Trident 80B Recording Console

SpeakerSonic

"Some of the best recordings in the world were done on a Trident such as The Beatles' 'Hey Jude', David Bowie's 'Space Oddity' and James Taylor's first album, and many more."

Built by Malcolm Toft/Trident and designed by John Oram, who worked for VOX back in the 60's, The Trident 80B was one of the most successful British consoles designed, hand wired and produced in the early 80's. Its sought after for its "open sounding mic pre's and very 'musical' eq as they say… its the classic Trident British sound." 

The Inspiration

My long time friend Jim Gerovac, of the band Craving Strange, had told me about a documentary called Sound City, with the story of a vintage mixing console renowned for its sound and pedigree. After seeing this documentary, I knew I was ready to take the plunge into upgrading my recording studio center piece. The heart of any recording studio is the mixing console. Its where all the mics get plugged into, its where the sound travels before it goes to tape, or the computer or anywhere else. The console is THE heart and soul of any recording studio's system.

For my price range I was finding a lot of 16 channel, class A consoles that were new and would do the job. But I had run into issues in the past with only having 16 inputs. It just wasn't enough. For big bands recording live, I needed more inputs. At least 24, and for the future, I'm certain I would need/want even more. I found information about the Trident series consoles on a few of the forums that I frequent. Its versatile, its known for its incredible drum sound and "musical EQ's". The Trident 80B has 32 inputs and 24 outputs. Perfect for large scale recording with room to grow. 

In my research about consoles like these for sale, I found them to be quite pricey. Even a little bit out of my price range. There were 3 on the market at the time. Two being sold through Vintage King, a reputable company whom I've worked with in the past. One of their 80B's was far from perfect, "a fixer upper" and the other was "refurbished in mostly proper working order". There was one more on ebay, that had been written very little detail and was going for 20% less money. I messaged the ebay seller and found out this console was being brokered by Warren Rhoades of Sound Stage Studio in Nashville, TN. Warren was selling it for a friend of his who has owned it for the last 10 years. Warren was actually the original owner of the console.

This is where things get interesting… 

Original Magazine Ad for the Trident Console

This particular Trident 80B console was ordered and purchased by Warren for Sound Stage Studios, in Nashville, TN back in the early 1980's. This console was in Sound Stage for about 20 years, where it recorded the likes of Willie Nelson and John Cougar Mellencamp. None of this information was listed in the ebay add. Just that it was in Nashville and in working order. Warren told me, "The console is in perfect working order, has been in storage for the last year. It comes with a bunch of cable and we need to get it out of storage as soon as possible."

I had a friend of mine in Nashville go check it out. He brought with him a music producer friend of his. "Dude, for the price and condition of this desk, you are getting a steel." I made an offer on the console, with a bit of negotiation, we came to an agreement. Now I had to get the 500lb+ thing from Nashville, TN to Brooklyn, NY.

To be continued...