Classic Neve Consoles 1961 to date (Story#1)

This is the first of many tales about classic Neve consoles which I hope to continue if there is enough interest to justify the effort! Please leave a message on my Email if you want me to include stories about your particular Neve console. If you can give me an "A" works order number (found on a plate next to the DC input connectors) and a brief description, I'll rack my ageing brain cells and offer some interesting recollections!

Let's start with what I believe to be the largest Neve console produced. By largest I don't refer to the number of channels (you folks with joined together 8068's and 78's can get back on your chairs!), I mean the sheer damn bulk of the beast and man, this one was huge!

The console in question was A646 Studio Barclay, built for a prestigious studio in Paris. If you can imagine the era in the early 70's when Neve were hand wiring classic 8048 and similar 45mm module width consoles, it will come as a surprise to many that this console had 40mm wide modules. Talk about custom built!

The console had 36 channels of 4102 equalisers (specially adapted 1081's), 16 groups, 6 Sub groups and 32 track monitoring. It was built in a "L" configuration with the wedge between the channels and monitor section filled with six joystick quad pan pots and two Astronic graphic equalisers. The console was extremely tall because, in addition to the 12" high equaliser and 8.75" tall 4704 Aux Routing and 4708 Group Routing modules, the meter section had two rows of large meters and there were rows of large illuminated push buttons above and below the faders. I'm 6' 2" tall and had considerable difficulty reaching the group routing buttons when standing in front of the console. The task would require orang-utan arms for a seated engineer!

The other unusual feature of the console was that every push button switch was illuminated. This looked most impressive in a darkened control room but you tech's out there will probably be having nightmares about the effort required when replacing the 1,000+ bulbs and Neve did not make many consoles in this era that required three 20 amp power supplies! These illuminated switches were the console's Achilles' heal, but more on this later.

Once the console was assembled and testing was completed it looked very impressive.

The transportation of consoles this large requires very careful arranging and attention to detail. Sadly, this did not happen but the results, traumatic at the time, are most amusing with 25 years of hindsight!

A salesman at Neve (he left some time after but I'll spare his blushes by not revealing his name) had a relative who had access to a truck and it was decided that he would deliver the console, saving Neve considerable shipping costs and lining his pocket at the same time. The console was loaded onto the truck and their journey to Paris, via the English Channel ferry, started off with high hopes of reaching their destination at the appointed hour. Sadly, this was not to be because no sooner had the truck's wheels touched French soil, the transmission failed and the truck was abandoned in the huge port parking lot!

The driver, showing considerable lack of initiative, hopped on the next ferry home without phoning Neve to tell them of his dilemma! As one can imagine, once the appointed delivery hour had passed the studio owner became anxious for news of when his console would arrive. He naturally went ballistic when red faced Neve sales men admitted that they had no idea where it was!

The errant driver was finally located and the fate of his truck revealed to a horrified Neve sales department. The Head of Neve Technical Services was promptly dispatched to sort the sorry mess out and the studio owner arranged for a giant breakdown truck to tow the broken down truck the 120 odd miles to Paris.
Even these plans fell by the wayside as the breakdown truck had a puncture and a second breakdown truck had to be dispatched to repair the first one! Could anything else go wrong?

Yes!

When the console finally arrived at the studio it was discovered that little thought had been given to how the one ton + console was to be transported up to the second story control room! One can imagine the curses and perspiration of the team of men who had to carry the console up the many flights of stairs, one step at a time!

The console was eventually installed into the studio and powered up. It worked perfectly and reflected the skills that had gone into its construction. At the time it was the finest recording console in Europe (and possibly the world).

Sadly the story did not have a happy ending. The illuminated Britec switches used for the Group assign and other functions started falling apart not long after the console was installed. The switches were sectional in construction by having contact blocks that snapped together and they were suspended from inter panels a-la regular Isostat switches. The switches were really designed to be PCB mounted and the unsupported sections were popping apart in use. The repair was to make custom PCB's for each module's switches and this restored the reliability of the console.

My recollection of what happened to the console begins to fade at this point but I believe the studio was taken over by Decca Paris and the console was disposed of and probably scrapped. One rumour at the time was that it had been dumped in the River Seine! If anyone knows of a different ending I'd love to hear from you. You would not be able to mistake the modules with their non standard 40mm wide front panels !

Incidentally, Decca Paris's A599 console was the first Neve console to be fitted with 1081 four band equalisers, a snippet of additional info for you Neve aficionados !!!

As a postscript and tribute to the power of the Internet, when this story was originally posted I received an email from an engineer in Paris who had seen the console recently! This is heart-warming news because I love to hear that these classic consoles are still making music!

-Copyright © 2002 Geoff Tanner