Optro 7500 console and compressors

[Chinagraf]

That Hotel is too far away for me to drive to. How about a pic of my when i was 10, standing outside the Bryon lighthouse in a pair of budgie smugglers? Alternatively I also have one of me in those karate pyjamas that were all the rage in the late 70's....

[TimS]

Alternatively I also have one of me in those karate pyjamas that were all the rage in the late 70's....

thats even more frightening Andy!!

[Chinagraf]

Aww comeon, you know the ones I mean. None of you guys born in the late 60's early 70's had some? I find that hard to believe.

[mal stanley]

We used the Rola Mk11 tape machines constantly in ABC Radio news in Melbourne for editing before it all went to hard disk in about 1994..I worked in 'news tapes' as it was called for a couple of years early on and these machines took abuse after abuse and kept on..(much like us taking abuse from pesky reporters....)..I'm pretty sure I also remember seeing an Optro 16 track recorder early on...as well as Optro EQs of which a few are still around but not used..they may occasionally come up in those ABC auction clearances in Sydney.

[TimS]

Aww comeon, you know the ones I mean. None of you guys born in the late 60's early 70's had some? I find that hard to believe.

'68 child here - but my folks never subjected me to ninja PJ's ;-)

[rob]

of course down here in Adelaide Rola still exists : http://www.rola.net.au/

i'm not sure how he snaffled the name....there is some historical connection but I got too wigged out on my one and only visit to his workshop to pursue!!

I've got a Rola 77 on the bench at the moment and an AWA limiter cued up behind it....these things keep rising to the surface and after a tickle and a tweak seem good for another 50 years of rock.

[The Tasmanian]

Yeah - getting back to Rola and Byer Valve mic pre's:
As Rick mentioned these are also valve guitar amps.
A session I did recently for one of the biggest Aus bands, when we started to do guitars, we had every killer amp one could want.
After the first song was tracked we tried the Rola 77 MkIII's as the guitar amp, and everyone's jaws dropped.
We used the Rola's for all guitar tracking for the next 3 weeks.
They have such a beautiful tone, and when driven eat any footpedal distortion on the planet - absolute voodoo.
Some times we miced the little 3" speaker on the Rola's - unbelievable sound!
Graham Thirkle was a master of making tape machines/mic pre's/EQ's and consoles - so far ahead of the times- visionary man!
And thanks to Rob for restoring them to go for another 100 years!
How many mic pre's are guitar amps? None that I know of - great value getting a free guitar amp with a Mic pre!
Chris Townend
BJB Studios

[TimS]

I cant wait to get mine!! ;-)
I think a trip to Turtlerock Mastering is on order today!!

[Chris H]

I often use a Byer as a gain stage switchable via a foot-pedal before an amp, usually my Rex Mascot. I pad the output of the Byer 10 or 20dB to suit and the poor little rex takes off to an entirely new dimension of the planet distortion...:) It is a killer sound for my epiphone lap steel which has a very low output.

( Hey Chris T, it would be great to know what recordings the Byers featured on, if and when appropriate, so we could have a listen. Although i think i have a good idea already so i suppose the Byers will feature on their next CD.)

[The Tasmanian]

Hey Chris
I may have to get mine modded to pad the output - All my Rolas and Byers have had input pad's only.
I never thought of them as a preamp before a guitar amp....Got me thinking
And as far who's album - I will stay tight lipped as I don't want to blow my horn on this forum.... It could get messy!
But I'm open to revealing it for a free mic from Rick!
Yes I'm a slut for good old aussie gear - my morals are corruptable in this one instance!

[Chris H]

For padding down the output i just use a good quality inline pad. I bought two each of 10dB and 20 dB.

[The Tasmanian]

Chris - what brand pad?
I have always wanted to have one in my briefcase - but always been suss about them not sure if they were beringerish and going through a small unflushed toilet

[The Tasmanian]

Although I must come clean on be!@#$%^& stuff
I just bought 2 of their 2496 Reverbs that ripped off the Kurzwiel reverb - And another lawsuit is happening.
Cannot get them in Aus
Musicians Friend have them on a lawsuit clearance in the US down from $400 US to $70!
So I bought 2 as I am sure one will break if not before I use it..
I sinned I know....
Guilty!

[Chris H]

I'll have to look at them tonight as i forget what brand name they are but a poster on PSW recomended the Sure attenuators as having no negative impact to the signal.

http://www.frontendaudio.com/Shure_A15A ... -01768.htm

[Linear]

Hey Chris,

A pad is a pad - just a bunch of resistors. You'd be hard pressed to get a 'bad' pad - unless it was some kind of active jobbie.

I have a bunch of inline pads - super handy for matching pre's with mics. I also use external phantom too, which is handy when padding mics.

Chris

[Chris H]

Hey Chris,

A pad is a pad - just a bunch of resistors. You'd be hard pressed to get a 'bad' pad - unless it was some kind of active jobbie.

I have a bunch of inline pads - super handy for matching pre's with mics. I also use external phantom too, which is handy when padding mics.

Chris

( ok..... deleted previous post ....) as Rick's post below states there is a probability that inline pads can change the tone, i too would like to know especially in the application with padding the output of the Byers. I suppose this is also related to impedance matching especially with respect to ribbon mics.

[musikwerks]

You should have gone with the hesitation a bit longer....

[rick]

err chris pads aint pads ... t pad h pad? double H ?
, impedence shifting, non impedence shifting .

Rob can you do an article on PADS for Audio Technology with a diy for a ten and twenty db pad ..?

it will be as useful as the vu meter article i promise . and i wont have to explain to anybody that a pad before a API Mic pre is essential ever again (the inline pad on the API 512 mic pre kills the tone)

and chris T.. i didnt think graham thirkel was involved with the byer stuff was he ..? i thought it was max byer that did the designs .
but while we are talking if you run a byer 66 into a quadbox , then and only then is the true glory of the design unearthed as the tiny little class a amp makes a mockery of the mega thousands you can spend on a boutique amp to not get close to the tone as it melts itself slowly to death , i like the byer 66 much more then the rola 77 for a guitar amp and vice versa for a mic pre .

name dropping gets you nothing around here, except if i do it :)

[The Tasmanian]

Hey Rick
I thought pads reduced quality - I avoid them unless I have no choice - I would rather move a mic than engage a pad anyday.
And ..I have a Rola 66 - Are they the same as the Byer 66?
I love the 77III's as a guitar amp - If the 66 is better....Wow!
I never tried it - always presumed the 77's would be better.
And it would be great to find out if Max Byer is the real genius behind all this stuff and if Graham Thirkle licenced Max'x designs
The way the tape goes over the heads, the old school tape counters and the reliability.
All the film post guys used them over the Nagras because they were so much quicker than any other machine to operate - I remember when I first was using them at Spectrum films and thought why are you guys still using these old relics - and the sound editors informed me of the many pluses and the biggest one was reliability and speed - these guys could work faster.
Lets try to dig up some more about Mr Byer and Mr Thirkle
Very interesting stuff!
Chris Townend

[chris p]

Rob can you do an article on PADS for Audio Technology with a diy for a ten and twenty db pad ..?

If you cannot wait for said article, read here instead

http://www.uneeda-audio.com/pads/

Plesae, no feminine hygiene references in this thread. Oh crap, I just made one myself.

[The Tasmanian]

Rob - I'm sure you can explain this in a way we can all comprehend - Your compression article was very enlightening - you have a great knack for explaining things that non techie bod's like me can understand.
Chris Townend

[Linear]

To me a pad is just a tool to use in the studio, like anything else. It might change the tone a little, but if it's a choice between using that mic/pre combination and not, then I'll use a pad.

I use pads for pres that don't have a low enough minimum gain setting (U47w into V72 with loud singer comes to mind sometimes), similarly for Syteks where minimum isn't really minimum.

The thing is that in any given piece of gear there are a bunch of resistors that the signal passes through. Even a Neve pre effectively uses resistors as pads around the gain switch.

I think Rob enlightening us about pads is a great idea. I am aware of pads changing impedence, but you're always going to get impedence mismatches here and there (pads or no pads) and I think there are bigger 'weakest links' in a studio than this.

Chris

[Linear]

Rob can you do an article on PADS for Audio Technology with a diy for a ten and twenty db pad ..?

If you cannot wait for said article, read here instead

http://www.uneeda-audio.com/pads/

Plesae, no feminine hygiene references in this thread. Oh crap, I just made one myself.

That is a great reference, Rick Chinn is a subscriber on the Ampex mailing list and really knows his stuff.

The pads I made are based on info from that website.

Chris

[TimS]

Handy article - thanks for the link - looks like I'll make up solder variable inline pads.. ;-)

[13thbeach]

Ok so the first pics are of an OPTRO compressor/limter, model 302. Only one i have ever seen. Its not working but I hope to get it going soon.
The other pics are of a Zephyr ribbon mic, and an SSS ribbon. All Australian made.

[tweakeasy]

Those mics are gorgeous. Do they get much use?

[13thbeach]

Yeah they look great,
Well I only just got the Zephyr a few weeks ago, and the SSS i got about two months ago. I haven't used them yet because I still need to wire up a plug for them. They both take an old two prong connector.
I have one but its just getting time. Will get around to it soon though.

[Chris H]

I have seen that model Optro comp before. Gerard McGough had two but sold them....by the way anyone here know Gerard? He is a bit of a backyard genius on some valve gear.

[mfdu]

[quote="The Tasmanian"]Any more chris's want to pitch in on this love-in for great aussie lost gear?[/quote]

did somebody call for a Chris?

[TimS]

he's bbaaaacccckkkkk!!
Good ta see you back Chris..