Esthetically your favorite piece of gear.

calaverasgrandes · Post by **calaverasgrandes** » Wed Feb 13, 2008 11:44 am

I'm old enough to remember(and prefer) VU meters. But I suppose it is the gear whore in me that just loves lots and lots of LEDs. I kind of prefer the red leds because they look more evil. And if metal has taught us anything, you cant get evil sounds unless you look the part. But blue, yellow green are all good too. In fact the only place I dont like LEDs is behind tubes (cough ...behringer). But seriously, those emu rack units are SOOOO ugly. there is one in particular that trumps them all. I cant remember the name but its the "latin" module. It has the cheesiest font for the logo. Basically if Dennys had mexican food items, this would be the font used to display them.
That and the whole annoyingly curved fascia around the LCD. It just reminds me of the art direction in Mirror Mask.

helmuth · Post by **helmuth** » Wed Feb 13, 2008 12:29 pm

calaverasgrandes wrote:
when I had one of these that was my coolest looking, and HEAVIEST piece of gear. I think the front panel is 3/4 inch thick stainless? Pretty sure it would stop a 45 magnum.

It does! Apparently it saved Marky Ramone's life as he ducked behind one during a Spector pre production session of the album 'End of the Century'.

weatherbox · Post by **weatherbox** » Wed Feb 13, 2008 12:52 pm

Marcocet wrote:
Fact. I almost forgot how ugly those focusrite green's are. They always looked a little too Jurassic Park for me. That MoPhatt is pretty wicked though. I might buy into that just to spice my rack up a little.

-marc alan goodman

I've heard 'bout some of the stuff you've been picking up. Sounds like that rack needs no spicing at all. Unless I've heard incorrectly, it sounds... amazing.

pk · Post by pk » Wed Feb 13, 2008 1:08 pm

I don't own any of the items in my "top sexy gear" list, but have seen in person or photos....

Federal compressor (army green with the big red knob)....I'll take 12 of those please.
Most of the old Altec stuff
Most of the old Ampex pres
Most of the UA lineup, even the re-issues out now look rather sexy compared to what's out there
Helios, EMI, Trident, Neve, API and Studer mixing consoles (I don't find SSL's that sexy)
Vintage broadcast consoles, vintage UA consoles

In the new stuff, not much really, there's lots of ugly designs and colors goin' around, but...

Chandler stuff (Zener, TG Mixer, etc.)....very sexy, imo
UA, as mentioned, an honorable mention
Groove Tubes Supre, although still new on the market, has a simple, elegant and sexy design about it

Now with the ugly designs, heck why not mention a few of those to make comparisons fair (subjective I know....)

-RME interfaces
-Avalon (some will argue, but I find them soooo sterile looking, like the 80's black leather couch/glass coffee table/Nagel paintings of audio equipment; ubiquitous and just so.....bland)
-Presonus stuff
-True preamps
-Focusrite ISA line, actually most Focusrite stuff is darn ugly
-Peavey, amps, mixers....yuk.

could go on and on....

shedshrine · Post by **shedshrine** » Mon Dec 29, 2008 6:35 pm

Several mentions of the old Altec stuff. Thought this might be a nice one to post. Somebody in Japan bought it. Wish I'd saved the write up on it.

and here's a sweet Ampex model 351 stereo mixdown deck..

curtiswyant · Post by **curtiswyant** » Mon Dec 29, 2008 6:39 pm

I love the old brown Tascam stuff. Very colorful. And a 388 with all the VU lights working (a rarity)!

calaverasgrandes · Post by **calaverasgrandes** » Mon Dec 29, 2008 7:14 pm

shedshrine wrote:Several mentions of the old Altec stuff. Thought this might be a nice one to post. Somebody in Japan bought it. Wish I'd saved the write up on it.

When I did AV in high school I was the only one that could figure out how to get all of the PA to work in the auditorium. It looked like that but with more amps. i think it had the same center panel as that.
Got to do sound for Jesse Jackson when I was 16!
I would REALLY like to know what that big thing in the middle is with the faders.

joel hamilton · Post by **joel hamilton** » Mon Dec 29, 2008 7:48 pm

pk wrote: Federal compressor (army green with the big red knob)....I'll take 12 of those please.
..

I think mine is the only one like that. It is custom. The red RCA knobs are from an old RCA mixing console. The green is custom paint.

;ivlunsdystf · Post by **;ivlunsdystf** » Mon Dec 29, 2008 9:10 pm

vvv wrote:

I quit

David Piper · Post by **David Piper** » Mon Dec 29, 2008 10:12 pm

Did anyone mention Space Echo's? I know they're not really 'rack' gear, but I think they look cool. In a sort of retro, trying to be futuristic way.

shedshrine · Post by **shedshrine** » Mon Dec 29, 2008 11:02 pm

David Piper wrote:Did anyone mention Space Echo's? I know they're not really 'rack' gear, but I think they look cool. In a sort of retro, trying to be futuristic way.

Cool looking Counterfeit remastered white album. Tell me again why the most influential rock albums of alltime haven't yet been remastered?
(Yellow submarine, no. 1's, and love quasi albums notwithstanding)
EDIT: link to Larry Crane reports THE Beatles' CDS Get Remastered!"

Custom TapeOp guitar for, um, indie shred..

calaverasgrandes · Post by **calaverasgrandes** » Tue Dec 30, 2008 5:31 am

because the Beatles are overrated, like most boomer music.

shedshrine · Post by **shedshrine** » Tue Dec 30, 2008 7:02 am

calaverasgrandes wrote:because the Beatles are overrated, like most boomer music.

from AllMusic:
"The Beatles continued their solo careers throughout the 1980s, but their releases became less frequent, and their commercial success gradually diminished as listeners without first-hand memories of the combo created their own idols."

Sean Sullivan · Post by **Sean Sullivan** » Tue Dec 30, 2008 7:23 am

I loved the way my CharterOak SA538 looked, very classy.

Those big knobs on Universal Audio preamps and that big purple light always bring a smile to my face.

casey campbell · Post by **casey campbell** » Wed Dec 31, 2008 8:21 am

if i must say so for myself, the pedals i make :

this is particular one is a synth pedal and overdrive.

labor intensive, but tough...

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Esthetically your favorite piece of gear.

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