sold in vast number at widely accessible cost. For the average person, this is a significant new technology. And with new technology comes questions. How do I make this new stuff work? What can you do with this new stuff? Enter the handy Tape-Recording Guide Book, a once-genre unto itself.
8mm film cameras had been widely available and fairly inexpensive for a few years already; as had bulky, low-fidelity wire-recorders and disc (shellac record) recorders. The tape recorder offered a few new advantages, though. Small size and relative ease-of-use; decent fidelity (sound quality); the ability to edit and to re-use bits of tape; and long recording-time at low cost. It was now possible to ‘capture the moment,’ to ‘capture everyday life,’ in a way never before possible.
This deluge of information was not limited to the book-format; indeed, there were in fact regular periodicals solely devoted to the support of this new technology.
So much to learn. What we take as basic-assumptions regarding the operation of audio-equipment all had to be explained to us at some point. We now learn basic concepts such as ‘what to do with a microphone’ in a very informal, natural manner; early on, though, this was information best communicated /By Experts/ to /The Public/.
Beyond technical details like and ‘where to stick the mic’ and ‘editing the tape,’ there was also instruction regarding what kinds of sonic-event to capture. In these books, experts tell us not only ‘How-To-Use,’ but ‘When/Why-To-Use.’ In the image below, a tape-stock manufacturer of the era (Sarkes Tarzian, INC) delineates several fields of tape-recorder application that you may/may not have been aware of.
It is this last suggestion of ‘inviting tape to the party’ that I find most disturbing. Surprisingly, this ‘party-recording’ application gets a great deal of attention in most of the books scanned above. Please keep in mind that it is TAPE STOCK COMPANY that is suggesting that you ‘invite tape to your party.’ What possible benefit could it serve a TAPE STOCK COMPANY that you roll through seven $3.99 reels of tape in one evening? What possible benefit could it serve a TAPE STOCK COMPANY to reinforce this concept in the culture?
Oh really, you shouldn’t have. No, seriously. You shouldn’t have. Notice the strained look on her face. Is this due to the massive weight of a vacuum-tube powered reel-to-reel recorder, which she struggles to carry while wearing party-heels, or due to the fact that her husband has once again made them the pariahs of the scene by bringing along the dreaded time-binder, the magnetic-mind that forgets nothing, the One Who Recalls Things Best Forgotten, the tape-recorder.
The mirror is fairly ancient technology. In fact, all it takes is for a baby to see her face in a reflective surface and there is some knowledge of the Appearance Of The Self. On the other hand, the sound-mirror (aka Tape Recorder) is a much newer concept. For every person who dislikes seeing photos of themselves, I can bring you 100 people who don’t like hearing the sound of their own voice recorded.
We are inundated with recording technologies today. Almost every cell phone has a video/audio recorder with performance that rivals the 8mm film cam/tape recorder technology that consumers first had access to in the 1950s. But before you capture the moment, perhaps it is best to ask yourself: why am I doing this? What benefit does it serve?
In the film LOST HIGHWAY, Bill Pullman’s character makes a remark that has always stuck with me. The remark can be heard in the trailer (see below), but here it is in text as well:
Ed: Do you own a video camera? Renee Madison: No. Fred hates them. Fred Madison: I like to remember things my own way. Ed: What do you mean by that? Fred Madison: How I remembered them. Not necessarily the way they happened.
Why do we remember?
What does the process of remembering do to our past experiences? How does it shape our future actions?
What is lost by subjugating memory to recording?
What kind of world are we building (via unheralded levels of self imposed ((Facebook)) and Government-Imposed ((Terrorists-already-having-won)) surveillance)?
I use low-power single-ended tube amps in our home for music and movie listening. 8watts per channel won’t cut it for a party, though, so today i dug deep into the PS basement and came up with this system for our holiday party.
The McIntosh 2125 was one of their earlier solid-state power amps. Thing thing weighs a ton. It really sounds fantastic.
When M dropped off these Urei 809s for (possible) use in the new studio, I was a bit dubious. True, these were state-of-the art 30 years ago, but… Well, anyhow, I listened to them for the first time today and i am very impressed. These things really sound great. Listening to tracks that I have heard hundreds of time, I was hearing things that I had never noticed before. That being said, they are also very pleasant to listen to. I learned the basics of studio-recording at university in the mid-90s. The school had a state-of-the-art circa 1980 studio, with a Trident console and a pair of Urei 813 monitors, which were the big brothers of the 809s. Maybe my fondness for the sound of the 809s is some sort of sonic nostalgia. Possible.
When folks learn that I build and service vacuum-tube based audio equipment, some of the first questions they ask are: Is it hard to find those old tubes? Where do you find them? As it turns out, lots of different places.
The RelaxAcizor was, depending on who you ask, either a quack-medical/exercise device or a sex toy that was marketed clandestinely to women in the 1950s. It consists of a voltage amplifier in a chassis with a series of electrodes that attach to the (female) body on numerous pads.
Anyways… I bought a partially-disassembled RelaxAcizor for a few dollars at the flea market yesterday. It was oddly missing its case, so the rear of the chassis was exposed. This is a crucial point. Because the innards of the unit were visible, I was able to see that it contained a VT-52 tube.
The VT-52 is a very valuable and useful audio tube. It’s basically (BASICALLY..) a 2A3 designed for 6.3v through 7v filament voltage rather than 2.5 volts. This tube has a huge cult following. Check out this deep website dedicated solely to the VT52. I love the sound of the 2A3. My main home-music listening amplifier for the past 5 years is a stereo 6SL7/2A3 amp that I built based on a schematic from Angela dot com. There are a ton of great, simple schematics for Single-Ended high-fi amps that use the VT52 as the output tube; and unlike the 2A3, which requires an unusual filament voltage and requires an unusually low output transformer primary, it appears that the Vt52 will work fine with normal ‘guitar-amp’ type 5K Output transformer. Directly-heated Fender Champ? Yes I think so. I am inclined to recommend this schematic over the others. The 2A3 likes to be fed by a low-impedance signal and I would bet that the VT52 is similar in this regard.
Carving up the RelaxAcizor also resulted in this nice wrinkle-finish chassis, which will find a good home someday in a a future project. E commented that perhaps I cut up the unit because I felt threatened by it. Well, either that, or the fact that VT52 tubes go for upwards of $100 on eBay. $300 if they are W.E. branded.
Alright so what’s the point? Search web forums and you will be told that the VT-52 is a very rare, mysterious tube. OK. But consider that over 400,000 RelaxAcizors were sold in the US. That’s a lot of expensive directly-heated triodes sitting, hidden, in junk piles throughout this country. So get digging folks.
Scully was one of the main US makers of professional multi-track tape machines through the 1970s. Scully was based in our fair city of Bridgeport CT. Wikipedia has no information on this classic manufacturer; in fact, they incorrectly identify it being from ‘bridgewater connecticut.’ I’ve been slowly accumulating archival material on this company and hope to have a comprehensive treatment together at some point.
Earlier this week I bought a full truck load of old Scully and Ampex tape machines for a few bucks (no joke). I think that there were about four Scully 280 2-track machines, several Ampex 351s and PR10s, a 16-track scully 2″ machine, and a few other odds and ends. My truck is currently out-of-commission awaiting some parts, so I was limited to taking just the stuff that would fit in my VW. This meant leaving the transports behind and just taking the electronics portions of a few of the machines.
The most exciting piece is this Ampex 3761. It needs a complete restoration (nearly every part and connector is rotten), but the chassis/faceplate and UTC transformers are intact, so I think I will give it another life. The 3761 is not a particularly useful device, but it does have an incredible pedigree. It is a four-into-one microphone level mixer which uses the excellent 5879 pentode tube, and some of the best input transformers that UTC (or anyone else) ever made. The 3761 was used in order to mix four microphones onto one track of an Ampex tape machine (in fact, it gets its power from the tape machine). And what recordings were made using these devices? How about most of the classic STAX recordings. Good God.
Anyhow, seems like this thing deserves another chance.
How about the rest of that stuff though? It all dates to around 1965-1970. None of it seems to have been maintained since 1990, and everything was generally filled with dog hair, dead bugs, and bits of food that (presumably) mice secreted away in there. Yes it was really that nasty. So i was not about to risk a major biohazzard restoring this stuff. The only other option: Chop it up.
Each of the 280 chassis contain a number of excellent hermetically-sealed transformers: a UTC A18, UTC A39, and a very large Freed 600:600 (split) transformer. I have yet to find a UTC A-series transformer that did not work, so I am reasonably optimistic.
Three of the 280s also had a UTC 0-1 500:50K input transformer. Many of the 280s also had clean XLR jacks, lamp holders, and API VU meters. So it was a good harvest in general.
I do feel a little guilty about chopping up these classic units, made with care here in BPT; but I have a plan to earn back the audio karma. Once I can track down the schematic for the 280, I will clone the mic pre-amp circuit, and build a few stand-alone 280 clone pre-amps using the original transformers, meters, and whatever other cosmetic parts that I salvaged. I have been waiting for the right solid-state pro-audio project to present itself, and I think it found me.
It was a little painful to dumpster the carcasses; I felt a little better after K told me that someone shortly thereafter pulled them from the dumpster, shouting excitedly that they were brass, and therefore valuable for salvage. One person’s junk…
Damn that dude was funny. Heard he became/was-always a major reactionary. Anyhow, PS was not updated this weekend because… this weekend was ‘open studios’ in scenic Bridgeport CT. My shop is located in an Arts-Space building, and we opened the doors to all comers this weekend. As always, met some real characters, and got to know the other folks in the bldg a little better. If you came by and rapped with me… thank you. Hope you enjoyed the event.
E and I like to ‘work-through’ these open-studio events; keep it productive while taking the time to speak to anyone interested in our arcane activities. You likely know that I am involved in the creation and servicing of tube-based audio equipment; E is a letterpress printer. During these open-studio working-sessions, E refers to our spot as ‘Sturbridge Village‘, and I find this hilariously accurate.
ANYhow… point is… I actually got a lot done this weekend due to the fact that I was forced to be in the shop for two entire days straight. This week, we will look in-depth at…
..the Premier 88. Which is finally F’ING DONE! and oh my god does it sound killer. Also….
…Repaired/Restored a Magnecord PT-6 all-tube pro reel-to-reel recorder (circa 1950). This was a great find that turned out really well. It is up and running 100% after a little attention and… 114db mic pre amp? What the F? But it sounds great. Also….
…the Mic PreAmp saga continues. Completed my 3-stage Pentode pre-amp. This is the culmination of years of experimenting with various ancient broadcast preamp ideas, and… so far, so good. It works well. Next step… frequency sweep tests.
I hope to cover all of this (and more…) this week.
Tomorrow marks the first day of what we expect to be a 3-month period of intense construction work to create a new recording studio-space here in historic Bridgeport CT.
Since this process will have me very… occupied, I am going to take the opportunity to focus this site for the next three months on my collection of catalogs, manuals, schematics, and product sheets relating to older+antique audio. Everyday I will post full scans of a new document hitherto unavailable on the WWW. Expect some very interesting and very unusual stuff, with daily updates.
If anyone out there has any requests for scans from a certain manufacturer, product, or product type, just drop me a line and if I have it (and it’s not already on the web), I will scan and post it.
During this 3-month period I will continue to write posts similar to the existing content, but these will come on more a weekly basis rather than daily.
Starting in February I will resume the daily-updates of the more broad nature that is the goal of this website.
Do any of the Top-Quality mics in the above scan look familiar?
….a shure 777 crystal mic?
…and what is this thing exactly?
*************
I picked up this Lafayette PA-46 for a few dollars at the Flea Market yesterday. It appeared to be unused; the odd 3-pin socket was unsoldered. I hooked it up and it works well. I wired it ‘hi-z’ and the sound is good for a 50 year old dynamic mic. The design seems to be an ‘homage’ to the contemporary Electrovoice 636. Here they are side-by-side:
…although it also seems to have connection to the earlier Altec 21b ‘coke bottle’ condensor mic:
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