Trident 24 London - my "new" console

[miroslav]

As some of you are aware, I've been kinda hunting for a console for awhile now to replace my TASCAM M-3500. The 3500 has served me well for 25 years, but I've wanted to move to something a bit more pro-grade and with some pedigree. Something with better EQ and overall, better summing.

Over the last few years, I've had several near misses...looked at a few different brands/'models...but for one reason or another, never found something I liked, that would not need a tone of work, and that was within my budget...and still somewhat pro-grade and with some pedigree.

Well...a few days ago, I found this baby...and today I brought her home.
This picture is from the seller's studio...I have yet to set it up in mine.

While it's not the big-boy Trident 80 series (a used 80B goes for about $30k)...it IS a Trident, and this particular one has been refurbished, re-chipped, re-capped, and even modified/upgraded on several channels, including the master and aux channels. Full-length copper ground bar installed, and high-end Acopian PSUs (4 of them, two for the 18v mains, one for the logic and the other for the phantom power).
Plus, I got all high-end Mogami & some Canare cabling that goes from the console and attached to 5 TT patch bays....and a whole bunch of spare parts...lots of new pots, tons of caps and tons of chips, in case I want to go even deeper with reworking any channels. The guy said he put about $10k into it with all the reworking and upgrades...which I believe he did. I got it for a really good deal.

Just prior to seeing this one, there was a guy selling a 24-channel/16-bus, basically stock except for the faders (he had P&G faders), but the stock power supply had issues and some burned out components, and it was without the Trident stand...and he was/is asking $3750 for it (still is, it's on eBay).
Mine is a 28-channel/24-bus, and with all the extras I mentioned...so a much better deal.

It hasn't been used for a couple of years...guy split with his wife, and the studio w/console, stayed in the house it was in, which the wife got...so the guy didn't want to rebuild a new studio, so he let it sit there and I guess he now decided to clean out that studio and get all the gear out...so I came across this deal at the most opportune moment...for him and me.
Oh...the guy is the guitar player from the band "moe."...some of you may have heard of them (you can Google them).

OK...so I'm like exhausted right now...it was 3 hours to get there, 2 hours to break down all the cabling and get it loaded, and then another 3 hours back home, and then another 2 hours to unload.
It's going to take me a couple of months to cut out my TASCAM, cut in the Trident, and pretty much reconfigure all the patch bays and the layout...since the Trident is about 1.5' longer than my TASCAM.
It will be a lot of work...but I'm going to enjoy it.
I've got a bunch of songs that are pretty much done except for the final mixdown...and now I'll be able to mix them through the Trident.

 

[RFR]

Well, HOT DAMN!!!!!!

 

[altruistica]

Whooooooah!

Very envious Miro......hope you enjoy it.

Pity you're in the States or I might have been interested in the M3500.

Enjoy!

Al

 

[miroslav]

Thanks guys...I am already enjoying it, and it's not even set up yet.

Well, HOT DAMN!!!!!!

Yeah...that's about how I felt all the way home...and it's still not fully sunk in that I have it.

I dunno...maybe it kinda confirms that my mental illness is still going strong....but man, I don't care.
We all get one pass, no chance to do a second or third take...so we might as well be a little crazy if it makes us feel good.

I've always known that there are way better consoles out there for sure than this particular Trident...the real big-boy stuff, high-end stuff...but I've always had this thing about wanting to own a Trident. Something about their look...maybe it's all the wood, plus the knob colors against the dark gray.
I remember seeing one of these back in 1990...same year I purchased my TASCAM. They had one in the music store in the pro audio department...and I just stood there drooling, but I knew it was well out of my price range at the time. I think brand new, these went for something like $22k+ depending on configuration, but at the time, I thought the $7.5k I was spending on the TASCAM was kinda nuts....but man, even as I was buying the TASCAM, I kept looking at the Trident.

Whooooooah!

Very envious Miro......hope you enjoy it.

Pity you're in the States or I might have been interested in the M3500.

Enjoy!

Al

I was thinking about you and your TASCAM the last couple of weeks, and the fact that I was close to getting something to replace mine....but yeah, you're across the Atlantic.
You would have loved my TASCAM...no issues, everything works, and I've got spare parts.
As soon as I get the Trident set up, I will most certainly be selling off the TASCAM. I think it still has a lot of life left, and if anyone is interested in doing some reworking, it could still be a great little board for years to come.
I always loved how sweet the TASCAM fit and looked in my setup. It's got a small footprint, but still has that large console feel (mine is only the 24 channel).
They don't fetch a high price these days...but I hope with the extra parts and the fact it's in really good shape, I can still get something back...so I can cover some of the cost of the Trident.

 

[j.harv]

Very nice! Love the look of it.

 

[sr71rules]

Awesome news Miro! Congrats!

 

[miroslav]

OK...so I figure I can use this thread to post some "as it goes" pics and info.

I started the basic clean up process...so first I removed all the modules.

Here's the chassis, and you can see the over-sized copper ground bar that was installed, with each channel individually grounded to it (the green jumpers).

In this close-up, you can see that power distribution was also improved by "fanning it out" to each section, so power is provided at 4 points rather than have it provided all from one point and then running through the boards.. The guy did some great work on the power distro upgrade.

Here you can see the added connectors that were installed for two PSUs carrying the the 18V +/- rails. The holes above the connectors are fuse holders (I removed them during load-out). To the left you can see the original power connector, which now is only used for the logic PSU and for the phantom power PSU. There are a total of 4 PSUs now...all high-end Acopian units.

Here's what that looks like on the inside of the panel. The guys even added a hinge, so you can flip open the power section panel. There was some serious work done here....and all done very well.

And here are the Acopian PSU units. On top, are the two 18V units...and the two large ones inside the case are for powering the logic (upper unit) and the phantom power (lower unit). He even added a dimmer on the upper unit so you could dim the VU light bulbs.

The Furman IT 1220 Balanced Isolation Transformer is not directly part of the Trident's power setup....I just happened to place it there, sandwiched in-between them when I was loading it into my studio.

The seller had the Furman in his studio, and I asked if he was planning to sell or keep it...he said he didn't need it anymore, so we struck a deal, and I took that too.
Now I will have a really full-tilt studio power setup. I already have a Furman power conditioning and spike protection unit , followed by a Furman Voltage Regulator, and now that will be followed by the Balanced Power Transformer....to which I will connect the console, rack gear, and all of my other audio gear. It will give me 20A of super clean, regulated and balanced power. The console and all my audio gear should now be dead-quiet.

 

[bouldersoundguy]

Oh...the guy is the guitar player from the band "moe."...some of you may have heard of them (you can Google them).

I don't have to Google them, I mixed them once in Boulder 20 years ago and we all went to Denny's after the show. I think they liked my mix and asked if I was interested in touring with them as BE.

Congrats on the board, I mean desk. I've been living with an M2600 Mk2 for about that same 20 years and I'd love to move to something even a little cooler. I missed a shot at a really nice 32 channel Spirit (a proper studio console, not the cheaper live ones), but it's not my studio so I didn't get to make the call.

 

[miroslav]

I don't have to Google them, I mixed them once in Boulder 20 years ago and we all went to Denny's after the show. I think they liked my mix and asked if I was interested in touring with them as BE.

Not sure if Al Schnier the current guitar player who I bought the console from was with them in 1990...?...I think he might have joined them a couple of years later, and he's been with them ever since.
Anyway...he said they did a few of their more recent albums in his studio, on this Trident.

 

[bouldersoundguy]

Not sure if Al Schnier the current guitar player who I bought the console from was with them in 1990...?...I think he might have joined them a couple of years later, and he's been with them ever since.
Anyway...he said they did a few of their more recent albums in his studio, on this Trident.

I met them in '95 or '96. Yep, that guy was one of them.

 

[RFR]

Miro, pics are not showing up. At least on mobile running chrome.

 

[mdainsd]

dont show up for me either.

 

[miroslav]

Check them now...are they showing up?

HR decided to "improve" how pics were embedded and shown..so now you just get the thumbnails...but there's a way around that if you hack the code.
I tried to not have the thumbnails, just the pics...and I guess with the new "improvement"...that's not possible... ...looks like the thumbnails also have to be there.

I get why they wanted to do the thumbnails... to better manage the sizes people post (I always do anyway)...but I really hate sites where you only get the thumbnails, and then you have to click on each thumbnail to see the whole pic...a real waste of time, and it kills the mood of being able to just see the pics while reading the thread....whatever.

I'm just going to stop embedding the pics locally as attachments hosted on HR, and I'll just link them off my web server instead.

 

[Steenamaroo]

Check them now...are they showing up?

HR decided to "improve" how pics were embedded and shown..so now you just get the thumbnails...but there's a way around that if you hack the code.
I tried to not have the thumbnails, just the pics...and I guess with the new "improvement"...that's not possible... ...looks like the thumbnails also have to be there.

I get why they wanted to do the thumbnails... to better manage the sizes people post (I always do anyway)...but I really hate sites where you only get the thumbnails, and then you have to click on each thumbnail to see the whole pic...a real waste of time, and it kills the mood of being able to just see the pics while reading the thread....whatever.

I'm just going to stop embedding the pics locally as attachments hosted on HR, and I'll just link them off my web server instead.

Pop that in the feedback forum or report/PM please, Miro. It's just chance that I saw your post.

I suggested the thumbnail+expand option because I've seen it on other forums, but maybe there's an alternative where images are scaled to 800x600 (or whatever) with click to expand?
Maybe even auto resize to browser width + a click to expand option? That'd be perfect, I think.

 

[RFR]

Show up now. Thanks.

Btw, damn fine looking machine.

 

[sweetbeats]

Just checking after being away for a bit. Serious congrats. You did great in that find and purchase. Looks fantastic. Huge A+ to the work done on the upgrades. I approve FWIW.

I suspect the desk is audibly improved over stock.

 

[miroslav]

I suspect the desk is audibly improved over stock.

So a little more poking around last night...
Mostly I was cleaning up the chassis and tightening up all the screws and what have you...but then took a closer look at some of the input modules to compare to the couple that were modified by Jim Williams, and I noticed that all the input modules were re-chipped with Burr Brown chips.
The ones that Jim Williams did have a LOT of caps removed, and different kinds of chips...I only took a quick look at them, I need to get them under a light & magnifying glass to read what's on them...it's printed very lightly.

 

[sweetbeats]

I'm curious...very curious.

He typically uses WIMA film caps in parallel with larger value electrolytics in the signal path for HF.

 

[Atkron205]

Thats really cool! I love old analog stuff. I was drug kicking and screaming (by Jimmys69) among others into the DAW age. those power supplys are beasts. reminds me of the ones we had for the consoles from my FOH days. congrats.

 

[Tadpui]

I may not be a console guy, but I am fascinated by them. I think that I've read all of sweetbeats' story and rehab threads. That looks like a dandy that you've got there Miro.