So, I found part of a Harrison 32 series console... in CHINA.

Hello guys,
I am an engineer based in Guangzhou, China. In my town, we have a flea market that opens once a week for 2-3 hours in a parking lot behind a gas station in the old part of town. This is the kind of places where people can buy half used bottles of shampoo, shopping carts, as well as preamps, audio test equipment, and used cellphones all in the same place. A few months back, I was walking through a local flea market. One of my regular sellers offered me some channel strip on the corner of his pile of shit. I picked it up, it says harrison. We haggled. I bought everything he had. The guy had like 20 channels. They are in pretty bad shape. one of the channels had a burnt transformer, some others are missing little bits and pieces. I had no clue what they were aside from the Harrison mark, and PC1003-A printed on the board. I wrote to harrison, and... they confirmed it's 32 series.
Now I have a problem. I have enough channels to make something small. But from what I have heard, they are extremely costly and difficult to restore. If I am to do anything to it, It will likely take me months to complete.
Here are my options:
1. restore the few channels that I have, build a side car, put it to work.
2. I happen to live in the part of the world where most electronics are made(Foxconn is about 1 hr away) Being here means I have fairly interesting opportunities available around the block. I can: desolder everything off one of the channels, ship the pcb to a workshop and have them clone the pcb, the metal frame and front panel, and then make enough to put together a fairly complete 3232.
3. rack the good ones, toss the bad ones.
4. sell the channels.

Given that I have no experience with restoring harrisons, I literally have no idea what I am walking into in any of the options above. I am resorting to asking you guys for your inputs. Please let me know how I should proceed.

oh, about tech, yes, part of my work is to work with an extremely talented engineering team to make some custom-made audio equipment. So on techs I am well covered. Most likely I will be doing most of the heavy lifting myself as they function as my consultants only.

So, thank you all in advance. Those of you who had been down any of these path before, I look to you for your expertise.

Ask the guy for the rest of it. The frame and other bits and pieces must be somewhere. I would really do a serious investigation for the other part of the console and restore the whole desk. Contact Frank (nrg recording). He has or is still restoring a Harrison console. There is a big thread here in our forum. Do a search.
My two cents
Bernd

bernbrue said:

Ask the guy for the rest of it. The frame and other bits and pieces must be somewhere. I would really do a serious investigation for the other part of the console and restore the whole desk. Contact Frank (nrg recording). He has or is still restoring a Harrison console. There is a big thread here in our forum. Do a search.
My two cents
Bernd

Click to expand...

I did ask the guy for them. He actually has no clue where the rest are. He usually sells hairblowers and whatever shitty electronics he comes across. Just so happen that a major studio recently closed and some of the stuff got trickled down to him, and then to me. I have asked around. No one knows where the rest of the console is. This is what I have to work with.
And... It is likely that is is part of the only Harrison 3232 in China. Part of me really do want to make it work and have all my trade media friends cover it as news.

http://groupdiy.com/index.php?topic=32616.0

Frank has all the info you need. He partly made complete new pcbs as well. He might can help you.
Bernd

I'd decide whether you Need money or want to restore and use the console.  I'd rack some of the working channels and sell the Rest ;-)

Besides Frank nrg, you could also contact Roginator (he's here on the forum also). He specializes in MCI consoles but is also very knowledgeable on Harrisons since they are very similar. He will probably be of help.

I just got back from Guangzhou 3 weeks ago, a fascinating city.  Wish I'd had more time to visit the electronics markets etc.

A few questions
- Do you need a console?
- If not ask yourself if this is worth the effort because it won't be worth anything for resale, certainly not considering the time it will take to rehab.

Good luck with the project.

Cheers,
Ruairi

ruairioflaherty said:

I just got back from Guangzhou 3 weeks ago, a fascinating city.  Wish I'd had more time to visit the electronics markets etc.

A few questions
- Do you need a console?
- If not ask yourself if this is worth the effort because it won't be worth anything for resale, certainly not considering the time it will take to rehab.

Good luck with the project.

Cheers,
Ruairi

Click to expand...

Hey, the next time you visit, let me know. I will tour you. We have a bustling electronics wholesale market that serves all tiers of electronics manufacturing. You can find new, used, and reclaimed parts with ease. Was working on a Soundcraft delta 200 last year and had everything replaced. swap all opamps to reclaimed AD797(build on bi-amp adaptor) for about $1 per piece.
Yes, I do need a console. About to move into a new rented facility with 4.5m(15 ft) ceiling. Wanted to put a large format console in there. Hence the reason why part of me wants to build the complete thing. The part of me that does not want to do it has to do with the restoration effort and upkeep, maybe even a bit about the electric bill as well.
Yes, I kinda worry about resale as well. The harrison name isn't very well known here in China. There will come a time I will quit the game. when I do, I am afraid no one will pick up after me and the console will go toward trash guys again. Hate to see that happen. Hence the reason before finding this console, I was contemplating on a SSL. That way, at least after I am gone, someone will take care of it.

I have recently restored 4032A console for a client. It was time and money consuming project but the end results was excellent. Your the biggest problem is absence of the frame and probably master and monitor modules. Master module is needed for channel programming status besides aux and master buses functionality. If all input modules are complete (Jensen microphone transformer and output transformer, VCA board and programming board are present) maybe it's worth restoring. If not, selling modules as is or individual racking are most realistic routes.
Please post some pictures of the modules if you can. 
Anyway, I have some documentation and schematics so drop me a note if you will need it.

moamps said:

I have recently restored 4032A console for a client. It was time and money consuming project but the end results was excellent. Your the biggest problem is absence of the frame and probably master and monitor modules. Master module is needed for channel programming status besides aux and master buses functionality. If all input modules are complete (Jensen microphone transformer and output transformer, VCA board and programming board are present) maybe it's worth restoring. If not, selling modules as is or individual racking are most realistic routes.
Please post some pictures of the modules if you can. 
Anyway, I have some documentation and schematics so drop me a note if you will need it.

Click to expand...

It is very nice of you to offer your schematics and notes. Yes, I would very much like to have a copy of that to work off of.
I got a little over a dozen input channels, of which there should be enough material to build 8-10 complete channels, then I think I have about 4 aux channels, and 1, maybe 2 monitor channels. No. I do not have the master module.
Seem like I am now dwindling further and further away from the idea of rebuilding a complete-ish 3232 through pcb duplication. Any chance some nice person out there happen to have a 32 series master module in bad shape? hmm?

What is the model of the output transformer ?
It is not mentioned on the schematics...

If you need a console, you should buy one instead starting a project as time ánd money consuming as this, especially if you don't have all the necessary modules.

I've been this road with my small frame SSL, and it took me an awful lot of time. And in the end I spent so much money on it, I could have bought a used but well maintained working console with the dual amount of channels for the same price. During re-building the console, I didn't have the time to do any recording. Also, because I didn't have a second console to record with..... That's the main reason why I say you should buy a working console in case you need one.

So, in your case I'd restore and rack a few channels in 19" enclosures (very good resale value), and sell the others. Or sell them all.
just my 2cts.

By the way, is Frank's Harrison ready by now ? I know he has been working on it for years and years....

I am actually working on a clone of the 32 channel trip.
And I was wondering what is the output transfo...

I will join the crowd and advise you to rack some modules and sell the rest.

There's a lof of good consoles in the used market already for great prices, complete and in much better shape.
You will waste more money and tremendous time (and time is money) trying to assemble something from bits and pieces.

If you go really go the restoration route, 3-4 years from now you will still be trying to build (not restore) a console but by then you already invested too much money.
Be aware that it's easy in those kind of situations to be emotional now, and regret in the future.

You also don't have particularly special modules, it's not a Neve, SSL, API or Helios

Any idea of the output transfo ?

Trymonlam said:

Here are my options:
1. restore the few channels that I have, build a side car, put it to work.
2. I happen to live in the part of the world where most electronics are made(Foxconn is about 1 hr away) Being here means I have fairly interesting opportunities available around the block. I can: desolder everything off one of the channels, ship the pcb to a workshop and have them clone the pcb, the metal frame and front panel, and then make enough to put together a fairly complete 3232.
3. rack the good ones, toss the bad ones.
4. sell the channels.

Click to expand...

Having new channels made is not the most difficult part. You would have to recreate the master module, the auxiliary module, the comms module. The cost and effort would be enormous because one would have to redesign them. And you would have to redesign the frame and the mother board, that is quite complex, since in addition to the bus, there is a number of logic lines.
If I were you, I'd rack them, keep a pair and sell the rest.