My high school best friends older brother told me he played bass in a bar band, somewhere around Snowbird Utah - back in the day. He said they'd wait till everyone was really drunk, then play MO's "Dance of Maya", which is in an odd time signature. He said it was hilarious watching people trip and fall all over each other trying to dance to it!
They dont write 'em like that anymore. You couldnt get away with that these days...or at any other recent time.
I believe the Grateful Dead were well capable of such improvisational meanderings, with the astonishing return back to the song - at the "magical" point where no one knows how they did it. What musical fun!
They dont write 'em like that anymore. You couldnt get away with that these days...or at any other recent time.
I believe the Grateful Dead were well capable of such improvisational meanderings, with the astonishing return back to the song - at the "magical" point where no one knows how they did it. What musical fun!
25 yr. ago Tufts dumpstered the entire old stock of their EE teaching lab. Dozens of Weston meters some with only 1890's patent notices and hand drawn scales. One last calibrated two days after I was born was still good to <1% using the parallax mirror behind the needle.
A hall mate was a friend of Jerry G and got them to do a junior prom at MIT including a free concert on he lawn in front of the student center. They said the prom went 4 hours over. The free concert didn't cause any undue commotion, can you imagine with today's social media what would happen.
Save the microphones and any outboard gear - limiters, compressors, phasers, preamps, ...!!!!
And mic cables! Well-built mic cables are useful to someone. And mic stands and booms.
Obviously, I have no idea what all is "his stuff", but my experience is to not let any of it go into a dumpster prematurely. There's plenty of time to sort the wheat from the chaff later! School administrators are often all to willing to just throw stuff away, which is not only sad, but dumb.
Some people here and elsewhere, including me, might be interested in buying some of his stuff.
(A little topic drift) This is a Sensitive Research electrostatic voltmeter from 1952. Original condition and still meets original factory specs (1% accuracy and 10E15 Ohms insulation resistance). Pretty amazing accomplishment. There was a time where the US made some impressive mechanical and electromechanical stuff. All the Sensitive Research instruments have hand drawn scales. They even had instruments with .25% accuracy with mechanical pointers. However really labor intensive. HP at one point made a machine to do the equivalent automatically. I'm sure its in a scrap heap somewhere in Palo Alto.
Attachments
I have 2 from that dumpster haul. I kept one in my office, in the winter I would come in and discharge myself (could get several kV) onto the input and watch it droop slowly all day. Did you ever open one up, a marvel of mechanical engineering? The Weston and GE power meters were also just a stunning assembly.
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What I find interesting is trying to trace the roots of the x-fertilisation between Asian and western music. Certainly Indian classical forms were a seed behind a lot of the californian minimalist scene and I am sure it happened on many other levels long before the Beatles were introduced to the sitar.
And western music forms were heading East in the time of the East indian companies and the instruments were adopted for new types of music making. I just wish I had more time and the musical aptitude to research more.
We have a lot to thank India for. Not just the tea, pyjamas and my wife 🙂
P.S. I also find in fascinating the shared myths between ancient civilisations. What little research I have done suggests the Greeks got there first but that might be because of when the first written records were comitted.
I have open one up. I had a 200V unit that someone had found the arc over voltage and vaporized the springs. The repair quote from EIS was north of $500. I just waited for the eBay river and one popped up. Its great for verifying condenser mike polarization voltage (the only way actually).
When I worked as a tech for UL in 1962, I used Weston voltmeters, ammeters, and wattmeters. They were very well made and accurate. I still would like to have a Weston Wattmeter.
Steve's Vintage Test Equipment Collection
I thought Simpson was British Co. My friend who is TV Serviceman still uses it along with digital MM. They are heavy. Looks well made & robust.
I thought Simpson was British Co. My friend who is TV Serviceman still uses it along with digital MM. They are heavy. Looks well made & robust.
I don't think he has a lift gate truck or a forklift. I don't collect stuff, the idea is to repair or repurpose and sell.
It ain't exactly bad my guys get to work on the gear, sometimes they learn something!
I guess I don't understand what is different from current gear and this ancient stuff made in 1992. Surface mounted parts such as SSM2017s, NE5534 and cermet variable resistors mounted on the PC Card at the position of the circuit being controlled and shaft extenders to the knob plane.
There are some components that could be upgraded, others of high quality that just aren't available anymore. Ever try to buy a Penny & Giles fader from Curtiss Wright?
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But when you bring it in by the ton it can mount up quickly!
1992 isn't ancient! What actual improvements in audio frequency analog circuits have been made in the last 30 years?
Yes, I have refurbished multiple Pacific Recorders & Engineering BMX Broadcast consoles. They use(d) P&G for the main fader and P&G rotary faders for headphone and monitor volume...and yes they are $$$ and yes it is a PITA dealing with Curtiss Wright!! There are more $$ in just P&G faders in a 16x2x2x2x1 PR&E console than the cost of many entire mixers by Yamaha, Mackie, Soundcraft, etc. with Alps or other faders.
Flip side of that coin is I have seen many P&G faders operate 24/7 (radio use) for over 20 years before being rebuilt, and that is the other great thing about them, you can get new wipers and resistance elements. Also, you can drop cola into them, and merely unscrew them from the channel strip (two-screws), unplug the cable, run to the bathroom and wash them out with tap water and they are like new! Ask me how I know this...grrr%&*, and I figured college students would know how to read the big sign that says no drinks in the Control or Production Rooms. With SS and Teflon bushings, and a plastic resistance element, there is little to be attacked by liquids or humidity. In the long run they are worth their weight in gold.
That's a nice big shop! Under one roof?
Cheers,
Howie
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