Sphere Electronics Inc. was founded by Electrodyne owner and chief engineer Don McLaughlin in 1973.  Many of the designs that were invented at Electrodyne were improved and perfected in the Sphere consoles.  In a 2005 interview with Larry Devivo, when asked about some of the differences, Don states:

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"The Sphere preamp and EQ were actually an improvement to the ones used in the Electrodyne consoles. The original equalizer inductors would saturate when pushed all the way and start ringing. Sphere used bigger inductors to stop this and added more frequency points, switchable frequency points."

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There were numerous other improvements on the design ranging from using designer John Halls newer SPA 62 op amp, isolation amplifiers on each VU meter (to prevent them from adding distortion to the audio circuit), and bipolar power supplies, (+/-24v DC), for 6 dB more headroom than the Electrodyne consoles, which had been unipolar, +24v DC only.

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Working with Wally Wilson, Don and Wally sold Sphere consoles as a line of custom and semi-custom recording consoles.  Don hired Ed Reichenbach to design and build the transformers for the Sphere consoles.  Reichenbach transformers had previously been installed in Electrodyne consoles as well as other top equipment manufacturers of the time such as Altec, Langevin and later Quad Eight. 

 

It is estimated that a total of 53 Sphere consoles were ever built with 42 of them being either the Eclipse Type A or Type B design.  Artists such as Ronny Milsap, The Judds and Hank Snow purchased Sphere consoles and Sphere consoles were installed at some of the most famous studios at the time such as Sigma Sound, Columbia Recording in Nashville, Kendun Recorders in Burbank, and Creative Workshop in Nashville.  Creative Workshop is still using their custom Sphere Eclipse A built in 1975 to this day.  

 

The history of our Sphere Eclipse starts at 1922 Piedmont Circle in Atlanta GA were it was first installed in Doppler Recording Studios in 1978.  Many legendary artists were recorded and mixed with this very console during its long tenure at Doppler. 

 

Interestingly, studio designer George Augspurger designed the main monitor speakers in Studios A & E at Doppler and also redesigned several other rooms as Doppler expanded in the 1980's.  Upon tuning the control room for the mobile in 2023, George was reunited with the same Eclipse Type A console almost 50 years later. 

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From Doppler, the desk was purchased by John Kelton and went into the Nashville studio of producer Mark Nevers.  It was featured in the November 2004 Sound on Sound article interviewing Mark on his work with Lambchop, Bonnie "Prince" Billy, Calexico and Silver Jews.  In the interview Mark comments on the Sphere saying:

 

"...It's got the top, it's got the bottom — a Neve to me is mushy on the bottom and an API doesn't have any bottom, but a Sphere is like both of them combined, with a hard bottom and a good top."

-Mark Nevers, SOS, November 2004           

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After leaving Nasville the console arrived in Arizona and received considerable restoration and modification by engineer and tech Ben Maughan and Gary Barnett, the later of Barnett Industries.  It was briefly installed in a private studio owned by the Redemption Church of Arizona before returning to Nashville and being purchased for the mobile.

 

Unlike more easily recognizable manufacturers like Neve or API who made thousands of consoles, Sphere produced individual pieces per the specifications of each customer.  Over time, Sphere consoles became known for an unparalleled sonic excellence.  A sound whose musicality, directness and utter size, engineers and producers strive to impart on their recordings.  That sound is why the remaining Sphere consoles are still making records almost 50 years later.