It's funny how a random object can mean so much.
A couple months before my Dad passed I came across a reel on IG. It featured a vintage stereo set up and included a Sansui RA-500 Reverberation Amplifier. The exact model my Dad owned when I was a very young. He called it a reverb and I remember turning the knob all the way to the laft and all the way to the right just to watch the rainbow colored display shift and blur or come back into focus depending on which way you turned the dial.
That memory has been tucked away for almost 40 years but never forgotten.
I sent him the reel and he confirmed it was the exact model he owned, I knew it was. I never forgot that rainbow on the display. Out of curiosity, I went to eBay to see what they were going for these days.
Dad passed a few months later and after he did I brought his Stereo equipment home with me.
His set up included a Pioneer SX-424. An early 70's entry level receiver that my Nino purchased while stationed in Japan. He gave it to my Dad on the promise he'd take care of it. Aside from one burned out bulb on the display it's still in great working condition so I'd say my Dad kept his promise.
I also brought home his Yamaha DP-Y6 turntable. My Dad loved music. He loved vinyl music. In many ways he was a hipster before hipsters were a thing.
When my NIno heard my Dad still had the receiver he surprised me with not one but two sets of the Pioneer floor speakers that came with the SX-424.
I instantly had a nice vintage setup but this set up was still missing one thing. I went back to eBay and purchased a Sansui RA-500 reverberation amplifier just like the one Dad owned way back in the early 80's.
I hooked it up and couldn't wait to turn that dial. Just like old times.
It's funny how a random object like that and looking at the rainbow on the display can take me back to such a happy time in my life and at the same time I've got something that'll always remind me of my Dad.
I couldn't wait to play Tower of Power's Sparkling in The Sand because, well, there are more good memories tied to Dad and that song but that'll a be another post.
