Gear Gurus... Hidden Treasure or Ancient Junk?

[rockum]

Ok went up into the church attic (with permission of course) and started looking through the boxes of old audio stuff... Here's what I found:


Altec Lansing 1592 A (4 of them)

Altec Lansing 1569 A (2)

Altec Lansing 1567 A Mixer Amp (2)

Altec Lansing 684 A Mics (2)

Masco Mixer (full of tubes whatever it is)

Electrovoice Slimair II - mic that looks like a metal gun (2)

Unidentified mic that is about 22 inches long. Must be some sort of metallic boom mic. It looked like a ray gun from a 50's movie. I found "644" on it but that's all I know.

Shure Unidyne 55S mics (3) One of those old school chrome types that some people on the board use as an avatar.

Another one like the 55S but even bigger. About the size of a grapefruit.

Another Shure mic (same logo as 55S) but brown and very different shape about 10". No model number on it. It looks like a condenser mic. There is a little sticker that says impedance switch cover.

Turner Co. TR 26 Mic

Pentron Mic, really weird looking mic. It looks like a toy.

Several other bizarre mics with unusual cables and shapes.

One mic just looked like a 3 inch tall black cylinder without much if any sign of a hole for the sound to go in.

There was other weird stuff but was most of it. If it's not cool stuff it sure looks cool. lol

Any info appreciated... Thanks,
Rock

[rockum]

Another Shure mic (same logo as 55S) but brown and very different shape about 10". No model number on it. It looks like a condenser mic. There is a little sticker that says impedance switch cover.

Oh Crap... I think I plugged a ribbon mic into a phantom powered system... Isn't that always a no no? It looks just like this pic except it's brown. I found this picture researching the list above trying to ID the stuff.




Please tell me I didn't ruin it.

[Bastiaan]

I found this one here: http://www.oaktreeent.com/microphones.htm

Apearently an Electrovoice EV644

[mikelevitt]

The altec 1567s are good tube preamps. The shure ribbon mic is a good one, but you may have fried it with the phantom. The 1569s are power amps I think. The 1592 are crappy solid state preamps.

You should buy the whole mess, though. Buy it, buy it!

I wish I was in Miami at your church, maybe I should get religion!

Seriously, the 1567s are really worth having. The other stuff is probably not too valuable or great, but is worth having around!

Post some pics of the unidentified stuff and somebo0dy will know.....

Mike

[De chromium cob]

Originally posted by rockum
Oh Crap... I think I plugged a ribbon mic into a phantom powered system... Isn't that always a no no? It looks just like this pic except it's brown. I found this picture researching the list above trying to ID the stuff.

Please tell me I didn't ruin it.

Phantom will only hurt ribbon mics if the cable is wired incorrectly. You didnt ruin it.

[Wiggy Neve Slut]

Them mics look like weird ass things that u would poke and prod people with.,.. perhaps they were from roswell medical department or a futurisitc porn flick?

Wiggy

[rockum]

Ok after doing a little research...

Here are some mic pics that match what I found. (I got these pics at http://www.digitalvideo.com/mframe.htm - cool site. Tons of mic pics)




Mic on left

Pentron looks like mic on left

2 of these - one messed up

2 of these - Slimair models

3 of these

And one of these monsters - Shure 55


This may be the one without holes and somehow the top is somewhere in another box (called a pepper shaker mic)

Here's another "raygun" but the church's is chrome

I'll be posting pics of a couple of pieces of the actual gear when my friend brings over her digital camera.

Cheers,
Rock

[atticus]

Originally posted by rockum
Oh Crap... I think I plugged a ribbon mic into a phantom powered system... Isn't that always a no no? It looks just like this pic except it's brown. I found this picture researching the list above trying to ID the stuff.




Please tell me I didn't ruin it.

This mic is a Shure 315 (it's on the label, I'm no vintage mic genius). I have used them with fantastic results. I put one up on a 4x10 Bassman thru an Avalon pre and it really sang for a vintagy guitar sound. If I could find one I'd buy one in a heartbeat. Looks like you made a good find!

[adamcal]

This link

http://www.coolmicrophones.com/

may shed some light, or It may not, either way still a cool site.

[rockum]

Photos as promised...

The Shure 55S and 55

The Shure Ribbon Mic a little different that the chrome one pictured above, but it looks very similar.

Altec 1567A Mixing Amp Front

Altec 1567A Mixing Amp Back

Altec 1567A Mixing Amp Close Up

Ok how the heck do I use this Altec unit?


Rock

[Randall]

treasure chest, dont forget to count your blessings

[faeflora]

wow cool stuff! fun to look at! thanks!

[rockum]

... again any help on how to use the Altec unit as a mic pre amp would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

[faeflora]

I think you just strip some wires, slightly unscrew those screws, attach wires in a way that coincides with the labels, and scew those screws down on the wire.

[mikelevitt]

Well, I've been waiting for somebody else to answer this, since mine is in a different city than me right now, and it has been years since I connected it. You may want to put up a seperate post called "Can you help me hook up my Altec 1567" or something like that.

But anyway, here goes, from memory...

Basically, what you have here is a 4 channel preamp mixed to one output. There's no way to seperate the channel outputs on a stock unit, though I am sure an electronics whiz could do it.

I have only used mine as a single preamp with one mic, but if you wanted to submix 4 or 5 mics into a mono output it would work for that.

Anyway, you need to wire up a male XLR plug with some 2 conductor plus shield cable and leave as much wire hanging out as you think you need. About a foot should be fine.

Hook up the black to pin 2, the white to pin 3 and the shield to pin 1 of the XLR.

Now this is where my memory is fuzzy, so forgive me if I screw this up!

Make sure that there is a green 4722 transformer in the socket of the channel you are hooking up.

You'll notice that on the individual inputs there are 4 screws. #4 is the ground, so hook up the ground shield to this one. One of the other 3 is the neutral (white) hookup, and the other 2 are for the hot (black). Depending on which you choose the input impedance is either 38 or 150 ohms.

Here is where it gets more difficult. The screws 1, 2 and 3 are connected inside the unit to the pins 4, 5 and 6 of the transformer. You can unscrew and flip down the front cover, and try and figure out which wire is connected to which pin. If you pull out one of the transformers, you'll see a diagram on the side showing how it works.

You want to connect your white and black wires to the screws that lead to pins 4 and 6 of the transformer. If you reverse the black and white at this point, you are reversing the phase of the input.

And if you can't figure it out, just choose 2 screws and hook it up.

At this point, plug a DYNAMIC mic (and cord) into the XLR, and power up the unit. Put the master volume about 1/2 up, and talk into the mic and turn up the volume on channel 1. You should see the meter moving.

If it's not moving, try using different screws. You won't hurt anything. If you try all of the combinations, and it's still not working, try swapping transformers, or wiring up a different channel.

You won't hurt anything at this point.

Once you have level showing at the meters, it's time to wire up the output. I think that connecting screws 1 (hot) and 2 or 4 (ground) should give you an unbalanced output. But I can't remmeber for sure.

I would hook it up to something CHEAP that you can listen to (cassette, etc) and make sure you have signal, and that it sounds OK. At that point you have a preamp... You could possibly hurt something here, so make sure it is OK before you hook it up to your console or trape machine!

If you want the real story, try contacting www.vintageloop.com, as they have a business cleaning up and re-capping these units. They will probably try to talk you into having it serviced, but I would hook it up and try it first.

If you want to use a condensor mic, you'll need to get a phantom power supply, and put that in line before the preamp. Shure and AKG make boxes that you just plug the mic cord into.

Hope this helps!

Mike

[Beezoboy]

I just bought an Altec 1567a for $330 and a 1592a for $99.

Mine are in good condition, but I haven't hooked them up yet. I'll PM you when I get mine working. BTW, those 4722 transformers go for about $60 on E-bay if you decide you only need a pair.

I have the USER manual in .pdf format. PM me if you want me to send it to you. It tells you how to hook it up and stuff.

If you decide yours isn't working, vintage loop will do a complete overhaul of the 1567a for about $500. Since you got yours for free, this might be an option for you. The guy I spoke with said their turn around time is around 10 days.

Beez

[mikelevitt]

Here's a hookup guide for the 1567 from altec.

thanks to Beez who found this somewhere....

[ulysses]

Originally posted by rockum
Oh Crap... I think I plugged a ribbon mic into a phantom powered system... Isn't that always a no no?
Please tell me I didn't ruin it.

Does it still work? If so, you didn't ruin it. Even if it doesn't work, you probably aren't the one who ruined it. And a new ribbon only costs a hundred bucks or so anyway. The microphone is worth more than that.

There are two ways that phantom power can ruin a ribbon microphone. Both occur at the moment of plugging or unplugging the cable. One way is with a defective or mis-wired cable. The other is the unusual case of certain old microphones whose internal transformer had a grounded center tap. If you have one of those particular microphones, or a penchant for using defective cables, then be sure to turn off the P48 while plugging and unplugging mike cables.

[ulysses]

Originally posted by mikelevitt
Basically, what you have here is a 4 channel preamp mixed to one output. There's no way to seperate the channel outputs on a stock unit, though I am sure an electronics whiz could do it.

I can attest you don't have to be a real wiz to come up with discrete channel outputs, because I managed to do it. You do have to dig into it a little bit though. What I did was sacrifice inputs 2 and 4 to make outputs for channels 1 and 3. I simply rearranged the wiring around the transformer sockets and the tube stages, and turned two of the input into outputs. This leaves you with 2 inputs each having lots of gain and separate outputs, and a 3rd "Mix" output which has even more gain, hi and lo EQ, and a meter. You can still feed the 5th input (hi-Z line input) into the mix out. This won't be useful for everybody, but I find 2-into-2 much more useful than 4-into-1.

[mikelevitt]

Justin,

I would venture a guess that you're more of a wiz than most of us (having seen your web site).....

I would be interested in hearing more about what you did. Could you post it up here, or in the DIY section of your site?

If you can turn the 1567 into a 2 channel preamp, it would certainly make them twice as useful!

Mike

[rockum]

Justin,

I would venture a guess that you're more of a wiz than most of us (having seen your web site).....

I would be interested in hearing more about what you did. Could you post it up here, or in the DIY section of your site?

If you can turn the 1567 into a 2 channel preamp, it would certainly make them twice as useful!

Mike

Ditto

[juniorhifikit]

Originally posted by mikelevitt
Justin,

I would venture a guess that you're more of a wiz than most of us (having seen your web site).....

I would be interested in hearing more about what you did. Could you post it up here, or in the DIY section of your site?

If you can turn the 1567 into a 2 channel preamp, it would certainly make them twice as useful!

Mike

I have one of these and am also interested in that mod. I also have a Shure 315 ribbon that I got for free. It needs a new ribbon and I've never gotten around to having it done. Yours (as was mine) was probably ruined before you got it, as ribbons are kind of fragile. You're luck you have lots of transformers in your 1567. I only had one, and found another on Ebay.

[ulysses]

Originally posted by mikelevitt
I would be interested in hearing more about what you did. Could you post it up here, or in the DIY section of your site?

If you can turn the 1567 into a 2 channel preamp, it would certainly make them twice as useful!

I will try and post a complete assessment of what I did when I have some spare time (can you wait that long?). In the meantime I'll give you the rough idea. The two input channels that become output channels need to have their 4722 input transformer replaced with a 15095 (is that the right number? The red one used for output). The good news is that if you buy the 15095s and sell the 4722s on Ebay, you should at least break even. The 4722 is a 150:50k step-up transformer while the 15095 is a 15k:600 step-down transformer. They have almost the same pin-out though, so it's pretty easy to rewire the socket.
Beyond that, it's a simple matter of taking the wire that previously connected Channel 2's transformer to the tube grid, and move it so it instead connects the output of channel one's level pot to the tube grid. Then you take the capacitor that previously connected channel 2's tube plate to its level pot, and move it so that it connects the tube plate to the transformer socket. I didn't mess with the operating characteristics of the tube (so they may not be quite ideal for a 2nd stage) but I did remove the summing resistor that previously fed channel 2 into the main output. That's about all there is. I left out some detail I don't have in front of me such as which pin is what on the transformers, and if these details aren't clear to you by looking at the schematic then you shouldn't attempt this mod without further assistance. I'll try and write up a more thorough recipe sometime when I'm actuallly looking at a unit and/or a schematic. This is a simple enough mod that if you know how to follow a schematic and know which pins on a tube socket can kill you and which end of a transformer is the primary, you should be able to figure it out.

[mikelevitt]

Justin,

That's very cool, and very simple. How does it sound?

I think this is a good time to remind everybody that there are really dangerous voltages inside this unit, even when it is turned off! Enough to kill you, so be careful!

Thanks for this info!

Mike

[Beezoboy]

Justin. . .

From what I understand each tube stage puts it through more amplification. So thats why you can get something like 86db of gain from this unit. The way you have it aren't you cutting out 2 gain stages? Are you bypassing the EQ and last stage?

It seems like if you do this you'd only be getting 30db to 40db tops out of the first stage.

Beez

[juniorhifikit]

Thanks Justin. I think I may even have those transformers in a drawer somewhere.

[juniorhifikit]

On a side note, is anyone interested in some Ampex 350 mono tube tape machine electronics? They have nice mic pre's in them, and a power supply built in (unlike the 351's). I have six of them.

scott@juniorhifikit.com