Turtlerock Forum

Folks will no doubt say i'm crazy due to the unreliability of these old hunks 'o' junk, but i'm curious if anyone out there is considering parting with one anytime soon...

Hi Nigel,

There 's one on eBay ...but it's inbuilt into a $70,000 Neve desk !!
Search Neve A or soscomms

Like a Neve with that 224 sir ?
Enjoy !

Cheers

Have I taught you nothing, Grasshopper?

You have taught me heaps Steve. But there's some guy sitting in a hut in Siberia, with tools fashioned in the middle ages that still fixes them... Shouldn't that be enough?

Okay, I was drunk last night when I wrote that last post.

There is a reputable guy whom specialises in 224s. I'm fairly sure you can just send him the cards to work on. I guess it depends on what he has in the shop at the time.

Sooo...risky purchase, but not insane.

OK I'm gonna bite here - what makes them so unreliable?
It's not something a one time operation like replacing the under-specced PSU or all the 4000-series chips will fix?

a.d.a.m. baby wrote:OK I'm gonna bite here - what makes them so unreliable?
It's not something a one time operation like replacing the under-specced PSU or all the 4000-series chips will fix?

A 224 can be up to 35 years old. I remember even when they were quite new seeing engineers regularly opening them up and trying to re-seat cards. A wonderful machine of course, but they also can be tricky to keep going. I am a tech and even I get tired of fixing my AMS reverb and AMS and Lexicon delays, I gave up on my Sony DRE2000 all together. My comment to Nigel isn't a reflection on how good these machines are, I am just putting forward a reality check - They can be an expensive hobby so it is good to really ask yourself why you want one and whether you are prepared to take it to the vet when it gets sick.

I understand that there is a calculated risk in buying any of the old gear that is likely to fail and/or has unobtainium parts. The problem is that much of this stuff will run for years with minimal servicing whilst some other pieces (probably in better cosmetic condition) will be virtually irreparable. It's the luck of the draw.

I think Steve makes a valid point of why would anyone want the hassle, and if so then be forewarned, I guess. I'm still happy to risk it with great sounding inspiring old gear but it doesn't always work out well.

Anyhoo... someone must have a rusting old 224 sitting in the corner that's being used to hold the door open that they wanna flip?

The 224 is so old that it doesn't (from memory) use any proprietary parts, so it is not really spares that would be an issue so much. You might get lucky and find one that is solid and had all it's updates and will work well, A rusting unit sitting in a corner might not fit that category though, look for a working machine that has no issues and has been in use in a studio unless you want to land on a snake instead of a ladder.