First off, I apologize to anyone anxiously awaiting this series of posts I am just beginning to create. I will break down my experiences in Canada, at Ed Pong’s UltraAnalogue Recordings, into three separate posts. The first post (this one) will focus exclusively on my pre-concert visit to Ed Pong’s concert venue/recording studio.
So, quick background introduction as to how this all came about…. As many of you know, I am obsessed with the sound of analog tape. I really don’t care about the inconvenience, expense (well, I kinda care about this), lack of variety or access to media in general, complicatedness, delicateness, etc., etc., etc. I love analog tape because in my opinion, based on my personal experience, there simply is not another format that can compete with what makes this format so great. And unless you’ve heard a well recorded/engineered/mixed master tape, or one just off the master, it will be difficult to understand what I am talking about. For those that were fortunate enough to receive the Tape Tour gear, you were exposed to analog tape in its most base-level form. It only gets better from there, but as many of you heard, it is a unique and special sound characteristic that if nothing else, lead to intrigue and desire to learn more about this format. Well, if you want to know how far you can go in the tape journey, then you need not look any further than UltraAnalogue (UA) Recordings. I am going to share what I saw and heard at Ed’s studio. Even with my prior familiarization with tape and high-end tape rigs, I was not prepared for what I was about to witness. Before I continue, this is going to sound like an UA promotional ad. That’s because what I am about to share is that good! Regardless of how this comes off, it is simply my honest opinion. I paid for my airfare, my hotel, the concert tickets, and the three tape reels of the Narek concert I attended. This is just me, Decware owner and forum member, sharing my experience.
Alrighty then, here we go. UA is situated in a beautiful suburb about 45 mins outside of Toronto. I have been to Canada, but never Toronto. I would be lying if I said that the allure of this City had nothing to do with my decision to go. But, at the end of the day, it was Ed’s invitation and the amazing talent of Narek Hakhnazaryan (
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narek_Hakhnazaryan) that got me to Toronto that weekend. Now, to get all of the tourist ramblings out of the way. There is a really cool wine region on the way to Niagra falls. Lots of wineries!! And to my surprise, being from California, some very good ones (I bought some to bring home!). The food and craft beer/distilling scene is fairly robust and the history of Toronto was far more interesting than I had assumed. It was a fun place to visit – all audiophilia aside.
The purpose of the trip was to see Narek in concert, at Ed’s studio on Saturday. I arrived on Thursday evening, so Ed invited me over on Friday to see his digs before the concert. He knew well in advance my infatuation with tape so it was an obvious “yes” when he asked if I would like to not only see his gear on Friday, but to have a listen of an actual “master” tape of a recording that he made from a prior concert performance. Wow! For someone to spin a MASTER tape for a listening session, especially when that very tape is used to make copies which are then used to make all of the tapes he later sells, is a BIG deal. The master is the tape for which the original performance was recorded. Most studies make master copies that are then used to produce the CD’s, vinyl, other reels for retail sale, etc. Why is this a big deal? Well, there is no better representation of the performance than the master itself. Also, tape is not forever. Each time it is played, there is wear that occurs. Masters are coveted, and for good reason.
Ed Pong’s (UltraAnalogue Recordings) recording and playback system – is by far, the most unique “system” I have every laid my eyes on. Why? It is 90% custom and hand built by the unsung hero, Tony Ma, who was also there for me to meet and talk to. I say unsung not because he is intentionally kept in the shadows, but because he is one smart audio/electronics engineer that has accomplished many impressive feats – most of which by nature go unnoticed. Tony, like Ed, is a very nice and giving person. Had I not already had dinner plans with the wife, Tony and Ed would have accommodated all the questions I had thrown at them, even if that led into the wee hours of the night. UA is a team effort driven by Ed Pong who is absolutely a man of no compromise! This is something I and many of us here can wholeheartedly appreciate – especially Steve. And speaking of Steve, he is the sole reason I fell in love with analog tape and the only reason I ever discovered Ed in the first place.
There was without doubt, a great deal of time (and money) spent developing Ed’s recording and playback system at UA. He and Tony conspired on every single piece of equipment involved in the recording and playback chain. No, I am not exaggerating. As you will see in the photo album I created, there is not a single piece of equipment in this chain that was not imagined, custom designed and built by Ed & Tony. I think now is a great time to share these photos of Ed’s system. Because of the amount of images and not wanting to crop and resize, I built an album on Imgur.
Here is the link:
https://imgur.com/a/eQTBKINWhat you see is the all analogue, all tube-based tape recording equipment used to record the live concerts at Ed’s studio. You will also see images I took of Ed’s playback system, including his custom modified (by Tony of course) Quad ESLs. There are far too many custom/unique feature for me to cover in this post, so if interested, fire off your questions to Ed Pong and Tony Ma who are both members of this forum. They will be more than happy to provide all the juicy details surrounding everything in these pictures.
What I do know is I saw a lot of rare and expensive tubes in this system! Are you sitting down? Ok, there were no less than thirty Western Electric 300B’s throughout his systems. These are originals, not reproductions. You will find these tubes for sale now for over $1000 a piece if I remember correctly. They are considered one of the best tubes every created.
I got a nice education on some other special tubes in Ed’s system that I had not been exposed to prior. The Western Electric 437A’s, RCA 826’s, RCA 838’s, and RCA 805’s. The RCA’s are the rather large output tubes you will see in several photos. Curious about the 437A’s? Here you go,
https://www.tubedepot.com/products/western-electric-437aNotice the price on these babies? Ed has many of these installed in various pieces of equipment.
I feel it important to clarify, UA is not merely an exercise in exorbitant spending. As a matter of fact, many of the 300B’s Ed has were obtained in bulk a long time ago before the prices reached where they are today. Every piece of equipment down to every tube is there for no other reason than “no compromise” sound quality. Sure, Ed has, and continues to spend a grip on tubes to maintain or improve his system, but it is done for no other reason than superior results. Ed is a humble man and only wants his recordings to truly be the next best thing to the live recording.
I had the pleasure of listening to Ed’s all tube, all analog playback system. The master he spun, which was honestly, the most real musical experience I have had to date, was the Tatsuki Narita and Yun-Yang Lee tape. If I was to sum it up, Ed’s equipment placed me back at that concert. The system was the conduit, while successfully standing 100% out of the way of the music. I got the impression that there was no coloration imparted by the system. I can say this truthfully and with confidence now, after the fact, because I attended a live concert at Ed’s venue. That tape, through Ed’s system, sounded so real! Huge dynamic range with insanely noticeable low level detail. I could hear absolutely everything. This was a classical concert with piano and violin. There were extreme peaks – a transient extravaganza. It was territory that would create moments of wincing or cringing under unideal circumstances. Ed’s tape, played through his system, was anything but that. The musical performance was exciting while avoiding fatigue and other byproducts of bad recordings or playback systems. There was so much musical information captured on that tape – some of which were non-musical (i.e. performer’s breath, bow taps/strikes other than on the strings, ambient noise from the audience or stage performers, etc.), which is what I really enjoyed and appreciated about the tape. It was real. I have lots of tapes, all well recorded and sounding fantastic, but they still sound “recorded.” I don’t mean that in a bad way either. There is something to be said about listening to an album/performance that was well mixed and engineered. With UltraAnalogue tapes, you get what the audience of that concert got. It is a very unique approach to producing analog tape and I have to say, that day of listening the Friday before the concert, ruined me – it was really that good.
Next post… The Narek Concert!