Bob Marley’s Helios console for sale: $2.5m piece of music history?
Fancy a new mixer? The sound of reggae legends in your own home studio!
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Bob Marley's Helios console for sale: $2.5m piece of music history? · Source: retrogearshop.com
The Helios console HJ-1 Dub Station now for sale was probably used to record some of Bob Marley’s most famous tracks, including ‘Get Up, Stand Up’, ‘One Love’ and ‘Jamming’. This range of Helios consoles has also been used on productions by many other famous artists, including Led Zeppelin, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Queen and Jimi Hendrix. This mixing desk is not only a technical masterpiece, but also a piece of music history that shaped the sound of an entire era. For $2.5 million, this ‘tasty’ console could be yours. If I had the money, I’d definitely do it!
This Helios console can now be yours: the sound of reggae legends in your own home.
A historic Helios console, the legendary mixing desk used to record Bob Marley’s ‘No Woman, No Cry’ and other reggae classics, is up for sale. This rare 1970s Helios HJ-1 Dub Station was the centrepiece of Harry J Studios in Kingston, Jamaica for decades.
Artists such as Bob Marley, Bunny Wailer, Burning Spear, King Tubby and many others used this console to record their most important works. Now the Helios console is available online for the incredible price of $2.5 million. This sum even exceeds the sale price of the EMI console used for Pink Floyd’s ‘Dark Side of the Moon’, which sold at auction in 2017 for $1.8 million.
A milestone in music production
The Helios console is a rare and precious piece of music history. Its 20 inputs and 16 outputs not only offer impressive technical specifications, but also a sound quality that has been appreciated by sound engineers for decades. The Helios console, whose reputation in the music scene is almost legendary, was developed in the 1970s by Dick Swettenham, the technical director of Olympic Studios in London.
Swettenham produced only about 40 of these consoles, of which only about 20 still exist today. The Helios console sold today was built specifically for the Harry J Studio in Kingston, which opened in 1972. This was one of the most modern recording studios in Jamaica at the time and attracted the best artists on the reggae scene, including Bob Marley, Dennis Brown and Horace Andy.
Bob Marley’s Helios console: a unique opportunity for collectors
The Dub Station, as the console was often called, contributed significantly to the distinctive sound of many reggae productions. Studio founder and producer Harry Johnson used the technology to create many of the reggae classics that still define the genre today. Artists and producers praise the Helios console for its warm and natural sound characteristics, which are particularly valued in analogue music production.
The sale of this historic Helios console has already caused quite a stir – and not just because of its very high price. According to the sellers at Retro Gear Shop, who acquired the console from a home studio collection in Jamaica, it is still fully functional and comes with original Yamaha NS10 monitors in the same green-blue colour – well, that certainly justifies the price. Many of these almost identical consoles have been dismantled into modules over the years, so it is extremely rare to find a fully intact example today.
Alternatives to your G.A.S., but much cheaper
Universal Audio’s Helios Type 69 preamp and EQ collection is an affordable alternative for your DAW. It offers the same rich mids, the same assertive and distinctive sound that has been used to produce hundreds of iconic albums by Bob Marley, Led Zeppelin, the Beatles, Jimi Hendrix and many more. So why not save almost 2.5 million dollars and invest here (at Thomann (Affiliate))?
Further Information
- Buy the mixer here
- More about Helios
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2 responses to “Bob Marley’s Helios console for sale: $2.5m piece of music history?”
Absurd
This Helios did not belong to Bob Marley. He only purchased 1 console and it is on display at his museum in Kingston.