I've Got Mono!

Monoaural music reproduction, that is. For the last few weeks I've been turned on to the joys of mono recordings and mono playback, thanks in part to finally cleaning up and hooking up a mono tube hi-fi that I've had kicking around for years:


I have it running into a single Weber PA speaker from the 70's which sounds pretty damn good to my ears. Since so much of the classic rocksteady, ska, and reggae recordings were done in mono, you really don't get a proper feel for the mix playing back through a stereo set-up. Even cooler is tracking down mono rock tracks, since that was the studio standard until the late 60's (one anecdote being that the Beatles put their attention and effort into the mono mix of their songs, not really caring how the stereo mix was handled). The reissue of The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society has two complete versions of the album, one a stereo and one a mono mix. The mono mix has more punch, more directness, more presence.

One amp. One speaker. Cool.