Science, Technology & Medicine

Reel-to-reel tape recorders
Reel-to-reel tape recorders

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There are 11 comments for this item.

Posted by Bob Matthews at 4:49 pm (PST) on Fri December 29, 2017   
Had several home tape recorders: Revere (1957), Wollensak, Teac (cassette) and lastly the pinnacle: the semi-pro ReVox (Studer) A-77. Bought it for the "bounce track" ability it had which I needed for making demo tapes.
Posted by CJ at 6:26 pm (PDT) on Sat July 16, 2016   
I remember how thrilled I was when I was able to afford one while in the service. It was a Sony with Sound on Sound (Big feature at the time). Can't remember the model number. It was the top of the line in 1971.
Posted by Bob K at 6:15 am (PDT) on Sun April 3, 2016   
That Pioneer SA-8800 is a beautiful receiver. Most likely a capaictor failure, an easy and inexpensive fix. Any replacement you would buy today would have to cost over $1000 to offer the same power and sonic quality of that Pioneer. Plus you keep the Tape In/ Out connections as well as Phono inputs. Specifications on audio equipment today are marketed to look good but the numbers aren't even close to reality, especially in power ratings.
Posted by freddo30 at 10:18 pm (PDT) on Sat April 2, 2016   
Good old "Mr." Woolensak by 3M ; also used him for a stopper when set on the floor for my cello tailpiece. Bought a Pioneer RT-707 in 1977 which I still have and still works fine except for one directional arrow light...when my 1980 Pioneer SA-8800 amp failed 2 years ago (2014) I had half a notion to complain to Pioneer about the lack of durability (only 34 years, day-in, day-out) and ask them how I was to use my RT-707 ...
Posted by Duff at 11:53 pm (PDT) on Tue October 7, 2014   
Maybe so, Bob, but this 815 was in the Ampex 300. See the parts list on page 26 of the Ampex manual. It's vacuum tube V105. I'm no longer capable of reading a schematic well enough to determine what it was doing in there, but if you are, see Fig. 12 (Record Amplifier and Power Supply) on page 31. So there!
Posted by Bob K at 8:06 pm (PDT) on Tue October 7, 2014   
The 815 is a transmitting tube and was likely used as a RF driver to the final transmitter for the station.
Posted by billk at 9:57 pm (PST) on Sun January 2, 2011   
Wow - that is one weird tube... I've never seen one before. The only one I remember with two terminals on top was the 833 with terminals on top for the grid and the plate. Our Ampex units had early transistor electronics. One of the few things in the station that never broke while I was there.
Posted by Duff at 9:26 pm (PST) on Sun January 2, 2011   
I was once servicing some component of WNYU's Ampex 300, which had the transport mounted horizontally on top of the case, and the electronics down below. Well, that transport was damn heavy, and it was easy to get your fingers caught. Anyhow, a cable from the transport fell, smashing a vacuum tube down below. Wouldn't you know, it was the weird 815 tube (see photo here); had fun locating a replacement for that. (I wonder... when checking this tube on a tube tester, would you have to check each pentode separately? I don't recall seeing two plate-cap connectors on any tube tester...)
Posted by billk at 8:41 pm (PST) on Sun January 2, 2011   
When I was the chief engineer at WBRK, we had a pair of the old Ampex 3-motor decks. Those things were workhorses... you couldn't kill them.
Posted by Duff at 5:17 am (PDT) on Sat August 15, 2009   
My mom was a high school teacher, and would occasionally bring a tape recorder home from school so we could make family recordings. My sister was about 5 at the time, and I was 8, so this would be around 1958. I still have the tapes (although I've also converted them to cassette and to MP3/CD). When I got a tape recorder of my own ~1963, my Mom's familiarity with the machines at her school led to my getting a Rheem Califone industrial-strength (and weight) half-track monophonic unit. I taped some programs off the radio, and my friends and I recorded some commercial and soap opera parodies. Again, I still have those tapes. I was so into tape recorders that I often said "tape recorder" when I meant "typewriter". In college, I had a pair of Wollensaks (until they were stolen from my dorm room over Christmas break), but was also an engineer at the college radio station (WNYU) and got to mess around with some REAL tape decks; Ampex 300, 351, and 440. Later on I had a nice Teac deck, but it eventually succumbed to a bad drive belt or something, so I picked up a used Pioneer RT-707 on eBay. Nice unit!
Posted by twozillas at 12:04 am (PDT) on Fri August 14, 2009   
Had an Allied reel to reel. It was the bottom of the line but it got a lot of use! A friend recently told me he still has it from when I sold it to him in 1976. Said it is burried in his basement somewhere...

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