Steely Dan Nightfly TT on cover

rustycat

70s gear freak
Surprised to see this has never been answered: just what kind of TT is Donald Fagen sitting before on the classic cover of "The Nightfly"?:smoke:
 
This one...

173502_1_f.jpg
 
Did you notice that he doesn't look near so much a dweeb in this picture as in real life.
 
Probably a table from the 78 rpm era given the clunky arm and the box full of steel needles sitting on it's rear.
BTW, the album on cover is Sonny Rollins and the Contemporary Leaders, from 1958.
 
Turntable appears to be vintage RCA or Western Electric 16". Tonearm appears to be very early Gray Labs viscous damped. 5 will get you 10 that there's a GE VR II with an LP stylus on it. Early 1950's vintage typical AM or FM station fare. 6-7 years old by then. Microphone is a RCA 44DX.
 
Well the Ebay listing will disappear in time; this thread will be archived: so, I'm quoting from ebay, for "record keeping"...
"Para-Flux A-16 tonearm made by Radio-Music Corporation, East Port-Chester, CT in 1947."
 
Turntable appears to be vintage RCA or Western Electric 16". Tonearm appears to be very early Gray Labs viscous damped. 5 will get you 10 that there's a GE VR II with an LP stylus on it. Early 1950's vintage typical AM or FM station fare. 6-7 years old by then. Microphone is a RCA 44DX.



OMG how did you work all that out?

Can you tell us what brand shirt and tie he is wearing?

Good job!
 
BTW, years before I was told that this album is digitally engineered, I felt that there was something not quite right with the sound.

I am far from tone-deaf, but am definitely girlfriend-deaf.

Seth
Forever Analog and Covered In Parrot Poop
 
BTW, years before I was told that this album is digitally engineered, I felt that there was something not quite right with the sound.

Yep. A very synthetic-sounding snare drum it has. Apparently, it was in fact synthesised (or is that sampled?), and tempo was regulated by a computer.
 
Hypnotoad,

I am a broadcast engineer. Over 33 years experience. When I began, many AM stations used equipment of that vintage in daily on air use. Usually, modernized enough to play Stereo records without damage. Especially when the station was a small town local channel AM. I maintained lots of oldies which were adventuresome to keep in working order then. Tube gear was still very common back then in daily use. The AM/FM combo I began at had this gear, RCA 44DX microphone, Western Union Telegraph Company clocks (Eastern and Central Time Zone), Teletypes for AP, Gates Yard Console, Gates CB turntables, Tapecaster cart machines, Gates cart machines, Telco EBS unit, Magnecord open reel decks, EV Sentry speaker, Dynaco Mk III amp, Stanton 500 AL cartridges. This comprised the AM control room. Transmitter was a Gates BC5P (1960 vintage), audio processing was done with a Gates Sta-Level. We aired Mutual news. The equipment was in use until 2001 with 2 Magnavox CD Players added and an old automation program ran by a PC. Our FM used a Gates Automation System using stepper controls. Had 4 Scully open reel decks, 3 IGM Instacarts, and ran Bonneville Beautiful Music. We had an old Gates Stereo Statesman console, 2 Thorens TD-124 turntables with SME 3009 arms, Stanton 681 EE cartridges, and 2 Ampex AG 440 open reels for backup if the Gates pooped out. We had Tannoys driven by McIntosh MC 30 power amps for monitoring there and RCA 44 DX mics. All Gates/ATC cart machines there. Transmitter was a Gates FM3 with a Gates TE-3 exciter (loved to do spread spectrum). All modulation monitoring for AM and FM done with Belar. The FM went on the air in 1967. We used 2 Gates Level Devils for processing. I remember this gear well as I maintained it for many years.
 
I saw this LP at the GW today in excellent condition, almost picked it up for the cover, but have never really been into Steely Dan, so left it... It is a great cover, though, somehow reminded me of Edward R. Murrow, though he probably never sat in front of a TT.
 
Turntable appears to be vintage RCA or Western Electric 16". Tonearm appears to be very early Gray Labs viscous damped. 5 will get you 10 that there's a GE VR II with an LP stylus on it. Early 1950's vintage typical AM or FM station fare. 6-7 years old by then. Microphone is a RCA 44DX.

KentTeffeteller,

that mic is actually an RCA 77DX. the 44 is much larger than that.
i would love to get my hands on one of those old gates consoles you mentioned in your later post. i have an old gates "sta-level" compressor and and even older SA-39b compressor. :music:

yes this album was one of the first all digital recordings done on a now obsolete 32trk 3M digital machine. great album though...
 
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