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Its something you would expect to be in somewhere like the Smith
Its something you would expect to be in somewhere like the Smithsonian...FWIW I too think sonically it was advanced for its time, and this is a piece that has much provinence, but things have progressed so far from that point in time that unless you are a niche like Daptone who go for that particular sound of the 60's, something of this calibre regardless of its pedigree aint going to do it for you in todays' world unless that is the sound you are chasing (and have the bank balance to match it because as a console of such prominence, you can more than double what it would be truly worth in real terms just because of its history and provenance...)
I would imagine the upkeep for a console of this calibre and given its history would be a mortgage unto itself...it would not be cheap by any means to keep operational in working mode or of the condition one would expect for what it is...given its age.
I think there is a place for this console somewhere, but as you allude to Donny, it all comes down to what side of the fence you sit. For those who are into the old school vibe and sonics, this is probably considered to be the holy grail of consoles which helped shape as much a part of the sound of early British rock as much as the players themselves who tracked through it.
But for those who are immersed in the modern digital audio realm, they may only see this as a thing of the past, a relic worthy only of admiration for what has been passed through it, what was achieved with it in its day, and for that alone.
My school of thought, maybe derived from my love and passion for old cars, is that just like an old classic from the 50's...it should be driven, and maybe the same goes for this classic piece...maybe it deserves to have signal passed through it for years to come, just as it was initially designed for all those years ago.
But then again, there are those who maybe feel that it should be mothballed and admired from behind glass, never to pass a signal again. Either way, I'm glad its still here to be admired one way or another...unlike many consoles from that era were scrapped long ago if not for the fortune or luck of where they were located and who tracked through them, such as the case with this one.
For me it does pose the question though...something I pondered since I was first aware of its re-emergence and subsequent sale, and maybe I'm not the person to ask but hey, I am going to anyway...
Do you think that it may be a case of Mr Kravitz making a decision to sell this particular piece due to a realisation of what can be achieved now today sonically in the digital realm?...
Or is the sale based on a financial aspect, due to declining album sales?..or is he just selling this to achieve a premium sale price, due to the provenance of what this particular console is?
We may never know...only Mr Kravitz can answer that....and at the end of the day, who am I to ask such a question anyway?... ;)
Sean G, post: 440979, member: 49362 wrote: But then again, there
Sean G, post: 440979, member: 49362 wrote: But then again, there are those who maybe feel that it should be mothballed and admired from behind glass, never to pass a signal again.
I'd be greatly saddened by this; even though I don't believe I'd buy it, but if I did, I certainly wouldn't pack it with bubble wrap, put it into a crate with mothballs and humidity control packets, and store it somewhere - I would use it, because it deserves to be used. I would want someone with a love and passion for this type of gear to continue to use it to track sessions, capture great performances, to mix records. Just because I wouldn't use it doesn't mean that I wouldn't hope that someone else would.
IMO, there's nothing that says that just because it's one of those historic "Holy Grail" pieces, that it shouldn't be used, or that it should be relegated to a museum somewhere. I felt the same way about Dave Grohl buying Sound City's classic Neve console. I'm glad that he didn't crate it up and put it into storage, or donate it to a museum; I'm happy that he continues to use that Neve to further its history, to continue its classic lineage of sound.
And, in a very similar way, that SC Neve is just as historic as the EMI desk is; as there were so many hit records tracked and mixed through that baby, so I don't find it to be of any less of historic value than the EMI desk is, or for that matter, Bill Putnam's original UA 610 desk, either. ( video below)
I've always found it somewhat saddening, (and ridiculous) that there are collectors of fine instruments who don't ( or won't) play them, but instead hang them up on their walls as art - and many of them are works of art, but they should be played... with respect of course, but played all the same. The EMI may not be the sound that I am looking for, but really, that means nothing, because there are cookers out there who would find it to be perfect for what they do... Daptone, as you mentioned, is a very good example. And I'm quite sure that theirs is not the only studio or musician that feels this way. Come to think of it, I'm a little surprised that Macca hasn't jumped on this... unless he already has one, which is possible, as there were several models over the years at Abbey Road. (Maybe Kurt ( Kurt Foster ) would know... if anyone would, it'd be him. ;) )
Here's a cool link that explains the various EMI/Reddit desks at AR during the 50's and 60's:
http://www.studiomastering.net/e/EMI_REDD_series_recording_mixing_consoles.html
d.
FWIW, here's a video of Putnam's 610 console, still being used:
Sean G, post: 440979, member: 49362 wrote: Do you think that it
Sean G, post: 440979, member: 49362 wrote: Do you think that it may be a case of Mr Kravitz making a decision to sell this particular piece due to a realisation of what can be achieved now today sonically in the digital realm?...
Or is the sale based on a financial aspect, due to declining album sales?..or is he just selling this to achieve a premium sale price, due to the provenance of what this particular console is?
As you said, Sean, who really knows but Lenny himself? It could be any number of reasons; the specialized sonics, financial needs, declining record sales... or maybe it's as simple as him finding another console that he feels would fit his current style better, (although I'm not quite sure what his current style is; I haven't heard anything new from him in quite some time). Or, maybe he's following the current trend, and, not unlike Andrew Scheps, has finally decided to go all ITB...
If you think about the plethora of gorgeous mics and pres that you could have for that money ... preamps that would offer all kinds of different textures and character, it seems to make more sense to go that way. As I mentioned earlier, if I had "X" amount of dollars required to buy the EMI package, ( .. any guess on what this package is selling for? I haven't a clue, but I can't believe it wouldn't be 350 G's at least...remember, the package includes those gorgeous Studer Tape Machines, too), and with that kind of money, I could instead fill a pretty big rack with all different kinds of gorgeous preamps instead; API, Neve, SSL, Harrison, Telefunken, UA, Focusrite, Audient, Wheatstone, RCA, Grace, SPL, Dangerous... and perhaps even a couple of racked EMI modules, too.
This route would certainly provide far more options for texture and vibe; more diversity.... SS, Tube, FET/ Transformer, Transformer-less.... from all kinds of color to as clean and transparent as possible.
I think I'd rather have that package than the one-trick Reddit. ;)
DonnyThompson, post: 440981, member: 46114 wrote: any guess on w
DonnyThompson, post: 440981, member: 46114 wrote: any guess on what this package is selling for? I haven't a clue, but I can't believe it wouldn't be 350 G's at least...remember, the package includes those gorgeous Studer Tape Machines, too
I wouldn't have a clue Donny, VK hasn't advertised a price, but I'm sure once it sells it may come out.
IMO it would have to be a package worth $500k or more...but who knows? It would interesting to find out.
Its probably a case of " If you have to ask the price, you probably can't afford it..." scenario.
It was interesting to read while I was trying to google the price there was an article here in Music Radar from 2011 where Lenny Kravitz talks about using a Helios console that used to belong to Leon Russell to record the album Black & White America, where he recorded to tape then transferred to Pro Tools using a CLASP unit. So from that article one could assume he has been using digital since at least that time in one way or another.
I with you Donny when you say it shouldn't be snapped up by somebody such as a rich collector or musician and mothballed away never to see the light of day again...something like this deserves to be used and heard and maintained to the highest standard because of its provenance IMO.
It would be great to read about this down the track finding a new home somewhere and entering the next chapter of its life at a place like Daptone or the like, somewhere where they can use something like this console to recreate that tapestry of sonics from the sound of that era, where it will be appreciated and put to good use.
I'm sure it would be a good selling point to get clients in the door...to be able to track through the same console that The Beatles and many other well respected names did at Abbey Road.
Who knows?...maybe there is another hit or two still left in the old girl yet. ;)
Sean G, post: 440985, member: 49362 wrote: I'm sure it would be
Sean G, post: 440985, member: 49362 wrote:
I'm sure it would be a good selling point to get clients in the door...to be able to track through the same console that The Beatles and many other well respected names did at Abbey Road.Who knows?...maybe there is another hit or two still left in the old girl yet. ;)
I'm thinking that it's history is likely the main selling point at least to those who don't know much about engineering -which most clients don't- but any musician would love to be able to say that they tracked a song or album thru that desk.
And I've no doubt that if it was put into the hands of a talented engineer, that it could continue to turn out hits. ;)
I think something like this is all about a sonic signature, noth
I think something like this is all about a sonic signature, nothing about sound quality per-say. I couldn't imagine the noise or cost to restore /maintain something like this. I'm also thinking it needs the reel to reel to complete the whole vintage package to really do it justice. Looks like its all there. Beautiful.
Its all before my time. I'm thinking it belongs in a museum.
the 610 Donny posted pictures of is Neil Young's. It was origina
the 610 Donny posted pictures of is Neil Young's. It was originally from United, Putnam's studio in LA.
There's another one of those boards in LA at Valentine Recording in NOHO. They have recently refurbed the whole room (2 studios) and are doing sessions. You can read about it in the last TapeOP.
check the rack of PulTecs!
Kurt Foster, post: 447883, member: 7836 wrote: the 610 Donny po
-
Kurt Foster, post: 447883, member: 7836 wrote: the 610 Donny posted pictures of is Neil Young's. It was originally from United, Putnam's studio in LA.
I thought I recognized it. Jim Rosebrook posted 30 min video of Neil Young's studio a few years back. It was such a "cool" 30 minutes of his studio.
- https://recording.o…
- https://neilyoungar…
There's a part of me that drools over this stuff; both the EMI a
There's a part of me that drools over this stuff; both the EMI and the UA, and thinks, "man that would be SO cool to have..."
And then the reality of it all kicks in, and I start thinking about maintenance - on pieces that are now over half a century old; what replacement parts would cost, not to mention the amount of heat those babies would give off...
I think if you were really adept at electronics and valve designs, it would probably be a pleasure to own either one of these classics.
And I know I'd rather see them still being put to use making records than ending up in a museum somewhere.
Short of their history, I'm not the guy to own either one of these though, because of my lack of maintenance experience in our field.
But I could certainly see Kurt (or Bos, or Joel) with either one of them though. ;)
-d.
DonnyThompson, post: 447945, member: 46114 wrote: And then the r
DonnyThompson, post: 447945, member: 46114 wrote: And then the reality of it all kicks in, and I start thinking about maintenance - on pieces that are now over half a century old; what replacement parts would cost, not to mention the amount of heat those babies would give off...
You can still have a related history and sound with the channel strips they now make on the same design. Get an LA-610 ! I love mine :love:
It's quite understandable that home studios can't afford to buy and maintain a part of the recording history like the 610, Neve, ISA mixers (etc..)
But most of the smaller channel count re-issue units available now, are worth their price. If you want to get a glimpse of those legendary sounds.
The downside is, if you record all your track with one single unit. It will never be the same as those old mixer because their channels don't sound 100% the same due to aging.
Who was it again who based his studio on old recording gear like that and claimed not using a signal EQ ?? We had a few discussions about him a few years ago.. ;)
would i love to have a 610 console? yes yes yes!!! if i could f
would i love to have a 610 console? yes yes yes!!! if i could find one in that nice of condition would i buy it? probably not. not where i live. i have the space but not the inclination or the business to justify it. what would i do with one of those beauties?
the console isn't the only piece at Valentine i covet. i just think the whole room (especially Studio B) is soooo cool! what is exciting to me is there seems to be a niche in the market for rooms like this to exist and run. they are getting clients and doing projects. all is not doom and gloom and digital. that gets my motor going. it would be cool to have the projects and money to do a records there. you're right about one thing Donny. maintenance would be a pig.
Kurt Foster, post: 447949, member: 7836 wrote: what is exciting
Kurt Foster, post: 447949, member: 7836 wrote: what is exciting to me is there seems to be a niche in the market for rooms like this to exist and run. they are getting clients and doing projects.
Absolutely!
There is a great Mark Twain Quote:
Mark Twain ... “Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it's time to pause and reflect.”
Having this system and a studio to go with it would only be positive and a total thrill. If I had it, I would use it just as much as I wouldn't. I mean, who cares what you are using just as long as you are making music and people are all having a great time.
This system would bring in a certain clientele that would be nothing short of awesome. As long as it kept working that is !
Kurt Foster, post: 447949, member: 7836 wrote: what is exciting
Kurt Foster, post: 447949, member: 7836 wrote: what is exciting to me is there seems to be a niche in the market for rooms like this to exist and run. they are getting clients and doing projects.
Absolutely!
There is a great Mark Twain Quote:
Mark Twain ... “Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it's time to pause and reflect.”
Having this system and a studio to go with it would only be positive and a total thrill. If I had it, I would use it just as much as I wouldn't. I mean, who cares what you are using just as long as you are making music and people are all having a great time.
This system would bring in a certain clientele that would be nothing short of awesome. As long as it kept working that is !
pcrecord, post: 447953, member: 46460 wrote: Reminds me of Field
pcrecord, post: 447953, member: 46460 wrote: Reminds me of Field of dreams : If you built it, they will come ! ;)
I believe that... unless trees start growing out in center field. ;)
(Use "trees" as a metaphor for anything you want that's audio related - a faulty power supply, blown caps, bad valves, shorted wiring... )
Remember... it's not a question of "if". It's all just a matter of "when".
;)
I look at the gem more like an earthquake. Its all awesome until
I look at the gem more like an earthquake. Its all awesome until the shit hits the fan. People that are as passionate to want this "sound" are also less likely be be tolerate when things going wrong and they can't get it completed, like half way through an album! . If you start something, you have to finish it and when this beast breaks, it doesn't seem like back up and running happens the same day. Can you imagine.
I would have a clause so everyone using this is well aware of the pro's and con's.
when you own a room like Valentine, you have techs in house or
when you own a room like Valentine, you have techs in house or on call to fix problems. even with my MCI studio ( 636 console / JH-24 multitrack /JH-110B 2 track) i would run into issues that shut me down for days until i could schedule Michael Gore (BASE/ Analog Rules Guru) to come and get things going again. it never hurt my business other than the expense of the time lost and cost of repairs. clients always understood.
Well, there's no doubt that there was something special about th
Well, there's no doubt that there was something special about those days. In my own experience, far more live sessions were being done - of course there were overdubs but not as much as these days, we seem to have become more reliant on the technology than the lightning that we captured when a room full of cats were all playing together.
Don't take my statement to be one against current technology... there are many things about it that I love.
Unlike Kurt, I don't see the cost of modern recording as being as much of a hole in the water as he does... I spent plenty of money keeping analog gear working when I had it; tape head stack relapping, console channels and power supplies, not to mention cabling. It certainly wasn't cheap, nor was calling in repair specialists either.
There are some days I'd love to sit at a big, sexy console again, slamming tape at +4, but there are also things I don't miss at all from that time ... razor blade editing, constant soldering, bias/alignment... hell, tape wasn't cheap either, not even back then.
And yes, having "limitations" sometimes forced us to make decisions, and in certain ways, that could be beneficial - but not always. Just as often as not, limitations totally sucked. ;)
IMO
-d
DonnyThompson, post: 447959, member: 46114 wrote: Unlike Kurt, I
DonnyThompson, post: 447959, member: 46114 wrote: Unlike Kurt, I don't see the cost of modern recording as being as much of a hole in the water as he does...
Donny, i think you are not the norm. you are an anomaly in the market and good on you for that. first and most important in my opine, you are a very talented musician and you include those attributes when you provide your services. i rarely ever stepped out from behind the glass.
but there are other reasons i don't think there's a way i could ever start a studio business now on a shoestring like i did then for a number of reasons.
first there isn't the client base / pool of musicians wanting to record like in the 70's / 80's 90's. players used to get paid, and not badly. i remember a time when my rent was $300 a month and I could earn $300 a night playing in bars and casuals or corporate events 3 to 5 days a week!. bands and musicians could afford to dump cash at the local project studio.
second, recording gear was much more expensive, even for the semi pro stuff. having a studio was special. knowing what gear was good, how to set it up and how to record a proper record was a "black art".
now a person can buy recording equipment for almost next to nothing. there is a plethora of information on how to make recordings (some of it correct) available on the web. everyone has a studio, everyones an "engineer" or "producer".
people got information from publications, not off the internet. if you wanted to reach a target audience it was easy to select the proper publication, take out a nice print ad and potential clients would be ringing your phone off the hook. these and many other things have changed.
DonnyThompson, post: 447959, member: 46114 wrote: there are also things I don't miss at all from that time ... razor blade editing, constant soldering, bias/alignment... hell, tape wasn't cheap either, not even back then.
i've always had big fat fingers and bad eyes. so i never soldered. Michael did that. lol!
i liked to edit tape with a blade. i thought it was fun and i loved being able to do things other people couldn't do. magic man stuff. and i loved that tape was an expense. it was a commodity i made money from. i could earn 25 or 50 bucks (a chunk of cash back then) even before i started a session through tape sales. i didn't pay for it, the client did and i was able to mark it up and still offer it to clients for less than they could get it.
alignment wasn't that much of a chore. when i had to do it, i found it much easier to do than keeping a DAW updated and configured correctly. in my studio, we always used the same kind of tape (456) so the machine never needed to be re aligned. just a touch up tweak once i a while unless someone brought an outside tape in.
i never had problems with software bugs or incompatibility between different elements with analog gear. plug and play stuff. once i bought a piece it was good for decades. as long as you run analog equipment, the caps don't dry up and need replacing. there was none of this needing to buy a whole new system every 3 or 4 years so you could remain compatible with new updates and software releases. everything new, worked with the old stuff.
yes things have advanced. it's a different world. i get it. but things really weren't as bad as a lot of people make them out to be and imo, i think the level of artistry and how good things sounded was much better then than now. i don't see digital as an advance in quality. it's just more accessible and in some respects convenient.
I can't think of anything worse than listening to bad tape. Tryi
I can't think of anything worse than listening to bad tape. Trying to get a mix to mix-down on my tape machine and then get that to translate to cassette. OHG, hours and hours wasted life just hoping I could find better tricks to get the final product sounding close enough.
I was never good with tape and never owned 2 inch so it was a happy day when I finally heard about Pro Tools.
I am with the sentiment. I didn't mind rewinding over and over either. The time it took to rewind was part of the creative flow. I hate tape. But I loved the era.
audiokid, post: 447961, member: 1 wrote: I can't think of anythi
audiokid, post: 447961, member: 1 wrote: I can't think of anything worse than listening to bad tape. Trying to get a mix to mix-down on my tape machine and then get that to translate to cassette. OHG, hours and hours wasted life just hoping I could find better tricks to get the final product sounding close enough.
I was never good with tape and never owned 2 inch so it was a happy day when I finally heard about Pro Tools.
I am with the sentiment. I didn't mind rewinding over and over either. The time it took to rewind was part of the creative flow. I hate tape. But I loved the era.
what kind of tape did you work with Chris?
456 . I loved the sound of my multi-track, it was mixing down
456 .
I loved the sound of my multi-track, it was mixing down to cassettes that killed me. Drove me absolute nuts. Just before Pro Tools, I was debating buying something better. I share all you say, Kurt. And would love to have most of the old days back. There was a time it was all so special and magical. I felt rewarded and appreciated. And I loved playing my guitar and singing. I still do, but it is different eh.
cassettes were a play back medium, not intended for mixing and p
cassettes were a play back medium, not intended for mixing and production. no headroom, really nothing over 13 or 14 k and noisy, even with Dolby B. i can understand your frustration with them. i loved cassettes in the car but i never viewed them a serous tool for production except in small home demo studios that used cassette multi-tracks.
1/4" half track at 15 ips is the ticket. 30 ips worked even better in some instances (i never had NR on my production machines so i liked to run the mix deck at a different speed than the multi-track to help keep the tape noise from building up.) and 1/2" half track is the "shnizzel".
i also mixed to VHS and then DATs also once they became available.
audiokid, post: 447964, member: 1 wrote: In all honesty, I was clueless on how to mix and sum and knew nothing about limiters. I never had the caliber of gear I have now. I think today I could do some pretty awesome mixes on those old consoles that would likely sound excellent on tape.
i had learned about compressors before i bought my first 4 track Dokkorder. i picked up a used bi amp quad limiter and i squshed the crap out of everything except drums with it. good times......
yep. we talked about this before. i had the same kind of one you
yep. we talked about this before. i had the same kind of one you had. 1/4"tape, 7 inch reels at 7 1/2 ips. not the quietest machine and headroom was not the greatest but really decent freq response. (40 to 20k ) with a little care i could get some decent recordings.
i had a Teac 3300 SX for mix downs, a model 2a as a monitor desk, a very large living room in an old house with 10 foot ceilings i used as the live room that doubled as an echo chamber when i was mixing, by using a speaker and a mic ..... and a Roland analog delay.
front end was a bi amp 8 channel stereo mixer and a Shure 4 channel mic pre (long story but still have that along with the 2a ) akg and ev dynamics and an old RCA JR velocity mic as well as an ancient Shure 555. that was my first recording studio.
Kurt Foster, post: 447965, member: 7836 wrote: i also mixed to V
Kurt Foster, post: 447965, member: 7836 wrote: i also mixed to VHS and then DATs also once they became available.
me too. Still have those.
Kurt Foster, post: 447965, member: 7836 wrote: i had learned about compressors before i bought my first 4 track Dokkorder. i picked up a used bi amp quad limiter and i squshed the crap out of everything except drums with it. good times......
Yup, I know different now.
no it was one of those old desk top bucket brigade analog delays
no it was one of those old desk top bucket brigade analog delays. not even rack mount. i think it would do about 160 ms. lol! i forgot i had an Echo Plex as well but it was usually at the gig. we had a house band job at the time so we left our gear there and set up most of the time.
Kurt Foster, post: 447972, member: 7836 wrote: lots of cleaning
Kurt Foster, post: 447972, member: 7836 wrote: lots of cleaning the heads and keeping fresh tape loops installed or yes, mud city.
Had an Ampex 300-4 at one time, still have a couple 2 track ampexes and a scully... Yes you had to keep the heads clean, tracks containing percussion, etc. kept to the inner tracks, occasional head alignment, phase checking, etc. At least the ampexes used common tubes...the scully had that raysistor which was a problem...
I still get a nostalgic kick out of listening back to old record
I still get a nostalgic kick out of listening back to old recordings and productions I was involved with. I get to the point where I want to restore the multitrack masters I still own. I did a restoration on some two track masters a few years back. Not surprising, they all sound like they were made in the 80's.........maybe because they were. I can still hear the lovely 7110 comp/limiters all over the place....and the really telling part was when we got the first of the two PCM 70's. I stopped using the Yamaha's during that period and everything has Lexicon all over it.......sigh....The thing I miss the most is the soffitt mounted mains....Urie 813's. Crown power. WHOOP! there it is.......I do NOT miss the 456. Especially now. You have to bake it no matter how well it has been stored. I also remember how much the fidelity went up when I bought an Otari 5050 to replace the Tascam 38. Somewhere in my vast array of crap there's a set of mixes I made using the 5050 as a two track mixdown machine from a 16 track master reel. Alignment was the key there. It's then I wanted a nice 1/2" two track machine but life got in the way of that.........Man. Mixing to 1/2" was the shizits and I'll bet it still is. It's the only tape machine I would want in my room at this time.
I saw this too, Sean... I'm on VK's subscriber list and they sen
I saw this too, Sean... I'm on VK's subscriber list and they sent me the link you provided.
After thinking about this logistically - and it doesn't really matter anyway, because I'd never even be able to afford the power supply for this desk, let alone the whole she-bang, so it's all just a hypothetical parlor game - here's what I think:
While it would be ultra-cool to own this rig ( I'd actually be more excited about the J Series Studer tape machines that are included), and while I'm a huge Beatles/George Martin fan ( I love everything I've ever heard coming out of Abbey Road during it's "golden" years)... but past the initial shine of it all, of owning a piece of history, I'm not sure I'd be able to do any better work with this stuff than what I'm using now...
I sure loved the sound of this gear on The Beatles records I've heard over the years, but I think that's more because it was The Beatles...? There's no doubt that this gear contributed to their sound, but on the other side of that coin, I heard Lenny Kravitz's first album after he bought this gear, and truthfully, I wasn't all that impressed by how the record sounded; I thought the sonics were a bit harsh and brittle, but perhaps that's because it wasn't tracked or mixed in the rooms at AR, or maybe because it was missing the added "magic" of Martin, or the beautiful warmth and silk that cookers like Geoff Emerick, Alan Parsons, Ken Townsend, Norman Smith and Ken Scott got out of this equipment? I dunno, just kinda thinking out loud I guess.
I suppose my question would be, if cats like Alan Parsons ( or even Giles Martin) aren't running red lights to get this gear, and considering that Kravitz has sold it to VK, then is this perhaps an indicator of how technically valuable this stuff would actually be in today's recording world?
There's no doubt that this gear has its own unique character, its own special vibe; and I don't believe anyone would argue that... but... is it the right vibe for modern recording? Or is it just a sonic one trick pony? (Don't get me wrong... it's an awesome pony... LOL)
Would it really prove to be an asset for what we're doing now, in 2016? That's not rhetorical... I don't have the answer to that question, either... but I do know that it would be a very expensive specialty vibe to have.
I suppose it's all about whom you ask; removing the historical factor from the equation, and speaking strictly in terms of sonics, if you asked someone like Kurt ( Kurt Foster ) or one of our other analog recording advocates, the answer would probably be a resounding "Yes".
OTOH, if you asked someone like Chris ( audiokid ), I don't think he would find it as valuable from a sonic or technical approach.
Like I said, there's no doubt that owning it would be cool, if for no other reason than knowing you own a piece of definitive musical history... but, if I had the money that I suspect this package is priced at, would I really choose this over a classic Neve, or SSL, or even a Harrison? Or even the world's most diverse collection of the highest quality mics, preamps and EQ's?
Honestly, I really don't think I would...
IMHO of course. ;)
-d.