The original Beatles recording console is on sale for $3 million

The online musical equipment marketplace Reverb just listed a pretty remarkable find: the original EMI TG12345 recording console that was used by the Beatles at Abbey Road studios to record the album Abbey Road. The one-of-a-kind console was actually built specifically for the occasion by EMI studios. Later, the same console was used by each individual member of the band to record at least one solo project: the John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band record, Paul McCartney's McCartney, George Harrison's All Things Must Pass, and Ringo Starr's Sentimental Journey.

And it can be yours for just $3 million dollars! *insert Dr. Evil laugh*

As Reverb explains, the analog console was disassembled more than 50 years ago, with all the individual parts sitting in storage, waiting to be reunited:

The recording console underwent a five-year restoration process under the guidance of Beatles collaborator and former EMI engineer Brian Gibson. Gibson, along with a team of audio engineers and technicians, managed to reunite the console with 70% of its original parts, working with expert British companies to faithfully reproduce the replacement parts to seamlessly work alongside their older counterparts.

After years of work, Gibson and his team were able to bring the console to almost exactly the same form as it was when it sat at EMI Studios (known as Abbey Road Studios only after the success of the album). According to Hedges, the console had last been used during the Beatles' solo sessions in the '70s until this autumn, when Reverb gathered artists and engineers at a legendary London studio that was reopened just to put the recording console to the test ahead of its October sale.

The console contains 24 XLR inputs, each with its own dedicated analog compressor-limiter—apparently the first board to have such a setup. It also includes: