Jose Arredondo 1977 Amp Surfaces In Bay Area Abandoned Studio

Here it is...
Just incredible to find this...

 

Fascinating to find this. Serial # ends in "J" which indicates 1977 from what I have gained so far. Been undertaking a documentary from the ground up about uncovering this all analog recording studio that had been abandoned at some point in time in the Bay Area. Racks of instruments, guitars, amps, vintage keyboards, thousands of records and stacks and stacks of reel to reel tapes, some dating back as early as 1973.

 

to the forum!

Great making of a thread!

Please share more as it becomes available..

Whos got ownership of said studio....and its contents...

 

Keep us posted on the doc'o please.

 

https://www.guitarworld.com/gear/amp-wizards

 

Super great and very informative article . Thanks for posting Rick

 

Ditto on this! Thanks ricksconneted!

This is just a very small tid bit. If you dig amps, really read the article..

Arredondo didn’t live long enough to have his own model amp on the market, but ironically, an amp based on Jay’s Jose modified Marshall was released, the Peavey VTM.

 

To the best forum of Marshall you will ever find, such a fantastic story, please fill in the rest of the blanks! Cheers Mitch

 

Kinda cool but kinda meh ... im sure someone has stolen it by now.

 

I have been documenting this "barn find" studio every time I get up there... here is where things started a few weeks ago.

 

This third episode is the first view of the room with the electricity turned on..



I'm trying to post some kind of update once a week. Right now it's mostly assessing the stuff, and going through everything one item at a time. I started with the worst things to get them out of the way... restored a vintage Gibson Flying V and been working like crazy to get this 1921 Piano back up and playing again. A Fender Bassman amp has checked out good and found a great cabinet with two 12" Green Back Jensen speakers from the late 1950's that sounds just amazing. Then I learned about the White Marshall and slant cabinet that had the Jose Arredondo sticker on the back of it. So I want to do an episode that focuses on that. I haven't turned it on yet as I want to make sure the tubes are ok and the caps are not leaking AC current into the main output stage.

 

Is this some kind of cable show set up......

Kind having doubts someone just stumbles upon a place loaded with all this gear......

 

History Channel hasn't called yet! But, yeah, I was pretty shocked to find all this stuff in there. I thought it was worth documenting. I'm sure a lot of folks would just have a Saturday morning garage sale and be done with it. I was reading about Jose Arredondo and his family apparently just tossed most of his stuff out when he passed. They didn't really know what was going on. Anyway, it's an interesting project, a lot of work ahead, but I always look forward to getting up there whenever I can.

 

From what I understand, it depends upon the kind of tape. Some of the Ampex tape was notorious for degrading quickly, while other stuff can last a long time. I haven't got to the tape decks yet. I want to make sure the playback amps are working and in good order, tubes, output capacitors etc before I fire that stuff up. Everything can be fixed, it's just time and energy. Someone told me once that to eat an elephant, you have to do it "one bite and a time".

 

I have hundreds of reels of tape and several decks. I have found tapes from the original RCA 2 track living stereo series from 1955 ( the first stereo tape offering ever) that were pristine, like new, and newer late 70s tapes that were pretty much toasted. I think storage has a big part in a tapes survival.

If I was going to see what was on any of these tapes I would have some kind of recorder copying them at the same time as if a tape is compromised you may get only one pass, and the one that falls apart will be the one "Lost Hendrix tape". Also, and you may know this, play the tapes on the proper format machine..2 track studio tapes need a 2 track playback Machine....If this is legit it's one of the best finds ever..shit it looks like there's 2k worth of cables hanging. Unbelievable. And I get excited when I find a box at a yard sale with a Mullard in it. I need to step it up..lol.

 

I never knew Jose worked at Vox and created the super Beatle amp. Very first band I was in playing bass the guitarist had one and it always sounded great. I wonder if he still has it.

 

Thanks for the advice. There are two half track machines, and two 16 channel decks. I have an analog to digital converter that I brought in there for future use. I can grab 8 tracks at a time with that. I might have to get another one and use two computers to get all 16 in one pass. Some of the tapes I saw said Fantasy Records on them. There were a couple from England also on the bigger 1/4 inch reels. Also, there are stacks of 2" tapes, but there is not a 2" machine the room. I might have to take those somewhere. I have a friend down in LA that has one or used to have one.

 

Incredible find, my ass. This is staged.

 

Yeah, I went out and bought all this stuff so I could shoot a youtube video... lol...