Re: Incredible News Archive Findings (Led Zeppelin)

[tytlane@xxxxxxxxxxxx]

As you can imagine, I spent too much of my time over the weekend 
"researching" this and somehow do not find myself convinced that this 
particualr open reeel was used as Jimmy's echo effect.

 First it has always been documented that his was indeed an echoplex. 
The echoplex unit had been around since early 60's so why would Jimmy be 
carting around what would've needed to be a uniquiqely modified Reel to 
reel to achive the echo delay he had. Or as I found in my reading, open 
reel setups to achieve a delay often involved the use of 3 units to 
create the delay.

 I killed my eyes looking through as many shots of mid 70's stage shots 
as I could and , it would stand to reason if Jimmy was using an open 
reel echo setup, you would've see it more often. In many shots I did see 
units which certainly look like echoplex's

 Maybe not for all gigs, would a tape deck on stage make sense, but 
perhaps at this particular gig, it couldn't go anywhere else ? Perhaps 
the feller leaning in on the left side of the picture was looking over a 
mixxing board ?  Also if you read the article where it's noted that in a 
previous concert at the same hall, fans tore up the place, so Zep didn't 
want their stuff trashed ?  As far as roadies coming on going on 
stage...you pretty much see them doing so in alot of the available 
footage, so what difference does a tape versus pulling back cable make ?

 Just all conjecture on my part... would be nice if someone else from 
those days could pipe up on the subject.

 So...  I guess the song remains as it could be, or could not be.

 One thing I was very glad to see, is the cast of names this particular 
thread has brought out. Thanks all for your input. And if that article 
defrosts for you Risto, please do post it up!

Nech
~~~Jimmy in '07!~~~

rtpo@xxxxxxxxx wrote:

Have to dig to my
> archives and see if I can find that article to check the exact wording,
> but basically that's what the journalist wrote.
I am not an expert on the vintage gear and yes, it is not an Echoplex, but
> I still vote for it being a delay unit. As for the reasoning, see first
> what I wrote to TangerineMan a few lines earlier. Second, such
> reel-to-reel things have been used for delay in live-setups. For example,
> they are sometimes clearly visible in Deep Purple (and maybe Rainbow)
> footage as part of Ritchie Blackmore's setup.
>
> Also, for the FX use, positioning a reel-to-reel machine on stage would
> make perfectly sense, but for recording a gig? From what I know about
> stage setups and live recording, it would be the worst and last place to
> position a recorder. Or does someone really think that the boys were
> operating the recorder themselves with their professional tour crew just
> looking over on the stage left? Or that it would be desirable for a roadie
> to popup on the stage in the middle of hot jam or solo to change the reel?
> If they were recording themselves, it would have been done off-stage as
> there is no feasible live-recording method that would warrant positioning
> the recorder in the middle of the backline chaos.
>
>
> Rise