Those 1960s and 1970s Low-Cost (IE, Cheap) Microphone Mixers

[frankosport4]

Greetings ....

Who remembers using those very cheap microphone mixers of the 1960s and 1970s, such as those offered by Lafayette Radio and Realistic (Radio Shack)?

If yes, did you use them with or without a battery? If not using a battery, the mixers would have functioned passively, relying on the preamps of the appropriate connected component (tape recorder, receiver, integrated amp, solo preamp -- anything with mic jacks) to properly boost the incoming signals.

I found that using an old mixer passively worked out well because when powered by the battery the sound quality got badly muddled up.

I no long use the ones I had. Does anyone here by chance still use an old mixer for any purpose?

Thanx-A-Lot

 

[DaveVoorhis]

Greetings ....

Who remembers using those very cheap microphone mixers of the 1960s and 1970s, such as those offered by Lafayette Radio and Realistic (Radio Shack)?

If yes, did you use them with or without a battery?

I still have a Radio Shack mixer -- slightly higher model than the one shown; it has more inputs and a pair of VU meters, and a wall plugin so no batteries and definitely not passive -- which I used for computer music production in the 80s and early 90s. It hasn't been in use for about 20 years. I replaced it with the mixer capabilities of a Fostex 280 multitrack cassette recorder (the cassette recording feature was occasionally used), but it's been shelved for a decade. I don't mix simultaneous sources any more; instead I record one source at a time and layer them in software.

I've never used a mixer for music playback.

 

[dshoaf]

I used a Calrad mixer much like those Lafayette and Shadio Rack boxes with about the same results. The noise floor was high and it could easily create ground loops if you had lots of gear. They were _really_ basic mixing at it worse. I later stepped up to a Shure M67 (still popular for mods) which worked a bit better but it was single channel. The Shures were designed for remote radio broadcasts. Remember listening to a DJ broadcasting from some local auto/appliance dealer or a football game? That was likely a Shure M67 connecting back across a phone line to the radio station.

Most of my work involved recording local bluegrass, rock and gospel groups in order to create demo tapes for them. The recording session was free and I made the money on duping and selling the tapes to them. All sessions involved direct to tape. That is, I used the Shure M67 (2 for stereo) to set up the mix down while they practiced as they set up. Then, I'd have them run through 5 songs in the order they wanted them to appear on the tape.

I used a Crown SX-722 (1/2 track rec/play) running at 15ips to lay down the tracks. Then, when making the demo tapes, playback on the Crown went to a Revox A77 1/4 track. It all worked quite well and I met and recorded some awesome band - especially some of the gospel folks. I lost all the master tapes in a house fire in 1994.

It was a fun gig back in the mid-70s.

Cheers,

David

 

[WBCN]

I still have a Radio Shack mixer -- slightly higher model than the one shown; it has more inputs and a pair of VU meters, and a wall plugin so no batteries and definitely not passive -- which I used for computer music production in the 80s and early 90s.

Would that be this model?

Fun toys.

 

[Chip Chester]

Ran across my beige tin box Realistic ($10.95 unit above) out the the garage yesterday. Still has the 50-cent garage sale sticker on it, and thankfully, no battery in the compartment. Looked it up and noted that, like the OP said, many had better performance with no battery, mostly as a line level mixer. Don't know how it would do on mic with no battery. This thing is so old there's not even a model number on it. Saw current ebay pricing of $40 or so, and had a chuckle.

Chip

 

[DaveVoorhis]

Would that be this model?

Nope, but similar.

I dragged it out of its grotto for a photo; dusty, unloved and missing a knob which broke in the early 90s. Oddly, though, I considered it worth shipping when I moved from Canada to the UK around the turn of the century. Seems ludicrous, now.

DSC_4663

• DaveVoorhis
• Jun 7, 2016

Realistic Mixer

 

[WBCN]

Nope, but similar.

I dragged it out of its grotto for a photo; dusty, unloved and missing a knob which broke in the early 90s. Oddly, though, I considered it worth shipping when I moved from Canada to the UK around the turn of the century. Seems ludicrous, now.

DSC_4663

• DaveVoorhis
• Jun 7, 2016

Realistic Mixer

Interesting... 32-1210 apparently. I'm not really familiar with that model. Looks like it isn't really well suited for stereo sources, though as you'd need to use two input channels.

 

[DaveVoorhis]

Looks like it isn't really well suited for stereo sources, though as you'd need to use two input channels.

No, not really suited to stereo sources.

But it was great for three guys with a guitar, bass, keyboard synth, drum machine and microphones recording lo-fi ambient/experimental music to cassette tape masters.

I guess I kept it for the memories.