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About Me:
For many years I have worked out of my house repairing professional
audio equipment and vintage stereo gear. I have a fully functional test
bench including Tektronix 2465 oscilloscopes, Leader LMV 181 AC
Voltmeters, a Fluke 8062a RMS multimeter, a Leader LFG-1300S function
generator, a HP 200CD signal generator, and TrueRTA Sound Monitor Software.
I started bugging the TV repairman (on a housecall!) at the age of five. By
seven I was making preamps out of 12AX7s, by nine I was building preamps,
mixers, and intercoms. By fourteen I had a partnership in a small sound
company in NYC and found my mentor John Hawkins. John taught me high-gain,
low-noise transistor circuit design, op-amp circuit design, wiring,
electromagnetics, and tape deck mechanics.
With John I earned my Masters converting a studio with a 4-output, 6-input,
tube-based console and an ATR-400 4-track tape machine into one with a
16-output, 40-input opamp-based console and an Autotek 16-track machine.
John and I built the console and tape amps from scratch, and they are still
working and being enjoyed to this day. John told me to "not just think
Ohm's law but to FEEL Ohm's law", something I have been able to
apply to great effect for the rest of my career.
I worked at Eventide at its beginning, learning digital audio during its
very early days. I worked at home and on the road with the Doobie Brothers
as part of their sound crew, learning roadability manufacturing techniques
that have saved me on stage. I have designed and built equipment from scratch
during my time at ClearCom stage intercoms. With Chalie Button in San
Francisco, I helped design and build custom equipment for the Doobie Brothers,
Journey, Boz and Mark Scaggs, and others.
I signed on as a repair tech at Leo's Pro Audio in Oakland, Ca, and rose in
the ranks to run the repair shop for over 6 years. While at Leo's, I took
training courses at and was evaluated by Yamaha Musical Instruments in Orange
County, Ca, where I was the first to earn their Level 5 tech rating.
During this time I also did maintenance at Fantasy Studios in Emeryville,
where I helped to maintain and repair their Studer A-800, A-80, and Ampex
MM-1200 tape machines, and their SSL G-series console. I also rescued their
Ampex ATR-100 tape machines and beautiful old Neve 8600 consoles from dead-electrolytic
hell (thereby earning the sobriquet 'Mr. Capacitor').
I have repeatedly diagnosed and repaired systems that other techs have given
up on. For me, figuring out what is going on is all part of the fun.
I love to bring broken vintage audio back from the dead. It's much like
working on old cars is for others; each one is a bit of a "labor of love",
each one is an individual experience that requires unique decisions and
fixes. Perhaps I can help you with yours.
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About My Shop:
My bench is setup to do commercial and professional audio.
It has a custom-made, Variac-based AC Mains filtering, monitoring,
and delivery system.
I have a stereo 8-ohm non-inductive load to test power amp outputs.
I have a Tektronix 'scope to monitor signal outputs and another for debugging.
My Leader AC voltmeters give me precise stereo signal and noise measurements.
My HP 200C sine wave oscillator generates an extremely clean sine wave.
My Leader function generator can create any other waveform I might need.
I have TrueRTA 1/24th-octave realtime spectral analyzer software installed
for frequency response investigation.
I stock 90% of the parts I need, so my turn-around time is usually low.
My shop and I are happily located in The Dome in Gordonville, Texas - two
hours north of Dallas - by the Red River and beautiful Lake Texoma.
Click on the "To the Dome" link below for maps to my shop.
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