Turtlerock Forum

Hey Guys,

gotta free up some cash to fix my car... whoops

- Optro modules x2 - from Chris at BJB, wanted to keep em but just haven't got the $$$ to rack em up anytime soon... $200 each (what i paid)

- Yamaha PM1000 channels strips (with tamura output) x4 $100 each or all 4 for $300

- Emu Mp7 Command Station - with manual, immaculate - sounds great $400

- Emu e64 Sampler - 64mb ram, hard drive, heaps of sounds.. v.3 software $250 - old school sound...

please p.m if interested,

h.a.r.r.y..a.r.v.a.n.i.t.i.s

Someone grab those Optro's they are seriously good mic pre's.

I want them....!!!!......must........find......more......money.......don't.....tell.....wife.............

Hey Chris,

like you said... i have some friends here in melbourne that swear by the optro stuff.. thanks for selling these to me in the first place, i feel like an idiot for buying and selling them - i wish i could hang onto them but i got some very expensive car repairs to do....

can't exactly walk to gigs.....


h.a.r.r.y..a.r.v.a.n.i.t.i.s

Happens to the best of us Harry
- A mans gotta cull sometimes - and that thing in the corner that is gonna take some $ to fix should be the first to go.

Are the Optro's the black 7500 desk channel strips or the silver modules?

7500's - Black
Chime in Chris - your the Optro king

The Tasmanian wrote:7500's - Black
Chime in Chris - your the Optro king

Here is a pic of my 10 7500 type modules in a 10 x 4 x 2 sidecar console. I have used it on many live recordings and in the studio and it delivers every time.
I have enough preamps or i would snap these up......at $200 there is nothing in the market that would come close in the bang for buck department. Right up there sound and build quality wise with the known names.........so why haven't they gone yet?
Here is a pic of the innards showing the thirkle transformer.

Opps....... cant sem to put 2 pics in the one post .
The sidecar console

Hey Chris
My modules are a bit different - with 8 opamps on the RH side
but my console came with 6 mono mix buses and 1 stereo mix bus - maybe this is why?

I've never uploaded pic's before - how the hell do you do it?
Trying to post a pic - no luck - no FAQ's on posting photo's - no idea wtf I'm doing
Can someone please give me a quick lesson here?

Hey Chris,

Underneath the box we're you type your post there is an upload attachments spot. After you've uploaded the pic there should be a insert into post or place inline button or something.

Took me ages to work it out too!!

Thanks Nick - i'll give it a go
here we go

Great - it worked.
I presume that the optro 7500's were customized for each order.
The ABC and channel 9, and channel 10 had 7500's in OB vans at their studios (so Ive been told) at their studios.
My console originated at channel 9 in the 70's.
I became obsessed with these baby's after hearing a couple of albums recorded on these many years ago that sounded so incredibly huge and stood out from all the other studio recordings that I had experienced at the time that I looked for 15 years to find a console- eventually finding an old Chan 9 console in a shed in Canberra
The closest hugeness to my ears was vintage 70's neves - I kid you not - and the 7500's seemed a little more open and vibey than the neve pre's (1073)
I've still got 10 modules and the stereo mix bus that I will put into a mini console as soon as I can afford to do so.
They look ugly as a hat full of busted arsehole's though...
One thing that I would love to find out that has been on my mind for decades is - were these used in those incredible sounding Daily Wilson Big Band recordings?

i'm waiting for invoices to clear, then when i drive to adelaide in a couple of weeks gonna drop my pair off to rob for the treatment. can't wait to get em up and running.

What size are the panels of these channel strips?

Hey Guys,

Optros are Sold.....

Enjoy them Owen - i would have loved to keep them....

h.a.r.r.y..a.r.v.a.n.i.t.i.s

The Tasmanian wrote:Hey Chris
My modules are a bit different - with 8 opamps on the RH side
but my console came with 6 mono mix buses and 1 stereo mix bus - maybe this is why?

I've never uploaded pic's before - how the hell do you do it?
Trying to post a pic - no luck - no FAQ's on posting photo's - no idea wtf I'm doing
Can someone please give me a quick lesson here?

They do look bit different. I always assumed that having the same 7500 tag that they would be the same. The black opamps in my modules are part of the eq circuit, the mic pre is all discreet. The console was made for Melbourne Uni in the 70's. 12 mic channels, 8 mono "tape" sends and stereo mix bus.The whole thing was built like a tank and very heavy. The other stereo buss on the sidecar was made from two mono ones . The way i have them set up is recording from the direct outs. Mic and line inputs on each channel, and each can be sent to any of the 4 busses, and all go to the main mix bus. I put two of the modules in a 2ru box for carting around for smaller jobs. I use phantom power from a separate supply as there is non provided with the desk modules. The original console had a push button monitor matrix that complicated the signal path and added noise. The tech at melbourne uni had modded it to bypass this section. When i got them the console was long gone and all that was left was the modules and VU meters. It took me a while to chase up the Elco connectors. I finaly got them from Edac in Canada.
These songs on my myspace page were recorded using mostly the optro's.
Things They Shouldn't Be This Way, The secret place, by Eddie Cole, and the North Meets South recording. I doubt they would qualify as big sounding in the way the Daily Wilson or other recordings you know were done on the Optro's Chris, but they seem to do the job well enough and give the recordings good measure of depth and fullness. The vox on Eddy's first song were done using the optro silver preamps as they sound a bit more "furry" when driven,than the 7500's do.......giving something of the sound i imagine a U47 gives.
That's how i think about them but my experience of the real high end name gear is limited so i might be barking up the wrong tree? (or as my boys say when they have their running shoes on " Dad you're full of shit") !

harry wrote:Hey Guys,

Optros are Sold.....

Enjoy them Owen - i would have loved to keep them....

h.a.r.r.y..a.r.v.a.n.i.t.i.s

Thanks Harry! Looking forward to getting them!

Rob, if you're reading this, look out for a new order in the next month or so....

gargh I've been sitting on the end of a broken net connection for five days hoping the optro's wouldn't go.

Have missed out on a pair of these twice now, if anyone else wants to part with a pair let me know.

Here is a closeup pic of my 7500's. One diff i see with yours Chris is an extra two switches. Any others?

Well - keep tuned
I am contemplating a large console purchase that would leave me with wwwaaaayyyy too many pre/s EQ's - ( like over 60 pre/eq's!!)
If I do end up down that road I will keep only 4 channels (plus my silver optro's) - it took me so long to find these ones in the first place.
So there MAY be 6-8 more for sale in the near future. (plus some other cool stuff)
If they are to be sold I would want to sell them as one bundle to one person with VU's/mix bus etc - so that someone would be encouraged into keeping it going as a side car console ( like Chris's sidecar )- which I would much prefer than selling the odd one and splitting up these historic Aussie console modules - with respect to the late great Graham Thirkle.

If you go down that route consider me interested. A little 8 channel optro would be great.

Lets see how it all pans out Dave - I'll give you first option if I go down that route.
Cheers