Phil O'Keefe: In The Studio Trenches

[SilenceSketches]

Hey,

So I have been seeing this desk come up over and over in some local classifieds. There is next to no info but 'Target 32 Desk' which is all I can pick out (not a native and I don't speak the language, yet)

Anyone know what this is, got any info/links about it?



My old desk is stuck in Scotland and this is damn cheap.

Thanks,

Mark.

[WRGKMC]

The most I could find is it may be a Hughes and Kettner piece of gear
sold in Europe. I couldnt find much on the companies acquisition history nor their vintage
gear so you're gonna have to dig for more info.

Like all older vintage gear, wear on pots jacks and and sliders do wear out and
if the parts are non standard you can forget about finding replacement parts.
The sliders on the one are motorized which will make it an even tougher find.
Unless you have some good technical/maintainence skills, I wouldnt advise buying old
junk. Allot is on the market because its obsolite and beat. Its bad enough getting well
know brands maintained up to usable standards. Getting something practically unknown
up to specs just isnt where you want to go unless you're an electronic tech that can
dig and scrounce for what he needs.

I used to repair old gear for a living and still do some purchases of vintage gear every so often.
Since everything gone digital it really doesnt make sense though. A good digital console will blow the doors off old
boat anchors, and since digital recording allows you to record as many tracks as you need, and the mixing is done in the box,
theres no need to have a 32 track console, even if your were micing a 32 piece orchestra.

Just my two cents.

[SilenceSketches]

Thanks for the info, I have no illusions to the fact that I don't need it, to be honest I was hoping for some useable preamps and that's about it (it's at about €200 now) I wouldn't be doing any mixing on it, just a cheap stop gap to get a few pres together. Now that I think about it, I really should just leave well enough alone. I lucked out last time with an old desk which was mint, great sounding and cheap but I should hold out to add a couple more high end pres to my rack. Thanks again for the info. Mark.

[daklander]

Being a local CL sale it should be near enough to your location that you could take a quick road trip to check it out. If it's all in workable condition it may well be worth the asking price of €200 as a stopgap and since it's been re listed a number of times there's a strong possibility you could pick it up for €125 to €150.