Water damaged A Range from Matrix studio, London UK - mid 80's - where is it now?

[Jules]

Malcom Toft and I were musing on this mystery....

Any ideas?

It would have been close to rusted scrap, cause that's what it was the last time I set eyes on it at Matrix after the flood that took it out of service there...

[Raw-Tracks]

I don't know the answer to that mystery Jules. But while we're at it, it might be interesting to list where all of the A-Ranges are and where they've been. To the best of my knowledge there were thirteen, and #13 is currently housed as Smart Studios in Madison, WI. Before Smart that console was at Quad in Nashville. Before Quad I believe is was at Cherokee.

I just checked Cherokee's site, and it looks like they still have three of them. I thought the Bennett House in Franklin, TN used to have one, but I just checked their site and they have a SSL and a Pro-Tools room now. I wonder where that A-Range wound up?

There is also the one at Longview Farm's Studio B and one at Bomb Factory in Los Angeles.

[EngineEars]

Omnisound in Nashville also use to have one.

[Wiggy Neve Slut]

Ok... and what about the B-range consoles?? Malcom indeed confirmed the other week at the sounds expo that only 13 were ever made.

Cheers
Wiggy

[Raw-Tracks]

Originally Posted by EngineEars

Omnisound in Nashville also use to have one.

Was that before they had the API?

[Matt M]

Ok... and what about the B-range consoles?? Malcom indeed confirmed the other week at the sounds expo that only 13 were ever made.

we had 4 here in our shop. The B range consoles were not very well put together. One of the 4 left in such a way that it could still work as a complete console and I believe that the buyer is working on that project now. The other three were parted out. Although I am generally opposed to breaking up vintage consoles and spend much of my time building Neve 80xx series frames back up, this was no great loss.

[wwittman]

last time I was at cherokee, about 6 months ago, they had 2 (visible)

[Drumsound]

Originally Posted by erick21

Was that before they had the API?

Yes

[Jules]

Cherokee sound's 'familliar' to me, it's my guess it went there..

I was working at Matrix when it was shipped out.. but 100% memory fails me..

[alnico]

I worked on one that was once at Studio D in Sausalito, CA and another that was at Prairie Sun Recording in Cotati, CA. which belonged to The Beach Boys at one time. Some of the best mixing I've ever was done on those consoles. I'm sure most of you guys would agree that Studer>Neve>Trident>ATR, etc. is the magic that can't be replaced. Digital with awesome pre's is cool and all but... your ears don't lie

[I Lurk]

Originally Posted by Matt M

we had 4 here in our shop. The B range consoles were not very well put together. One of the 4 left in such a way that it could still work as a complete console and I believe that the buyer is working on that project now. The other three were parted out. Although I am generally opposed to breaking up vintage consoles and spend much of my time building Neve 80xx series frames back up, this was no great loss.

Just in case you have some spare B Range modules left, I could be interested


The design of the pre and EQ is not that far from the A range

not as cool looking, but interesting soundwise

[Gregg Sartiano]

Steve Reid/Bamboo Forest/Sonic Jungle in the Valley (L.A.)

He bought the old A & M board back in the day. I think the early Police stuff was cut with it.

[wwittman]

I'm confused.

A&M had an A Range????
Or are you talking about A&M's custom AIR Neve which came from Monsterrat where the Police recorded Ghost In The Machine on it?

[Jules]

Originally Posted by Gregg Sartiano

Steve Reid/Bamboo Forest/Sonic Jungle in the Valley (L.A.)

He bought the old A & M board back in the day. I think the early Police stuff was cut with it.

Er hang on.... The Police started their first album at Matrix..... (moving on to complete it at Nigel Greys Surrey Sound studio)

If we are ON TOPIC and you are refering to a Trident A - Range - that could be the Matrix A - Range I was asking about.

[vandi]

John McEntire has an A range at his studio in Chicago now:

http://somastudios.com/equip/eq_list.html

[The MPCist]

Originally Posted by Gregg Sartiano

Steve Reid/Bamboo Forest/Sonic Jungle in the Valley (L.A.)

He bought the old A & M board back in the day. I think the early Police stuff was cut with it.

Think it was called Slam Shack, I worked on a project there once... If I remember right, it's the one from A&M that they cut We Are The World/Police/etc...

[SnakeCained]

And they never did get rid of that nasty water damage smell at Matrix!!!

No idea where the desk went, who cares get one of Malcoms new ones!

[Jules]

Actually it was Malcom that was curios to know...

[Ol' Betsey]

Originally Posted by SnakeCained

And they never did get rid of that nasty water damage smell at Matrix!!!

Hey, who cares about the A Range?

I wanna know what happened to that water-damaged pool table!

Honestly, sometimes it seemed easier staying dry standing outside. More buckets than microphones.

Made a couple great records there though... End of an era that was...

R.

[Beech]

Norbert Putnam's Digital Recorders in Nashville had on in 89'. Guess that's closed down now. Treasure Isle had eight A Range pres racked and they were excellent!

[Raw-Tracks]

Originally Posted by Beech

Norbert Putnam's Digital Recorders in Nashville had on in 89'. Guess that's closed down now. Treasure Isle had eight A Range pres racked and they were excellent!

I think Putnams's place became the Bennett house, no? I wonder if that's the console that is now in Chicago.

[matrix]

As a matter of fact i have a Trident B Range in my studio(Matrix) here in Greece that is in a perfect working condition. It sounds great and paired with a DAW i can do almost anything that i need to. I don't have much experience with top quality desks but comparing it with my Neve 5432 i would say that it's a lot better sounding.

[Jeff Goodman]

OK, A few bits of info that I know:

The console that Steve Reid has that once was at A&M is a TSM. It was owned by Paul McKenna before Steve bought it. I was Paul's assistant at the time and helped move it and taught Steve how to run it. It was also made backwards from the other TSMs, the Monitor section is on the left. So no A range there.

Cherokee has 2 A Ranges at the present time, but only one of them is a Trident A Range. That one is in Studio 3. The other A range is a Cherokee A Range, that Toby Foster built for them when he was the chief engineer there. Toby built all the Mic Pre/ Eq's in that desk and Cherokee still has the pegboards to make the internal wiring harnesses for those modules. That one is in studio 1.

Dave Michaels, the man who started Trident USA in the early '70's, told me that there were 13 A Ranges made. He sold 6 of them when they were new. He also told me that some small ones were made for the Vatican for their PA systems that are still being used there today.

I have 2 A range modules racked that I bought from Fletcher in about '88 that I would love to know which desk they came from. Anybody know a way to track the serial #s?

Jeff

[JTR]

Originally Posted by Jeff Goodman

OK, A few bits of info that I know:

He also told me that some small ones were made for the Vatican for their PA systems that are still being used there today.

Jeff

That's it.

I'm going back to regular church attendance

"Well Father Sarducci, you know, the new Pope really should have an upgraded P.A.
let me take those old things off your hands and replace them with something up-to-date, like this Behringer.."

[isa215]

It's funny - I was just looking at B range as one of the possibilities for a new (old) console (I've been looking at various options for quite a while now).

But from what I'm hearing - it sounds like they aren't the most reliable things in the world.
I'm curious to know how the 'B's compare to the 'A's.

Spoke to a few people who've repaired/maintained 'A' modules - who inform me they're not the best-built modules in the world (certainly not in comparison to Neve 1073s etc.)
- and the sound was nothing special (not bad but not stunning)...which kind of puts a dampener on things. I'd love to be able to actually use and hear these things for myself if possible

Oh and as for where 'the 13' might be. Places that apparently have them installed:-

Bombfactory Studios (desk supposedly from Trident Studios)
Smart Studio (I think this was already mentioned)

[Matt M]

It's funny - I was just looking at B range as one of the possibilities for a new console (I've been looking at various options for quite a while now).

But from what I'm hearing - it sounds like they aren't the most reliable things in the world.
I'm curious to know how the 'B's compare to the 'A's.

Spoke to a few people who've repaired/maintained 'A' modules - who inform me they're not the best-built modules in the world (certainly not in comparison to Neve 1073s etc.)
- and the sound was nothing special (not bad but not stunning)...which kind of puts a dampener on things. I'd love to be able to actually use and hear these things for myself if possible

Well, like I said we were working on a bunch of B range stuff here in our Exile shop. As modules they are awesome. Not the best build quality but if you clean them up, do a couple of gain mods, and get all of the switches/pots to work properly you will want to use them every day. I own a couple of pairs and I thing they sound very cool. Not like a Neve but in a good way. Just a different falvor. Tons of character. I have less experience with the A range modules but would say that the same holds true.

As a console I would have to say they fall very short of being impressive. The frames are flimsy, the wiring is less than stellar, the master section is poorly designed, the busses are noisy and invert, the grounding and power distribution is horrible, etc. Of course I can only say this is the truth for the few B range consoles we have had here but since that is apparently 1/3 of what was ever built I would say it is a fair sample group.

One could buy a B range and rebuild it to deal with all of these issues but it would be a considerable project and IMO not one worth undertaking. I might point out that Trident was not alone in this problem. I can think of several other console manufacturers that designed great preamp/EQs but fell short when it came to bringing it all together.

[mtsupiano]

Soma studio in Chicago is claiming to have one of the original A-Ranges. You can find their site: http://www.somastudios.com/

[ziegenh5]

I have a pair of B-Ranges racked up by Purple. They did a great job of cleaning them up, yet they still are a bit flaky now and again. They sound absolutely gorgeous. Better than Neve imo. I would love a pair of A ranges racked up, and a whole console would be my dream.
Sean

[toddro]

No more A-Ranges in Nashville...

The one at Quad was awesome. Before Quad it had a home at Digital recorders (Norbert Putnam's studio on Music Row). It was always kickin' serious ass.

The Bennett House had a nice one too, but it was always a little tweaky. It was only 24x8x24 but when it was working, it sounded great. They replaced it with a rockin' Calrec (one of only 3 in the world like it and for sale now at primalgear.com), but it is gone now and replaced by a Control24 and a Neve BCM sidecar (a sign of the times...)

Omni replaced theirs with an API that is really nice.

[Jeff Goodman]

The A Range that Norbert had was bought from Cherokee. I think that they bought that one from Trident, but I could be wrong. From what I understand Norbert decided to ADD more transformers to it. I'm not sure why. I think that Butch Vig bought that one and has it at Smart Studios.

Jeff