what is the story/history with the Joe Meek gear?

[alanhyatt]

The Joemeek company (Fletcher Electroacoustics Ltd) allowed Mr Hyatt to distribute the product in the Americas. He even suggested some ideas for products and did a fine job of marketing until 2001.
As for the quality of my designs, as Alan so rightly says, it's all there to hear.

This is an interesting comment Ted. I wonder if you care to eloborate Patrick Pinks position with Joe Meek. As for your allowing me to distribute your products. Perhaps you forgot I was courted by Malcolm Jackson's son's roomate to sell your Compressor in the USA at AES in 1985. If you recall, after I sold some 20 units for you, you asked me to be the USA distributor. The way you put it, "allowed" me to distribute the products sounds like you were offering me some bread crumbs. You know I did way more than suggesting some ideas.

I don't know what direction you want this thread to take Ted, as it is publically known my lawsuit against you, so if you wish to lie about my product ideas, financial backing, and more, then this could get very ugly. So, where do you want this to go Ted?

[supafuzz]

I hear a new world..."smile when you sing that pardner"

[h.bilerman]

mr hyatt...

in the course of your posts here, you have discredited the connection between joe meek "the man" & joemeek the audio toys. you have belittled mr fletcher & the quality of his designs & his company's products. yet, for several years, you ran very agressive ad campaigns in various US trade mags trying to hawk the aforementioned products, and probably also profitted quite a bit from your involvement with these (now admittedly) "sub-par" units. so, which side of the fence are you on? the years of praising the virtues of these green boxes at every trade show from san francisco to new york, or this revisioninst thinking that the whole lot was crap? in any case, here you are again agressively pitching the "new & improved" joemeek stuff, and while i'm sure you have made imrovements to the line, i dare say, you can only fool someone once. anyhow, it's never fun to see 2 grown men fight, so maybe you should save your ted fletcher mudslinging for the courtroom, huh?

hb

[alanhyatt]

HB,

Your opinion of this does not offend me, yet you have no knowledge of the inner workings of my relationship with Mr. Fletcher or his products, nor my contribution to FEL/Joemeek to comment either way.

Are you an American or British? That may help me understand your comments a bit more. Anyway, I am sorry this has offended you, but unless you know what happend, I can understand your opinion.

As for saving it for the court, that is not necessary. I already won the lawsuit. Ted Fletcher has signed and admitted to everything I have accused him of. Settlement details are ongoing. Sometimes the truth hurts.

[nacho459]

Here's a little known fact about Joe Meek. When he recorded people's vocal tracks, he always asked them to "smile" while they sang. Seriously.

Don't ask me how I know this.

One of the first sessions I sat in on was a choir over dub, the producer kept saying through the talk back, "Remember to smile it shows up on the tape!" And it really does! Since then I have used this trick with less than professional singers, it helps with diction and brightens up the voice.

[h.bilerman]

?meet the new boss, same as the old boss?

i don't see why my nationality makes any difference in this matter, but i am canadian, for what that's worth.

my point is, somewhere in the PMI bank accounts, sits some pennies from all the people who were duped into buying these ?touched by the hand of god? (graphic from one of your old ad campaigns) boxes. Now, you have let the world know that they paid good money for something that, in your opinion, was not that good. So what currency does your word have today? Why should people believe you again, when you have successfully discredited yourself?

I find your new sales tactic very odd. To borrow your much used analogy; you certainly never heard anyone at BMW talk shit about the original MINI COOPERS? So what good can possibly come from discrediting the lineage of the line you are now trying to sell? You have spent lots of time & money getting the joemeek name out there, and now you are saying that it was all built on products that were not well made. Seems like all you have succeeded in doing is pissing off your client base. So, now you do offer trade-ins, but it seems like there will be more money involved in this transaction. So why should anyone fork over another cent to someone who has knowingly profited from selling equipment that, by his own admission, wasn?t what the ads claimed it was?

you're right, i don't know any of the inner workings of anything. all i know is, as a person why buys gear, i don't like hearing (from the guy who was pimping the gear in the first place) that it wasn't really all that good.


hb

[slimjw]

I'll tell you what bugs me - That Hyatt and Fletcher both seem to be able to smell out these threads on message groups and pretty soon the posts turn into a pissing match over who did what, who owns what, etc... Maybe it's interesting to folks who haven't already seen the back and forth and read the dirt ad nauseum, but to me it is old fucking hat.

If the new Meek stuff is so great, where is it? Get it out to the public and let the people decide. I hope it is good, but keep the legal minutae out of it. Am I the only one who thinks it's weird when the owner of the company always has to post SOMETHING about setting the record straight? Maybe I sound like a grouch, but I think it crosses a line into tacky and then the thread goes from being informative to becoming fodder for the music biz gossip machine. Boring.

My 2 cents.

[Rolsen]

Its none of my business what deeds or misdeeds were conducted throughout the history of JoeMeek company, and frankly I don't give a shit!I'm just grateful that we have things available like Studio Projects C-1s and Joe Meek 3Qs for at or under the $200 mark. For $400, I damn-near doubled the quality of my recordings (humble setup, if you haven't guessed). Unless this company uses forced child labor to construct their products, or its found that the use of which causes cancer, I will care not about who said what to whom. So there.

[supafuzz]

the bottom line is that all this stuff has NOTHING WHATSOEVER TO DO WITH JOE MEEK THE PRODUCER...

I think it's all about advertising savvy and now revisionist history....

This is a very sophisticated board [ok sometimes it is] but you have a group of people who have been burned in the past with gear advertising claims and are now pretty sensitive to BULLSHIT...

It's like the early 90's when every piece of gear touted ENDLESS POSSIBILITIES...I don't want endless possibilities I want specific gear that does a specific job well..well made and not too crazy expensive and not a million knobs.

Don't do yourself a disservice here and air your dirty laundry...

I think we need gear that's designed to Joe MEEks original gear....
Not something where the name is pasted on it....like JIMI Hendrix golf balls

over and out

[h.bilerman]

i agree with you supafuzz...

the joemeek stuff always struck me as "swiss-army knife" gear. it can do a lot...if you need a fork & you are lost in the wilderness, it's handy....but do you really want to use that pair of scissors over the solid & dedicated pair of scissors you have at your desk?

but this is why i stopped reading trade magazines. most of the gear out there seems to have way more money behind the advertisiing than the actual R&D....that is if there is any R&D! most stuff is just branded. you'll never find a critical review in any trade magazine....the best they can do is "doesn't sound good on everything, but it does on some things".

anyhow, the fact that the joemeek gear has nothing to do with joe meek the man is pretty funny...and sad...

hb

[alanhyatt]

Touchy...aren't we.....

[supafuzz]

Touchy...aren't we.....

I guess that means I'm off the beta testing list?

[Ted Fletcher]

Do you know; I really enjoy my work. Analogue design nowadays is becoming an art rather than a science, and if a few people appreciate my work then so much the better.
If anyone has any serious questions about the story/history of Meek the man, the early Company or the older designs, which is what this thread is supposed to be about, then I will try to answer them.

[lobstman]

I find it intersting that Mr. Hyatt feels that the best way to promote his product is to sling mud in the direction of Mr. Fletcher. However, although I am not privvy to the financials of PMI it seems that Mr. Hyatt's sales tactics are generally succesful, so I must tip my hat in his direction- success speaks for itself, after all.

I would suggest to both him and Mr. Fletcher to do your homework a bit before charging onto a messageboard and airing your dirty laundry. Tapeop is a bit different than Gearslutz or rec.audio.pro (just to name two examples)- the "vibe" around here is generally more respectful and focuses more on the creative than other audio boards/groups. Personally, I find that reading about X's lawsuit against Y sours my impression of both parties (unless we're talking about Behringer)- and really, how does a court decision affect the sound of gear?

If either of you gentlemen wish to share your experiences/opinions about creative music recording (read the top of the page), I'd be very interested in reading it. If all either of you are interested in is promoting your products or rehashing your lawsuit, I don't think you'll be accorded much credibility around here.

$.02

[New Orleans Steve]

Hay Alan,

Can you please save some of those ?Old? Meeks for me? I for one, would be much more interested in trying some of that line (the ones that I have not) than the ?New? stuff.
I?ve used the ?MeekQ? and want 1 or 2. It would be interesting to run one of these against any new design you are likely to come up with.
I tried a comparison of the EQ section of a new unit vs. the old VC 1q. Despite being hammered by someone in the booth about how much better the new one was, I didn't think so.

Steve