Vintage McCurdy broadcast desk

[Mike Cleaver]

The Ottawa Studers looked like this one but with 24 channels and they were all black and had 24 channels which filled in the middle section of the desk.

https://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&safe ... B770%3B350

[GordoGibbo]

The McCurdy "slider" boards were just as good as the rotary pot jobs and just as bulletproof but were transistorized.
The only Ward Beck boards I ever used were at CKNW and they were custom made for the station, with no transformers used.
They were very clean, but to my ears, too sterile sounding without that transformer "richness" of sound.
The most high tech boards I ever used in radio were the four Studer Air 2000 boards we installed at CHUM Group Ottawa in 2000.
They looked similar to the main control panel in the Starship Enterprise.
All 24 channels, small video display screens above every channel allowing you to eq, compress and route the signal any way you wanted.
You could switch each one to mic or line channels, basically allowing each operator to configure the board to his or her liking and recall all those settings at shift change.

Alot of our Corus stations are using Ward-Beck now, much more compact than the giant Arrakis board we were using prior. But I hear you about the transformerless sound. I have a Grace M101 mic pre-amp (as light as a feather) that I use for my remote VO kit and very clean, but sterile is the right word for it. Almost too clean, like comparing analog with digital, CD v. vinyl, etc. For my main VO studio at home I have a John Hardy M-1 with output transformer and the difference, to my ear anyway, is there...

[GordoGibbo]

Hey there Mike Cleaver and Eldon C-FAY, I've got the console now and I have pics, but don't know how to post them without putting them on a server and submitting a URL for each one. Would you care to spot me your email addresses and I'll send them that way?

Gordo@GordonGibb.com

[Mike Cleaver]

You may send them to radiovoiceone@yahoo.com
I'd really be interested in seeing them.

[Eldon-Mr.CFAY]

Greetings Everyone,
Thanks for letting us know Gord. I think you have my email address but here it is again, its eldoncfay@gmail.com. Yes I would definitely be interested in any photos etc. you have. By the way I have been listening to your show quite a bit this week on The KRUZ, sounds good. Heard you had a bit of a cold one day, hope you are feeling better. I notice Mike Judson has been off quite a bit this week for CHEX TV Weather. Hope he is feeling okay! Again congrats. on finding and getting that McCurdy Board, it sounds like you were looking for one over a long time span!!! I would have thought they might be more common but certain things are a challenge to find. That even applies to certain radios that used to be common place back in the 70s and 80s. I am always on the look for that Realistic TRF 655 Portable and it sure is harder to find now than in the past. The thing has really great sensitivity and selectivity and actually is better than the C.Crane regular long distance receiver. Not sure on the newer C.Crane EP. one but I am speaking of the regular size radio. We did comparison checks on both out in Langley etc...

Did you manage to find that missing knob for the McCurdy console Gord? Anyway best of luck in getting it operational. Let us know if you need any help!

73s, Eldon

[jon]

Here are Gord's pictures:

[Mike Cleaver]

I sent Gordon an email about my thoughts on this board and I'm giving him permission to repost those comments here if he wishes.
The board has seen a few mods and may be missing some modules.
I always hated "engineers" who figured they had to "improve" on a great design by drilling holes and adding circuits and buttons and switches on the board instead of on an auxiliary panel.
There certainly are things added that didn't come from the factory.
It does look as if the board may have been cannibalized for the missing fader and knob and how anyone managed to smash those key switches is beyond me.
However, if Gordon can find the knobs to match the others, they could be crazy glued onto what's left of the shafts.
These normally shipped with two power supplies, one of which appears to be missing.
The one that's left is definitely begging for the filter caps to be changed before it's fired up.
Taking out the transformer(s) and possibly unobtainium transistors would be extremely difficult to replace.

[GordoGibbo]

Thanks, Jon, for posting the pics, and to Mike for his insight. I am re-posting what he sent to me, privately, here, along with my response to him, which effectively puts where I am with this into perspective. I'd love, over time, to restore this baby and time, is what I have. There's no hurry. It's knowledge and expertise that I don't have, and I'm going to try and bring in as much guidance at this end as I can in order to facilitate, provided I can come up with the parts, a full restoration or as close to it as I can get.

Here's Mike's comments to me:

Hi Gordon!

Looking through the pics, I see you have a lot of line input modules, just the transformer, which would have been used with tape machines, cart machines, turntables which already had amplifiers installed, remote lines etc.
The AT242s likely are configured as the microphone pre-amplifiers but also could be the booster or program amps as it was a pretty useful universal type amplifier.
There are quite a few mods visible in the photos, the switch you mentioned, the turntable start and the door button plus some breadboards inside that definitely are NOT McCurdy parts.
If you can find one of the Daven pots, the missing one should be easy to replace.
Just get one with the same values as the ones already in the board.
These sometimes show up on Ebay.
At least the wiring still is intact for that channel.
McCurdy still has the instructions and schematics available for this board but they will charge you for them.
Just send them the model number and serial number of the board and they may even have the original configuration of amps and modules as it was delivered.
This, however, is no guarantee as to the board's current set up.
I've never had any luck finding any manuals or schematics for free on the net.
Some other modules appear to be missing as well.
If you get the manual, you will be able to figure out how this particular board is configured and if you need to find any more modules.
Despite what others may say, if this board has been powered down for some time and has been in storage, replacing the power supply filter caps should be done before you fire it up.
I'll try to answer any other questions you may have but I haven't seen or worked on one of these since the late '60s.

And here's my response:

Hi Mike, and thanks so much for the insight. I have what appears to be a photocopied version a complete instruction manual that McCurdy supplied to Queens at the time of purchase. A couple of the fold-out schematic pages are faded a bit, but there’s probably enough here for an engineer to figure out what’s what. As a non-tech it’s all Greek to me.

I recall your comment early on about re-capping. I have not looked at the power supply (I wouldn’t even know where to look for it), but some of the capacitors I have noted in spots throughout the board are noticeably dried out, and the pseudo-tech friend who helped me pick it up said the same thing – that all the capacitors should be replaced from the get-go.

I’m going to try to assemble some help at this end, over the course of the next few months or years, to try to bring this baby up to speed. As a non-tech, I don’t even want to try to mess with it as I will blow something up. When I was 17 there was an errant wire hanging down from behind the dash in my old Rambler, and rather than cut it I tried to connect it where I thought it should go. When I hit the ignition, smoke and cracking ensued. I wound up taping up the darn thing and just left it loose. I can imagine I could do serious harm to myself and this board without hands-on guidance.

And I don’t want to get frustrated, gut the thing and turn it into a bar fridge (although wouldn’t that be a novel idea…)

I guess my primary goal right now is to get someone here to dig into it for me, figure out what’s missing by looking at the schematics and see if we can get the parts, or work around them in some expert fashion. My old chief tech in Lindsay is selling real estate now, but he’s quite conversant with these boards too, so I might contact him.

It’s really great to connect with you Mike…too bad you’re not in Ontario…and I value your insight. If you have any other thoughts, fire away.

It would be so much better if I could do this task on my own, but I would have to take a few years of electrical engineering to do it, and even then lack the practical experience that would be so valuable for a project such as this. And that’s the main reason why I’m hesitant to get electrical engineering students involved, say, at the college level. This could be a class project for them, but I could just imagine what they would do to it in the process…

Gord

[Eldon-Mr.CFAY]

Hi Everyone,
Great photos of the McCurdy. Have really enjoyed looking at them, thanks very much for posting them in such detail here on Radio West for everyone to see. Also enjoyed reading your comments and technical analysis Mike of the McCurdy Board and your comments about it all too Gord. Thanks also for sending me the email Gord which I will answer very soon, have had a very busy week so far and haven't had a chance to get to recent emails in any detail yet. Anyway I do want to say that Mike brings up some very good points on the condition and what can be done to restore the board properly. As far as missing parts like the Knob etc. go I may have an idea or two on finding those, I will email you about that Gord. In the meantime I am glad you got it okay and from the sound of things it seemed like a long search for you on this one! Glad you did find it! If I happen to hear of any McCurdy Boards that are out there and have been used for parts and might be available I will let you know. Someone else may just have one like yours that they have taken some parts out and want to get rid of the rest of it, you just never know, could be in someones workshop or even a used electronic retail shop in Canada.

Take care everyone. 73s Eldon

[GordoGibbo]

Thanks for the post, Eldon, and everybody...I guess as I go through this and determine what parts are missing and my success or lack thereof in locating same, I wonder if it's possible, for example, short of a complete restoration where EVERYTHING is up and working, including all channels, inputs and outputs, if it might be possible to move some of the modules that I have around to at least power some of the inputs that I would need for my home studio....ie, a couple of microphones, monitor, output to PC / mixer and input from mixer / PC back to the board for monitoring etc.

I would assume that any power supply missing would have to be replaced for the whole board to work. However, if a preamp module is missing, so long as I don't need that channel, would the board still power up and function, perhaps with the requisite dead zones, until I could secure any and all missing modules? I don't need things like talkback circuits, or the five-input remote line on Channel #8. Again, my goal is to do a full restoration so that everything is functional and thus it would be ready to go in a typical broadcast configuration as it was originally designed, but for my purposes I would probably need less than half of what it can do....so long as I have the power supplies, and the necessary transformers for the requisite sound quality (and of course, recapping all needed modules as suggested...)

Gordon

[scott s.]

Hello

I was just surfing the web looking for anything in the way on manuals for my recent acquired 80s vintage Mccurdy 8820 stereo console, when I came across this page. It's an interesting conversation and confirmed what I have heard elsewhere trying to find documentation regarding their consoles. I also find that there seems to be little of markings to even give a hint as to what is what within the console itself. I have had great luck in a few American tabletop consoles I have from LPB and QRK in that respect, though full documentation certainly also helped, if I didn't have it, it wouldn't be too hard to figure it out.

So, the console in question is a SS4308? I was wondering this, as I acquired one last year from a friend who had it in his basement for many years. It probably hasn't been powered up in 20 years, but here's hoping it can work. He says he has documentation somewhere....but really hasn't had a chance to do some cleaning to find the manuals, I'm hoping he finds them, as I don't even know where to start to wire up a power cable. very little markings except on the modules, and the one I had I was told ran hot so they kept a fan on it....maybe the power caps were going...who knows. If no luck, I might try Mccurdy and would be helpful to know the model #. Probably need $$$, but worth a try.

I'd still like to get it operational. Might need recapping, but one step at a time. Might be fun to play in the world of mono again for the hell of it. I was in the industry for 16 years in NS and NB, and fell in love with the technology for lack of a better description. When I started seeing it heading for the dumpster, it went home with me. I wish I could have saved more.

I finally moved into a house with strangely enough, a read made booth in the basement, so I have a retro control room for my internet station with Mccurdy CH12's and ITC 3D cart machines, a 5 channel QRK 70s console and a few 100 carts for good measure. It's just fun now. I even have a B77 logger (saved from being binned) if anyone needs logger transfers.

Nice to also see other people with a interest in vintage gear. I've had too many "what do you want that for?" comments over the years and weird stares. I'm used to it now, but sometimes you tend to lean on that side of crazy. Some people are into vintage cars, I can't afford one, so vintage broadcast gear will do fine for me and the wife who puts up with me....

Regards

Scott S.

Dartmouth, NS

[Mike Cleaver]

Gord: You have lots of modules for line inputs so that's not going to be a problem.
Those will work fine for computer output, cart machines, tape machines, etc.
They are passive modules, ie: not powered, simply an isolation and matching transformer.
You have a couple of mic preamp modules so those should be fine as well.
There should also be a program amp and possibly a monitor amp but the one we used in Lethbridge used a McCurdy wedge speaker cabinet that was wall mounted and included the 10 watt monitor amp in the baffle. ( I have two of these in storage.)
It looks as if you have one power supply because the board could accommodate two.
It's so long ago that I can't remember if it needs both to function or if one was a back-up or redundant supply if the first one failed.
Again, the power supply WILL need to be re-capped.
Don't risk blowing up the power transformer and other components by simply plugging it in.
If you have the manuals and schematics, it shouldn't be too difficult to figure out how it should go together.
The missing pot probably was cannibalized from your board to replace one that failed in one of the other boards they have.
How the heck anyone snapped off those lever switches is beyond me!
I'm wondering what some of those "mods" are about and how they've changed the circuitry from factory stock.
That was one of the biggest problems in the engineering part of my career.
Most station engineers modified equipment and then never documented what they did so the next guy along had to try to figure out what they did and why.
It was the same with wiring.
No book or labelling on what went where and its purpose.
Good luck in the restoration project.
The parts, as I mentioned before, do come up on Ebay occasionally.
McCurdy actually still is the best source for information about your board but they do charge for this.

[GordoGibbo]

Mike, thanks for the insight. As for a plug, I don't even see one. I wouldn't dare attempt to power it up until after the recapping is done and I have lots of expert hands-on input from people at this end who can help me get my hands dirty and figure out what's what. That's months, or more down the road. I won't rush it. The thing I need to figure out right now is if this board does, indeed need the second power supply. There's a guy in Lindsay who used to know these boards inside and out, I'm going to try and chase him down. And while I do have the manuals from the former owner, I might contact McCurdy and order another set to make sure I have clean copies of everything.

Scott, welcome. I'm new to this message board and those who populate it are very helpful and generous, and expert as well. Thank you, everyone. The board I have actually is a SS4370, 8 channel, and is a stereo board, with a summing bus for mono and a "B" bus on all channels for recording. I hear you about vintage broadcast gear, and your comment about vintage cars is interesting. My father is restoring a 1938 22-foot Chris Craft all-wood inboard boat, a thing of beauty once it's done. My father-in-law is in the throes of restoring a couple of 1930s-era panel trucks. As for me, I drove a 1974 VeeDub Beetle for awhile, a driver, but sold it to a guy who is going to restore it. I just didn't have the stomach for sitting at a stoplight in the middle of July and knowing how much pollutant I was putting into the air with the old car.

Old broadcast gear, in comparison, don't have exhaust pipes and for guys like us represents the ultimate cool factor. And they don't build them like they used to. You should have seen my buddy and me trying to get this 200 + pound monster down the basement steps! Vintage radio gear is actually becoming popular with ham radio operators, who find that vintage broadcast gear is well-suited to their purpose. And it's just so cool to rescue a bit of history. Like Mike and others, I can't get over why people simply throw this stuff out. At least the CBC tries to preserve some of their stuff, with their broadcast television and radio museum in Toronto.

I have no plans to start up an internet radio station at the moment (although never say never, as they say...) but for the short-term it's nice to have as a centerpiece for my office and VO studio, and as a throwback to my start in the biz...opping a board just like this one. There are boards that are older, like the older rotary Macs like the old CHUM master CR, and various Gates and Northern Electric boards. But for me, this is historical as this was a very popular board at the time I got into the business back in 1973.....and this one appears to have been manufactured in 1973, as it turns out.....so for me, it takes me back to where I started.

Gord

[GordoGibbo]

Scott, could you send some pics of the board(s) you have?

Gord

[jon]

Here are Scott's photos:


McCurdy 4370


McCurdy 8820


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