fairchild 660

[wez]

you won't be sourcing 6386s, Manley stopped using them years ago when they become too hard to find, let alone match. i wonder if you could have a cheeky look at the Var-mu T-Bar mod, it is their creative solution to replicating the 6386 issue.

barney, check your PMs.

[rob]

there is no way i'd be building a new unit using obsolete and almost impossible to get / afford tubes. Especially when the unit doesn't need just one of them but four per channel.

6BA6 is the best solution. If you really want to get close to one of the fundamental design quirks of the fairchild you need eight of them per channel!

Rob

[otto ruiter]

there is no way i'd be building a new unit using obsolete and almost impossible to get / afford tubes. Especially when the unit doesn't need just one of them but four per channel.

I tried to get some 6386 tubes about 3 years ago and the best I could find was NOS from Florida at US$70 ea. Ouch.

Otto

[heathen]

I guess that's why Pendulum brought out the ES8 as well, there are quite a few Pendulum 6386 out there, I'd be stocking up on tubes too if I owned 1.

[no-fi]

I'm going to contact Tortech.com.au with the specs, so if anyone else is interested post here or pm me. There is also another guy i'm going to get a quote from but they aren't toroids. Other than that haven't sorted any more parts.

I'm very interested.

I'm also chatting with the EU groupbuy bloke.... so going with him is a possibility if a 2-off custom transformer wind is too expensive.... I would see if I could use my work's shipping account to send it (them??), though the cost of that would be hard to work out in advance...I'd just have to use it, and pay the bill for it when I got it.

Also - it seems edcor are doing a non-torroid power transformer... but no solid specs yet - would be handy to be able to order all the audio transformers and the power transformer together and reduce shipping!

how are your local quotes coming along?

[David W]

Is there any word on how this unit sounds. Whilst I'd love to have a crack at building it I just can't see myself sinking so much monet into something no one has heard before.

[rob]

at the risk of seeming like a gratuitous @#$%

this is what i've been working on today

Rob :)

[astrovic]

Rob, that does tend to explain why, in the space of less than a week, you went from asking about schems to commenting on specific valves! :)

But you gotta love a piece of gear that gets it own rack!

[Chris H]

at the risk of seeming like a gratuitous @#$%

this is what i've been working on today

Rob :)

Holly frigin grail...............you gratuitous @#$%!!!

Thanks for posting this. It's good to see some Locals getting this sort of work and 1st hand experience. Any details on their history?

[no-fi]

haha!! OK, you totally win at this thread.
:-)

....unless somebody with four 670s wants to post up a picture of themselves?

[no-fi]

Is there any word on how this unit sounds. Whilst I'd love to have a crack at building it I just can't see myself sinking so much monet into something no one has heard before.

There was a couple of wave files in a thread, somewhere. A piano piece recorded raw, and then processed with the unit set to "squish" mode.... I really liked what it did.

that said... now that there's at least 3 complete prototype units out there, some more test files would be nice.

[rob]

these babies have been hanging around the workshop for a while now, and have provided a fair opporunity to get to know them. This week was the time to pop them into the shockmount road cases, each with it's own stepdown transformer and 110V power conditioner with bling reading lamps built in. Just need the vented blanking panels now. And, I'm very happy they are on wheels !

history....one was found in a shed where it had been sitting around for the past 20 odd years. The one on my left ( your right! ) had Marvin Gaye's "Sexual Healing" mixed through it. I certainly know i 'had wood' the whole time it was in the workshop.

now you should see what's coming up on the bench next!

Rob

[heathen]

I wonder how many sheds there are out there with great vintage gear hidden away? Wish I could find a shed like that.

Just amazing whats out there.

Whats up next ????

[rob]

unfortunately there are less and less sheds like this out there

you can blame the internet and google

before the internet it was pretty hard for joe smuck to have any way of knowing if what was in the shed was worth anything at all.

now people just google it and fall off their chairs when they find this whole world of people climbing over each other and paying large slabs of money for the old junk in the shed. And, this is good for them....if they have a fairchild in the shed why shouldn't they get 25 grand for it.

Even 10 years ago i recall getting the odd phone call that would go along the lines of:
" My dad died a couple of months ago and we are cleaning out his stuff. There are a two microphones there and i'm wondering if they are worth anything"
Sure i'd say, do they a name or model number on them?
" umm yes, they are newmans "
Is that spelt N E U M A N N ?
"Yes, that's right, and it says U67 on them too, oh they are in these boxes and there are some cables and tin boxes with them...i'm not sure what they are for" do you think i could get like a hundred dollars for them?"

These conversations certainly happened every now and then in the past, pretty rarely these days

oh...and for the record...i didn't and wouldn't take advantage of someone in this situation, i would always give a fair price, the owner would be blown away with the profit they made and sure i'd get a good bargain, but always fair.

Rob

[TimS]

unfortunately there are less and less sheds like this out there

you can blame the internet and google

before the internet it was pretty hard for joe smuck to have any way of knowing if what was in the shed was worth anything at all.

now people just google it and fall off their chairs when they find this whole world of people climbing over each other and paying large slabs of money for the old junk in the shed. And, this is good for them....if they have a fairchild in the shed why shouldn't they get 25 grand for it.

Even 10 years ago i recall getting the odd phone call that would go along the lines of:
" My dad died a couple of months ago and we are cleaning out his stuff. There are a two microphones there and i'm wondering if they are worth anything"
Sure i'd say, do they a name or model number on them?
" umm yes, they are newmans "
Is that spelt N E U M A N N ?
"Yes, that's right, and it says U67 on them too, oh they are in these boxes and there are some cables and tin boxes with them...i'm not sure what they are for" do you think i could get like a hundred dollars for them?"

These conversations certainly happened every now and then in the past, pretty rarely these days

oh...and for the record...i didn't and wouldn't take advantage of someone in this situation, i would always give a fair price, the owner would be blown away with the profit they made and sure i'd get a good bargain, but always fair.

Rob

So true..
BTW, great shot Rob - those fairchilds look awesome in their floating racks..
Did you do the racks as well??
Tim..

[Chris H]

...snip......

...........now you should see what's coming up on the bench next!

Rob

Ok.......more info please...........at least throw out a hint.......the big "N" or something?

[rob]

well.. i was sort of kidding

but... there is a certain AWA unit lurking, that i'd rate right up there with the Fairchilds

and then there this incredible looking thing that the model # starts with LA...but isn't followed by a 2, 3, or 4.....

all in good time, team

Rob

[Chris H]

OK, guessing time... the certain AWA unit was not designed in Australia and was made for export, sort of...... the other unit is a teletronics LA1?? not many of them around.

[Barney Loveland]

Wow, now that's the REAL deal. What a great learning opportunity.

On the power trannie side of things, there is an Edcor group buy that is very well priced. One power trannie is about $56US or the whole package including PSU trannie, and 8 audio is $77.36US with $40US shipping for up to three packs!!!!

[rob]

oooo Chris, so close it's scary

Rob

[no-fi]

On the power trannie side of things, there is an Edcor group buy that is very well priced. One power trannie is about $56US or the whole package including PSU trannie, and 8 audio is $77.36US with $40US shipping for up to three packs!!!!

thanks for the pointer! thats an awesome deal, cause pretty much everyone doing this build has to buy the edcor transformers, anway.... but I don't think that $77.36 includes the power transformer... (it's a $33 saving on the cost of the audio transformers alone, though)

the guy who organised that deal is also behind the US torroidal transformer buy, and got a little snippy with someone who asked about the edcor PSU transformer in his audio transformer deal thread... there's some cryptic-ish instructions in that thread about just noting your order for the audio transformers on that thread, but then if you want any "other transformer" from edcor, you do not mention it in the thread, just in the email you also have to send...

[Barney Loveland]

Ahh yes, the details. Whoops missed that one, well I guess i'll be checking the local toroidal guy after all.

[no-fi]

Hey Barney!

well, I'm about --><-- THIS close to ordering the edcor PSU transformer with the audio transformers - as it's going to travel for free with my audio transformers.... and it's cheaper in $$ than any other option to begin with.... Wheras any other international transformer option is going to be expensive to ship.... So - probably going to pull the trigger this week... have you had any luck with local availability for the transformer yet?

[rob]

just finished the final touches to this baby today



AWA 2G58250, from 1961, Australian made

this is one hell of limiter, fixed attack and release with a single, dual ( auto release ) and agc ( slow attack, slow release ) modes. Excellent controls for tube balancing which is a must in vari-mu to ensure no thumping. Noise floor -62dBu unweighted, max output level > +28dBm, freq response -0.5dB at 17Hz and 50kHz, distortion 0.03%.
Pretty much eats the fairchild!!
This is the third one of these i've restored over the past couple of years ( and there is one more lerking around the corner ). I'd have to say that once they are fully refurbished that they would be, hands down be one of the best performing vari-mu's ever made.

Rob

[TimS]

No wonder I couldn't get through to you today...
;-}

[jkhuri44]

AWA 2G58250

what's wrong with early audio designers, didnt they have words like:

.....AWA "Decimator"

i suppose they spent too much time designing the things to give em cool names, haha

[rob]

nah you couldn't get through 'cause i took the afternoon off and went to the city. I had an invoice from a government department for stamp duty on a business transfer. It was for 60 cents...and they don't take credit card or direct transfer only over the counter payments. So an hour of time, car parking etc etc to hand over 60 ferking cents!!!

R

[TimS]

nah you couldn't get through 'cause i took the afternoon off and went to the city. I had an invoice from a government department for stamp duty on a business transfer. It was for 60 cents...and they don't take credit card or direct transfer only over the counter payments. So an hour of time, car parking etc etc to hand over 60 ferking cents!!!

R

I would a posted them the coinage in 5c pieces...

[heathen]

Ummmmmmm Wow! Those are awesome specs and looks great.

[heathen]

Farout all that for 60c, I hate days like that.