MCI JH-416 Story...

Just a random drive-by post related to my old MCI mixing desk, but an acquaintance of mine was perusing old issues of Recording Engineer Producer magazing from the 70s on AmericanRadioHistory.com, and came across a Harrison ad in the October 1975 issue that boldly speaks to the very direct Harrison heritage in the First MCI mixing desks, the JH-416. Wow. So as humble and rudimentary as my late JH-416"A" mixing desk is, it is essentially a Harrison mixer. Very cool.

Harrison_ad_REP_October_1975.jpg
 
This is significant...anybody ever seen one of these before? I bet not...maybe one like it, but not this particular model...and I have it:

image.jpg
 
Yeah...and the crazy thing is even on the MCI forum there has been question as to whether or not an extender for the JH-416 actually existed...like people that were there are scratching their heads going "hm...did I ever see one? I don't know..."

That's how rare it is.
 
I'm assuming the rarity of it is because it's probably something a factory repair tech put together for his own needs and never envisioned it needing to be a mass produced item that every studio would need?

Where did you find that?

Cheers! :)
 
No it's not a one-off, Jeff...it's a very nice build and if you notice the card-edge PCB has the MCI logo on it and a part number...I've just never had any confirmation from anybody in the MCI world of actually having seen one of these.

I bought it off Rick Chinn of Uneeda Audio who had it in a box of surplus audio stuff from a storage unit auction years ago. He and I were collaborating on the MCI project about a year ago and he says "You know I think I have an MCI extender card in some stuff I got...I'll have a look." I figured it was probably 500 or 600 series since the word on the street has been "good luck finding one for a 416", but 'lo and behold the pitch, contact counts and locating notch are all correct. It's the real deal.
 
Rick Chinn is a great guy. I see his emails on the Ampex recordists list, and there's no bounds to his awesomeness. Good find.
 
Hey everybody.

So I'm thinking about parting out my JH-416(A) project.

Hard decision, but I'm seriously considering it because I haven't had the time or really any interest to speak of to work on it for several years...I don't know when I will get to it, and I'm not sure doing things like recreating the factory wire looms is how I want to spend my time...and money is an ongoing concern.

I was thinking of parting it out to help other desks keep going or to help complete somebody else's project, and keeping keeping maybe 8 input/output modules with some spares to convert to rack-mount channel strips. I'm wondering, if I did this if there are portions of the master section I should also hang onto...the idea would be to create a mini JH-416, like 8x2 for tracking and summing.

So I'd love any feedback any of you have about all of the above.
 
Might be a good way to go. I'm sure there would be some that would be real interested in modules.
I'd say if you can make an 8×2 mixer out of it, sell off some stuff, and do some rackmount modules you may have a winner.
 
I don't think you'll have any problems selling the parts...hit Gearslutz classified, there's a bunch of guys there using MCI consoles.

AFA creating a mini mixer...I'm sure you could do it.

How you been otherwise...don't see you post as much lately.
Hey, I might have a question for you about some circuitry...but I'm gonna take a picture of it first, so it will be easy for you to see what I'm talking about. I'll PM you tomorrow. If you have a moment, your input will be appreciated. :)
 
miroslav said:
How you been otherwise...don't see you post as much lately.
Hey, I might have a question for you about some circuitry...but I'm gonna take a picture of it first, so it will be easy for you to see what I'm talking about. I'll PM you tomorrow. If you have a moment, your input will be appreciated. :)
Click to expand...

Been alright...still much busier than I'd like. Financially we just got ourselves out of the hole and then just yesterday got hit with some very bad medical news that's going to hit us hard and we don't have any reserve. Lots of stuff to sell, but listing/marketing/shipping stuff all takes time which is also in short supply. Not trying to be a whiner. The MCI desk as a whole is such a perfect fit for the Ampex MM-1000, but I can't even get to working on that and don't know when I will be able to. Been in our new place 7 months and haven't setup anything in the studio and don't know when I will. Lots of competing interests.

I'll look for your PM.
 
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