Rare Langevin Tube Consolette

[matriachamplification]

(cont. from this thread)

On Hold Funding

Hello friends,

Wilma and the kids have secured the better part of two Langevin Tube Consoles. The first we can discuss in a bit more detail then the second. The girls adore the quadrant fader and this is a great example of the design.


(images supplied by collector)

Some details about this very unique 2 Channel Langevin Tube Console that was originally commisioned by The United Nations in the 1940/50's.

Langevin Parts
201B Power Supply (original)
118A Amplifier (original)
111-A Line Amplifer (replacement)

Who manufacturered these fader? Painton?

(with some emrr confirmations)
They were manufactured in Palesdales Park, New Jersey, USA
Patenet Number - 2 107 237
MFG. By Tech Laboratories Inc.
Mid 1930's predating any and all vertical faders. WOW!

Lastly it appears the faders are reveresed, which is a nice touch.

Any details you have about this or other Langevin tube consoles, please share with us. Langevin is new territory for our family.

United Nation Langevin Consolette Build

We are obvuously going to restore this to its former glory as well as add Langevin Passive EQ and Monitor Amps for speakers. I have been looking but cannot find any Langeivn tube Compressors. We "may" add a Western Electric compressor if we cannot find a Langevin example.

However our only concern at this time are the Quadrant Faders. From what we've been told these are almost impossible to replace and since I have no place attempting to restore a fader we are hoping that Jim ( @crosstalk ) and Bill ( @DaftFader ) would help with this particular project, if they are willing/able to. We have been looking for a way to rope some Helios conversations into our lesson plans, and this feels like a good way to bridge that conversation.

I am still recieving lists of Langevin parts but there are some AM series racks and Langevin faceplates to get us started. On a personal note. I am really not loving the idea of building out expensive builds like this and am a bit soured that the brand is currently owned by Manley. Nothing against the company, we simply wanted to stay away from brands that were presently reperesented. But since this is a UNITED NATIONS build, the History is outweighing the doubts.

Please, any insight is appreciated. I am cropping a large amount of images to add later today hopefully.

Thanks!

Wall and Family

 

[matriachamplification]

Thanks to the seller we have some great images to share. I am not a photographer and this helps us to get things rolling.

 

[matriachamplification]

Turns out this is not our families first venture into researching Langevin. In fact, it was our very first dance with DIY thanks to @gyraf and Mr. Chinn for this schematic.

Langevin EQ215A was our VERY original first dab at schematics long before I can remeber. WOW! This is thanks to Wilma' memory, not mine.

Questions regarding Tube repalcements for this build. Anyone have schem' for Langevin stuff. (looking in tech docs now)

 

[matriachamplification]

Looks like there is a Langevin Tube Compressor. The 5301 Tube Compressor.


Now looking for Schematics for this compressor.

schematics for langevin 5301

GDIY saves the day again. You all rule!



"This is a Langevin 5301 tube compressor. This is a vari mu unit using a 6ES8 tube for compression. The other tubes are one 12AY7 and two 6005s for the output and it is completely transformer balanced. These are great sounding units, they are fantastic on vocals, bass, and really nice on guitars. They are very flexible and can be easily modified to have lots more control over the unit"

Thanks!

Wall and Family

 

[matriachamplification]

We beleive we have found the schematics for Western Electric' (Langevin) No. 118A Amplifer and are adding it here for continuity.

We have found the 111A and 201B Amplifer document but no schematic. Still searching but this is a solid start on refurbishing this consolette.

 

[matriachamplification]

We have found a rather large Langevin Catalouge from 1963 that has too much information to describe and is too large to upload to GDIY. You can find the download for the link here. It is almost everything I ever needed to know about Langevin products.



What I've been awake all night rearching is mechanical and compressoion/passive eq'ing (and everything in between).

• Langevin 111A Preamplifier
• Langevin 201B Power Supply
• Langevin Model 3A Rack Mounting Frame

Langevin 111A Preamplifier

"The Langevin Type I I I series dual pre-amplifier or booster amplifier is constructed so that two separat e amplifiers are provided on the same chassis. Each amplifier is an individual, two stage unit with its own in put and output transformer and tube complement. This unit can be used as two pre-amplifiers, or two booster amplifiers."


Langevin 201B Power Supply

"As illustrated on page one, the Type 201 series power supplies have been designed to supply plate and filament power for the Langevin series of rack mounting "microphone to line amplifiers" and similar units: The Type 201 is a 75 MA power supply and operates from a 105 to 125 volt, 50 or 60 cycle AC source. It is constructed on the same size chassis as the other Langevin rack mounting units, and can be mounted adjacent to them. The Type 201-B incorrorates an additional filter section for pre-amplifiers.
The Type 201-B provides an additional filter section (Type 201- B retard coil a nd 40 mfd condense r) for pre-amplifiers, Langevin Type 111 series, Type 106 series, or similar."

We now know that the 3A Rack will work with the 201B and 111A .

Which now leads us to focus on Compression and Passive EQ'ing hopefully utalizing the rack we are considering.

More on this soon. We have just purchased a Langevin Amplifer bible with 120+ schematics in it.

Wall and Famlly

 

[emrr]

The faders were made by Tech Labs. They were making that style fader in the late 1930’s, before anyone else. Also….no one used them then. I’ve never seen one until now.

 

[matriachamplification]

The faders were made by Tech Labs. They were making that style fader in the late 1930’s, before anyone else. Also….no one used them then. I’ve never seen one until now.

Hello Mr. Williams,

Thank you for sharing these details as well as the note about the 118A. Very much appreciated.

We had no idea there were other manufacurers of the Quadrant Fader. Very exciting to find out. We had not anticipated the rarity of the faders but suspected they were unique.

If you are interested, we would love to have your input on the faders. These can be pulled and sent to you while we rebuild the 118A and 201B and tend to the enclosure.

Let us know your thoughts either way.

Thanks!

Wall and Family

 

[emrr]

note the 1937 ad date. They'll be standard ladders with a different mechanical construction.

 

[iampoor1]

note the 1937 ad date. They'll be standard ladders with a different mechanical construction.

View attachment 89967

"A real development in the sound control art". I love old ads

Following this thread with great anticipation!

 

[z11111]

Saw this unit up for sale and was really intrigued. Excited to follow your progress!

 

[matriachamplification]

note the 1937 ad date. They'll be standard ladders with a different mechanical construction.

Excellent find.

Saw this unit up for sale and was really intrigued. Excited to follow your progress!

We have been working almost exclusively with middleman on ebay.

Not only do they have Cinema Enginnering amps I am admiring, they have introduced us to a few tube console collectors who are very interested in our program and are donating several consoles to be refurbished. Very cool!

We will reiterated our feelings on this particular build. This console may be outside of my personal comfort level to refurbish. We would LOVE an experienced hand to help with this build but are getting the feeling we may be working this one alone. Which is fine too.

Wall and Family

 

[ruffrecords]

That catalogue is fascinating. I have seen snippets of it on line before (wiring and grounding practice for example) but never the whole thing. Great find.

The mixer block diagram of their first stereo console is very interesting. Not pan pots of but instead a third (mono) bus that is then fed back equally to the left and right buses so that mono sources can have a L-C-R selector switch.

A mine of useful information. Thank you.

Cheers

Ian

 

[matriachamplification]

That catalogue is fascinating. I have seen snippets of it on line before (wiring and grounding practice for example) but never the whole thing. Great find.

The mixer block diagram of their first stereo console is very interesting. Not pan pots of but instead a third (mono) bus that is then fed back equally to the left and right buses so that mono sources can have a L-C-R selector switch.

A mine of useful information. Thank you.

Cheers

Ian

Agreed. This 1963 Catalouge of Langevin products kept me awake all night. So much insight into their designs. I can email you some of the larger files if you like.

Wall and Family

 

[matriachamplification]

As we learned from a @emrr thread where he investigated the Langevin 118A. Without proper housing this series of Langevin modules may be doomed to sit on your desk. What else we know from several people who have worked on these parts, they are a PITA to deal with.

We've been keen on learning as much as possible regarding mechanical as it is not Mr. Thompson-Bell' focus. When looking at the UN Console we first took note of the size and what replacement parts fit into this small design, along with what is needed outside of the housing. We are forunate that middleman had a rebuilt 111A mic preamp made for the design.

The Langevin 3A 3-A Mounting Rack was also available which was designed for these modules and we can now think about how to set up a system for the UN Console.



What Langevin (?100 sereies?) modules would be needed to start the build of a passive eq and compressor?

From the Middleman

MOUNTING DETAILS
The 3-A Frame is constructed of 16 gauge zinc plated, bonderized steel, and occupies only 10-1 / 2" of standard rack space.

We beleive this fits 6 relevant sized Langevin modules with the 118A beign larger taking up two spaces.

We would like to build a 4031-B which our friend Mark has a pair of Cinema Engeinnering rackmount versions at his store Retro Gear Shop.


Lastly there is a short list of Langevin Attenuators and Switches we are looking at but are not certain if they are correct for an EQ and or Compressor.

LANGEVIN ATTENUATOR RPP-200-T
LANGEVIN ATTENUATOR RPP-2
LANGEVIN VOLUME CONTROL
additions
Langevin 022
LANGEVIN 001

There are other langevin switches but the Attenuators we know nothing about. Any input will help us SO much. My head is swimming here

Thank you

Wall and Family

 

[emrr]

The mixer block diagram of their first stereo console is very interesting. Not pan pots of but instead a third (mono) bus that is then fed back equally to the left and right buses so that mono sources can have a L-C-R selector switch.

Same in the Altec 250SU / 250T3.....more signal path in C

 

[matriachamplification]

I seem to be moving too slow for Wilma. She has some comments from middleman regarding these old builds.

There are two Langevin 210B ?mic to line? amplifers that are avaialbe however, middleman put so much work into restoring them its not worth it for them to sell.

She made mention of this to illustrate how much of a PITA they are to work on.

So for now, she wants to work as if we have them.



What in the fix is this? Connection from The Jetsons was our first guess.

Can we use the Langevin 201B as the building blocks for a Passive EQ or Compressor?

Thanks!

Wall and Family

 

[matriachamplification]

Here is what I understand.

Langevin 201B is a microphone to line or line to microphone power supply. This gives me the train of thought it would work perfectly as the power supply for a Passive EQ.

Am I on the correct line of thought?

Wall

 

[Tubetec]

I have a buddy who worked in construction in NYC at one point , he was involved in renovations to the UN HQ .
I remember him telling me they dug several large limiters out of the fabric of the building , like the CIA didnt have moles and eavesdropping microphones all over that shop

 

[matriachamplification]

Funny... some of our parts are coming directly from the UN in New York. Or at least this is what we are being told.