Creative gear photos - post 'em here

My Alan Eaton 45 mono block - at ~20lbs in front of my monster Aries-Cerat Concero 25's at 175lbs each.

AE - AC.jpg
 
Gettin' some tubes ready to experiment with. All 1930's and early 1940's. The ones in the lower left are RCA 1960's. YUK.

Tubes.jpg
 
I love my vintage Italian tubes so much that the next logical step after Italian beer is…..Italian toothpaste???

TP.jpg
 
Time to decide which of the testers on the bottom half of the screen to work on next....


Greek Audio Geek Tube Tester.jpg
 
Not very creative, but my OCD today had me color code the labels on my products from most gentle to strongest so I can easily word up the scale to stronger products during my restorations.

Greek Audio Geek, Restoration.jpg
 
brad225 said:
Seems reasonable. Sense of color temp should work well.
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Yeah it took a while to work it out based on experience.

I used to have it color coded by type and then ratio within that type.

For instance all the APC's were one, all the Rinseless wash's were enough, misc were another.

Then I learned that it was better to group them based on overall power vs type.

For instance a 30:1 of Blitz (a rinseless) is the same basic strength as APS at 15:1. They use different chemistry to clean. Since no two pieces of gear are dirty the same way there is no magic 'best one'.
 
A picture of my Weston 978 FAA tester I just made all pretty. And I tested it against my reference standard Western Electric 15750-L2 and the Weston is spot on accurate.

The 978 was built for the Civil Aeronautics Administration, predecessor to today’s FAA.

It used a 5 kHz signal for its mutual-conductance test, rather than relying on the power-line-frequency approach associated with many classic Hickok testers. This was done claiming it would yield more accurate results.

Classic Hickok testers derive the test conditions from the AC line-frequency system rather than using the Weston’s dedicated higher-frequency approach.

Pretty cool technology for something approaching 80 years old.


Tube amp, greek audio geek.jpg
 
This is the ANTITHESIS of stolen IP made-with-save-labor clone gear.

100% American ingenuity, design, and manufacture.

Completely redone, calibrated, and now in mint condition for decision day tomorrow: Do I keep this Hickok and sell my Weston or vice versa.

One will have to go due to space and money constraints (need the money to buy other things to restore).


Hickok Tube Tester.jpg
 
Michael, I find myself wondering what kind of documentation of these products and their use in restoration, before and after photos etc you’ve created. From where I’m standing, you’ve created potentially museum quality restoration methodologies and records that could be lost tomorrow if you got hit by a bus.

My spouse is a professor emerita from a major university. Knowledge management is her thing, so I couldn’t help but pick up a few things via close proximity. Your accumulated knowledge base of these products and methodologies strikes me as being of greater value than even great photos and good writing. Your contribution to this hobby in that regard seems well worth preserving. Just something to think about.
 
2FarGone said:
Michael, I find myself wondering what kind of documentation of these products and their use in restoration, before and after photos etc you’ve created. From where I’m standing, you’ve created potentially museum quality restoration methodologies and records that could be lost tomorrow if you got hit by a bus.

My spouse is a professor emerita from a major university. Knowledge management is her thing, so I couldn’t help but pick up a few things via close proximity. Your accumulated knowledge base of these products and methodologies strikes me as being of greater value than even great photos and good writing. Your contribution to this hobby in that regard seems well worth preserving. Just something to think about.
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Thank you for the kind words. I am so passionate about the exploration of the ideal ways to bring these back to life, I'm like a kid on Christmas every time I get one in.

Heck, sometimes I buy really bad ones just to experiment with and see what products / techniques don't and what does.

I never thought of your idea about trying to preserve what I'm learning. I can tell you every time I receive a piece I have every intention of making the process into a video, then the thought of lighting, sound, composition, editing, blah, blah, blah just makes me say "screw it, I'm just going to dive in".

In fact I did that tonight with the piece I just posted on the other thread - I bought it with the intention of making a video about reviving it and when the time came I just started without filming.

As I think about what you suggested, the biggest challenge for me isn't the transfer (i.e. writing or filming it), it's the organization of it all.

For instance I tried 19 difference finished on a 90 year old wood case this past week to see how each one reacts, looks, and behaves so I know exactly which one to use in the future when I am going for a certain look. The thought of trying to organize that into knowledge transfer just seems so overwhelming along with dealing with the father in law in the hospital, a job, making content, etc. etc.
 
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