S Poddar
A famous recording console used in making the Beatles’ last album ever – Abbey Road– is being put up for sale after a four-year meticulous restoration process. The EMI TG12345 recording console was set for scrap when it was salvaged by Hertfordshire dad-and-lad duo Malcolm and Hamish Jackson, working on a part-time basis as part of a dedicated team, who had it salvaged after it was chucked away in a skip from one of London’s schools.
It was used in the recording of Abbey Road, released on 26 September 1969. At first, it was bound for the skip after the school donated it. But then a passerby saw it and liked the look because of the switches. “It was the switches that someone noticed; they liked the look of the knobs and so pulled it out of the skip,” remembered Hamish Jackson. Now, the amazing history of this console will be celebrated through an auction on 29 October by Reverb.
Malcolm and Hamish Jackson, who run Malcolm Jackson Equipment in Rickmansworth, specialize in studio equipment and consulting on studio space. Their four-year effort to restore the TG12345 console was done in collaboration with former EMI engineer Brian Gibson, who worked with the Beatles in the 1960s. Gibson’s involvement was crucial because the console was one of only 17 made by EMI, a true artifact of 1960s music engineering.
The console was thrown out until it was appreciated in due time. “A guitarist noticed the switches and thought, ‘It’ll look great on my guitar,’ ” Malcolm Jackson explained. That first interest conserved the console and started an exciting restoration process. The project was supported by over 30 British companies as they donated parts and know-how to keep its original functionality and historic integrity alive.
The TG12345 console is more than just a piece of music history; it is the icon of innovation and artistry that defined an era. In Mr. Jackson’s words, the sound of the console is “something you couldn’t describe.” Hamish echoed this by saying, “You really appreciate it when you’re actually recording with it. You understand, ‘Wow, that sounds really different.'”
This also makes the console one of something that stands at an apex of engineering quality. Jackson Sr. commented, “Anybody who has this console will have the best studio in the world.” The goal with the console was to see it back in operation–as a functional piece and as a collector’s piece with a lot of great history behind it.
Apart from its qualities of sound, the history of the console offers a story for any collector or musician who acquires it. “You’re buying into the story—it’s that lovely combination of being the perfect engineering quality as well as having all this very significant history,” Hamish Jackson explained.
There’s a huge excitement that would come to the surface from this very auction not because of the role the TG12345 plays in Abbey Road, but it symbolizes the golden time of analog sound and craftsmanship when it came to the making of music.
