eBay pick of the day: 20 oscilloscopes

20 mixed oscilloscopes for parts


I can only imagine that this is coming from the estate of Man or Astro-man. Remember when they had that "bring a TV to our show, get in for free?" offer going? What a great band.

eBay pick of the day: Oktava MKE 15

Lomo/Oktava MKE 15 tube mic


I've come to accept the fact that the only way I'll ever be able to afford a 19A19 is if I stumble across an unsuspecting seller who thinks he has a "used, sci-fi looking" microphone with "funny writing" on it in a pawn shop in the middle of nowhere. And trust me, I've been looking.

In the meantime, I've been clocking my eBay hours searching for "lesser" Russian tube mics, which has been a real treat, actually. Take a look at the power supply on this one-- no wonder we thought the Reds had weapons during the cold war! This thing looks dangerous.

eBay pick of the day: loaded API lunchbox

API lunchbox with 512c preamp, 550b parametric EQ & 525 compressor


There's no sense in reading through what this guy wrote, but basically, if you're looking for a channel strip on par with something that has SSL printed on it, you could do worse than this.

eBay pick of the day: Farfisa F/AR

Farfisa F/AR reverb/fuzz box


This looks perfect! Why doesn't everyone use these?

The Dark Horses

The Dark Horses came over and recorded a handful of songs earlier tonight. You can hear what they did on the Colonial Recordings USA Multiply page. Great stuff!

Is Manny's Music owned by Sam Ash?

A few years back, I had heard that Sam Ash was getting ready to close shop, nationally. Guitar Centers were springing up everywhere, and with their better deals and no-pressure sales philosophy, they seemed to be nudging the old giant out of the doomed market of Instrument Superstores (buy a warehouse, design a snazzy looking website, cut costs considerably-- you don't need a megastore to sell a Squire Strat). And so when I came across this site, which claims Sam Ash as the recent owner of Manny's Music in Manhattan, it came as a bit of a shock-- my understanding was that Sam Ash was not in a financial position to buy anything, much less their neighbor on 48th Street. I started looking around for something to back the statement, and came across the following:

This site offers up a bit of Sam Ash history, most notably:

In August 1999, Sam Ash snapped up Manny's Music Store, a New York store which was touted as a "haven for musicians."

Kiss Online, in its discussion of the band's tour-issued drum sticks, says:

Note: Manny's Music is a well known musical instrument store in NYC, who incidentally are now owned by Sam Ash.

And this one, which talks about the Manny's West store Sam Ash recently opened in Hollywood.

On a side note, I stopped by a Guitar Center yesterday, tried to buy a pair of monitors and got no help whatsoever. At least at Sam Ash you can still play a "may I help you?" riff and get some service! Fortunately, there are other guitar and pro audio shops in town to choose from...

eBay pick of the day: Neumann 103 + 2x184

Neumann starter kit-- TLM 103 & two KM184s


I guess it should go without saying that this great deal is coming out of Chicago...

The T&V on Multiply!

The Tender & Vulnerable now have a page on Multiply.com:

Go there now!

MP3s, videos, etc. with more soon to follow!

Also, on the T&V gossip front: the boys are touring again this summer, making their impression felt up and through the Pacific Northwest: Seattle, Olympia and Portland, with a stop scheduled for 8/11 at Jackpot! Studios. Yes!

More great eBay phrasery!

Aside from being something you should all bid on anyway, be sure to check out the great eBay phrasery in this auction:

"NICO...I STILL THE HAMMER DISCO FOR YOU....WE'LL TALK."

Is this how spies communicate these days? Via eBay listings?

eBay pick of the day: one-off 45 service

Jukebox Recording Cutting Service


Edition of 1, 45rpm, 7" vinyl. I've been looking for something like this for years.

UPDATE: Here's their online store, if you don't want to roll the dice on eBay.

Why is everything good in Chicago?

Electrical Audio, Soma, Key Club... wait, who? The Keyclub Recording Company. That's where Sly Stone's infamous Flickinger console is hiding these days (pictured below). You know,the haunted one.


Apparently the fine folks over at Skibbe Electronics, also out of Chicago, are working on an outboard pre based on the console's channel design. Exciting! They're the company that makes the $1500 LA-2A clone.

Then there's Sytek. Their 4-channel preamp, used by everyone in the Windy City, it seems, sells for around $900, which is a great deal-- $100 less than two RNPs on a single power supply.

Look-- there's one on eBay right now for $750! I need a second job.

eBay pick of the day: Sparta A-15 mixer

Sparta A-15 mixer


Yes, the pot on Channel Four is missing, and sure, the power cord was cut off a while ago, but at $.99 (with 5 days left), this might make for an interesting project housing. I wonder if that meter still works...

Geography quizzes

If you're anything like us, the following online quizzes will inspire you to revisit the 6th grade:

UN Member quiz
Name all 192 UN member nations in 10 minutes. Hint: Micronesia

Geosense geography quiz
This one presents you with a world map, names a city/country and asks you to guess where it is.

Name the 50 states quiz
Another timed quiz-- 10 minutes, totally embarassing.

Let us know how you did!

The Library of Congress in the news

The big news item today, aside from Scooter Libby taking the fall, is that The Library of Congress' National Recordings Registry recently added an episode of The Lone Ranger, FDR's address to Congress the day after the Pearl Harbor attack, a Rolling Stones song, and Rhymin' Simon's Graceland to its holdings. The public can nominate recordings to the registry here. The Shamblers' first album will be eligible in early 2017.

While you're checking out The Library of Congress, be sure to check out the American Folklife Center, especially look into phonoduplication, and don't miss the SONIC Catalog.

eBay pick of the day: Quantec Room Simulator

Quantec Room Simulator


Yeah! And they're still around! Who knew?

Crispin Glover on Letterman on acid

(thanks to Terry Duvall for sending this our way)

eBay pick of the day: 4 Neumann M 49bs

Four matched Neumann M 49b tube microphones and power supplies.


There's some information on the M 49b on this list.

We've got Tenori-on fever!

If you've read any of the Synth Geek blogs over the last couple of years, you've heard about the Tenori-on-- a 16x16 matrix tone generator/sequencer/Lite Brite set. And according to this, it looks like it's finally coming out!

Here's the Yamaha page for it and everything.

But, if you can't wait until "later this year," be sure to check out Ezra Buchla's Monome, which is already available and only costs $450. And it's handmade. And there are less than 100 of them left to buy.

Here's a demo video:



Also, somewhat related and equally cool, there's this (via an old Matrix Synth post):

Photo from our show at Stain

Thanks Shannon!

Flier for our 3/9 show

From Brandon.