Telefunken/TAB question ...

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MartyMart

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Joined
Feb 28, 2006
Messages
2,340
Location
Berlin for a while
.... are these things worth picking up, other than a few choice ones, such as the V72 & similar ?
I'm wondering if the transistor versions of Tele/TAB/Neumann etc are going to have noise problems/maintenance issues.
What's the general feeling about some of this 60's/70's hi-end gear, is it all
a load of "mojo" ?? - can similar/better be DIY'd easily, some of these are fairly cheap but others are into the $1000 area !
Thanks for any insite, before I go spending !!
Marty.
 
It us difficult to answer such a general question. But the general quality of transformers, switches etc has been very good. And the broadcast stuff has always naturally been very reliable and with a good S/N. I don't know if there was any non-broadcast stuff from TAB.

Michael
 
I guess it was a bit too "general" a question, I'm refering to things like the fixed gain "line amps" and mic amps from Tele/TAB, that can have gain controls
added, but come as a +34Db amplifier, seems like there's a lot around.
Also Neumann Eq's/Filtek etc, which are up around the £500 mark without
any rack/connectors.
I presume the general quality is good but are any to be avoided ??
Just to clarify, I've built valve gtr amps and a Hamptone pre, also lots of stuff @ 9/18v stompbox type items.
I don't want to get into something that's a real PITA to get operational and also could be expensive, I don't quite have the spare time to build everything from scratch, but would take on one or two things if there's other suggestions.
Cheers,
Marty.
 
it depends very much on the module :shock:

some types are easy to fix if they are broken, some have special parts where you will have a hard time to find spares.

some types are only usefull in broadcast aplications, and are not good for anything just because the name TAB, Telefunken or Neumann is printed on them.
 
My transistorised F@irchilds (circa 1968) are nothing mind-blowing as far as audio quality goes..

They are supremely solid and built with decent transistors and caps. High gain and decently low-noise.

@68dB of gain is nice too; with low enough noise to use most of it. Eight of them in a rack box has been a nice go-to for both in-house and travel recording. Many compliments on the sound. Not hyped on the high-end like some of the modern gear, but solid.

Direct-coupled class A input with a class B output.

There are always issues with it, and they always seem to happen when someone comes to record. I had set up the rack of 8 for a gospel band and spent the first three hours of their session tracing some ground noise to a loose connection on the PSU transformer.

Luckily, the horn player was an engineer and was sympathetic!

[EDIT] Oh yeah, I think a moderately proficient DIY'er could do just as well. The tricky part - maybe the @70dB of gain.
 

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