dodgy

[rick]

this line of thought is very sound there was and is miles of sleepers out there
, EMI stuff was considered junk untill VERY recently
ie ..aside from the 24 chn abbey road console that was kicking around for years in sydney before it sold to oasis
i had 24 chns of emi pres that i picked up for $120 only 4 years ago !

of course the quad eight stuff has now taken off , but it was basically free not very long ago , AWA RCA etc etc

you just have to look at a piece of junk and ask yourself
"does this look like it cost a shitload of moneyand was somebodies pride and joy at some point..?"
if its really well made then your off and running ... magic beans in hand

if its white i saw it last week but left it there because i didnt like the colour !:)

it also helps to read late sixties early seventies trade mags like REP or studio sound.

now you can get them on evilbay all the time and they are a host of information about whats what outside the obvious neve land trophies .

[Text_Edifice]

Thanks for sharing Rick - not specifically fussed on Neve gear and also thinking you don't need to go o/s to find good gear.

Seems like there's some great Australian designed and built stuff such as AWA (though v. well known now) and the gear built for ABC by Astor. Wonder what else?

There's also obviously a bunch of gear that is of similar quality to 'brand' pieces. Doing some reading on Quad8 gear it seems like Electrodyne, Sphere, Melcor, even Quantum (who bought Myles' desk btw? how's it sound?) all utilised similar input transformers and preamp designs (thought built to varying price points).

But still - where do you start looking for this stuff? auctions? deceased estates? radio stations? is it just a word-of-mouth thing?

I've scored a couple of useful pieces of eBay for peanuts but they've usually been mis-labeled.

I don't want you to reveal your secrets (and the chase is half the fun I guess) but, broadly, where would you get started?

[Linear]

if its white i saw it last week but left it there because i didnt like the colour !:)

not another AWA console I'd hope...

Chris

[rick]

hey chris aren't you happy enough i left your AWA console sit around in the back of an unregistered combi parked under a tree for two years so you could buy it "cheap" (err 11 times what it cost ? )

i hate white gear :)

[Linear]

when I went to pick up the console frame from the combi in Summer Hill, the grass was so overgrown around it that we had to use my car to pull it out and around to get it out (we tried pushing but it was stuckfast). quite an operation. Having lived with the console now for some time, I actually have to admit that I like white (or off-white). I know you mentioned that you hated the colour, so lucky me!

Funnily enough, if you put the feelers out gear tends to find you. I'm sure Rick is the same, but I get call from people wanting to sell me their gear. I had a guy walk in for a session a couple of months ago with an AWA Big1. He didn't want it and couldn't sell it, so I got it for $100 off the invoice for that day.

Chris

[Text_Edifice]

Very jealous Chris - have been keeping eyes out for AWA gear for a while and only seem to see PA valve stuff.

Maybe the secret to gear hunting is to have a look in Rick's shed...

[TimS]

Maybe the secret to gear hunting is to have a look in Rick's shed...

and head!!

[Linear]

Very jealous Chris - have been keeping eyes out for AWA gear for a while and only seem to see PA valve stuff.

Maybe the secret to gear hunting is to have a look in Rick's shed...

been there, done that.

seriously!

Chris

[13thbeach]

Ok I'll chime in here. I agree, if you chit chat enough with people, eventually gear can (or will) find you. I bought an old AWA G58 from a guy in NSW. Through that purchase I had another guy ring me and offer me another G58.
I have also found the same AWA modules which are in Chris's console by networking. Ebay of course is a great way to find gear but the bargains arn't really around anymore. I got my Comex limiter (RCA style limiter) for a few hundred bucks back in the day when ebay was like an old market place.
Another option is to send studios emails for what your looking for. Sounds crazy I know but sometimes all you need to do is ask. I picked up some nice old Sony mics this way. I just asked a buch of studios if they would consider selling, some said no, some said yes with a stupid price, and some said yes with a price I though was fair. My point is, everything is for sale. You just need to use the internet the best you can.

[heathen]

My point is, everything is for sale. You just need to use the internet the best you can.

Exactly, I've found some great bargains which looked a tad sus. A pair of Telefunken eq's, I bought 1 and the nice guy in Italy said he'd do the pair for an extra $100. Got a pair of NOS ANT 696b eq's from a guy in Belgium I think, he was a member on another forum, which I was not a member of, I tracked him down to his myspace page and he did the deal on ebay for me, nos pair for 500 bucks was not bad. Also got another NOS pair from the USA, 500 bucks also. More than a lot would pay but I thought it was ok condidering my Avalon was nearly $5000 for 2 channels.

Now I've got 8 pairs of great eq for a few grand. There are bargains out there but can take a lot of effort finding them.

Anyway I reckon you'd have to get up pretty early to beat Rick to a Neve bargain. :)

Next year I'd love to buy an old "working" Neumann desk or similar soooooo if anyone knows of any at a reasonable price in Aus let me know please.

[musikwerks]

Rick... you've raised somebody's ire on Gearsluts...

http://www.gearslutz.com/board/moan-zon ... teers.html

[Jason]

[quote="13thbeach"]
Another option is to send studios emails for what your looking for. Sounds crazy I know but sometimes all you need to do is ask. I picked up some nice old Sony mics this way. I just asked a buch of studios if they would consider selling, some said no, some said yes with a stupid price, and some said yes with a price I though was fair. My point is, everything is for sale. You just need to use the internet the best you can.[/quote]

I was going to suggest this. You need to look for studios that have been around for sometime. They have a habbit of putting old gear in the back room and forget its there. Atleast this has been the case for the few I know. I picked up 4 Spectra Sonics Pre/EQ's out of an old 1026 console and had Rob @ PH rack them up for me. Sound Fantastic! If I had more money there is more toys out there.

[rick]

Rick... you've raised somebody's ire on Gearsluts...

http://www.gearslutz.com/board/moan-zon ... teers.html

i wondered if i was a greedy profit monger,
only problem is i give 98% more then i take .

[Jason]

Is there a site that all the ex-ABC gear gets sold off on. I know its probably to late now but there was a sony console that was up here in QLD that had seen very little work.

[Chris H]

Is there a site that all the ex-ABC gear gets sold off on. I know its probably to late now but there was a sony console that was up here in QLD that had seen very little work.

All ABC....or most...... goes to Sydney and gets auctioned off by Pickles. Yes?

I have had a bit of luck cold calling studio's and got some early optro preamps that way but lateral thinking provides me with the most success in scoring vintage gear. When i first got into recording it occured to me that old byer pre's would be worth buying, and in the mid 90's was finding them everywhere. Missed out on two nice Kelso 16 ch mixers a few years back. I thought i was in the box seat but someone else had it stiched up....... No hard feelings though, you win some you lose some. The gear chase can be addictive......
I seem to have done ok on a few consoles and mic pre modules but miss out on the compressors. I had a chance a few years ago to buy a quantity of ADR comps for a good price but was unable to raise the cash at the time and i knew it was a chance i should not let slip. They would have been very nice racked up in the old Audek console i now have. Still i need to chase the work more than the gear!

[rick]

err no , and no region auctions have been the thing in the last couple of years
....who beat me out of the 10 pultecs in perth by the way !

ok probably not the right thing to explain but

two neve consoles did come out of the abc in brisbane that week last month and with 1 days notice !
with no listing of photographs as "neves"
they were found because of the brand of power supplies listed in the auction sheet is the kind that neve uses , the consoles themselves were listed as audio console 350 numbers away from the supplies and as usual no pictures

so the list came out on thursday 4pm .
supplies sold 10am sat morning console at 1pm
there were flights , accom etc freight - pretty hectic ,lots of risk and i was 1000 miles away on holidays fishing at the time

still... so we are clear the big one cost a years wages , for a well paid non studio worker,
the little one a years wages for a studio worker.
who could finance that and not sell it on super quickly ?...not me !

and the little one stayed in aus , with a believe a 12% markup to the final owner
that seems more then a super fair deal to me

that big one .. well i didnt sell it os without doing the sums very carefully !
running THAT board in a viable studio was in Australia .. well not viable

and i guess the guy on GS is whinging at me ..? but maybe not
there are still "dozens" of great vintage boards installed and working in oz (which is totally disproportionate to our population)
and of course dozens more still sitting in sheds waiting for a new lease on life
being a studio type guy in australia is a VERY classic gear friendly experience makes me laugh every time somebody tells me , they missed out !

Want a old console .. hell buy one they are everywhere.

oh want one cheap ? ... well learn whats what , they are still everywhere
just dont tyre kick , dont rip people off and they will show up in your life soon enough :)

[TimS]

Still i need to chase the work more than the gear!

here here...

[Chinagraf]

[quote="rick"]
the little one a years wages for a studio worker.
who could finance that and not sell it on super quickly ?...not me !

and the little one stayed in aus , with a believe a 12% markup to the final owner
that seems more then a super fair deal to me

[/quote]

What was the 'little one'? Sounds like the sort of thing I've been in the market for for a while. For someone like me who really doesn't have the time to scour the Earth 12% sounds fair to me...

[rick]

12chn neve melbourne :)

with the little one it was ultimately not my deal , i joined the dots for the buyer and seller to get a sale down ,
we talked about the best way to go - local overseas etc i provided three buyers who i knew had the bread and wanted a neve
deal was done - i made nothing !

[Chinagraf]

Don't you mean 'Melbourn'? Hahahahaha sorry, couldn't resist. You can ban me now..
:)

[rick]

Don't you mean 'Melbourn'? Hahahahaha sorry, couldn't resist. You can ban me now..
:)

oh no andy i meant "the neve is now happily living and working in melbourne..." the melbourn 12 chn console that is ;)

[heathen]

Rick... you've raised somebody's ire on Gearsluts...

http://www.gearslutz.com/board/moan-zon ... teers.html

I think that's the easiest thing I've ever done in my life, actually usually happens with every post I make on that site. Should be called "Gearbitchez".