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I was wondering if anyone remembers these Mic Pre's? I was a teenager in the 70's and only vaguely remember the name Spectra Sonics.

I found a few for sale (just the stuffed board sans trasnformers) and was wondering how they sounded and whether they might be worth racking a couple with some appropriate trafos and a P/S?

Comments

audiokid Wed, 01/14/2009 - 21:43

I used to own the 110 ( 2 x 55 watt cards) It was very clean and quite. Pull the front panel off and looking inside made me always wonder what I paid for. really simple design. I don't recall ever getting it to clip. I wish I still owned it. Its classic vintage now.

I think I paid $1000.00 CDN for it around 1980.

I tried google for pictures and couldn't find one anywhere. Seems to be cards around though.

RemyRAD Thu, 01/15/2009 - 09:58

I knew someone that had one of their consoles back in the 1970s. I had a couple of their 610 Comp/Limiter's. They always brag about they had the lowest noise electronics in the industry. I know Joe Bradley liked his console. But I never found their 610 limiter's useful or even made any real sense. I could never find them to work good on anything?

On the other hand, a lot of Scully 100's circuit boards were manufactured by Spectra Sonics. Their Stuff Was Always of a Quality Oriented Build. I Mean You Wouldn't Expect Any Less from a Mormon Would You? Ogden, Utah. Maybe that limiter only worked for those who were Mormon?

I wouldn't run across the street for one. Not even if I looked both ways.
Ms. Remy Ann David

Big_D Tue, 01/20/2009 - 11:00

Thanks for the info guys!

I wonderd the same thing Chris, where are all the components? Very very simple design indeed.

From both of your descriptions I assume there is no color coming from this pre so racking up a bunch would be pointless for me as I have 4 channels of transparent pres which is all I need.

Still it might be fun to setup a single channel of it for kicks (not kick drums). I might find a use for it someday and if not I could always leave it across the street and see if anyone goes for it. :lol:

anonymous Tue, 01/20/2009 - 21:23

model 110 cards "The real deal"

Lots of people assume the wrong. I myself wouldn't comment on things I don't know anything about. But then again many on this board are amateurs with home studios.
On the Model 110 cards they are simply amazing for mic pre's. Chris Stone at the Record Plant in 1975 had William G. Dilley (The Genius and creator of the 110 cards and the SpectraSonics Consoles) design custom Recording consoles for the Record Plant. The Model 110 Mic Pre was seen by the top engineers working At Sunset Sound, The Village, Cherokee and The record Plant as the best ever. Many liked them better than the Neve and Api mic-pre's. So when you hear 1970's recording by The Who, John Lennon, Rod Stewart, Neil Young, Black Sabbath, Grand Funk Railroad, and all of the amazing music that came out of The Record Plant from the 1970's. Guess what were used? Yes Model 110 Mic-Pre's. Granted there is not a lot of info on the web about these. But tribal knowlegde in Los Angeles with older engineers like myself, we all know the real deal.