Scotts Valley, CA (March 12, 2024)—It was Thomas Wolfe who wrote “You can’t go home again,” but a vintage live-sound console used to mix everyone from Frank Sinatra to Tina Turner is proving that truism wrong. After nearly a year on the market, a classic, custom-made tube mixing desk originally built by Bill Putnam Sr., founder of Universal Audio, is returning to the company—and family—that created it.
The prodigal console was commissioned for the famed Las Vegas casino and hotel Caesars Palace in 1966, where it was put to good use mixing thousands of performances by the likes of Sinatra, Judy Garland, Diana Ross, George Burns and countless other performers. Installed within the Circus Maximus supper club, the desk debuted with the venue’s opening night on August 5, 1966, mixing an Andy Williams concert.
The Caesars Console, as it’s now colloquially referred to, was no run-of-the-mill mixer either, incorporating 38 UA 1008 tube preamp modules; 21 UA 508 EQ modules on each channel and the echo sends; three UA 550 filters; three UA 500 EQs; and three Langevin 252 Graphic EQs; plus color-coded Langevin faders—blue, yellow and green—in three banks of six. Intriguingly, it initially also included non-audio functions, such as stage curtain control, though those features were later removed.
Circus Maximus shuttered in September 2000, and the desk was taken home by the venue’s sound engineer. Many of the console’s components, valuable in and of themselves, were sold off individually over the years, until actor/musician Vincent Gallo—known in pro-audio circles for his extensive collection of original Fairchild 660 and 670 units—purchased the desk and reportedly tracked down the components to reunite them and restore the mixer. The Caesars Console went on to become a part of Los Angeles’ Sound Space Studios before eventually being passed on to LA Vintage Audio, which put the desk up for sale on online music gear marketplace Reverb last year.
In a statement, Bill Putnam Jr., current-day CEO of Universal Audio, marveled at the console’s return to the company that created it, sharing, “This isn’t just a piece of equipment; it connects me with my dad. I deeply admire the craftsmanship of his work and the historical significance of this console’s journey. Bringing it home is my way of preserving his legacy and inspiring new innovation here at UA.”
