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69.130.18.43
So it's a posed (static) photograph... 'cause I am listening to another source (FM radio) at the moment.
These are the cheap current production NAB adaptors sold on eBAY. Seem fine to me with all of about 5 minutes of run time on 'em so far.
This A77 was built from three carcasses and rehab'bed by an esteemed regional tape recorder guru fellow (who is known to post at AA and who might or might not appreciate my droppin' his moniker here... so I shan't). While he was at it, at my request, he converted it to a high speed (15 & 7-1/2 ips), half-track stereo machine for those "real" reel to reel tapes :-)
Das Ding an sich...
all the best,
mrh
Follow Ups:
Is still holding its own even though it's been superseded by new playback technology over the years in my listening room...
If a thing's worth doing, it's worth doing well
(Proverb)
I have a B77 Mk. II and love it. Great machine and sounds fantastic. Enjoy yours!!!
Rob
"Let there be songs, to fill the air"
Hmmmmmmm;
Have to get something spinnin -
Happy T-day fellows!
Charles
you gettin snow? We're getting fairly pummeled at the moment...
Our son's home so at the moment cameras have trumped hifi.
(not an actual photograph of the small collection of 35 mm SLRs currently sitting on the 'peninsula' in our kitchen... but not all that dissimilar)
all the best,
mrh
Is that a Nikon FM in the front?
Have you tweaked today?
nt
all the best,
mrh
With all due respect - it is called "rolling" tape - not spinning.
Tape is time is money is rolling. Also; in film, roll camera, roll tape...
Cheers.
When flying commercial you want the aircraft to be maintained and operated by sound standards.
Below that, does it say "After play, change to Tape 201/Century 21 Programming, Dallas, Texas"?
If so, I just bought on eBay one with the same plastic reel that has the same text. I've been trying to figure out what it is. It has 30-second test tones at the beginning of sides 1 and 2. Recording is quarter-track stereo, 7 1/2 ips.
Here's the weird part. The tape is a dub of 4 jazz LPs. You can hear the needle drop and various LP artifacts including a long scratch. So what is this thing? The seller of my tape obviously hadn't a clue and even mailed the thing in the original tape box, held together with rubber bands.
It's a tape from an automated content format for radio. Do away with everyone except a tape changing mute and pocket the profit while destroying the live component of broadcasting. After a while they figured out that even that operator could be eliminated with a satellite service.
If you've ever come across an Otari ARS-1000 and wondered what it was used for you've brushed up against the system. That's an excruciatingly almost useful deck BTW.
Look up Century 21 "Z" Programming, as one example, or Drake-Chenault for more details.
W
Understood. What I couldn't (and can't) figure out is why anyone would record -- from long-playing records -- the entirety of four reasonably obscure bop albums, both sides. The test tones suggest that the tape wasn't recorded over at some later date, and the sequencing is such that no radio station director in his right mind would play the thing straight through. I wouldn't have had a clue as to the music on the tape except that someone had hand-written the details on sheets of ruled tablet paper.
At the top of the first page is this:
Tape #202/3
12-19-84
Revox 7 1/2 ips 1/4 track
No NR
The four LPs are by Art Blakey, Chet Baker, Jack Wilkins (!), and Elvin Jones. I say they are "reasonably obscure" only because I have thousands of jazz albums from this era but not one of these titles :-)
mrh, is this the same tape you have?
Your tape could very well have been used in a radio station - but not necessarily an "automated format" one.In the late 60's I worked at WBMI, an FM station in Meriden, CT. The format was ALL 7 1/2" prerecorded tape (maybe 4 track - don't remember) that someone had made from records (definitely NOT from a commercial recording service) . Only equipment were two Ampex 900/1200? series (home) recorders, a three channel mixer and a microphone. All I had to do was keep the tape loaded - set the level to 0VU (on cue) identify the station every 10 minutes and read the news and weather (off a teletype) every half hour. Never forget mangling "...a mock-up version of a NASA space capsule... into.. a knocked-up virgin of...." - shows where my head was.
A buddy of mine picked up hundreds of similar (non-commercially) pre-recorded 10" tapes from a station in NJ. They were all 7 1/2 ips and were categorized by formats. Some had play dates, most did not.
Later (70's?) there were "chains" of FM stations that used exclusively commercially produced, pre-recorded tapes. As I remember, WBMI became one of those. They used Scully decks with huge reels - 17" 24"? and really slow speeds. Infrasonic cue tones to switch everything automatically, even the commercials. Because the stations were "chains" the tapes were rotated between them every month or so. Nothing "live" in the station unless something broke.
There was an FM station in Bridgeport, CT that continuously ran the "top 100 classical" pieces (from tape)for years. Non-commercial somehow
Back then no one listened to FM anyway. Many AM stations also had an FM license and played whatever (classical? elevator pop?) just to meet their license requirements - Then some smart station managers, realizing the opportunity, filled the airwaves with alternative rock - and the medium took off.
Charles
Edits: 12/27/14 12/27/14
From your description it doesn't jive with any prerecorded automated format I've run into. I'd agree that tones point toward a commercial taping, but they could also be the mark of a serious home recordist. The reference to Revox is irregular and quarter track at 7.5 isn't at all an expected format. And, since the whole idea of a station oriented tape would be to make things easy for the station it makes no sense. What also doesn't make sense is that what you describe on the tape, as far as I know, doesn't match any of the formats or programming sequence from C21.
My vote goes for a tapeover on a reused reel.
W
I'd agree except for the 30-second test tones at the beginning of each side. Why would a "serious home recordist" do such a thing and then record LPs with scratches on them? And then laboriously identity the tracks in longhand on lined tablet paper at different times. Why "different times" (and I know I didn't mention this earlier)? Because he used at least three pens -- narrow point, blue ink; broad point, blue ink; broad point, green ink.
Sorry to go all OCD on this :-)
OCD is fine. However, I'd think you're sort of answering your own question here. A more important question would be why would a commercial outfit do such a thing? Everything you're pointing out just reinforces that this isn't a commercial effort. If it weren't for the tones there wouldn't be anything to suggest that your tape hadn't been recorded over. Maybe the guy just left the tones on, though if they're on both sides they shouldn't be original. Hey Mark, what's on your tape there? Tones? (Keep that volume down when checking!) Two track? 15ips? I don't think I have any more of those reels here or I'd check also. Please report back.
(And for disclosure, I'm probably the source of Mark's tapes...)
W
Can you weigh in on this?
TIA
Here now (sounds like some eastern philosophy-religion thing...).
I am pretty darned sure that there are no test tones at the beginning. I will (double) check anon (in this case, that's gonna be tomorrow!).
Tell you what -- I will scan and post the track list from the tape in the photo. Gimme a bit.
I will say that the sound isn't exactly crystalline -- there seems to be considerable speed fluctuation -- I thought it was due to the deck I first tried (a foundling Otari) so I tried it on the ReVox... and it was the same. Not great sound and speed variation (wow or flutter?... well... I'd say wow).
I may have a moderately large number of these tapes... and their provenance may be as it was mooted in the previous post... but I am loath to say more... ;-)
all the best,
mrh
The reel is a gimme from someone local, if memory serves. Its content is interesting... it's a (fairly) long interview with Bob(by) Weir recorded for (or an "aircheck" from) WHRB in Cambridge ("our fair city"), MA.
No date on the reel, but there's a comment about the Dead's bust in New Orleans "a year ago", which would put the interview date ca. early 1971 (if the Internet is to be believed as to when the Dead were "busted, down on Burbon Street").
The tape isn't great sounding, but it's a fascinating artefact to listen to for a quasi-Deadhead like me.
Now... I've got to rehab my RT-909... one of these days... not to mention at least one of those MX-5050s ;-)
all the best,
mrh
Nice deck! Brings back memories of my first experience with the A77 in the early '70s in Switzerland. The clear plastic selectors, the curvy power/speed switch, the gray and red buttons.
You might have seen my Mk IV here on another recent thread.
Only because you've got one, I'm going to pull out my Studer/Revox brochure with its full-color photo of that version. Give me a day or two.
:)
nt
all the best,
mrh
I'm not sure what AA does to the image quality (we'll know soon), so if the text is unreadable (although simply enlarging the image may take care of that), let me know and I'll post higher resolution somewhere.Edit: I got this brochure in 1974 at the hi-fi shop on the main drag in Montreux. The price for the A77 was 1390 Swiss Francs (at that time, the exchange rate was about 3.5 SFr per dollar). And, sorry, I forgot the brochure is in French!
:)
Edits: 11/26/14
Happy Day-Before-Thanksgiving!
all the best,
mrh
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