Unexpected G4 Sightings #28

[AshleyPomeroy]

I was reading an interview with Dave Grohl in The Guardian a few days ago, and something struck me about the headline photo. It's a shot of Grohl in a storeroom surrounded by gadgets, and in the bottom-left is what looks to be mirrored drive good Power Mac G4! It looks as though the plastic corner handles have been replaced with metal brackets.

I wonder if he still uses it? Dave Grohl never struck me as a digital recording artist, but perhaps it was just used as an elaborate tape recorder. After a bit of Googling I couldn't find any more pictures of it, although I did find this image of Grohl recording with an Intel Mac Pro.

 

[ToniCH]

in the bottom-left is what looks to be mirrored drive good Power Mac G4! It looks as though the plastic corner handles have been replaced with metal brackets.

It is a Quicksilver. Maybe the handles didn't last for some reason in his use? Something that was used on tours?

 

[Smithwick’s]

There is always kind of a "hey! I know that!" reaction in me when I see vintage Macs in random places. Most recent I can think of is watching an episode of The Office Season 1 and someone, I think Ryan, has an iBook G4. Also saw School of Rock on a bar TV recently and pointed out those iMac G4s. Good product placement!

 

[Certificate of Excellence]

Anytime I want to see a vintage mac in use today, all I have to do is go to a bar in town that has a graphite Powermac G4 serving up music to the bars audio sound system today in 2026. It has been there since the first time I ever went there in 2000 when it was new and shiny. It's always just done it's job so they never replaced it LOL. It sits right by the POS and receipt printer and aside from being kind of dusty and forgotten, it's still there serving up tunes.

🙂

 

[Matias_]

It is a Quicksilver. Maybe the handles didn't last for some reason in his use? Something that was used on tours?

View attachment 2615814

If you look closely, there appears to be a Mirrored Driver Doors hiding behind the Quicksilver 🙂

 

[Certificate of Excellence]

Guys, go ask the great googles AI what it thinks Dave used that Quick Silver for.

Don't post it here (you'll get slapped with a big stinky fish) but the answer it gave was surprising as he's well known for his preference for analog.

 

[ToniCH]

If you look closely, there appears to be a Mirrored Driver Doors hiding behind the Quicksilver 🙂

So it seems! Good eyes. 😎

 

[eyoungren]

I'll just add my two cents here.

I imagine that a lot of the users here don't deal much with Macs outside the home or small office. But the handles on the QS are not messed up. What you are seeing is a rack mount. You know, for having a G4 in a server rack?

Plenty of G4s were used as either servers and/or mounted in racks during the time they were produced. And server mounting gear was specifically designed and sold for this. Considering that Grohl is a musician, it makes perfect sense to me.

Here's an example of a Marathon server rack for G4s.

https://www.barryrudolph.com/newtoys/toys/marathon.html

PS, just for info, there were also manufacturers who created and sold hush boxes for G4 Wintunnels shortly after those G4s were first released. These boxes were sold to studios for music, audio and video production work. Can't have fan noise in your recordings. I've seen a few pics of these. Huge boxes.

 

[Certificate of Excellence]

I'll just add my two cents here.

I imagine that a lot of the users here don't deal much with Macs outside the home or small office. But the handles on the QS are not messed up. What you are seeing is a rack mount. You know for having a G4 in a server rack?

Plenty of G4s were used as either servers and/or mounted in racks during the time they were produced. And server mounting gear was specifically designed and sold for this. Considering that Grohl is a musician, it makes perfect sense to me.

Here's an example of a Marathon server rack for G4s.

https://www.barryrudolph.com/newtoys/toys/marathon.html

PS, just for info, there were also manufacturers who created and sold hush boxes for G4 Wintunnels shortly after those G4s were first released. These boxes were sold to studios for music, audio and video production work. Can't have fan noise in your recordings. I've seen a few pics of these. Huge boxes.

I had a set of these in my own music studio from TOTC to about 2006 to mount a QS as the center of our protocols/DD002 digital recording setup at which point we then upgraded/transitioned from PowerPC to Apple Intel. They work perfectly as you describe for this purpose.

What I read about Dave Grohl using these Mac’s despite his preference for analog was starting in 2002, he adopted the QS first at his home studio then the MDD at studio606 as a means to quickly record/capture, mix down and master digital tracks vs sending tape back and forth.

He still ran analog boards, preamps and mic’d real instrumentation of course for endless analog knob twiddling fun lol but at the core were these Macs to aid in quick capture of music digitally and even faster transfer of files over the internet for long distance collaboration which is pretty cool. I’m really curious where that photo was taken because I’m curious if he evolved to using these boxes on tour for digital emulated sounds activated by a midi trigger of some type. I mean it’s the flu fighters lol so they’d assuredly have techs galore to manage setup breakdown of something that complex if Dave or the band wanted it.