[BC] Ambassador, Exceutive, President, Executive consoles

Sat Apr 7 19:00:21 CDT 2007

As I recall Gates/Harris  changed the input transistor for a 2N1414 to a 2N1307  over the years and seems there were some other changes.  Long ago and fara away in memomory banks 
Dave Hultsman

---
From: woollard at inreach.com
To: broadcast at radiolists.net
Sent: Sat, 7 Apr 2007 1:10 PM
Subject: Re: [BC] Ambassador, Exceutive, President, Executive consoles

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 
> 
> _______________________________________________ 
> 
> The BROADCAST [BC] list is sponsored by SystemsStore On-Line Sales 
> Cable-Connectors-Blocks-Racks-Wire Management-Test Gear-Tools and More! 
> www.SystemsStore.com Tel: 407-656-3719 Sales at SystemsStore.com 
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________ 
> 
> The BROADCAST [BC] list is sponsored by SystemsStore On-Line Sales 
> Cable-Connectors-Blocks-Racks-Wire Management-Test Gear-Tools and More! 
> www.SystemsStore.com Tel: 407-656-3719 Sales at SystemsStore.com 
> 
>  
_______________________________________________ 

The BROADCAST [BC] list is sponsored by SystemsStore On-Line Sales 
Cable-Connectors-Blocks-Racks-Wire Management-Test Gear-Tools and More! www.SystemsStore.com Tel: 407-656-3719 Sales at SystemsStore.com 

________________________________________________________________________
AOL now offers free email to everyone.  Find out more about what's free from AOL at AOL.com.