BBC 4 prog tonight (UK)

[Geo]

"Play it Loud: The Story of the Marshall Amp"
22:00-23:00

probably not very technical - but includes interview with founder.

[Gareth Magennis]

"Geo" wrote in message news:jfeh7ah0kf33shpul...@4ax.com...

"Play it Loud: The Story of the Marshall Amp"
22:00-23:00

probably not very technical - but includes interview with founder.

You forgot to mention the two Pink Floyd programmes before and after it at
21.00 and 23.00.



Gareth.

[Gareth Magennis]

Though I don't think Pink Floyd ever used Marshalls.

It was all Hi-Watts with a load of pedals and Leslie cabinets.



Gareth.

[Phil Allison]

Gareth Magennis wrote:

> Though I don't think Pink Floyd ever used Marshalls.
>
> It was all Hi-Watts with a load of pedals and Leslie cabinets.
>

** Plus a lot of WEM amplifier and cabinets.

This classic pic from the back cover of "Ummagumma" shows Floyd's equipment.

http://rarerecordcollector.cfhdesign.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/shdw-1-2-back.jpg

There's a Revox A77, a Binson Echorec drum echo and two Hi-Watts hiding behind band members.

I also see 3 Sennheiser MD409s at the front.

They even carried a few spare 12-inch speakers.


... Phil

[Gareth Magennis]

"Phil Allison" wrote in message
news:bf37b0ac-26e1-4469...@googlegroups.com...

I stopped listening to the Floyd after "The Wall".
Great album, but that was enough of Roger Waters' whining for me.

Still think David Gilmour is one of the greatest guitarists ever to walk
the planet.
I think its the understatement he gets so right.




Gareth.

[Arfa Daily]

>
> Still think David Gilmour is one of the greatest guitarists ever to walk
> the planet.
> I think its the understatement he gets so right.

Agreed. I have also always loved Mark Knopfler's work

Arfa
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> Gareth.
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[Phil Allison]

Gareth Magennis wrote:
>
>
> ** Plus a lot of WEM amplifier and cabinets.
>
> This classic pic from the back cover of "Ummagumma" shows Floyd's equipment.
>
> http://rarerecordcollector.cfhdesign.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/shdw-1-2-back.jpg
>
> There's a Revox A77, a Binson Echorec drum echo and two Hi-Watts hiding
> behind band members.
>
> I also see 3 Sennheiser MD409s at the front.
>
> They even carried a few spare 12-inch speakers.
>>
>

> I stopped listening to the Floyd after "The Wall".
> Great album, but that was enough of Roger Waters' whining for me.

** Saw them play live in Sydney, back in August 1971 at Randwick Race Course, mid afternoon. Not the best venue or time.

The Revox A77 opened the set, reels spinning fast, with a stereo recording of a DC3 starting up, taxying and then taking off across the stage from right to
left at realistic volume.

The band immediately broke into "One of these Days" from their not yet released "Meddle" album.

Here is a short clip from that concert:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mYnfk4EbkE



.... Phil

[N_Cook]

There was another unusual doc in that Fri spot a couple of months back.
The life story of one Rupert Neve mixing console , was it in Sound City
studios in the states, somewhere famous anyway.

[Gareth Magennis]

"N_Cook" wrote in message news:m5c1cn$8fu$1...@dont-email.me...

You can still buy bits of Neve desk, I had one of these for repair last
week:
http://www.studiocare.com/ams-neve-1081-stereo-2-x-classic-mono-modules-in-3u-2-slot-rack.html?___store=default&gclid=CLOV3-jUn8ICFczMtAodFFwA0w

AMS Neve also make an 8 module rack. Check the price of that one!
http://vintageking.com/neve-ams-7u-1081-8-channel-rack-loaded



Gareth.

[Gareth Magennis]

"Phil Allison" wrote in message

news:d1cb231b-7bf0-441f...@googlegroups.com...

Just listened to Meddle for the first time in decades.

My God, that is an album and a half.
I'd forgotten the intense pleasure "Echoes" used to bring me.

Was that really made 43 years ago? Blimey.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BOj1puXBzk



Gareth.

[N_Cook]

1 passing mention of soft valve distortion v SS hard distortion. No
mention of sweet spot.
The documentary film of the Neve console was Sound City (2013)

[Gareth Magennis]

"N_Cook" wrote in message news:m5d4ie$57a$1...@dont-email.me...

1 passing mention of soft valve distortion v SS hard distortion. No
mention of sweet spot.
The documentary film of the Neve console was Sound City (2013)

I saw that some time ago on BBCi.


It was Dave Grohl out of Nirvana and Foo Fighters that bought the desk for
his own studio.
Must be nice to afford such a thing.


One interesting thing about these large Neve desks, is that they create so
much heat you also need a large Aircon system installed in the studio to run
24/7, as that is what the desk is also required to do. (You never turn
these things off)

The annual running costs are phenomenal.




Gareth.

[Gareth Magennis]

"Gareth Magennis" wrote in message news:8Wpew.34622$tz7....@fx43.am4...

For example, the AMS Neve 1081 rack I recently repaired runs mostly on a
single +24v.
The faulty output modules in current production use pretty much obsolete
large can transistors, the main drivers requiring plug on heatsinks to cope
with the Class A design.

Multiply this by the amount of class A circuits in the mixer, and you have
the requirements of a local substation and the bills to prove it.



Gareth.

[Arfa Daily]

"Phil Allison" <palli...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:d1cb231b-7bf0-441f...@googlegroups.com...

Interesting how the camera focuses almost entirely on Waters and his bass,
when all the featured lead is coming from Gilmour ...

Arfa

[Arfa Daily]

"Gareth Magennis" <gareth....@ntlworld.com> wrote in message
news:4wjew.18169$T02....@fx42.am4...

I listened to it for the first time in a couple of years just a week or two
ago. I have it on CD these days, and on the iPad, along with Dark Side of
the Moon and Wish you were here, all of which I also had on vinyl, although
I only seem to be able to lay hands on the Meddle copy right now. All three,
brilliant albums ...

Arfa

[Phil Allison]

Arfa Daily wrote:

> > ** Saw them play live in Sydney, back in August 1971 at Randwick Race
> > Course, mid afternoon. Not the best venue or time.
> >
> > The Revox A77 opened the set, reels spinning fast, with a stereo recording
> > of a DC3 starting up, taxying and then taking off across the stage from
> > right to
> > left at realistic volume.
> >
> > The band immediately broke into "One of these Days" from their not yet
> > released "Meddle" album.
> >
> > Here is a short clip from that concert:
> >
> > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mYnfk4EbkE
>

> Interesting how the camera focuses almost entirely on Waters and his bass,
> when all the featured lead is coming from Gilmour ...
>

** Cameramen generally focus on what will make the best (and most saleable) images from the position they occupy at the time. Waters blood curdling screams into his Sennheiser were not to be missed for potential showing on that night's TV news.

One of my clearest memories is of Gilmour siting cross legged on stage (next to the left hand speaker stack) with his Fender on his lap - playing the strings with a steel slide in his right hand while constantly adjusting his Binson Echorec with the other to get all the sound effects needed "Saucerful of Secrets" and others.

At the time I had no idea what was inside that little olive green box - a tape echo maybe? Never saw one here until recently when a customer walked in with a similar Binson for repair. The damn thing looked brand new, having been carefully stored since about 1970 in someone's home till they died and it went to auction.

Mechanically, it is like a small (120mm dia)rim drive turntable running at about 80rpm with a thin steel band attached to the outside of the platter and surrounded by tape heads. The valve electronics is very basic and of course there is no noise reduction circuitry. The big plusses are no tape to wear out, very low W&F and the ability to produce multiple short delays with massive repetition using the feedback control.

My customer eventually sold the unit to a local collector for $4000 - making himself almost $3000 profit. See pic of same model, not on my workbench.

http://www.hubinet.com/images/BINSON1.JPG

BTW

You can pop a CD on top of the platter and it looks like it belongs.


.... Phil

[Arfa Daily]

"Phil Allison" <palli...@gmail.com> wrote in message

news:63c28c7d-d0ab-4ddc...@googlegroups.com...

In all my long bench years, I've seen just one of these, I think. I'm trying
hard to remember what was wrong with it. I have this feeling that it was an
open circuit head, but that might be a memory of a WEM Copycat ...

Arfa

[N_Cook]

The oddest one I came across was when I was making rather than repairing
electronic stuff. Ended up being thrown out but these days I would have
persisted.
I don't think it was a prototype as the lettering on the front was silk
screened and the , yes actual Nescafe coffee tin , inside and so not
visible to an owner, was painted black on the outside of the tin.
Inside was a leather wiper attached to a record deck cartridge or
something, an oil film around the inside and a motor to spin this wiper
in the tin around the curved surface. As I received it was minus the 3
or 4 valves, the motor seized and a number of missing wires. No info
found about it then or now. Only about 6x9x8 inches in size

[N_Cook]

Googling around, it was much like these
http://gretschpages.com/forum/garage-sale/anybody-need-a-b5-wa-vibramate-or-two/43619/page1/

http://www.lakeviewmedia.com/music-gear/Telray-adineko/adineko.html

same lidded tin can but 1 or 2 more valve (bases anyway) , a couple more
front controls, no name on the front or anywhere

[Jeff Layman]

On 30/11/2014 02:35, Phil Allison wrote:

> http://www.hubinet.com/images/BINSON1.JPG

What is the thing on the top on the left (directly behind the "B" of
"Binson") that looks like a bottle of Loctite in a battery holder?

--

Jeff

[Phil Allison]

Jeff Layman wrote:
> On 30/11/2014 02:35,

>
> > http://www.hubinet.com/images/BINSON1.JPG
>
> What is the thing on the top on the left (directly behind the "B" of
> "Binson") that looks like a bottle of Loctite in a battery holder?
>

** That is bottle of light oil.

The steel band needs a smear of oil clean it and so the heads do not make actual contact.

http://www.effectrode.com/magnetic-delay/binson-echorec-manual/

FYI

the steel band is very thin and quite seamless - it appears to be shrink fited onto the alloy drum. Nice bit of machining to make that from a steel tube.

Regular 1/4 inch tape heads are used with a normal HF bias oscillator for record but a permanent magnet for erase. So there is more background noise than tape recorder of the same vintage.

But running at 20ips does help.


... Phil

[Phil Allison]

Phil Allison wrote:

>
> the steel band is very thin and quite seamless - it appears to be shrink fited onto the alloy drum. Nice bit of machining to make that from a steel tube.

** Forget that.

Info recently posted on the web (not there when I have me example on the bench) suggests the "band" is made from very fine wire, probably a Iron / Nickel alloy, wound onto the drum and then machined smooth.

http://www.effectrode.com/magnetic-delay/binson-echorec-memory-system/

BTW:

The wire cannot be "Constantan" cos like most resistance wire it is non magnetic.


... Phil

[Jeff Layman]

Good catch!

I wonder if the original wire was, or was based on, the wire originally
used in magnetic wire recorders. That was about the same diameter as a
human hair, and trying to machine it must have been a hell of a
challenge. Also having an iron content must have made it susceptible to
corrosion. There is a quite interesting webpage here which covers the
subject:
http://www.smecc.org/wire_recorder_care_&_repair.htm

That mentions cleaning and lubricating the wire with our old friend - WD-40!

--

Jeff

[Phil Allison]

Jeff Layman wrote:
Phil Allison wrote:
> >>
> >> the steel band is very thin and quite seamless - it appears to be shrink fited onto the alloy drum. Nice bit of machining to make that from a steel tube.
> >
> >
> > ** Forget that.
> >
> > Info recently posted on the web (not there when I have me example on the bench) suggests the "band" is made from very fine wire, probably a Iron / Nickel alloy, wound onto the drum and then machined smooth.
> >
> > http://www.effectrode.com/magnetic-delay/binson-echorec-memory-system/
> >
> > BTW:
> >
> > The wire cannot be "Constantan" cos like most resistance wire it is non magnetic.
>
> Good catch!
>
> I wonder if the original wire was, or was based on, the wire originally
> used in magnetic wire recorders.

** That is my conclusion too.

It was readily available at the time, the diameter was a tad under 0.1mm and it was made from a magnetic grade of stainless steel.

AFAIK, Binson were to only maker to use this idea.


.... Phil