Spectra Sonics 20 Channel Console (Vintage)

Product Description

Spectra Sonics Console History:

This incredible vintage console from Spectra Sonics was built in the late 1960s for use at the Grand Ole Opry, home to the storied country radio program. Eventually, the legendary music institution moved the desk into one of their mobile units so that it could be used for recording outside the auditorium. For the past several years, the Spectra Sonics console has found its home in Studio B of Fairfax Recordings (formerly Sound City Studios), where it has been used by studio owner Kevin Augunas for work with Lenny Kravitz, among many other projects for his own record label.

Spectra Sonics Specs:

All the mic pres are Model 110s, those are all in cards behind the meter bridge. The busses are also 110s. Across the front, there are meters for both busses because there are two busses, there is a stereo program buss and one echo send and one queue and there are meters for all of them. Your fader level controls the level to both buss one and buss two and you can go to both busses at the same time.

One of the mods that was done, because this was originally a mono board, put a dual concentric knob where the echo send is, so that the lower is a pan pot and the upper is still the single send. It’s the same level on that knob to both queue sends and echo sends. Buss switches all away at the top, there is a line or mic switch, which is physically a different wire on the board, so you can have line inputs.

There is a master bypass for each EQ on the board, the top end is right around 10K and the low end is around 100 Hz. Below that is the echo send and pan pot and below that are the faders. On each of the busses, there is a buss EQ that is inline and the only way to get to it is to use one of the busses.

Frequency points, there are three bands, on the high you can do 2.5, 3.5, 5, 7.5 or 10k, +12 -12 in steps of 2dB each. The mid there is 500, 800, 1.2, 1.6, 2.0K, +12 -12 in steps of 2dB each. On the low band, it’s 50, 100, 200, 300, 400 hz, +12 -12. Each of the bands are individually bypassable, those are the switches that are under the EQs. You can turn the 50hz selection on the lowest band into a shelving EQ, as well as you can the 10K shelf on the highest band.

There is a master for the echo send, two echo returns and an echo return master than return to the stereo buss. Top right corner, there is the echo send high pass filter, which are usually off, but you have a choice of 70, 100, 150, 250, 500, 1K, 2K, 3K, 5K and 7.5K and the same frequencies for the house high-pass filter. The house high-pass filter isn’t in line with anything, it’s usually strapped across the mono main buss, but we pulled it out and put it on a patch point.

All the way to the right, there is a control room level mute, dim talk back functionality.

You have 20 inputs into 2 busses with two sends and the additional stereo buss that you are always assigned to. The monitor board is 16 inputs, you still have the same input attenuator but you are always on the line input, so they live at -50, but if you needed more gain, you could flip that attenuator switch. The echo send was converted into dual concentric, the lower knob is pan and the upper is echo send. There is one echo return and one queue return, you have a level on both of those and can pan hard left, center and hard right. There are two EQs, around 10K and around 100hz inductor-based EQs, on the stereo buss and they are individually bypassable. On this board, there is a master fader and then there is an echo send master.

Every single one of the 16 inputs, plus the echo, that come into the monitor board for monitoring, there is another knob that acts as a pre-fader send, so you can build a queue mix separate from your own mix. There are levels and hard right to left panning for all of those. There are also masters for left and right.

The console has half-normalled direct outs for all 20 channels, buffered and transformer isolated. Both the main board and the monitor console have been modded to include a stereo bus using the same discrete Spectrasonics cards and circuitry as the original mono bus. The lower dual-concentric knob directly above the fader controls panning, and the upper knob controls the post fader send. The console does not have phantom power.

The console didn’t have great source switching, so Orphan Audio built a couple boxes, one takes three sources and they are labeled “Mix,” “External One” and “External Two.” That box also controls dimming, so when you hit the talk back, it dims like it’s supposed too.

Restoration work done by Ken Hirsch at Orphan Audio