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[Ivan Beaver]

And can someone identify this mike?

http://www.google.com/imgres?start=101&num=10&hl=en&biw=1046&bih=598&tbm=isch&tbnid=Odb1iDJBxfI67M:&imgrefurl=http://www.popscreen.com/v/65D8d/the-beatles--i-m-down--im-down-live-from-shea-stadium-1965&docid=wdOrdsMpYJHIHM&imgurl=http://v022o.popscreen.com/SHYwZnFuOW9paHMx_o_the-beatles-i-m-down-im-down-live-from-shea-stadium-1965.jpg&w=480&h=360&ei=GRdqULbJFITvygHl94CADA&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=288&vpy=280&dur=830&hovh=194&hovw=259&tx=178&ty=146&sig=103177919331139181830&page=6&tbnh=131&tbnw=181&ndsp=20&ved=1t:429,r:11,s:101,i:109

Looks like 2 mikes taped together-very common "back in the day".  One "might" be a Shure Unisphere-but I don't know if they were made back then.  That would be the one will the silver ball.  No idea on the other-possibly an EV-I seem to remember a mic that "kinda" looked like what I can see.

[bob schwarz]

Ivan, my guess would have been an AKG D-24...

Bob Schwarz

[Garreth Broesche]

Thanks for the help, Mac.  I was able to find my personal messages.

I'm really surprised that no one can identify those speaker columns!  So many mysteries!

[Garreth Broesche]

Thanks to Louis for the personal message....  I will visit those forums you suggested.  Thanks!

[Andrew Broughton]

I'm really surprised that no one can identify those speaker columns!  So many mysteries!

I don't think they're speaker columns. There's no wiring. I have no idea what they are.

[Ivan Beaver]

I don't think they're speaker columns. There's no wiring. I have no idea what they are.

I had always thought (having seen the photos many times over the years) that they were small speaker columns-maybe with 6" drivers.  I had always guessed Vox-since all their other gear was vox.

But as I looked at the photo again-I thought the same thing to myself-I don't see any wiring.  But was afraid to post that.  glad you did.

[Garreth Broesche]

I had always thought (having seen the photos many times over the years) that they were small speaker columns-maybe with 6" drivers.  I had always guessed Vox-since all their other gear was vox.

But as I looked at the photo again-I thought the same thing to myself-I don't see any wiring.  But was afraid to post that.  glad you did.

Very, very interesting...

Here is a quote from Bob Spitz's recent Beatles biography:

“More than fifty 100-watt amplifiers had been set up along the base paths of the diamond, but they were no match for the wall of piercing sound that blared from the stands.  The fans drowned out all the singing and most of the music…"

He's talking about Shea 1965 and clearly means those skinny "speakers" that are in the picture I linked (I guess Spitz doesn't know the difference between an "amplifer" and a "speaker"...?).  But you guys are absolutely right - there seems to be no wiring running to them.  Wireless technology would not have been in place then (right?) and no one can seem to identify them as any make or model of speaker that they recognize.  Were they put up just for show?  Did they have something to do with security?  If they are not actually working speakers...  Is what Spitz wrote above simply urban legend that needs to be debunked???

[Ivan Beaver]

He's talking about Shea 1965 and clearly means those skinny "speakers" that are in the picture I linked (I guess Spitz doesn't know the difference between an "amplifer" and a "speaker"...?).  But you guys are absolutely right - there seems to be no wiring running to them.  Wireless technology would not have been in place then (right?) and no one can seem to identify them as any make or model of speaker that they recognize.  Were they put up just for show?  Did they have something to do with security?  If they are not actually working speakers...  Is what Spitz wrote above simply urban legend that needs to be debunked???

If it was wireless-there are way to many factors that would be "missing".  ANd the least of them is the actual wireless system.

You have to look at the technology at the time.  Transistors were just getting started.  Most all gear was tube.  That meant much larger than these days.  So you have to have a large amp (yes a 100 watt tube amp is pretty large).  Batteries (not as strong as today), power inverter-I'm not even sure there were any back then-at least of a quality good enough run audio gear.

And when you talk wireless-there would also have to be a receiver.

So all that gear must be hiding somewhere that we can't see.

Sorry-but I don't know what the real answer is.

[Mac Kerr]

Very, very interesting...

Here is a quote from Bob Spitz's recent Beatles biography:

“More than fifty 100-watt amplifiers had been set up along the base paths of the diamond, but they were no match for the wall of piercing sound that blared from the stands.  The fans drowned out all the singing and most of the music…"

He's talking about Shea 1965 and clearly means those skinny "speakers" that are in the picture I linked (I guess Spitz doesn't know the difference between an "amplifer" and a "speaker"...?).  But you guys are absolutely right - there seems to be no wiring running to them.  Wireless technology would not have been in place then (right?) and no one can seem to identify them as any make or model of speaker that they recognize.  Were they put up just for show?  Did they have something to do with security?  If they are not actually working speakers...  Is what Spitz wrote above simply urban legend that needs to be debunked???

He clearly doesn't know the difference between an amplifier and a speaker. I vote for small gauge wire that doesn't show up in the photos. We didn't used to wire speakers with nothing but 12ga wire. They may even be 70v speakers with 1 or 2 circuits of small gauge wire.

Mac

[Andrew Broughton]

Bob Spitz' biography is well known to be riddled with errors, so I would take anything he says with a large pile of salt.
When he talks about speakers "around the diamond", he's probably mixing up that 1st performance with the 2nd one in 1966 when Bill Hanley took over the sound.

"Our sound company from Boston, Hanley Sound, drove to Chicago to do the show [opening for the Beatles] with us. They pulled their truck right into the Amphitheater and set up their state-of-the-art sound equipment right beside the in-house P.A. system. What a joke! The in-house stuff was so archaic next to the powerful amps, good mics, and Altec speakers. Right before the show, Brian Epstein looked at the two sound systems and decided that the Beatles should go with our system. So the Beatles hired Bill Hanley to do the sound for the [eastern part] of the tour!"

And thus Hanley next found himself behind the board at the historic Beatles concert at Shea Stadium. He distributed Altec- Lansing speakers all around the stadium, doubled the sound typically used, doubled the power with an impressive (for the time) 600-watt amplifier system… and then when an armored car drove onto the field and John, Paul, George and Ringo stepped out, his sound system was pulverized by the power of 42,000 screaming teenage girls.

"I didn't have a snowball's chance in hell," he laughs. "It was sheer pandemonium. I had the band on the pitcher's mound, the speakers on the first and third base line, and I made this big circle of sound, all facing up, so the speakers didn't cross… but it was going against 135 dB of screaming. I couldn't approach that."

http://www.pbase.com/tg6string/image/66804291

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