Les Paul Studio Powers Up with Telefunken

Hollywood, CA (April 4, 2025)—When Tom Camuso oversaw the restoration of Les Paul‘s original recording console and first multitrack tape machine, he reports that only one model of rectifier tube survived more than one power cycle.

Camuso, a Grammy Award-winning audio engineer who is now the chief engineer at The Les Paul Recording Studio, which opened in March, explains, “After trying every tube I could find on the market, Telefunken‘s new Black Diamond tubes were the only tubes that worked.”

The 8-channel, 3-bus tube console known as The Monster was designed and built in 1957 by Les Paul, the legendary guitarist, inventor and pioneer of many of the recording techniques still used today, and design engineer Rein Narma, who later worked for Fairchild and Ampex. The console’s unique features, such as vibrato effects, tape track record enabling and machine control, as well as EQ and echo sends on every channel, were years head of their time.

The Monster was created to work directly with The Octopus, the first 8-track tape machine produced. Together, they form the centerpiece of the new Les Paul Recording Studio, housed within the historic United Recording building on Sunset Blvd. in Hollywood.

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Camuso adds, “No other currently manufactured tube can handle the power draw of The Monster console. I’ve been using the tubes and they’ve been working perfectly. No other new tube has lasted more than one power up.” The tubes were supplied by Telefunken Elektroakustik in Connecticut.

The Black Diamond tube used in the console restoration is the Telefunken GZ34-TK, a replacement for any amplifier using vintage GZ34 or 5AR4 rectifier tubes. Rectifier tubes were some of the very first tubes to be invented, converting alternating current (AC), which periodically reverses direction to direct current (DC), which flows in only one direction. The rectifier is an essential block that helps create the sound of an amplifier.

Black Diamond Series tubes can also be found in Telefunken’s recreations of the historic Fairchild 660 and 670 compressor/limiters that were invented by Narma.