Studio manager Keith Grant commissioned the very first model "Helios Serial Number 001" to be installed in Olympic's now legendary Studio 2, the studio that is responsible for recording numerous classic albums and tracks from a wealth of artists that include "The Rolling Stones", "David Bowie", "The Beatles", "Led Zeppelin", "Queen" and "Jimi Hendrix" to name but a few.

In 1980 Don Larking bought this classic desk and it was carefully dismantled and moved out of London to his sales showroom in Bedfordshire.

Don says...
"In the 1980’s we used to export a lot of used equipment to the USA, Dan Alexander of San Francisco was one of our regular clients, I remember we sold Helios 001 to Dan and he installed it in his Hyde Street Studio"

San Francisco's Hyde Street Studios have also played host to some amazing artists including "The Grateful Dead", "Lindsey Buckingham", "Green Day", "Tupac" and "Willy Nelson".

Dan says...
"Helios was a boutique builder; meaning, if you had the budget, they would build whatever layout you desired…They built approximately 125 consoles, many installed in famous European studios. The build quality on the early desks left a bit to be desired; but as time went by, the desks improved in appearance and quality of construction. 
The earliest consoles had all discrete amplifiers and incorporated their standard mic pre and equalizer, a fixed top shelf (10khz as I recall) with a very limited selectable (not swept) low end and mid range controls. 
We installed that desk at Hyde Street Studios in San Francisco from 1981 through 1983. Subsequently, it was stripped and sold as modules by Mercenary Audio".

We wonder where those modules are now...... rumour has it that they were sold on to the Moonies.