MCI Mixing Console Formerly Owned and Operated by King Tubby

Producer and engineer Osbourne Ruddock, better known as King Tubby (1941 – 1989), used this four-track MCI mixing console, which he purchased used in 1972, for numerous music productions. It previously belonged to producer Byron Lee of Dynamic Studios. Long after others had upgraded to eight- and sixteen-track mixers, Tubby continued to create amazing sounds with the board until his death in 1989. The console also helped train famous recording engineers such as Prince Jammy, Prince Philip Smart and Scientist, who apprenticed with King Tubby. 

King Tubby was the pre-eminent creator of Dub: remixed Reggae tracks emphasizing bass and drums, stripped of vocals and instruments, and overlaid with percussion and often-extreme reverb and echo effects. A unique aspect of Tubby's mixes was his use of a parametric equalizer to narrow and dramatically transform instrumental parts until their melodic content was barely recognizable. This was controlled by the large red dial labeled “Hi Pass Filter” on the upper right—referred to by Tubby as “the Big Knob.” Tubby made great contributions as a remix engineer, firmly establishing the popularity of dub between 1972 and 1974. 

Tubby dubbed works by Augustus Pablo, Mikey Dread, Lee “Scratch” Perry among others, creating hundreds of dubs on this four-track MCI mixing console. He achieved such status that consumers of Dub music checked labels not so much for producers’ or performers’ names but to determine whether Tubby had mixed the recording. 

Jeep Harned, founder of Music Concepts Inc. (MCI) console and tape machine manufacturing company, designed this mixing console. This model, the predecessor to MCI’s JH-400 console, has twelve input channels, four output channels, and two reverb returns. The top row of black dials, one for each input channel, are the signal controls. The red dials beneath the black ones manage the three-band equalizers. The lowest black dials manipulate the echo controls. Below, red sliders increase or decrease the channels’ decibel or volume levels. Near the top are multiple black buttons called sends, which transmit the channels’ signals to the output busses. These busses are operated by the four levers at the lower right side of the board. This model was the first to have a remote tape machine control built in, operated by the five buttons in the lower far right corner.