[BC] Ambassador, Exceutive, President, Executive consoles

[Wayne]

First all solid state broadcast console WAPE Jacksonville.  1958 designed by 
Cyril Brennan.

Wayne W.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Bob Tarsio" <Bob at Broadcast-Devices.com>
To: "'Broadcasters' Mailing List'" <broadcast at radiolists.net>
Sent: Saturday, April 07, 2007 10:20 AM
Subject: RE: [BC] Ambassador, Exceutive, President, Executive consoles


> To All:
>
> I think RCA used UTC privately labeled transformers in the BC-7. I think
> Gates used UTC's also but not the same models. We tore a lot of those
> transformers off RCA chassis when we did retrofits for those consoles. One
> thing that I thought was elegant in the design of that series of console 
> was
> the balanced mix bus. McCurdy did the same thing even in the 1970s. Low
> level mix buses were prone to hum pickup and the balanced mix bus solved a
> lot of those problems. RCA also split the bus in two to reduce losses. The
> buses were combined in the dual primary input transformer of the program
> amplifier. We used to buy a special Jensen transformer that I think they
> made just for us to replace it with. We used the same amplifier module 
> that
> we developed for the Gates snow plows and mounted it on a modified RCA
> chassis. We didn't sell nearly as many of the RCA version as the Gates.
>
> Let's not be too hard on the guys at Gates though. The Executive was
> introduced in 1962 and the last one ran off the assembly line in 1982 I
> believe. It never had any updates to the electronics to my knowledge.
> Frankly, in 1962 an audio designer didn't have much to work with when it
> came to transistors. Germanium types were about the only thing available.
> They were noisy and fragile. I think what Gates did was a pretty good feat
> of engineering for that time. The only fault I see is that they could have
> easily done what we eventually did by upgrading the electronics. I am glad
> they didn't! It's what got us in the business!
>
> By the way, does anyone know who holds the distinction for introducing the
> first all solid state broadcast console? I don't know but I do know that 
> an
> early model that I saw built in 1960 by my good friend Dick Burden was all
> solid state. The Burden Associates BC-6 I think. It was Spartan but all
> solid state. It was a little six channel console with two preamps, 4 line
> passive modules and a pair of program amplifiers. All were plug in. Dick
> made his own boards and built them for Fairchild too. That little board
> remained in service at WRNW FM in Briarcliff Manor, NY another Dick Burden
> creation until about 1986 when we donated it to Pace University.
>
> Regards,
>
> Bob Tarsio
> President
>
>
> www.Broadcast-Devices.com
>
>
> Tel. (914) 737-5032
> Fax (914) 736-6916
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: broadcast-bounces at radiolists.net
> [mailto:broadcast-bounces at radiolists.net] On Behalf Of Milton R Holladay 
> Jr.
> Sent: Saturday, April 07, 2007 02:33
> To: Broadcasters' Mailing List
> Subject: Re: [BC] Ambassador, Exceutive, President, Executive consoles
>
> When the SoundTech 1710 came out, some of the transformers from this 
> series
> of consoles were measured and found to have significant distortion, so it
> wasn't entirely the circuits that made them have a very gritty sound.
> The RCAs of the time (Bc-7s, etc.) sounded dull , though clean, by
> comparison because they had low distortion.............
> M
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: <dhultsman5 at aol.com>
> To: <broadcast at radiolists.net>
> Sent: Friday, April 06, 2007 11:04 PM
> Subject: Re: [BC] Ambassador, Exceutive, President, Executive consoles
>
>
>> Those monitor amps were junk.  After repairing them in an AMbassador,
> President, Diplomat and Executive I replaced them with DYNAKIT Stereo 
> 120's.
> As I recall we muted the inputs.  I don't recall that many problems after
> getting rid of those amplifiers.
>>
>> When WRR purchased their Diplomat for AM,  the first thing I heard was 
>> the
> distortion on the Control room mikes.  After carefully checking it out, 
> the
> clipping ocurred on the 2N1414 first stage transistor in the mic pre-amp.
> To solve the problem I bypassed the solid state pre-amp with a Gates type
> 5530 amplifier using 6267's and a 12AU7 and the jock were happy. 
> Additional
> checking found that the same stage in the front end of the 5700 program 
> amps
> would clip on audio peaks.  As I recall I changed the bias on that stage.
> We added another stage on the microphone pre-amp to decrease the gain in
> each stage.  Then when we bought an Executive for the FM, my plan was to 
> use
> a tube type mike pre-amp in our FM but Harris had changed to the 2n1307's
> which were much better and the clipping was not a problem.  u
>> Dave Hultsman
>> Birmingham, AL
>> Tel Toll Free (888) 822-1078
>> Fax (205) 822-6441
>
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