hello all,
I've been lurking for a while but did not yet introduce myself. So here we go:
I've built a small tube PA a few years ago (below), and for the Main stereo Amp (the one with 'Confused' on it) you can see that I did not design the exterior much, just took the looks of an existing amp I liked and varied a bit to my taste:
The only thing not self-made was the mixer. For that, I decided to follow the same path as with the Main Amp, and allow me tro be inspired by great-looking examples. Within minutes on the web, one inevitably ends up with a picture of one the EMI REDD desks. That became my inspiration, and I started collecting info in them, and design a very, very small interpretation/look-alike. I make a mock-up:
I never finished it, because in my web search, I stumbled upon the .37 drawings for sale. I bought them. It is 2.7 kg of paper, and very, very complete. Sad thing is that I cannot share them here.
Someone wrote about old studio gear like the .37: 'Dude, these machines are so old, you cannot even connect them to something else. Only to your ears and to your heart.' Lovely.
Around the same time, a friend of mine gave me a beaten and battered STUDER B37 Tape machine:
And then I had an idea:
What if I build a desk like the .37, convert that STUDER to 4 tracks, build a few compressors and a record cutter, make it all as portable as possible, and call it a Mobile 7" Record Cutting Plant (Note: I will make only ONE cutter, not the FOUR shown):
It is a slow but deeply satisfying journey. The STUDER top plate has been sand-blasted, frame repainted, parts cleaned and the transport is 80% rebuilt:
The REDD drawings took long to understand, but eventually, I was able to design my own version: the .27 it is called. In complexity and possibilities, it lies between the REDD.37 and REDD.17. Nice: the REDD.17 was designed by the German EMI-engineer Peter Burkowitz (as was the .37, to be complete), RIGHT HERE in Cologne. So 'the REDD story comes full circle'.
The following pictures show the top and back of the new .27 desk.
It has the 3-unit architecture of the .17 (using the transport cases as bottom elements), but very much the 8-2-4 track lay-out and signal routing of the .37 mixer. I simplified quite a bit in the Monitor and Check circuits. And drastically reduced the number of amplifier slots to only 28.
The re-engineering and re-drawing of quite a large portion of the .37 drawings is coming to an end, and I very proud of the results.
Sourcing parts is extremely time-consuming, and I'm glad I'm almost done (see below), and also glad I tried very much to cut down on controls and amps.
The Cutter is behind on schedule, but I became a member of the Secret Society of the Lathe Trolls, and that helps a lot.
So, if you stumble upon a question I post here and think: 'what on earth does he need that for..??!' - the answer is: 'for this'.
This will probably take quite a few years to complete. I see it as my last project, because after I finished, I intend to use it. People can call me, ask if I can show up with a Beatle board and then cut a 7" record of a live venue.
mart
I've been lurking for a while but did not yet introduce myself. So here we go:
I've built a small tube PA a few years ago (below), and for the Main stereo Amp (the one with 'Confused' on it) you can see that I did not design the exterior much, just took the looks of an existing amp I liked and varied a bit to my taste:
The only thing not self-made was the mixer. For that, I decided to follow the same path as with the Main Amp, and allow me tro be inspired by great-looking examples. Within minutes on the web, one inevitably ends up with a picture of one the EMI REDD desks. That became my inspiration, and I started collecting info in them, and design a very, very small interpretation/look-alike. I make a mock-up:
I never finished it, because in my web search, I stumbled upon the .37 drawings for sale. I bought them. It is 2.7 kg of paper, and very, very complete. Sad thing is that I cannot share them here.
Someone wrote about old studio gear like the .37: 'Dude, these machines are so old, you cannot even connect them to something else. Only to your ears and to your heart.' Lovely.
Around the same time, a friend of mine gave me a beaten and battered STUDER B37 Tape machine:
And then I had an idea:
What if I build a desk like the .37, convert that STUDER to 4 tracks, build a few compressors and a record cutter, make it all as portable as possible, and call it a Mobile 7" Record Cutting Plant (Note: I will make only ONE cutter, not the FOUR shown):
It is a slow but deeply satisfying journey. The STUDER top plate has been sand-blasted, frame repainted, parts cleaned and the transport is 80% rebuilt:
The REDD drawings took long to understand, but eventually, I was able to design my own version: the .27 it is called. In complexity and possibilities, it lies between the REDD.37 and REDD.17. Nice: the REDD.17 was designed by the German EMI-engineer Peter Burkowitz (as was the .37, to be complete), RIGHT HERE in Cologne. So 'the REDD story comes full circle'.
The following pictures show the top and back of the new .27 desk.
It has the 3-unit architecture of the .17 (using the transport cases as bottom elements), but very much the 8-2-4 track lay-out and signal routing of the .37 mixer. I simplified quite a bit in the Monitor and Check circuits. And drastically reduced the number of amplifier slots to only 28.
The re-engineering and re-drawing of quite a large portion of the .37 drawings is coming to an end, and I very proud of the results.
Sourcing parts is extremely time-consuming, and I'm glad I'm almost done (see below), and also glad I tried very much to cut down on controls and amps.
The Cutter is behind on schedule, but I became a member of the Secret Society of the Lathe Trolls, and that helps a lot.
So, if you stumble upon a question I post here and think: 'what on earth does he need that for..??!' - the answer is: 'for this'.
This will probably take quite a few years to complete. I see it as my last project, because after I finished, I intend to use it. People can call me, ask if I can show up with a Beatle board and then cut a 7" record of a live venue.
mart
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