TP-028, Nat Adderley's Work Song is now available

Author Topic: Calling all Pro's  (Read 15262 times)

Offline Tubes n tapes

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Re: Calling all Pro's
« Reply #15 on: January 21, 2009, 10:04:13 PM »
Steve,

Mike is right. The A820 would always be the right choice, because it is pretty much the absolute mechanical reference in analog tape recorders. It doesn't come cheap, though.

The A810 also winds a very neat pack using the lower of the four spooling speeds. But if you use a lot of acetate tapes, I indeed wouldn't recommend the A810. A better choice would be the B67 in that case, which does have controlled tape tension during breaking. Not as good as the A820 obviously.

An A80 is always a very good choice as well. Not as cool as the A820, but more friendly to your wallet.

In all cases the main question will be whether you have the possibilities to restore/maintain the machines yourself. If not, you need to get it from a proven source, because any of these machines you buy cheap on ebay will have some issues, big or small.
Arian Jansen.

SonoruS Audio.
VP of technology of the Los Angeles and Orange County Audio Society (LAOCAS).
ESL/OTL builder and modest Studer/ReVox collector.

Offline reelnut

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Re: Calling all Pro's
« Reply #16 on: January 23, 2009, 01:29:02 AM »
Steve-

Don't get the idea that the A810 does not treat tapes as gentle as anything you've ever seen! My 810 without a doubt handles tapes better and with more care than any of my other machines. And in 550 hours it has never broken or stretched a tape in any way I have been able to observe. I have no use for 7" reels, do not use them, so I can't speak about that aspect.

Two of the A810's 4 spooling speeds would qualify as library wind, with the 3rd being ultra-slow and the 4th being full high speed. It's also designed so that by threading tape above the headblock tape can be spooled. Look at a pic of one. You just come right off the top of a guide roller and go across the top of the headblock to the guide roller on the other side.
John Hanek (dedicated amateur)- A810, X2000R, X1000R, A3440, GX636. Played thru Yamaha CX1, MX1, YST-SW150 (2), S55 (2).