Gigant 80's Turbosound rig - former ABBA

Robbo wrote: I know Chris--I have seriously considered writing a book on quite a few occasions over the last 10 years or so,but now I am older my time is much more valuable to me, so it is down to the odd little snippet that I drop out on here on occasions. I have led a very interesting life really, both professionally and also in my private life as well, so I could tell some really interesting stories especially about touring life in the seventies and eighties and probably get away without being sued now that a fair bit of water has gone under the bridge--Cheers--John.

bee wrote: robbo why not start your own thread, talk about a memory or event, the chat from us guys from it will lead the way for you to tell us more.

What he said......

Robbo wrote: I know Chris--I have seriously considered writing a book on quite a few occasions over the last 10 years or so,but now I am older my time is much more valuable to me, so it is down to the odd little snippet that I drop out on here on occasions. I have led a very interesting life really, both professionally and also in my private life as well, so I could tell some really interesting stories especially about touring life in the seventies and eighties and probably get away without being sued now that a fair bit of water has gone under the bridge--Cheers--John.

Given that the scandal-mongers and no-win-no-fee lawyers are now trawling the country for former groupies and their stories, some care may be needed.

The technical history has yet to be properly written up. The technology usually just gets superficial mention, as an aside in articles about the acts. There's bits of  stuff scattered around the internet and in ancient magazine articles but nobody has drawn it all together. A serious history of the equipment and practice of touring technology would be quite interesting.

There's some quite funny (and very Aussie)  stuff here though:
http://www.dunkworld.com/ODTFTR.htm

Being from Sweden I found the ABBA reference a bit interesting. I googled around a bit and found this transcript of an interview with the main sound engineer for ABBA's tours, Claes "Clabbe" Of Geijerstam where it's confirmed they used an Electrosound Turbo rig:

http://www.gearslutz.com/board/3729637-post47.html

In the interview there's talk of a Harwell PA system as well. I've never heard of those before but got a little curious and didn't find much more than a few notes and a couple of pics. Does anybody have more info on the Harwell system?

I found the following in an old International Musician Guide dated 1985.

" The system was designed by Roger Harvey who has given Tasco an exclusive worldwide license for its use. It consists of a folded horn bass unit containing a pair of Guass 15" drivers front and rear loaded to bring the useful response down to around 30Hz; a low mid-cabinet which takes over at 200Hz and contains two peripherally loaded 12" JBL drivers; and a single high mid and high cabinet containing a pair of JBL 2441 both driving a single diffuser looking not unlike a large version of the famous JBL bullet, feeding into a fiberglass horn, and crossing over into four JBL 075."


The old address for Tasco was 115-125 Lambeth Road London SE1.


I found this on the old Ratsound website in America:

"Rat Sound Newsletter December 1999

OK, so it has been a really long time since the last Rat Newsletter and a lot has been going on.

First and foremost, we are proud to announce that Rat Sound is now the proud owner of a legendary PA system (http://ratsound.com/pictures/harwell.jpg). Recently at an auction of sound and light equipment we were extremely fortunate to acquire 10 stacks of Tasco/Harwell PA. To give you an idea of the magnitude of this equipment take a look at these sizes:

    Rat Trap 5 - dual 15”, dual 10”, 2”, 1” occupies 9.5 cu ft of truck space
    V-Dosc - dual 15”, quad 7”, dual 2” occupies 12 cu ft of truck space
    Harwell - dual 15”, dual 12” dual 2”, quad bullet occupies a whopping 80 cu ft of truck space!

That is over 10 times the truck space!

Unbelievable, unequaled and some say is the loudest PA ever. The Harwell System is the PA that embraces all the theories we sought to disprove and here we are 19 years later owning one. We have given up and are throwing in the towel, we sold out. Well, actually we are enjoying dismantling it and are selling off the components, except that we intend on hanging on to two complete stacks for historical and sentimental value. The idea is to have these ominous monoliths as working gargoyles to ward off the evil PA spirits when and if we ever get a new shop. "


I think a company in London called KSS might have a couple of the mid / high horns, but this was many years ago.

That's a shame, but understandable. he company which is selling is rather active in the netherlands since a few years. they are into buying/selling europewide. I bet you will see the speakers and amps popping up in small batches.