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If you visited a radio station from the late 50's even into the 90's, this is the type of turntable you would see spinning vinyl in the control room. (BTW Rumble-Matics is what one radio station's engineer called them)
A huge heavy platter hooked up to a equally large motor with a simple speed gear. And a heavy tonearm that can easily cue burn and scratch up a cheap styrene 45 in seconds.
To their credit, these dinosaurs were made to work 24/7 non stop and built like army equipment to last for decades. And if they weren't replaced with Technics 1200's or simular, some stations still have them around gathering dust while music is being played off computers.
Photo taken at KSGL-AM 900 in Wichita Kansas in 2001. I worked at this station back in 1987-8. The station was a christian station at the time (its now MOR) and the record companies were still sending us vinyl 45's, LP's and many single 12" to play. Promo CD's were still a rarity. That made 6 hour all-music shifts a lot of fun..
And when I visited the station again in 2008 one was still there by the console, ready to go to work.
Update: just found a couple of interesting website on Russco and vintage DJ turntables.
http://www.russcoturntables.com/
and http://home.earthlink.net/~russcoinfo/
A huge heavy platter hooked up to a equally large motor with a simple speed gear. And a heavy tonearm that can easily cue burn and scratch up a cheap styrene 45 in seconds.
To their credit, these dinosaurs were made to work 24/7 non stop and built like army equipment to last for decades. And if they weren't replaced with Technics 1200's or simular, some stations still have them around gathering dust while music is being played off computers.
Photo taken at KSGL-AM 900 in Wichita Kansas in 2001. I worked at this station back in 1987-8. The station was a christian station at the time (its now MOR) and the record companies were still sending us vinyl 45's, LP's and many single 12" to play. Promo CD's were still a rarity. That made 6 hour all-music shifts a lot of fun..
And when I visited the station again in 2008 one was still there by the console, ready to go to work.
Update: just found a couple of interesting website on Russco and vintage DJ turntables.
http://www.russcoturntables.com/
and http://home.earthlink.net/~russcoinfo/
Category Photography / All
Species Unspecified / Any
Size 640 x 480px
File Size 60 kB
I found one on ebay - not great shape but you can get an idea how they worked.
http://cgi.ebay.com/Vintage-Collins.....item2a019fbaf7
They have a huge hard metal base, and I bet they weigh 15-20 pounds. They weren't meant to be transported.
http://cgi.ebay.com/Vintage-Collins.....item2a019fbaf7
They have a huge hard metal base, and I bet they weigh 15-20 pounds. They weren't meant to be transported.
Ah, so looks like they are idler drive and have a huge motor. They don't make them like that any more.
If a lot of radio stations do use Technics stuff nowadays, I wonder how they hold up in comparison to something like this? Since the motor is direct drive, the electronics could be souped up/better cooled for durability. The platter and tone arm bearings would probably be the weakest points I would guess.
If a lot of radio stations do use Technics stuff nowadays, I wonder how they hold up in comparison to something like this? Since the motor is direct drive, the electronics could be souped up/better cooled for durability. The platter and tone arm bearings would probably be the weakest points I would guess.
These turntables were made to be eaisly repaired, some of the parts are fairly generic, like the motors or switches. A lot of companies like Collins, Harris, Gates and QRK made simular designed turntables back then.
I've seen club and rap DJ's abuse the hell out of 1200's and they hold up. I knew a DJ who had some drunk throw a beer on one that leaked into the motor area, and after he cleaned it up, it worked fine. The things that break on 1200's are the wired cables and sometimes the switches.
I've seen club and rap DJ's abuse the hell out of 1200's and they hold up. I knew a DJ who had some drunk throw a beer on one that leaked into the motor area, and after he cleaned it up, it worked fine. The things that break on 1200's are the wired cables and sometimes the switches.
BTW check this website out:
http://home.earthlink.net/~russcoinfo/cm.html
http://home.earthlink.net/~russcoinfo/cm.html
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