The D&R Series 4000 console build thread

[octatonic]

Hi all,

as some of you know I bought a broken D&R Series 4000 console when I was living in Switzerland.
I paid $200 for the whole thing as the master module was dead (a DIY guy tried to mod it and.... failed) and it needed serious amounts of work.

The original console was a 20 channel frame with 16 channel strips, a master module, single patchbay strip and a blank channel.
The frame had original wooden cheeks in great condition and I spent a few months sorting out the channels, replacing the IC's and recapping them as needed.

Just before we moved to the US I found a 40 unit frame (with legs), replacement master module and 19 or so channels on ebay (from Brent at Guitar Oasis- who has been great)- and he was generous to throw in a bunch of other metalwork, cables and such.

The shipment arrived yesterday so I had a great day unpacking it all- the frame was damaged in shipping- just the chipboard side cheeks luckily- so I'm using my original wooden cheeks for this console.

The goal here is to build a 32 channel console in the 40 channel frame- I am toying with the idea of sinking my Mackie control in there somewhere- but might have to sacrafice 2 channels to make room to do it.

Today I removed the wooden cheeks from my old 20 unit frame and put them on the 40 unit frame (which is really just 2 x 20 unit frames bolted together)- I also attached the legs to it.

I have loaded the original 16 channels into the new frame, connected the new 32 channel molex and put in the master module.

The remaining 19 channels I got from Brent I need to go through, recap, clean, replace the IC's and such- I'm doing all this as well as building a basement studio so it is pretty busy at the moment.

Here are a few pics....

[octatonic]

more pics...

[octatonic]

So... tomorrow I will finish the rest of the channel loading.

I need to find a leather supplier in NJ as I want to redo the leather stripping in... wait for it... crocodile skin.

Pimp my console :-)

JR

[RCM - Ronan]

When I got mine I pulled the whole thing apart and cleaned every pot and switch and it has been working great for me for over a year now. It has a couple funky switches but mostly it treats me really well. I was going to do the exact same thing that you are talking about, the totally pimped out vinyl or leather but a builder buddy of mine decided he wanted to do something fancy and replace the vinyl covered pressboard with hardwood. I am so glad he talked me into it, it really makes the board look 10 times the price, and the wood sounds much better

I had him try to match my Jule Amps guitar head.

[drBill]

Sweet. Let us know how it progresses. Paul Westbrook in TX is a good resource if you need parts.

[Ibvee]

Cool! Didn't knew there where people using this. We've got a 24ch and use it for mixing some fx and stuff. Besides a TAC Matchless which both haven't had their maintenance for a long time I actually never really listened to the D&R, but how does it sound in good condition?

[dim light]

Looks great both you guys!

Hey richmondjames - Cool story man. Keep me/us updated. Lucky you!

[octatonic]

Thanks guys..

Dr Bill- This is Paul's old desk- he sold all his parts to Brent at Guitar Oasis and now I've got 'em. :-)
D&R still have parts for it- switches and pots and the like, the op amps are off the shelf items from electronics suppliers.
It is the circuit board and metalwork that is getting harder to find.

RCM- yeah your board looks great- I am going to re-do the wood, especially at the front where I will extend it forward to allow room for a bluetooth keyboard and mouse and my wacom tablet.
I'm still thinking croc skin leather though. :-)

Giving it a rest today- too much building work in the basement to do and a neglected missus to spend time with.

Total spend for this board has been around $1200, excluding shipping the original board from Switzerland, which was paid for with the relocation.

James

[octatonic]

Does anyone know where I can get a replacement scribble strip from?

James

[RCM - Ronan]

Originally Posted by Ibvee

I actually never really listened to the D&R, but how does it sound in good condition?

The one James and I own is an older model, probably over 20 years old, and I have little experience with the new ones. The D&R stuff in my opinion is one of the great finds of the audio world. They are not hip by name so they sell cheap on the used market.

The boards are very clean and Neutral, but not really sterile. They are really simple and tend to have a nice open sound. The EQ is very usuable, not serious mojo EQs but not bad at all. Even when I have lots of outboard EQ available I still find my self prefering the D&R for several things (but I really wish they had variable Q on the mids). Mic pres are decent. I use mostly outboard but do not worry if I have to use the D&R pres. I own an old NTI PreQ3, and I find the pres to be quite similar to that.

My mastering engineer masters stuff coming out of all the big rooms in LA and he told me that he thought my D&R was one of the better sounding consoles in LA. Of course I bring the guy tens of thousands of dollars of work so he has to be nice to me, but I have gone through 3 consoles since I started working with him and he never said anything like that before.

[drBill]

Originally Posted by rcm

My mastering engineer masters stuff coming out of all the big rooms in LA and he told me that he thought my D&R was one of the better sounding consoles in LA.

Agreed, I've mixed a lot of big features on them and they sound every bit as good as the cues I mixed on the "big name" boards. Also got a grammy on a project tracked entirely on one. Sweet sounding consoles. very open, lots of headroom and with a very 3d "dimensional" sound. (Lots of depth and width.) Good find JR!

[Ibvee]

Crap, then it must be better then the TAC Matchless which replaced it!
But the TAC was automated. But that was long ago, when I was even more kid then I'm now.

Thanks for the reply man!

[drBill]

Originally Posted by Ibvee

Crap, then it must be better then the TAC Matchless which replaced it!

IMO, I'd say yes it was. Automation is sweet though....

[smail zack]

i ve got a D&R 4000 mkII from 1986.
there are problems with odd cracks in the mastermodul sometimes.
i bought it and transport it to my place right before, put it on stands and found an broken channel(pfl active all the time).
i took the ribbon cable off from this channel and played some music about the stereo ins; crack.....crack crack .......crack.
has anybody a idea of what the problem could be?!
thanks.

greetz from berlin,
schaltraum aufnahmestudio