How do I know what Radio Shack stuff to snag?

[YOUR KONG]

I believe in the power of Radio Shack. I believe it when TapeOppers and like-minded musicians tout the virtues of underappreciated and underpriced pieces of gear.

But, here's my question - since I'm slowly putting together and upgrading my studio piece by piece (I'm new to all this), how do I know which Le Shack gear is a hidden gem and which is crap better left on the rack?

Should I just grab anything and everything I see? Buy stuff at random and cross my fingers? Examine the specs in detail??

Thanks!

[dynomike]

I work at radioshack. If you can find any optimus shielded bookshelf speakers... I don't know if they make them anymore. They weigh a ton and sound pretty good. They used them at a studio where I worked part time for checking mixes and tracking vocals, actually!

I hear the old radioshack pzm's used to be pretty good. The new ones aren't as good though. What can ya do.

mike

[wenzel.hellgren]

the little realistic reverb unit is cool, you can plug one output into one input and generate some weird feedback tones. the pitch changes with the reverb time.

Radioshack used to sell some good mics that were made by Sure and some drum mics made by audio Technica (I think?) but sold for a lot less money.

[littlebrothersclothes]

You can't snag one new, of course, but the Realistic/RadioShack-badged Moog (MG-1 - sort of a cross between a Rogue and Opus 3) is a great deal if you need a "Moog" but can't afford the name.

Doug

[Harvey Gerst]

I had forgotten about that one. I wrote the manual for that thing, and even got praised for it by Bob Moog himself.

[provide86]

Radio Shack used to sell a moog? what's the formal name for the thing?

[Rodgre]

Radio Shack used to sell a moog? what's the formal name for the thing?

The Realistic MG-1 by Moog Music.



I have two of them and I love them dearly.

Roger

[EasyGo]

I've been meaning to spring for one of those Radio Shack multimeters.

[chemicalpink]

I got a teenie radio shack multi meter it folds up and you can put it in
your pocket, it has auto shut off so if you get a little "funny" you don't
have to buy a shit ton of batteries, I had it in my pocket one day when
me and partner were in a jam, I pulled it out and said "man when did
i turn into such a pathetic geek" and the old pzm's were the poo
you can cut of the 1/4" and put on a xlr, the fricken' 3rd wire is already
there. but you can't find them, but I can make them but I might get
sued by crown or some shit.

[Randy]

I had forgotten about that one. I wrote the manual for that thing, and even got praised for it by Bob Moog himself.

Everybody, it's Harvey Gerst! Thanks for showing up to the TapeOp board. I didn't know you wrote that manual. Trying not to sound too much like a simpering fanboy, you did a great job on that manual for the MG-1. It really got across the basics of sound synthesis in a musician's way of understanding things.

[Harvey Gerst]

Well, I had worked for Roland before that, so I had a pretty good knowledge of synths. It's been about 25 years since I did that manual, but I remember doing a patch for the high female voice sound that does the opening section of the original Star Trek TV show. I thought it came damn close.

Like most analog synths, the big problem was explaining to people that it's very easy to get NO SOUNDS from a synth.

[Randy]

I don't know if they still make them, but the parametric EQ box is great in the sidechain of a compressor. The actual sound of the eq is not used in the chain, it only acts as a controller. It can also get some nasty extreme sort of noisy EQ going if you want that sort of thing.

I have a Realistic Hiball mic. It was my first mic that had XLR connectors. I haven't used it in over a decade. I keep trying it on stuff hoping it will work. I almost used it on a snare once, but a crystal mic beat it out. ouch.

One guy I met at the Analouge Heaven Midwest convention found a Radio Shack piezo-electric buzzer that when taken apart can be used as a decent contact microphone. He had it on a brass bowl and it sounded great.

The Radio Shack megaphone is great for oh-so-many things. It is black and has a keypad on it. There is a picture of mine on this web page: http://www.lungcookierecords.com

[Randy]

Like most analog synths, the big problem was explaining to people that it's very easy to get NO SOUNDS from a synth.

That was the thing that made me read the manual. I kept "breaking it." Being the type who considers manuals a waste of time because they never explain anything anyways, I was surprised to find out that this one was actually useful, and beyond that, something I could refer to later on.

Did you get any death threats from the manual maker mafia after that one?

[pandafresh]

i have a mic i got from RS years! ago..
"optimus unidirectional microphone 33-3017"
its a small diaphram condensor. it requires a battery and has an on/off/stand by swtich.. i love this thing on female voice,[for that breathy-ness] acoustic guitar, and drum over head. hell. i like to mic my electric guitar [no plug it] with it even.
hell i just love this thing.. it just sounds so focused.. and 40$ !! im not sure if you can get them at RS anymore though. it was like. 3 or 4 years ago.

-trevor
www.pandatone.com

[Rodgre]

I can;t believe no one has mentioned the original PZM mic yet.

I have half a dozen of those!

Roger