[78-L] stylus for vertical-cut Edisons

[David Lennick]

Didn't the OWL perform these functions as well?

dl

On 3/16/2011 10:20 PM, Graham Newton wrote:
> Jack Raymond wrote:
>
>> Several years ago I bought a preamp known as the WaxWorks II from a guy
>> in Florida who I believe was making them in his spare time.  It's a
>> little box with four dials -- (1) Null-balance; (2 ) Function (stereo,
>> mono, left channel, right channel, vertical); (3) Turnover; (4) and
>> Rolloff -- which makes it easy to switch from horizontal to vertical, to
>> select the better groove wall on some Emersons, etc.
>>
>> Strangely I've never come across anyone else who owns this great little
>> preamp, which seems odd.  As I recall, it was not very expensive and has
>> worked flawlessly over the years.  Is anybody else out there a fan of
>> the WaxWorks II (named after the 1992 movie, I suppose)?
>
> Well you have just met someone who also has one of these excellent preamps.
>
> The guy who made them (Russ Fisher) was the designer and wanted to sell the
> design to someone else who would manufacture them for sale.  I'm not sure if
> this ever happened, but at the time, he only made about 10 units.  Too bad,
> because they were a very good design.
>
> Here's all the details from a 1999 email from Russ:-
>
> WaxWorks II is a complete 2 channel preamp designed for use with both older
> monaural records, including vertical cut, as well as newer stereo records.
> The front panel has four controls including a Null/Balance, Function Switch,
> Rolloff and Turnover control.
>
> The specs are as follows:
>
> Rolloff - 6 positions - flat -5 -10 -12 -13.7 -16 dB
> Turnover - 6 positions - flat 250 300 400 500 800 Hz
> Function switch - 5 positions - Stereo/Mono/Left/Right/Vertical
>
> Null/Balance control provides a very small stereo balance about
> +1/-2 dB.
>
> The Mono function sums together left and right input channels and outputs
> mono on both output channels.  The Left function routes the left groove
> to both output channels.  Similarly the Right function routes the right
> groove to both output channels.  Vertical performs an electronic
> phase reversal of one channel and sums it with the other channel for
> playback of vertical cut records.
>
> When playing a lateral cut mono record, flipping the function switch
> momentarily to vertical allows for tweaking of the Null/Balance pot
> for a null.  This will set the unit (and your cartridge etc.) to a
> near perfect mono mix.
>
> Input impedance is a nominal 240 pf in parallel with 47K ohms.
>
> Output level is consumer audio, 250 mV rms nominal.
>
> Noise<  70 dB.
>
> Frequency response in the flat position is -1 dB from 20 Hz to 90 Khz.
>
> Power is 115 VAC, 60 Hz.  Unit has a red LED power on lamp but no
> off/on switch.
>
> Finish is black anodized aluminum with white legends.  Approximate size
> is 9 3/8w x 3 1/2h x 7 1/2d.
>
>
>
>
> ... Graham Newton
>