4-speed recorder - what's available?

[brenellic2000]

I wonder if someone has answers to this conundrum which I'm trying to sort out for another chap:

He needs:

4 - speeds ideally 15ips
7" minimum spool
2 track, preferably 4-track
Track-to-track amp facilities - listen to one while recording on the other.
- on a low budget and small footprint

The obvious choice is a Brenell STB-1/2 but given the propensity of o/c Bogen heads and Papst motors what else is there? I know little about Japanese decks:

Brenell SB1/2
TRD
Uher - report but only 5" spools
Uher Royal ?
Revox A700 - but 3-speed
Akai X360 - 4-speed but not seen one for years..
Any Teac/Tascam/Fostex models?
Stellavox, but small spools and large wallet!

The other option is a pair of Revox A77s (standard and h/s) or a multi-channel Racal Store series - and a hell of a lot of expensive modifications!

Any ideas? I can't go into fine detail why he needs this.

Barry

[vidjoman]

He could use a std Revox A77 and a computer to get the slower & higher speeds. Just a thought.

[brenellic2000]

We need to abandon any thoughts of using a computer.... this needs to be old tech!

[TonyDuell]

It's not clear to me whether you need 15ips and would like a total of 4 speeds or if you need 4 speeds and would ideally like 15ips. If the latter, Philips made a couple of 4 speed machines going from 15/16 ips to 7.5 ips. IIRC the EL3549 mono and EL3534 stereo, the latter does including track-to-track (but only in mono, of course).

[ricard]

The Akai M8 together with its two replacable capstan sleeves (without replacing the sleeve the machine can run at two electrically switchable speeds) can run four speeds from 15 ips and down. I would suspect that other Akai machines of that vintage (such as the M6) would have the same arrangement. I wouldn't consider them as having a small footprint though.

I would think that generally though a machine which includes 15 ips would be geared towards the professional market, and hence going down to 1 7/8 ips would be very uncommon.

[Michael Maurice]

I believe that some of the Studers have 4 speeds but that would tend to be 30IPS down.

[brenellic2000]

Thanks lads,

Yes, 4-speeds to include 15-ips. I'll pass on the suggestions on the Philips and Akai. Unfortunately I'm not at liberty to explain the whys and wherefores... but what is the availability/spares situation like on these?

The Studer alas is too big and expensive as would be the Racal Store!

Barry

[jamesperrett]

The Fostex E series machines can be adjusted internally to give 30ips to 3.75ips but I'm not sure whether the electronics has the necessary eq switching for the whole range of speeds as the E-2 and E-22 are normally two speed machines while the E-8 and E-16 are normally single speed machines.

[llama]

Is there anyone there who could do some engineering work? What I'm thinking of is to find a 3-speed machine and fit a 2-speed motor to it. This could be a pole-changing Papst(?) or an adjustable DC motor. I'm thinking stepped pulleys etc would be way too complex.
Graham

[brenellic2000]

Thanks Graham - anything is possible by re-engineering but such an option is not really available to him. Ideally this needs to be an off-the-shelf job.

[ben]

I think this is an impossible task. The fact that nobody here out of all of us has managed to come up with a single off the shelf unit (as-built) with four speeds and large reel capacity beyond your original list probably says it all, sadly!

[brenellic2000]

Thanks Ben...

'tis an interesting conundrum...

[Restoration73]

I agree the mechanical solution is a non-starter. All I can think is using say, a B77 or PR99
and modify the external varispeed box to increase the range at the lowest and highest
speeds. At 4.75cms the motor would be rotating very slowly, so the wow & flutter may be
higher than usual.

[dseymo1]

If you can get hold of a Hartley Tapewriter, it ticks all the boxes (apart, perhaps from 'small footprint' - depends on what you compare it with). Unfortunately, they're rather rare.

[Ted Kendall]

Or a TRD/1, on which it was based. Four speeds as standard, if memory serves, but rare as rocking horse...

[TIMTAPE]

Or a Nagra TRVR.

[radiotechnician]

An Ampex 350 will run from 30 to 3-3/4 and there's no shortage of them
with their parts around. I believe there are quarter track head blocks too.

There is an Ampex forum , and it it chock full of sound recordists
and production people.

http://recordist.com/ampex/

[brenellic2000]

I have a ex-RN TRD Tapewriter voice logger which would be ideal for him but well beyond his budget... as indeed would be the Ampex and Nagra. The TRD is indeed too rare to allow 'modification'... and they weigh a ton!

I don't think this is sensibly going anywhere so it is probably best we close it.
Thanks for your help.

Barry

[jamesperrett]

Originally Posted by Restoration73

All I can think is using say, a B77 or PR99
and modify the external varispeed box to increase the range at the lowest and highest speeds.

That's just reminded me...

I made a varispeed controller for my Philips N4515 out of an old dimmer switch (I just used the potentiometer) which gave a very wide range of speeds - certainly up to 15ips, although I'm not sure how long the capstan motor would last running at that speed. I think I used a couple of unused pins on one of the DIN connectors wired to the speed control circuit although I'd have to check to make sure.

[paulsherwin]

I think it's become clear that two separate recorders will be the only practical solution.

I'll close this thread as requested.