Electrodyne 16 channel Custom 1608 console
This was one of two Electrodyne consoles ordered by legendary Stax producer Chips Moman for his American Sound Studios in Memphis, where Elvis, Neil Diamond, Dusty Springfield and many more cut top ten tracks.
This is the original Electrodyne 1608 from Stax producer Chips Moman’s American Sound Studios in Memphis. The studio operated between 1967 and 1971 where an astonishing 122 hit songs were produced and all charted in the top 100. The house band was the Memphis Boys, also known as the “827 Thomas Street Band” after the studio’s address.
These were some of the many hits recorded there
Soul Serenade – King Curtis 1968
Son of a Preacher Man – Dusty Springfield 1968
You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin – Dionne Warwick 1969
Angel From Montgomery – John Prine 1971
The Letter – The Box Tops 1970
In the Ghetto – Elvis Presley 1969
Suspicious Minds – Elvis Presley
Raindrops Keep Falling on my Head – BJ Thomas
After American, it went to Cavern Studio in Kansas City where it recorded James Brown
It has a big, bold tone with a vintage API vibe to the mids, a thicker bottom end and a killer drive/fuzz to it if you push it hard. These desks could be found in lots of the best US studios in the 60s and 70s, including Sigma (David Bowie Young Americans, Gamble and Huff’s Philly Soul, Disco Inferno!), Motown Detroit (68-72, some good years there!) but then later bands like the White Stripes cut their first record on one of these at Ghetto Recorders with Jim Diamond. Capitol Studios had one for some Beach Boys sessions and Neil Young and The Black Keys all did huge records on extremely similar old Quad Eight desks.
It’s currently fitted with 12 mic pre/eq modules, 3 EQ modules and has room for one more. It also included a monitoring mixer section with a further 16 ins, giving up to 32 ins at mixdown.
Modules are: 2 x 712L, 9 x 711L, 1 x 710L, 2 x 610L, 1 X 609L.
There are 10 x LA602 bus amps (8 for recording, 2 for the 2 mix bus), a lot of expensive Triad HS transformers for balancing inserts, echo sends etc and the meters work and are calibrated. It’s a really special piece of history and a bad-ass front end