| meverylame wrote on Fri, 04 March 2005 15:48 |
Would someone mind going on about John Stephens gear for a while, or just posting a link to a website? I've tried looking for information about his tape machines and the company history, but can't seem to find too much.
Thanks guys,
Jason
P.S. Does anyone have a picture of one of his machines? I hear the tape handling is a quite a sight.
|
The ones I have used all sounded great...these were 24 on 2" and 32 on 2" (I think). They definitely made a 40 track 2" machine. I think he made a 12 track 2"...if so, that would have sounded KILLER! Maybe something here: (See Chronology.pdf Attachment below.)
Terry
Now, here's a comment by Dave McNair (mcsnare) taken from a MARSH forum:
"...I have used almost EVERY model of 2" machine made. I did a jazz/fusion session one time at this funky studio in NYC that had 2 Telefunken multi-tracks. Damn things looked silly and sounded KILLER and that was at my accidentally wrong level of +9 on Ampex 456, ooops LOL. Anyway... There is quite a bit of sonic/operational differences even between different models within a basic family. e.g. an MCI JH 116 sounds very different from a JH 24, an A-80 mk III sounds VERY different from a MK IV, and so on. I'm talking like WAY more different than 888's vs AD-8000. I'm talking U47fet vs. a tube U47.
A few small disagreements: A Stephens punches in and out fine, but the whole mechanism is so clunky, it just freaks you out.
I think of M79's as very diff from M56's but both are VERY colored in a super cool way. Almost tube-like top end, so harmonically sweet, and a HUGE low end kick, especially M56's. To make things more complicated, stock M79's sound very diff from modded M79's of which almost any you will find these days are usually pretty modded. I owned a highly modded M79 and another one that was almost stock. They both sounded killer. I used to use a very modded M79 1/2" that was unbelievably good.
Ampex MM100 total headroom-less dirt balls. MM1100 I only used one and that was with dbx! I guess it was ok. MM1200, not a huge fan of these, but some people love their RnR crunch.
The Ampex ATR 124 is overall the best machine ever made, hands down. I had 3 locked together at OceanWay, once. The first time I ever heard one it was like "That sounds better than input!....Where is the fucking hiss? and we're only at +3...incredible!" Maintenance is pretty Satanic and the punch in/out takes getting used to, but they sound so fucking good you'll scream. BUT the Stephens has something VERY magical about the sound. I think I've used 4 different Stephens and each one was the bomb. I also have had some long conversations with John Stephens and the machine bears absolutely no resemblance, design wise, to any other tape machine circuit. A very unique machine that was the product of some seriously brilliant original thinking. The super tight, deep low end AND very high S/N ratio of an ATR 124 and the silky, silvery top kinda like a really good M79. My personal favorite sounding machine.
I think of Studer 827's to be much better sounding than the 820's which I always considered to be very bland. Except for the 820 1/2" which I always thought sounded great, well almost no sonic signiture at all. A80's record much better than they play back, but the punching is totally unusable. A shame cause the MK III's sound really good, if a bit noisy. A800's in general sound pretty smooth, too smooth if ya ask me, but clean and quiet with a deep but undefined low end. I have heard them hot rodded to sound snappier. I wouldn't cry if I had to use one, but I'd rather have an 827....
Many models of Scully totally rock sound-wise, but that transport sucked BIG TIME.
I always liked Otari MX-80's in a little-engine-that-could kinda way. Not very big on the bottom, but a nice extended top end. MTR-90's sound like a cheap Onkyo receiver, compared to some McIntosh separate components.
What to buy used in 2004? For my money, best combo of sound/operation/ability to fix it and get parts/going price .....would be the JH24, late model if possible. Flawless punch in/out. A clean JH24 with 16 trk heads sounds incredible.
Writing this really makes me miss tape....I don't think any body's gonna miss the "vintage" sound of Pro Tools III with an 882.. LMFBO
Dave McNair"
