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

[nestle]

I know people don't have a high opinion of the Joe Meek stuff but I sort of am addicted to the joe meek eq plug for brightness. Basically for crack in a snare or air in a vocal I seem to really like like what the hi EQ does. It's cool how you really hear a dramatic effect, it's not subtle. But it is a one trick thing-

Anyway, I got curious so I bought a old VC3 on ebay for $129 bucks to see if the hardware does the same thing. I haven't got it yet but I started looking at the new stuff online and I noticed it's all made in China, but the one I bought was made in the UK- whats up with that?

I know the Meek legacy but what in the world does this gear have to do with the man?

can anybody illuminate me?

[New Orleans Steve]

Well it seems the people who own the rights on the name ?Joe Meek? and the people who owned the rights to the gear are not the same. Between the two of them and the former USA distributor they had a falling out somewhere.
The original line, or the last incarnation of the old line was made in the U.K. mostly and was / is offered by ?Fletcher Electrocustics? or some such. It looks like the former distributor and the folks that actually own the rights to the Meek name got together to squeeze out Fletcher, the folks that actually designed and made the gear.
The new line was, and may still be vaporware. It looks like it is taking forever. I liked the older line. It was not the most Hi Fi, but you could defiantly hear it!

New Orleans Steve

temp. site www.frenchmenstreetrecords.com

[nestle]

what is vaporwear?

[rhythm ranch]

Here's an old thread that includes a response from Alan Hyatt, owner of PMI Audio, regarding the Joe Meek/Ted Fletcher/PMI saga.

[New Orleans Steve]

Meek
That old thread makes an interesting reed in hindsight. It looks as though some of the messages have been deleted, as they don?t really flow.

Nestle, Vaporware is when there is such a delay in a product arriving in the marketplace that it exists only in printed material or prototype stage.
The ?New? Joe meek line has been exhibited at AES for the last 2 years and the web sight states it will now really ship soon. I could be confused, in fact there may different models with different timelines.

The guy from PMI is about like that in person. I meet him or some of his staff and they immediately started knocking several other companies right off the bat. I just seemed like this was ?business? as usual for these guys.
I hope TF Pro weathers this and continues.

Steve

[cgarges]

Ted Fletcher designed the original Joemeek line. He was apparently a friend and/or student of Joe Meek's. (I'm not positive about the exact relationship.) Ted decided to start building gear based largely on Joe Meek's asthetic--that compression should be heard and used dramatically--and to some extent, Meek's designs. Meek built much of his own gear and was an early advocate of using large amounts of compression to alter the tone of a source.

There was an excellent issue of EQ magazine sometime around 1995 that covered much of the Joe Meek story and profiles some of the Ted Fletcher (no relation to Fletcher of Mercenary Audio) Joemeek (one word) gear. I'll try to find it and see what else I can dig up.

I remember that TF/PMI thread. That got ugly.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

[aurelialuz]

what is vaporwear?

http://messageboard.tapeop.com/viewtopic.php?t=21117

[rhythm ranch]

what is vaporwear?

http://messageboard.tapeop.com/viewtopic.php?t=21117

But I have the feeling it'll be worth the wait.

[cgarges]

Nice!

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

[nestle]

like said I'm pretty aware of the Joe Meek story as far as the man, but does anybody like the gear at all? the compressor looks pretty sexy but I am not sure how it sounds, never used it except fot the plug and thats if-y-
I can't imagine the components at to good for that price point,but i'm curious-
[/i]

[cgarges]

UTFSF!

Actually, it's been discussed here a bit, but not in a while. I have used the VC3, the VC6Q, and the VC1. I like them, but they're pretty specific-sounding pieces.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

[rolandk]

Theres a book about Joe Meek:

http://www.powells.com/cgi-bin/biblio?i ... 31140081-0

[johnny7]

That book is fascinating. The track by track info on 'I Hear A New World" is worth the price of admission.

It , of course, has nothing to do with the Joemeek line. I have the British channel and run an NTK through it. It is the best thing that I own (that I can afford) for tracking my vocals. I am planning on buying a Hamptone as soon as I jack the corner store...

[Vartan K.]

try to find the October issue of SOUND ON SOUND. some good writing about meek and other "fathers of invention".

[BrianK]

I don't know if anyone's paid attenion, but the name used is joemeek (one word) not the guy's name, as he likely had little to do with the design of these products, being dead.

Could you call your company lespaul or billputnam - what IS the real connection? I'd like to see someone discuss how they got the designs - as Joe's compressors were not really like these, and his mic pre's were not his own design, but an EMI. No one can afford to build them like he did (and he had several modded British and American units as well). Just curious how his name got used...