Quad 520f + Lockwood. The classic British sound

[Iain Churches]

I was on my way to a studio in Stockholm.
The owner told me had a "classic British sound"
I was interested to find out what he meant.

Acccess to the control roon was via the studio.
In addition to a good selection of new and vintage
German mics, and a fine model B Bluthner grand piano,
I noticed a number of Reslo ribbon mics, and a
Premier drum kit. Was that what he meant by the
"classic British sound"? The answer was in the control
room - a pristine pair of Lockwood Major monitors
driven by a Quad 520f amplifier.

Lockwood (a firm of cabinet makers in
Harrow, UK) built speaker cabinets which they
fitted withTannoy 15 Golds, for studio use in the
days before Tannoy had its own professional division.

The Quad 520f (f = floating) is a studio version
of the type 606 current dumping amplifier, with
a sturdier PSU, balanced line inputs on XLR,
and output protection to prevent DC reaching the
speakers in a fault condition. Aparently the BBC had
some but otherwise they don't seem to be very
common.

We listened to some material currently in production,
and I complemented the owner on his excellent choice
of monitoring.

He told me that he had gone to an audio auction
to buy some large mic tripods. There were four
of these, 2 K+M mic stands, and a teachest full
of assorted mic cables, most of which had original
"saddle" Cannon connectors. He bought the job
lot for a very modest sum. When he got back
to base and took out the cables for testing and
closer inspection, he was surprised to find at the
bottom of the teachest a pair of Koss Pro4 headphones
(not working) and the Quad 520f amp.
Quite a find!

Iain

[Eiron]

On 19/03/2017 12:32, Iain Churches wrote:
> I was on my way to a studio in Stockholm.
> The owner told me had a "classic British sound"
> I was interested to find out what he meant.
>
> Acccess to the control roon was via the studio.
> In addition to a good selection of new and vintage
> German mics, and a fine model B Bluthner grand piano,

I once bought a 7'6" Bluthner. When it was installed the wife decided she
didn't like the tone so we replaced it with a 6 foot something Steinway,
which was put in a different room.

I suspect the problem was actually the room rather than the aliquot strings
or anything about the piano itself, as it sounded OK in the shop and the
dealer agreed that it didn't sound right in the house.

But the pianos, wife, house and fortune are all gone so none of it
matter any more. :-)

--
Eiron.

[Iain Churches]

"Eiron" <Evelyn....@live.com> wrote in message
news:ej8a9j...@mid.individual.net...

> On 19/03/2017 12:32, Iain Churches wrote:
>> I was on my way to a studio in Stockholm.
>> The owner told me had a "classic British sound"
>> I was interested to find out what he meant.
>>
>> Acccess to the control roon was via the studio.
>> In addition to a good selection of new and vintage
>> German mics, and a fine model B Bluthner grand piano,
>
>
> I once bought a 7'6" Bluthner. When it was installed the wife decided she
> didn't like the tone so we replaced it with a 6 foot something Steinway,
> which was put in a different room.
>
> I suspect the problem was actually the room rather than the aliquot
> strings
> or anything about the piano itself, as it sounded OK in the shop and the
> dealer agreed that it didn't sound right in the house.

The Bluthner, addition to the aliquot strings has a
cylindrical sound board which makes it sound like, erm,
a Bluthner. I can appreciate that it might not play well
in some rooms. It also has a light touch which many
sessions musicians prefer.

> But the pianos, wife, house and fortune are all gone so none of it
> matter any more. :-)

Russian composer Serge Rachmaninov wrtote: "I took only two
important things with me to America, my wife Natalja and my
precious Bluthner piano".

Iain

[Iain Churches]

"Iain Churches" <Iai...@kolumbus.fi> wrote in message
news:VBLzA.232$3e1...@uutiset.elisa.fi...

> The Bluthner, addition to the aliquot strings has a
> cylindrical sound board which makes it sound like, erm,
> a Bluthner. I can appreciate that it might not play well
> in some rooms. It also has a light touch which many
> sessions musicians prefer.
>

Just for clarity, the term "cylindrical sound board",
although widely used, is something of a misnomer.
The board is of course flat, or rather tapererd.
It is the crown of the soundboard which has a
cylindrical form.

Iain

[MiNe109]

On 3/20/17 2:35 AM, Iain Churches wrote:
> Russian composer Serge Rachmaninov wrtote: "I took only two
> important things with me to America, my wife Natalja and my
> precious Bluthner piano".

Debussy also owned a Bluthner.

Stephen

[Iain Churches]

"MiNe109" <pianof...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:oaoskq$fm1$1...@gioia.aioe.org...

It does have a very distinctive sound, which lends
itself well to the music of the late romantic period.

Eiron mentioned the Aliquot system where a fourth string,
not struck by the hammer is added to the higher octaves.

I wonder what the Americans thought when Rachmaninov
took his Bluthner to the USA in 1918. They had their own
American piano sound with the Baldwin.

Iain

[Graeme Wall]

Don't know about their pianos but they made some damn fine locomotives.


--
Graeme Wall
This account not read.

[Eiron]

Don't forget that Steinway started in New York.
But the main requirement for US pianos is how they look when dropped on
the sidewalk from a great height. Not forgetting ease of dismantling
so Harpo can play them.

--
Eiron.

[MiNe109]

He adapted! Steinway had a near-monopoly on concert instruments.

https://www.steinway.com/artists/sergei-rachmaninoff

[Iain Churches]

"Graeme Wall" <ra...@greywall.demon.co.uk> wrote in message
news:oap1as$ijg$1...@dont-email.me...

Don't know about the locomotived but the pianos
were pretty good:-)


The record company where I worked in the
UK had four studios, each with a Steinway.
Studio III, with a huge recording area, had
three pianos, a Bechstein, a Steinway and
a Baldwin. Often a Bosendorfer was brought
in at the artist's request.

The Baldwin was about fifteen years old at the
time. It was never played (except by the staff)
because it had a stiff action. Paradoxically, it
had a stiff action because it was never played.
Our piano technician tuned and maintained it
with the other pianos. It was pristine - like new.

So it stood in a corner, unplayed and unloved, until
one day the decision was made to sell it. I was
working in that particular studio and was informed
that during the lunchbreak, a potential buyer was
coming to look at the Baldwin, and that I should
show it to him, and make sure he was left in peace
to try it.

At 1pm sharp, the potential buyer arrived. It was Liberace,
with an entourage of a dozen people. I uncovered the
Baldwin for him, took the disciples to the cafetereia and left
him in peace. After some twenty minutes, he came to the
control room. He "loved that peeyanna" , and was going
to pay me in banknotes!!! I took him up to the cashier's
office to conclude the deal. The next day the piano was gone.

Liberace had a collection of Baldwin pianos, but this one
became his pride and joy. After his death, a foundation and
museum was founded. Our Baldwin is still there.

Iain

[Gustav Meyrink]

Steinway started in Germany about 30 years before they opened a factory in New York and anglicised their name from Steinweg to Steinway.
A little later they opened a factory in Hamburg, Germany while the founders eldest son who had remained in Germany formed Grotrian-Steinweg with a partner in Braunschweig. One American piano writer claims that Steinways made in Hamburg are superior to the ones made in NY. He was taken seriously enough that Steinway, NY changed their working practices. But still that writer says that despite having improved American Steinways are still slightly inferior to Hamburg Steinways, Grotrian-Steinwegs, Bösendorfer and Fazioli pianos.

[Brian Gaff]

So this thread seems to have been going on for years, How peculiar.
Another thing of course is that many electric pianos claim to sound like
what every make of acoustic they decide on, but really they just sound like
a sample of that piano which is always hthe same. The subtle difference each
time are not reproduced.
Brian

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[RJH]

On 22 Jul 2022 at 08:55:11 BST, "Brian Gaff" wrote:

> So this thread seems to have been going on for years, How peculiar.
> Another thing of course is that many electric pianos claim to sound like
> what every make of acoustic they decide on, but really they just sound like
> a sample of that piano which is always hthe same. The subtle difference each
> time are not reproduced.
> Brian

I was staying somewhere recently where one of the household is some sort of
child piano master. While there he was playing away - hugely impressive sound
and I thought it was some sort of grand piano in that part of the house (it
was actually a mezzanine above where we were). Amazed to see it was actually a
compact Yamaha electronic piano, looked a bit like a little upright - about a
grand's worth.

Not entirely what it goes to show, but it'd be safe to assume I'd not be too
bothered about where the Steinway was made :-)

--
Cheers, Rob

[Brian Gaff]

Probably depends where the samples were recorded. I noticed some ears ago,
that Denbies Vineyard in Dorking had a Yamaha piano, in white, but it also
was a player piano so when nobody was playing it a little box beside it
could play it instead, including moving the keys, or maybe it was Sparky?

Brian

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"RJH" <patch...@gmx.com> wrote in message
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