Is it High End? Calrec Compressor. Lovely..

[Steffmo]

Everything Calrec is high end.

[jmikeperkins]

There are a number of Calrec consoles and Calrec outboard being sold by the BBC in an acution this month. The BBC closed their office in the Bush House building in London and they are moving. Most of the auction is for furniture but if you keep looking you will see the Calrec boards, piles and piles of EV RE-20 mics, a few Neumanns, some BBC ribbon mics and other items for sale. I get you they will go pretty cheap. If I had a good way to move it to Texas, I would bid on one of those Calrec boards.

[Disco Cubist]

This will make you cry:

Three 20+ stereo channel calrec broadcast boards - Full of stereo EQ and dynamics modules - went for no more than £2300 each!!

I didn't bother bidding as I thought they would go for nearer £10k...imagine my pain when I saw the final prices when I checked in after work :(

At least I snagged an RQD comp and RQQ EQ though - but for almost the same cost, unfortunately!!!

[Reptil]

:'-|

[TheLastByte]

Originally Posted by Disco Cubist

This will make you cry:

Three 20+ stereo channel calrec broadcast boards - Full of stereo EQ and dynamics modules - went for no more than £2300 each!!

I didn't bother bidding as I thought they would go for nearer £10k...imagine my pain when I saw the final prices when I checked in after work :(

At least I snagged an RQD comp and RQQ EQ though - but for almost the same cost, unfortunately!!!

That was the BBC Radio Worldwide Service - Auction, great Equipment, though you had to bid, then pay VAT+ then get that 20 Channel Neve/Calrec Console out of the BBC Worldwide Radio Service HQ within 24 Hours or it would be JuNkEd!Though by the time I got to the Auction - The Calrec Console were Listed at a Certain Price (Or Reserve) then as no one bought the reserve was dropped. I saw a 80 Channel Calrec with Eq/Dyn/Auto/Matrix/Encoders/ the whole Meatloaf and Sauce go for around 3,200 Pounds GBP........HUGE SIGH!...............!

(My understanding was Calrec were brought in to build R. Neve's Console designs part by part, and then more by BBC engineers so that channel by channel Calrec's & Neves were interchangeable to the BBC's Specifications and some Spec's were +8dbm with 40 Stereo Channels and PPM VU/Bargraph's etc..!) This was all because Mr. R Neve couldn't build his consoles quickly enough! Many people wonder where the AMS comes from in AMS-Neve or more so - Advanced Music Systems whom then sold Calrec Gear so after R.Neve left Siemans (I think this is right) I guess Neve was a natural Fit thus AMS-Neve! (Someone told me that in a roundabout way - might be crap!) I'm sure someone will politely correct me if I'm wrong! more so when it comes to Neve gear! Got a Feeling their was another company with AMS before Neve?

[waldie wave]

Unbelievable auction. I am so envious of the lucky people who bought one of those lovely desks.

[vincentvangogo]

I once bought a 24 channel Calrec desk, minus frame for £135.

[Matt Syson]

Hi
The 'waffle' about Calrec, AMS and Neve is essentially incorrect.
Neve, Calrec and Audix built desks for the BBC using their own individual 'circuitry' to produce a range of desks with FUNCTIONAL similarity in the late '70's / early 80's. The modules are in no way elecronically 'interchangeable'. The operating engineers would however be able to sit at any desk and 'know' how to drive them as the functions and positions of controls were 'the same'.
Part of the reasoning was that as individual companies any could theoretically go 'bust' which would leave the BBC 'stuck'. I worked for Audix testing some of these, then moved to Calrec doing some of their 'alternatives'. There were 4 'marks' and 4 sub versions (A-D) giving I suppose 16 'permutations' although not all were defined. Some had modules for telephone contribution (live radio) and some were essentially for music.
At one time Calrec and AMS 'merged'.
Later, AMS (with Calrec) were bought by Siemens who at that time also owned Neve.
Calrec then 'demerged' and the remainder became AMS-Neve. There has been more 'to and fro'ing' with the 'owners' of the various companies since.
Matt S

[vincentvangogo]

Any thoughts on the Audix MXT1100, Matt?

[Silvertone]

Originally Posted by Matt Syson

Hi
The 'waffle' about Calrec, AMS and Neve is essentially incorrect.
Neve, Calrec and Audix built desks for the BBC using their own individual 'circuitry' to produce a range of desks with FUNCTIONAL similarity in the late '70's / early 80's. The modules are in no way elecronically 'interchangeable'. The operating engineers would however be able to sit at any desk and 'know' how to drive them as the functions and positions of controls were 'the same'.
Part of the reasoning was that as individual companies any could theoretically go 'bust' which would leave the BBC 'stuck'. I worked for Audix testing some of these, then moved to Calrec doing some of their 'alternatives'. There were 4 'marks' and 4 sub versions (A-D) giving I suppose 16 'permutations' although not all were defined. Some had modules for telephone contribution (live radio) and some were essentially for music.
At one time Calrec and AMS 'merged'.
Later, AMS (with Calrec) were bought by Siemens who at that time also owned Neve.
Calrec then 'demerged' and the remainder became AMS-Neve. There has been more 'to and fro'ing' with the 'owners' of the various companies since.
Matt S

Hi Matt, I believe that Rupert (Neve) told me years ago that the "specs" were designated by the BBC and that is why the Neve, Audix and Calrec modules were so similar in sound. Have you heard this before? I suppose I could write Rupert and find out as I think it was back around 1992 that we were talking about this.

[Matt Syson]

Hi Larry
The desks in question had been in production for a few years before I started working on them but yes the BBC had laid down the specs for how it should perform, S/N crosstalk, freq response, LF FILTERING, headroom and so on. The 3 manufacturers were left to decide HOW to achieve it. As op amps weren't really available at a sensible price and quality at the start of this proceedings inductor based EQ was most 'practical' hence their use. Later versions of the different modules did move on to the 5534 (the Philips original thich was a TDA??? IIRC).
They all had to have transformer in and out. Audix and Neve used Marinair's which was a company local to both of them. Calrec had gone with Sowters but there were several transformer types used.
MXT1100 ?? I know of the MXT1000 and 1200 but have no recollection of 1100.
Matt S

[vincentvangogo]

I'll try to dig out the paperwork, but I think that's the model number. It's a 10:4 desk with just bass, middle and treble sliders for the eq.

EDIT. I've now checked and it's actually an MXT1000 mk3. Not sure where I got the 1100 from.

[Geoff_T]

Originally Posted by TheLastByte

That was the BBC Radio Worldwide Service - Auction, great Equipment, though you had to bid, then pay VAT+ then get that 20 Channel Neve/Calrec Console out of the BBC Worldwide Radio Service HQ within 24 Hours or it would be JuNkEd! as Calrec's and Neve's can be almost interchangeable! Though by the time I got to the Auction - The Calrec Console were Listed at a Certain Price (Or Reserve) then as no one bought the reserve was dropped. I saw a 80 Channel Calrec with Eq/Dyn/Auto/Matrix/Encoders/ the whole Meatloaf and Sauce go for around 3,200 Pounds GBP........HUGE SIGH!...............!

(My understanding was Calrec were brought in to build R. Neve's Console designs part by part, and then more by BBC engineers so that channel by channel Calrec's & Neves were interchangeable to the BBC's Specifications and some Spec's were +8dbm with 40 Stereo Channels and PPM VU/Bargraph's etc..!) This was all because Mr. R Neve couldn't build his consoles quickly enough! Many people wonder where the AMS comes from in AMS-Neve or more so - Advanced Music Systems whom then sold Calrec Gear so after R.Neve left Siemans (I think this is right) I guess Neve was a natural Fit thus AMS-Neve! (Someone told me that in a roundabout way - might be crap!) I'm sure someone will politely correct me if I'm wrong! more so when it comes to Neve gear! Got a Feeling their was another company with AMS before Neve?

Hi

You history is way twisted... Rupert Neve sold the company to Bonochord (later called ESE) in 1973 and was retained as a consultant until he left completely in 1975 - informed not to make equivalent products for another 10 years. He came back briefly to design the AIR consoles with Geoff Watts.

Neve Electronics International was taken over by Siemens in 1985 (ten years later) and disbanded by same in 1992 when they were combined with AMS.

So that's over 17 years after Rupert left the company and Rupert Neve had nothing to do with Siemens.

As for Calrec building Neve designs that's a new one on me and I was there at the time. For a while Neve were considering taking over Ted Fletcher's Alice Stancoil console company and having them build broadcast consoles and Neve music consoles, but it was never sorted out and the notion died before birth.

Posted from my iPhone

[Matt Syson]

Hi
My narrative is not 'twisted' but only relates to the period of late '70's and early 80's and to the GP series of desks for the BBC.
The use of the term 'Neve' was taken as generic of the trading name of the company that built these particular desks (printed on the faceplates), the presence or absence of Mr Rupert Neve was not part of the discussion.
The 3 companies used different circuit designs. Neve and Audix used a single 24 Volt DC rail whereas Calrec used plus and minus 24 Volts.
Neve outputs typically used 'class A' with their particular transformer whereas Audix used an alternative 'push pull' type output with transformers that have a 1:2 step up.
Several of the design staff migrated between Audix and Neve at around that time and it is inevitable that there would be some similarity.
Matt S

[Geoff_T]

Originally Posted by Matt Syson

Hi
My narrative is not 'twisted' but only relates to the period of late '70's and early 80's and to the GP series of desks for the BBC.
The use of the term 'Neve' was taken as generic of the trading name of the company that built these particular desks (printed on the faceplates), the presence or absence of Mr Rupert Neve was not part of the discussion.
The 3 companies used different circuit designs. Neve and Audix used a single 24 Volt DC rail whereas Calrec used plus and minus 24 Volts.
Neve outputs typically used 'class A' with their particular transformer whereas Audix used an alternative 'push pull' type output with transformers that have a 1:2 step up.
Several of the design staff migrated between Audix and Neve at around that time and it is inevitable that there would be some similarity.
Matt S

Hi Matt

My apologies... it was not you making the statement I corrected. I was reading the thread on my iphone and mistook your posts for thelastbytes...

Oops and sorry again.

Anyway, your last bit, at one time or another David Rees, Mike Stapleton, Robin Ireland and myself, all ex Neve engineers, worked at Audix. It was an odd company and had a locked room with a large digitally controlled analogue console that was built for the BBC and rejected lurking inside. I believe that when Tannoy took them over there were later ramifications with the value Audix had applied to their purchase price/worth...

I was long gone by then...

[Matt Syson]

Hi Geoff
Mike Stapleton was 'in charge' of me for my duration in the 'projects' department.
I spent some time working on minor aspects of the digitally controlled analogue desk, making up bits of circuitry and testing them. I had a 'cunning wheeze' idea for the massive crosspoint matrixes they wanted but I moved on to Calrec before they hit the PCB layout stage so no idea if it worked in practice. Another EX Neve character was Keith Armstrong, now a major 'light' in the EMC compatability world. Audix were using 2 or 5 percent resistors for much of their gear and Keith came up with a requirement for 0.1 percent matched 'thick film' resistors for balanced mix busing.
Best
Matt

[Geoff_T]

Originally Posted by Matt Syson

Hi Geoff
Mike Stapleton was 'in charge' of me for my duration in the 'projects' department.
I spent some time working on minor aspects of the digitally controlled analogue desk, making up bits of circuitry and testing them. I had a 'cunning wheeze' idea for the massive crosspoint matrixes they wanted but I moved on to Calrec before they hit the PCB layout stage so no idea if it worked in practice. Another EX Neve character was Keith Armstrong, now a major 'light' in the EMC compatability world. Audix were using 2 or 5 percent resistors for much of their gear and Keith came up with a requirement for 0.1 percent matched 'thick film' resistors for balanced mix busing.
Best
Matt

Hi Matt

Yes, I forgot Keith Armstrong but did not have much contact with him at Neve... I recall Audix's broad tolerance resistors also. Keith got the idea for the very close tolerance resistors from Neve and you will find them around the differential input stages of the later consoles... single in line very accurate resistor packs.

Mike, good ol' boy that he is, was nicknamed "Ollie" by the wiremen at Neve. When I was at Audix his "office" was a cupboard under the stairs.

Memories....

[TheLastByte]

To Quote Myself!

Originally Posted by TheLastByte

I'm sure someone will politely correct me if I'm wrong! more so when it comes to Neve gear!

Thank you Gentlemen for the corrections listed much appreciated!

[Matt Syson]

Hi
You are welcome.
There are advantages in advanced age, or so I am told!
Matt S

[TheLastByte]

Originally Posted by Matt Syson

Hi
You are welcome.
There are advantages in advanced age, or so I am told!
Matt S

Indeed that's true!
As well as advantages in learned knowledge!
Never such a stupid question as the question never asked or learned from!

Thanks to both you & Geoff for the corrections!
The Auction was a crying shame though! All that gear going for Pennies on the Pound!
Cheers
TLB.