Several years ago I posted some of my collection of vintage Polyfusion documentation. Although Polyfusion did frequently run small adverts in trade publications, I had never seen this full-page advert before. Apparently, P/F also made guitar and bass preamps. Wild, man. Any Polyfusion users out there? Drop us a line!
“Acoustic”-brand Amplifiers advert c. 1978. What was I saying the other day about “stick a Porsche next to pretty much anything?”
“The 911 can trace its roots back to sketches drawn by Ferdinand “Butzi” Porsche in 1959.[6] The Porsche 911 classic was developed as a much more powerful, larger, more comfortable replacement for the Porsche 356, the company’s first model. The new car made its public debut at the 1963[1] Frankfurt Motor Show (German: Internationale Automobil-Ausstellung).[7] The car presented at the auto show had a non-operational mockup of the 901 engine, receiving a working one in February 1964.[6]
It originally was designated as the “Porsche 901” (901 being its internal project number). 82 cars were built as 901s.[6] However, Peugeot protested on the grounds that in France it had exclusive rights to car names formed by three numbers with a zero in the middle. So, instead of selling the new model with another name in France, Porsche changed the name to 911. Internally, the cars’ part numbers carried on the prefix 901 for years.[6] Production began in September 1964,[7] the first 911s reached the US in February 1965 with a price tag of US$6,500.[6]” (SOURCE)
How y’all doin out there in the internets… had a pretty good AM at the F.M., having a George Crumb marathon on the ole’ 1500 right now, man is my wife ever patient. Anyhow, managed to find a pile of old 70’s musician mags that I was lacking, here are some weird+wild highlights of those that faded, those who never made the grade…
Starting out with: the TMB “Wells floor bass.” Holy shit this is cool. Unlike a Moog Taurus or the dozens of other ‘bass pedal synths’ out there, this unit was made with gtr-player-logic in mind. fkkn hell. Want it. Read more here!
Above: Syl Butterworth tries to sell me more expensive stuff that I don’t need
SO anyhow I went to the 2013 NY AES show, mainly to cover the DTV Broadcast Audio seminar for ProductionHub. You can read that article on their website. Before that hullabaloo took off, though, I had a couple of hours to walk the floor and take in the sights and sounds of a legion of soundbros (+ ettes) circling more fancy kit than you can shake a DA88 tape at. While I could probably write 500 pages on the offerings, I’m gonna limit this to a few assorted things that caught my eye, and highlight a few notable trends that I saw (or imagined; your call).
I got a chance to see the ‘New’ Pultecs in-the-chrome and talk for a minute with builder Steve Jackson. Suffice to say that Jackson has done an absolutely incredible job re-creating these things down to the frickin letter. The component-choice, layout, and lead-dress is so fanatically authentic; I’ve never seen such attention to detail. Jackson also had a prototype compressor on-hand that was a re-creation of an original Bob Fine design from the 1960s. Fine modified a Pultec MB-1, which is a feedback-controlled tube mic pre, to function as a compressor by adding some sort of solid-state control system. Jackson has re-created this device and may offer a production unit for sale at some point.
Above, the SKnote Vastaso, an analog-modelling stereo compressor/distortion unit of unique design. Looks like fun. No further comment.
Fredenstein displayed their ‘600’ series of 500-compatible modules, as well as a novel stereo compressor and mic preamp. A Taiwanese firm, their design philosophy seems to be: all analog signal-path with all digital control. Seems like a fine idea to me. The units offer a wealth of unique features, and are available for surprisingly low prices from this dude on eBay.
Brooklyn-based operation Awesome Transistor Amplifier Co. was demo’ing their ‘Awesome Channel Amplifier,’ which is a fairly unique product offering; this double-wide 500 module goes aggressively against the grain with a ‘more-is-more’ approach to gain staging; the concept, which is intriguing, is that ‘back in the day,’ it was not common to put a mic-pre right into a tape machine; most signals were recorded through a dozen or more stages, each of which naturally colors the signal somewhat. So, want that 70’s sound? If so, yr probably not gonna get it by plugging a 70’s mic pre right into yr convertors. AWTAC has brought the complexity of a vintage hi-end 70’s console signal-path into your 500 rack. But without all the maintenance hassles that go along with a big ole board. Multiple AwesChanAmps can also mix together through their bespoke panner modules and external faders, so it is possible to make an actual complete mixing system out of these things.
I got to talk with Malcolm Toft, father of Trident, for a minute; Toft was demo’ing his new Ocean-Audio branded ARK 516 console, which I think could be the best bang-for-the-buck new console going. For $20K, you get a perfectly viable 16-channel, 48 (??) input line-level board with lots of metering and features; it has no mic pres, compressors, or EQs, but each channel has two 500-series slots, so you can add whatever you want, whenever you want to! A 16-channel Speck Lilo was my ‘dream’ summing mixer for many years, but I may have to revise that now. This is a truly great concept that I hope does well for Toft.
For home studios, EDM production, or just anyone who doesn’t need to track a lot of sources at once, the new API “The Box” is a tremendous value at $18k. You can read all about it at Vintage King.
I’ve mentioned the Tree Audio ‘Roots’ console here before, but seeing it in-person confirmed that this is, potentially, an incredible deal for $22k. Eight input channels, each all-tube, with mic amps, variable shelving EQ, and compressors. Amazing. Plus you get a console master section with four 500-series slots for mix-buss processing. Now, I say “potentially great deal” because I couldn’t get a chance to actually listen to the thing, but if all works as it should, it is a real feat to be able to offer all this for $22k street. Just consider what you might expect to spend on 8 tube mic pres w/EQ, 8 tube compressors, and a nice summing mixer and master section.
On the drier-but-essential end of the spectrum, Resident Audio unveiled a line of compact audio-interfaces of unusually high quality. As (apparently???) the first Thunderbolt interfaces, they can offer much more speed and higher-voltage analog circuits than traditional USB or Firewire units. Best of all: the 4×4-channel unit features a ‘BLEND’ knob for no-latency tracking. SADLY,,,, it does not have a spdif input! I really depend on the spdif input of my MBox2 for home-studio tasks since I track through an Apogee Mini-Me at home. Maybe you guys will re-consider and add some Digital I/O to these units…
And last but not least, I picked up another issue of Linear Audio magazine. For all you DIY’rs out there, this is some serious stuff and I recommend that you check them out.
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So, overall impressions? A few things: Each in their own ways, the AWTAC, Ocean Audio, Tree, and API offerings all confirm that there IS still interest in hardware mixers, and that designers are really addressing 21st century studio workflows to make ‘The Mixer” relevant to DAW production. I think that this is great.
Second, there is a continuing trend toward offering ‘weirder’ and ‘funkier’ front-end and mix-buss hardware. I think that, at this point, we all kinda agree that the best allocation of time and hardware-budget is to have a studio with a bunch of really signature input devices, some nice convertors, a reliable DAW, and then again some really signature mix-stem output-buss devices, with some sort of summing device to put it all together. As plug-ins and DAWs get better and better, there is less and less need for ‘proper’ EQs and compressors, and more and more need for colorful devices. Again, I think that this is a good thing, as it will encourage each studio, no matter how small, to be able to have some real ‘signature’ sounds. On the downside: being a studio tech in 30 years is gonna be MURDER, can you imagine? A fkkn million different little companies making TINY little 500 modules on tiny double-sided PCBs goddamn! Not fun. Let’s hope companies start making their service-data more readily available. Or something.
And finally, I am a bit both surprised and touched by the passion and dedication that so many of these small start-up manufacturers show in what is, really, a pretty dim future for recording studios. If there is anything that I have learned from writing OVER 600 (yup, no lie) articles on old sound equipment for this website, it’s that pro audio companies have a very, very, very high rate of business-failure. AND THAT WAS IN THE DAYS WHEN YOU COULD ACTUALLY SELL RECORDS! Nowadays: it’s terrifying. So when I walk the AES floor and see all these dudes with some weird and novel piece on display: I believe, I KNOW, that this has become an arena of passion + devotion; maybe a trade to the fortunate, but certainly an art to all who dare to try.
Here’s an unusual echo + reverb device circa 1982; the LT Sound ‘Echo Control Center,’ made in Georgia (USA). A quick search reveals that these have appeared on eBay from time to time. Anyone using one of these? Anything to recommend it?
Above: many are familiar with “The Chiquita,” the ‘original (banana shaped/coloured) travel guitar’; less well-known is The Nomad 3X, a les-paul-jr-styled, full-scale guitar with a built-in-amp; it promises to operate from AC, DC, or 12 volt power. Okay… Anyhow, for previous HONDO coverage on PS dot com, click here… oh, and you prolly aughta click here, too…
I was flipping thru some old pro audio mags and this REBIS (distributed by Klark-Teknik) advert caught my eye… I imagine that there must not be too many of these REBIS racks out there. I don’t think that I have ever come across any original REBIS documentation in the PS dot com archive, but i’ll give it another look…
There is a very informative thread on GS regarding this line…
For our earlier coverage of the (earlier…) DBX 900 modules, click here…
And for our earlier coverage of the (earlier…) AD&R ‘Scamp’ modules, click here…
And for coverage of the 80’s Aphex module line, click here…
Any 80’s-era modular outboard I’ve missed fellas? Let us know…
hi y’all – the Bridgeport CT annual artists-open-studio event will take place in three weeks. Preservation Sound will take part in the festivities once again. If you are in the NY metro area, it’s a free event + worth coming by; we have many fine practitioners of varied stripe in the former American Fabrics factory: fine art photographers, textile artists, painters, sculptors, and some indefinable.
For my part, I will have several fresh equipment builds on display + for purchase, including guitar, home hi-fi, and recording studio equipment, plus, for the first time, tons of LP records, vintage audio equipment, and general antique audio flotsam+jetsam. I’ll be passing the time hand-building… something, I’m not sure yet, but probably some sort of esoteric vacuum-tube mic preamp.
Full details are available here.
I’ll be posting another reminder the week of the event.
Above: the Ibanez AD202 c. 1981. A multimode analog delay with modulation section. I had one of these in maybe 1994 and it was a phenomenally great unit. What on earth did I do with it? No idea where it ended up. It had this great crunch to it when it overloaded.
Above, the Ibanez UE-400 and and UE-405, also c. 1981: 4x analog rack-mount multi-effects units. I found a UE-405 (the one with Delay) with the pedal+ a rack case in a Minnesota Guitar Center in maybe 2003? I paid about $150. I used it on a few tracks and sold it when I moved apartments. Bad move, even at a big profit… another great unit that I wish I had kept. BTW, above, I love that dude is using his UE-40X’s with a blond Fender Bassman piggyback. Pretty good, pretty good…
Above: the complete Ibanez FX lineup of 1984, right before the transitioned to the single-rackspace digital units. I recently found the ‘bass’ pedal-board unit (compressor, flanger, and envelope filter) for $60 at the flea market. Which seemed expensive, but I was given many assurances. Dude totally ripped me off! It had some weird distortion issue that I could not easily diagnose. To the transfer station with that one. Caveat emptor…
Above, an ad for root beer, bad denim, and hairspray c. 1988. I think they lost my interest by this point.
This is a guitar advert from 1982 (American, Dean Guitars INC)
When the term “rock” (as a verb) was first introduced into pop-music parlance, it was a code-word for coitus.
You know, ‘relations.’
Fucking, ok?
When early ‘rockers’ sang about ‘rock all night,’ ‘i wanna rock,’ ‘rock my baby,’ ETC., they were not describing some circular or even elliptical motion by which to move through space. The books of Nick Tosches, esp. his volume on Jerry Lee Lewis, go into great detail about the etymology of ‘rock’ as used in 20th century popular music, so I don’t need to retread all that. The whole concept of ‘rock,’ ‘rocking,’ etc., was a genius songwriting concept that allowed songwriters and recording artists to talk to their teenage-audience about the ONLY thing on their teenage minds without alarming parents or the FCC. Anyhow, my point is: the one-to-one literal substitution of ‘Rock’ for ‘Fuck’ in early ‘rock-music’ is something that we can all pretty reasonably agree on.
Which is why the whole phenomenon of bands ‘rocking’ their audience is more than a little confusing. When a band-of-bros takes the stage and announces that they are going to ‘rock’ a crowd, they are clearly not announcing their intentions to pursue intercourse with every member of the audience. And when the audience responds positively to this outburst from the stage, they are certainly not all expressing excitement at the impending ‘penetration’ from the band-members.
So what exactly do we mean today when we talk about ‘Rock’ or ‘Rocking’? What exactly does it mean to ‘Rock’ and/or ‘to be-Rocked’ ? Is it perhaps ‘to-be-brought-to-a-heightened-sensual-state similar-in-intensity-to-that-of-actual-sexual-arousal? Or is ‘Rock’ an externalized, commodified imitation of that internal, personal state? Or is ‘ROCK’ simply an industrial term, I.E., does (anything that is part of the economic system of packaging and presenting musical performers) (of a certain stripe) = ‘rock’?
And perhaps most oddly, what do we make of (very regular, for the past 40 years) pronouncements that ‘Rock Is Dead’?