Back in the 1970s this make and model of turntable belonged to my brother. Alongside there was an amplifier and two heavy wooden speakers. After his death at the young age of 20 years old, they came to my house. Moving to Wales 32 years ago, they arrived here too.
Recently I cleaned it up and checked out the stylus status. It seems all okay. I have now received the instruction and breakdown of technical inclusions manual of the turntable. So if anything is problematic….at least I can sort it out. I ordered a new Thakker drive belt for the turntable. The original, when measured, was stretched. Finally purchased an aluminium centre for 45 rpm singles when middles of singles were taken out in order to be able to play on jukeboxes. I have a fair few soul singles like this.
Over the last couple of days I decided that I wanted to get a compatible Pioneer SA 500 early 1970s amplifier that would have been appropriate for his PL-12D turntable. I am sure that my brother really would have loved to have had the choice of an original set up. His had a different make of amplifier and speakers. They aren’t here anymore having got damaged through being under a leaking roof. The turntable survived because it was in a different room.
Today, eBay threw a lovely refurbished SA500 model into view. My wife said ‘You have to buy it!’ So we did.
Next up? A couple of Pioneer speakers. The models CS 33 or CS 44 are the best choices. Even a CS 53 could work. But I can’t find any currently. I know that Wharfdale vintage speakers would work and there are plenty around that are compatible. But it would be nice to keep it in the family so to speak and keep on looking for Pioneer ones.
It would be perfect to get the warmth of sound from way back when. That wonderful 1970/80s vibe again. I have around a couple of hundred albums. And several hundred 45 singles. What a blast to simply play songs all day on such a system again.
Below? May as well add a bit of my own music here. Why not!
These two songs will definitely go on the CD disc recordings choices (limited to 100 CDs in number) which are to be given away to family and friends. Fun times!
MOVE INTO THE RHYTHM OF LIES.
Vocals and instruments sung and played by Gray Summers. Drums from the GarageBand library choices.
Photographs, motion blur style, taken on the Pentax LX SLR film camera by Gray Summers.
VOCALS AND INSTRUMENTS PLAYED BY GRAY SUMMERS. DRUMS FROM THE GARAGEBAND LIBRARY.
Photograph taken on the iPhone by Gray Summers.
Gray Summers 
Luv the vinyl. After our recent conversation Gray I bought a used copy (20 bucks off eBay) of John Kongos’ album, sadly it wasn’t in the ‘very good’ category stated. A few too many crackle and pops. And even a jump to the right! Ouch! You were right too, many a good track (no fillers) on top of the two crackers I knew (one of which I play). 🐾🐾🐕
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Shame about the state of the vinyl Shep. Your poor stylus with that jump. Ouch indeed. Yikes is my equivalent word. If it’s really bad an event….the F word. It’s an album that’s not seen new. So you’re in the laps of the Gods with sincerity issues on the stage albums are in. Costs a hefty price for the CDs too.
Do you play the whole ‘cracker’ song on harp Shep. Or highlight sections. That’s cool whichever way you choose.
The 4 Neil Diamond albums I bought at 99p each last week from a charity shop in Yorkshire are in fantastic condition. Lucky really.
Hope you’re doing well. Cheers and all the best. 🙏🏽🍁🍂.
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It was only $15 so it didn’t hurt the hip picket as much as the stylus. Yeah, main guitar riff, verse and chorus (with key changes) for HGSOYA. Have been in contact with Richard Bennett, long time guitarist with ND and recently Mark Knopfler re a blog. Should checkout his Bandcamp, not too shabby. 🥃🥃
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If you’ve recorded your harp playing on Step on You, I’d love a listen Shep. Sounds like you meant business when you said you wanted new challenges and seeking change. Both those guys are serious high flyers. You’re in some fantastic company. Look forward to finding out the outcomes in this adventure Shep. I’ll look into Bandcamp.
Talking of Bandcamp Shep. I couldn’t set up the new bank account details as they’ve stopped using PayPal. Changing to Stripe. I needed photo ID with either a passport or driving licence proof. I have no passport in date now. And an old green paper driving licence. Because I’m soon to be 70, the DVLA have recently sent me a form to renew my licence. So will have a photographic evidence one soon. When I get it back, I’ll be able to set up Bandcamp for real.
Thanks Shep. Drinking my home made cider last night for the first time. Scrumpy Weird! 🍺 without the frothy.
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That pioneer turntable is so cool! I’m sure that was topnotch in its day… I love the songs too. Sounding great in my headphones 🎧 hope you’re having a great weekend
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Cheers Bryan. Sorry for the late reply. Your comment went into the Jetpack Spam folder. I usually check once a week. Weird set up here in WP at times. Hoping now that’s sorted, your comments go into the accepted format from now on.
Currently looking for compatible vintage Pioneer speakers today that have synergy with the turntable and amplifier seen in the blog. Back in the day, these came in from Japan and completely blew the British market choices away. So, they do sound cool if set up properly. Ambience of that period as opposed to technical modern superior choices is so much more satisfying when listening. I’ve pinpointed the Pioneer CS 33 or 44 speaker models as the ones I would want. But they are difficult to find.
Glad you like the songs. I know that I need a decent engineer/producer to sprinkle a bit more onto what I’ve done. I have belief that someone will turn up.
Chilling out was the weekend choice. But we have found ourselves doing lots of sorting out in the house. We cleared up the back of the house and loads of boxes are on shelves. For charity shops or eBay selling. You kind of collect all your childrens’ stuff too as they ask if they can store things at our place. Both are nearly 40 years old and they still need our space! Don’t mind at all. But it does build and build. Hence us getting our own stuff sorted in order to do a clear out.
Hope your weekend is great too. Cheers.
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No problem… I also try and check the spam bin once a week. I learned this the hard way.
I hope you find the speakers for it. And yes the songs are great as is. Lol at collecting your children’s stuff.
My weekend was pretty good thanks Gray. Be good brother.
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Weird stuff here with Jetpack at times. I saw my own comments to people on my own site stuck in pending saying ‘Anonymous’! So can understand your own problems.
There are options on options with vintage passive speakers of different makes. It’s the ohms and wattage values that have to be monitored carefully. Too high with watts and the amplifier will struggle and volume will be low, etc. Stuff like that. But do want Pioneer really.
Nice that you think the songs are okay. I can never truly analyse my songs. They are what they are. Just me trying my best. I suppose we can be our own worse critics.
My son is into Warhammer modelling and PlayStation games. So we have storage boxes by the dozen filling shelves. My daughter has lots of old memories collected. We have a couple dozen boxes of toys for when the grandchildren visit. We have 6 grandchildren and so different age options.
Hope you are getting new ideas musically. Be good to listen to your ideas for songs. Be good too Bryan. Much respect. 🙏🏽
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Sorry for late reply. I fell asleep last night after reading this 😁. I was just on your other recent post, listening to your songs… sounding good mate 😎
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A good night’s sleep is an important period to keep on top of health. It’s when your body repairs itself. So I write little subliminal word spells inside my blogs so people, after reading, feel totally chilled. 😉.
Actually, I always get confused with Worldwide times and appropriate timing of replies. I never have noise alarms on a banner notification. Most times on my apps, I turn notifications completely off. So never know if or when people have sent messages. It means you stay totally chilled.
Cheers for taking the time to listen to the songs. It’ll be great when they have extra guitar from my brother playing lead and riffs. Also, a bit of fairy dust needs sprinkling over them. So a person who can mix the songs and properly bring a bit of brightness would be magic.
All the best Bryan. 🙏🏽🍁🍂
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Haha at subliminal word spells 😂.
Yeah I’m the same, I get confused with the times and I also have notifications and sound always turned off and I just check periodically for messages.
That’s great about your brother playing lead and riffs soon… I can’t wait to hear. Lol @ sprinkling the fairy dust… that just reminded me of a video I watched a while back… it was so famous guitarist talking… Nuno Bettancout and Brad Paisley… anyway Brad says “I’ll sprinkle some fairy dust on it” 😁
Cheers Gray… have a good one 🙏😎
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Banners and notifications are quite intrusive when so many apps exist really. Background app backups are too I suppose. I turn all but the essential ones off. My only two notification banners are WP and my phone. And go into the App Store to see if any important updates are needed on the important and regularly used apps. Also. No sound attached on WP. But a small jingle on phone calls and texts.
A few musicians use the phrase ‘fairy dust’. It was originally used by The Troggs, when recording Wild Thing. A tape surfaced in the aftermath of a profanity laden argument in the studio. The engineer left the tape running capturing the whole thing. It became a bootleg release. I’ve heard it when our own sound engineer (a mate we grew up with who was great at the job and had all the mics, tape machine, etc.) played it to us on a four track reel to reel tape back in the 1970s. It was really funny. It’s become a kind of ‘in joke’ with bands now. Cheers and 🙏🏽 Bryan.
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Oh yeah I’m with ya on the apps… and I also do the same with the updates.
I’ve heard a few musicians over the years mention “fairy dust” I always wondered what it was about… that’s so cool, I had no idea about The Troggs connection.
Cheers and 🙏 indeed.
Thanks Gray 😎
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You can hear it on YouTube Bryan. 🙏🏽🍁🍂
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Oh cool I have to check it out!
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I think it’s called The Troggs Tapes.
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Sweet! I’ll search it later when I have some time… also do you have a YouTube channel with your music?
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You’ll enjoy the Troggs tape. There is an extended 11 minute one and a few offshoots too.
Yes I do have a basic YouTube site. Videos like on here. Started a few months ago. Not many listens/watches, but fun to do. I think you’ll catch it at graysummers5999. Cheers 🙏🏽
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Oh I listened to the 11 min Troggs… thats so funny now all the fairy dust remarks I’ve heard throughout my life make sense haha. I found your channel too and subscribed.
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Glad you enjoyed it. We heard it first back in the 1970s, so I guess it is iconic if you are still hearing it now. We never argued like that in any band I was in. And watching Get Back with the Peter Jackson film of The Beatles, they didn’t get heated either. Grumbled. But no full on stuff.
Cheers for subscribing Bryan. Means a lot. I want to get some filming done for more interesting videos. I have a plan to use the VeeDub Bus (my ‘hippie’ camper van) as the centre for playing music with others or simply by myself. I live near the sea, woodland and lakes. So ideal outdoor scenes really for recording out in the open air.
I have a really nice Tascam 12 port mixing desk, a decent Bluetti high amps and longevity battery and solar panel charging set up and a nice old big suitcase ready for storing mics, stands, and other needed stuff.
Also have a basket for burning logs, a couple of gas rings inside for coffee and eats and loads of hanging bohemian glass and metal tea light holders and fairy lights for ambience at night. Just got to get some spare time and motivation to make it happen. Short supply nowadays. 😄The VeeDub is a 1972, so definitely looks the part.
Thanks for your support Bryan. Really appreciated. 🙏🏽🍁🍂
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Yeah I think it may be iconic 😁. It was so cool listening to their conversation.
Your welcome about subscribing. When I have time I’ll go through your channel and check everything out. I also love old VW’s… my first few vehicles were Beetles… I had 3 of them. Never had a bus tho.
You’re welcome Gray. Take care. Ttyl.
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You’re Old Skool then Bryan. I need to get the fuel consumption looked at. 12 mpg isn’t a good thing with petrol prices as they are. And E5, which it works best on, is even higher price wise.
A new twin port carburettor from the USA I bought a fair few months back is supposed to be better than the old Solex original stock ones. So I have haven’t driven the Bus for about 8 or 9 months. Also the petrol gauge is broken. Needs a new sender. At low mileage per gallon, it would be foolish to take her, the Bus name is Billie, on a long journey.
Wonder why many people name their Buses! Do Beetle owners do the same.
Again, cheers for going that extra mile and checking out the YT site. 🙏🏽🍁🍂
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Haha yeah I guess I’m kind of old skool. My first car was a 69 Baja beetle… then a really cool 72 custom Baja one, then a 73 super beetle. I loved working on them. I don’t think I ever named them 😁 but that’s so cool about your bus… Goodluck with getting everything fixed on it.
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Cheers Bryan. I have to hunt replies down at present. Some are going awol into pending. I shall have to look up the Baja. I never owned a Beetle, but always wanted one. Same engine as the Bus. I have a Crossover, which means I really need to get parts right. Some are Early bay and some are Late bay. A nightmare if you order the wrong year. 🙏🏽
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The Baja is just like a custom that was popular at one time in the US where they would take and cut away part of the body in the rear exposing the engine and add a lil fiberglass to make it look good… but yeah it’s a normal beetle just nothing covering the motor… so you can see it good always lol… that’s funny I’m the same but opposite… I always wanted a bus 😁
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Ahhh! Over the years I’ve seen various modifications to both Beetles and Buses. Ratted to complete weird land. Mine is just virtual stock. I wanted total original, but that costs an absolute fortune and years of hunting down parts. A Bus is there for comfort and just chilling in really. Not for show. Cheers Bryan.
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I love original stock. Unfortunately my 3 were not this haha. They were all really cool but all had things done to them already when I bought them. 2 bajas and one low rider… the second baja one I had was really cool but it was a 72 on a 74 frame. It was Canary Yellow with black interior and a one of a kind tilt front end hood. It had chrome pins on each side and you pull the pins out and the hood would open out toward the front of the vehicle. It was also slightly lower in the front and had like the old Porsche type rims on it. Also it had an 1835cc motor with dual carburetors and was all chromed out and a high lift cam, it sounded like a Harley Davidson motorcycle when ideling and going down the road. And the front and rear were fiberglass so it was super light and super fast short distance… I would take off and leave pretty much any other vehicle at a red light for like 1/8 of a mile or so… but then they would fly by me because I didn’t have enough top speed 😁 it was very cool though, one of a kind and got much attention wherever I went. My dad’s old friend built it. He was a great mechanic and VWs was his passion and specialty
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You certainly know your VeeDub culture and technology deeply Bryan. I used to know a lot a fair few years ago about certain interests regarding stock. But have long since forgotten. I bought the Molenaar and Prinz decoder book regarding the metal plates riveted on the back of the driver’s seat metal plinth. Original build information so to speak. Really interesting book. The two authors did decades of research to put it all together. I know all the original design of my Bus now. Even though it is a Microbus, it never had seats in it. Volkswagen sent buses directly to Coach Builders like Danbury, Devon, Westfalia, etc. and of course they turned them into camper vans. So the seats weren’t required. Stock enthusiasts loved it.
Bought some really great oddity books regarding VW history over the years. About four or five are in the Bus now and not read for years. It would be nice to revisit them. My favourite is the technically draughtsman hand drawn parts of everything in a VeeDub. The guys on the parts desk used to have this as a catalogue when the factory staff wanted to identify the certain parts needed from the warehouse.
Sounds like your family all have an enthusiast philosophy like yourself too. Cool to have this information given to you as you are going through life. Thanks for giving me these insights. All the best Bryan. 🙏🏽🍁🍂
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I was big into the VW culture in the 90s… I also had a few friends that had some really cool bugs. Also they are such fun to work on. There was an auto parts store near my house that specialized in Bugs and bus’s and me and my friends hungout there alot. They sold all kinds of cool parts to customize your ride lol.
That’s cool about all your books. I would like to get my hands on those. I’ll have to do some research on them.
Have a good one Gray 🙏😎
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It sounds like you lived and breathed VW culture for quite a while. VeeDubs do tend to put smiles on peoples’ faces. And I should imagine a customised bus is fantastic for massive enthusiasts.
My philosophy on a VeeDub is to use it as a sanctuary. Plain look, utilities close at hand and parked up with a gentle ambience of letting the day roll by. Books to read, music to listen to and, if close friends show up, sharing the whole vibe with relaxing conversation and a good laugh chatting how our lives are currently. And also…recalling our lives together over the decades. Easy to put the kettle on and do a bit of cooking too.
If you’re a massive fan of the history, I hope you find some of those books. They are fascinating. Cheers Bryan. 🙏🏽 too.
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