Boring Story, Really

[WOStantonCS100]

Greetings to all,

I really don't have that romantic a story (or introduction). There are pictures of me at age 2 attesting to my penchant for vinyl and the devices that play it. 30+ (ahem) years later nothing has changed except the number of vinyl in my collection and the amount of gear I've been able to acquire. You can see some of it at theanalogdept website (Aka. Biff) and here, soon, hopefully, if I can learn how to take some decent pictures.

My father had approx. 300 albums (rock, jazz, pop, folk, etc) and approx 100 classical/opera albums (stored in his den). I finally graduated to where I could play selections from his classical collection when I hit the double digits. He had Garrards then switched to Technics (SL-1400MK2) but kept the Fisher integrated with matching tuner for a long time. The Magnecord reel was swapped for a Teac X-2000R. Speakers were University Medalion 3-ways. I didn't really play with toys. I played records. I still do. My first LP was Charlie Parker: Archetypes (an MGM reissue of Verve's The Essential Charlie Parker) which I still have to this day. "Bird" led to the other dimension of my being and I became a musician/composer/recording artist.

Once I got married in the early 90's I began to aggressively go after the gear I was not able to afford as a child and as a student, Technics turntables mainly, as the sound of my father's system and the hours I spent lost in the music was and is still at the forefront of my recollections.

I first became acquainted with a soldering iron in high school when my brother was going to throw out one of his malfunctioning, and expensive, guitar cables with gold plated ends!! I took the cable out of the garbage, cut back a few inches and soldered the ends back on. It worked!! Fast forwarding, now I am a compulsive builder of tube gear (both stereo amps and guitar amps), Fender style electric guitars and have a penchant for reviving great sounding "old" gear.

That's pretty much it. Boring story, really. :)

[The Grand Wazoo]

Hi Biff - is that your real name?
A very warm welcome to The Art of Sound from me - your story only seems boring to you as it's been yours. I found it very interesting.
Have you, as an adult, done the comparison between the Garrards & Technics turntables for yourself that your father did?

Cheers

[WOStantonCS100]

Hi Biff - is that your real name?
A very warm welcome to The Art of Sound from me - your story only seems boring to you as it's been yours. I found it very interesting.
Have you, as an adult, done the comparison between the Garrards & Technics turntables for yourself that your father did?

Cheers

LOL! I think, at first, Steve (analogdept webmaster) thought I was joking, thus "Aka. Biff". But, yes, that's actually my real name.

Concerning the Garrards & Technics: At the time, I was young when my dad had the Garrards. The main table was a Lab 80 (only ever used in single play mode with a dust bug that had absolutely no effect on the speed as I recall); so, it's not like it was a 301 or 401. Nevertheless, the Lab 80 was no slouch. I don't ever recall not enjoying it's transcription of LP's. It never felt like part of the music was missing. The bass was great. The strings were full. Nothing over or understated. Rhythmically, it seemed right; wood tonearm, which seems to have come back into vogue with Schroeder, Scheu, etc. By the late 70's though, the idler was getting tired and rumble had started to set in along with other issues usually associated with a worn idler. The selling points of the Technics quartz dd motor and ease of cartridge swapping just won out over the impending maintenance of the Garrard. My father was pretty meticulous about his equipment. That Garrard was babied and it sounded great for almost a decade. Growing up, television was not big in my house. That Garrard was put through the torture test of near constant use for almost ten years! Likewise my father still has (and uses) his SL-1400MK2 that replaced the Lab 80 as the main table.

My father also had a Type A changer (for mom, 45's and parties). It sounded pretty good, too, though the mechanism was clunky as all get out and generally I was frightened of it. As much as I like Technics quartz dd's, the Technics changer (FG Servo - no quartz - lighter platter/cheaper mat) that he replace the Type A with was a big disappointment. That's the one piece of gear my father had that I didn't bother committing the model number to memory.

As a musician, pitch matters, a lot, to me anyway. That's concern number one for me. Having said that, the Lab 80 and, later on, certainly the 301 and 401 I got to hear, nudged out the Technics a bit in the visceral "slam" department. Which, is why I'm excited about the bearing and platter upgrades I've been reading about. Pitch and slam! Where do I sign up.

[DSJR]

I really must re-acquaint myself with a Lab 80. IMO, this was the best engineered integrated deck Garrard made, as everything after was lighter and sloppily built by comparison, unlike the Dual 1019 and PE decks, which took over where the Lab 80 left off. I'd also say that once PE was absorbed into Dual, who went from idler to belt & soft-servo's direct drives, Technics took over (1300/1400/1500 mk2 onwards....)