Hi Max,

I did a search @ recordingconsoles.net and saw a picture of a 1214 (and a 1567 that I remeber from college) but no info on them or you 1220. All I could say that if there cheap they might give you some sool colors if oyu need the extra channels. Are they tube ot ss?

it's a solid state piece, and what from what i've gleaned off the net, it was the first professional live mixing console from the very early seventies

ther is precious little other info available, but i'm going to take fletcher's advice, open it up, and try to learn electronics through it

from what i saw inside, it's built with discrete components, and the quality of build is quite solid (suffice to say, it's still working after 30 years, will my behringer?)

i'll let you know what it's like in use (my brother has kidnapped it to record a visiting russian songmeister)

thanks for the reply,

All that old Altec stuff sounds great! It's so cheap because there was a lot of them manufactured as opposed to more "vintage" stuff like Neve, Telefunken and Siemens. If your only other pre amp option is a Beheringer you could record through a piece of dog flop and get better results. You certianly can't go wrong with the Altec. Fats oops... sorry that was so harsh!