someone gave me a bunch of Altec stuff!!

[markert]

I have a small studio in the basement. Last week I noticed my church was throwing away alot of stuff and they gave me a huge green broadcast rack with the following, all in great shape:

1567A mixer(two units)
436C compressor (two units)
443 Safgard (one unit) - I think this is to buffer the power-up?

The mixers have only barrier strips in back - no xlr's. I would like to use these in the studio. I am no electronics guru. How do I input the low Z mics and then how do I connect the output from the mixer units to the compressors or to Protools?

Do these preamps and compressors even sound good? They sure are cool to look at!

I have a friend that says we should power these up very slowly and he says he can change out some of the caps and tubes. Any other suggestions?

Thanks

[rolandr]

Well since nobody is answering I'll give it a shot. Both that tube preamp and tube compressor are excellent sounding once refurbished to original. Check out Ebay prices which run about $400 a piece for each one. The tube compressor was actually used by Paul of the Beatles as his bass instrument compressor. That was a nice sound ...check it out. The preamp plug in transformers also in high demand for their superior sound quality. They color the sound in a pleasant way (euphonic) by adding 2nd order harmonic distortion the same of the tube preamp section. These units are not the cleanest but they impart that magical sound the tube sound that everybody loves. Basically to rebuilt replace all electrolytic filter caps with the best you can afford (black gate electro or polyprop) and also replace the coupling caps with good quality polyprop caps slowly bring up on variac to regular voltage once done. Clean all tube sockets and contact points well, replace tubes as needed. If you don't want them send them to me I'll pay shipping.. Ha, Ha.

By the way try some TINACTIN on your foot. It will take of it.

[markert]

Thanks for the info, Roland. I have been seeing these preamps in a lot of studio equipment lists. My friend is doing some preliminary refurbishing now. I can't wait to get this huge rack of gear down to the studio. I will post some pics at a later date.

[rolandr]

Forgot to mention you may need to place an attenuator ie: 600:600 ohm between mic input and unit. If I remember right it can grossly saturate input transformer with resulting head in a bell like distortion. Once this happens you will know what I mean and likely never forget it! As far as connecting do not have a 1567A handy but my comp has specific instructions on back for impedance matching, seems straightforward.

[Mike Edwards]

Hey now, that's alright!! I agree with other posts, though I'll add that when powering up your new toys slowly please watch current draw off line, that way if there's a short or cap installed backwards you'll catch it before more damage occurs.

-Mike Edwards