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I just finished listening to the Blue Amberols that I picked up at Union. I have one of the directly recorded ones (!), number 1821, I Love a Lassie by Harry Lauder. Having only previously heard dubbed BAs (and thinking that they sounded pretty good), I am absolutely astonished by the clarity and tone of this record.

Yes! Those directly recorded blue amberols do sound quite good in comparison to the dubbed ones. Just as a rule of thumb pretty much any blue amberol with a serial number of 2500 or earlier is a direct recording. The sound quality of directly recorded blue amberols is so good that it almost rivals the tone quality of the diamond discs.
Hopefully I can come to Union next year to meet some of the people on the forum!

-Steve

Steve is (roughly) correct. According to Alan Sutton's Blue Amberol reference book, the following numbers are the few below 2501 that are dubbed:

2476*, 2488*, 2490, 2493, 2495, 2500 ("*" = exists both dubbed and direct)

There are also some numbers above 2500 that are direct:

2504, 2505, 2506, 2510, 2516, 2644, 2653, 2664, 2742,...

Other directly recorded titles were issued sporadically thereafter, almost all remastered from wax Amberols. Oddly enough, quite a lot of the 5000 "series" used reissued wax Amberol titles. Ron Dethlefon's 1912-1914 Blue Amberol book has a list of these on pages 145-146, but Sutton's book indicates that a few on Dethlefson's list may be erroneous.

I have long been of the opinion that directly recorded BAs played with a Diamond Reproducer with a large wood cygnet horn gives the best sound quality available in the acoustic period. Even the diamond Amberolas are good, although a lot of bass is lost. I was listening to a direct recorded bell solo by Charles Daab and the sound of the mallets hitting the bells was amazing to hear.

Jim

Hopefully I can come to Union next year to meet some of the people on the forum!

Next year I hope to make it to the show also and hopefully meet the many great people on this forum. I haven't found any of these direct recordings on amberol but hope to get a amberola sometime in the near future and find some of these recordings.
-Tom

phonojim wrote:I have long been of the opinion that directly recorded BAs played with a Diamond Reproducer with a large wood cygnet horn gives the best sound quality available in the acoustic period. Even the diamond Amberolas are good, although a lot of bass is lost. I was listening to a direct recorded bell solo by Charles Daab and the sound of the mallets hitting the bells was amazing to hear.

Jim

A friend of mine recently built the ultimate BA player. He took an Amberola 30 mechanism, diamond C reproducer with an O diaphragm, and mated it to the horn of a Victrola 4-40.
Let's just say I was not prepared for what I heard....

Videos??

Foreign series Blue Amberols are direct cut, as are Everlasting and Indestructible records. Quality varies, but some of them are remarkable.

Yes, I have a clean copy of Ed Favor singing "Honor Bright, I Loves Yer Right" and it sounds very crisp and clear.