First complete tape recorder?

[rtbcomp]

Originally Posted by Paulus.d

.........and now a Philips N4504 with bad belts!

Paulus

Hope this helps

https://www.vintage-radio.net/forum/...ad.php?t=25634

[mastermanx2001]

Must have been mid 1960s. Stella ST 471, can't remember the equivalent Philips model number. This was an upright battery (6xU2) portable. Optional mains unit Took 3" spools with the cover on, 4" if you took the clear top cover off. Sound quality was not bad through the internal 4" speaker. I would have posted a pic, but could not find one. I made an am tuner that strapped on the back of the machine and plugged into one of the Din sockets, making a Radiocorder!

I bought this new, eventually sold it to put the money towards a Rogers Cadet amp. Probably a good move!

Just found pic of similar Philips model, probably a little later than my Stella.

[jamesperrett]

Originally Posted by mastermanx2001

This was an upright battery (6xU2) portable. Optional mains unit Took 3" spools with the cover on, 4" if you took the clear top cover off. Sound quality was not bad through the internal 4" speaker.

I remember the Philips version one of these featuring in the Beatles film Help (hidden in a tunnel). The microphone clips into the side of the case so that it can be used either as a built-in mic or as an external mic. I have one tucked away somewhere which needs a new belt.

Cheers

James.

[af024]

Hello,

I think my first machine must have been a second hand Elizabethan LZ34. I still have it today and it still works. Then came a nasty cassette recorder made by Ajax (goodness knows what the model number was - it came from Wilko ages ago). The REC/PB head didn't stay in the same place twice! Then came the ITT Studio 60m. I still have all three machines and yes they all still work.


Andy

[camtechman]

Mine was an International A4411 from the Headquarters & General Stores (H&G) of Holborn.

It was a cheap Japanese 'toy' 3" Spool type, Rim Drive....I thought it was the Bee's Knees...well I would at 11 years of age in 1958.

I paid for it with some savings from my Post Office Savings Account...All of 8 Guineas!!

I outgrew it after a couple of years but, at the age of 60, I recently acquired a mint condition one on Ebay for £4.99:

[dseymo1]

at the age of 60, I recently acquired a mint condition one on Ebay for £4.99:

Just the right price - I remember that for years the usual retail for these machines was £4/19/6d

[mastermanx2001]

I never saw the film Help, so never saw the Philips recorder, but a coincidence here, I understand that there is an army tank in the film, the tank was driven by a friend of mine.

Originally Posted by jamesperrett

I remember the Philips version one of these featuring in the Beatles film Help (hidden in a tunnel). The microphone clips into the side of the case so that it can be used either as a built-in mic or as an external mic. I have one tucked away somewhere which needs a new belt.

Cheers

James.

[camtechman]

I found a website where it lists & shows tape rcorders that feature in movies, one I came across was one of my collection, a Benkson Model 68, a favourite for Thunderbirds fans:

[Tractorfan]

As a kid I used to look enviously upon my "aunty's" (Mum's cousin, actually) beast of a Grundig TK9 Reporter hoping they would say "Oh, go on take it" (they never did!) The first tape recorder of my very own was one of those advertised by "Headquarters & General" on the back of the Radio Times. It cost £5-19s-6d with 3 inch reels, a crystal mike and no capstan so the tape ran faster as the take up spool filled. Quality was atrocious, needless to say.
Dad bought our first proper T/R in late 1967 from "Offley Bros." a local retailer in Ellesmere Port for 29 and a half guineas. It's a Grundig TK120 which I still have. It still works well apart from a lazy rewind which it always had, even new. My most treasured recording made on it is my late Mum's memoirs which I've copied on to minidisc as the tape is now sadly beginning to deteriorate.
Hope this is useful.

Cheers, Pete.

[camtechman]

Hi Pete,

I think we have a lot to thank Headquaters & General for in getting many of us started with our first tape recorders, even if they were somewhat "off the mark" from being a real tape recorder.

I'd love for a psycho analyst to work out just what it is that drives us to appreciate & collect older machines. Obviously there are several easy to understand reasons but below the physical attraction, it must also be underpinned by a deeper emotional element too.

I've always been fascinated by mechanical devices that "do" things, instead of ornamental items that just "sit there", looking pretty. So my collecting passion, of machines both modern & old, include: Cameras, Radios, Record Players, Televisions, Tape Recorders, Telescopes, Compasses, Clocks & Watches and even Penknives!

It does seem the older I've become, the greater the drive to re-acquire some of the machines & gadgets I'd previously owned.

Ho-Hum, I suppose there's no helping me know....."Nurse! Can I Have My Medication Please!"

[Tractorfan]

Hi Camtechman, Sounds like you & I have a lot in common (I've even got a grey beard too!) I enjoy almost anything mechanical/electrical that's got something either glowing or going round & round or, preferably, both. Wonder if psycho-analysis would be a valid thread? A trickcyclist would have a field day with us vintage enthuiasts! I had to clear a lot of stuff before we moved to France but I manages to sneak four T/R's into the removal van, a Ferrograph series 5, 2 Grundigs, a TK120 & a TK149, and a Beocord 1500 de luxe. Hope I haven't gone too far off topic.
Cheers Pete.

[camtechman]

Now all you've got to do is to re-collect the items you disposed of....

[ChristopherF]

Mine was also a Philips EL3527, a strange machine compared to my mates, whose machines were all fitted with BRS TD2 decks! I learnt a lot from that tape recorder.
My second was a Stella upright portable, with a green-tinted lid. It took 3" reels with the lid on, and 4" with it off. It had a volume and a tone control on it; the volume control doubled as the record level control. I'd love to get hold of another one just for the hell of it. In mint condition, of course...

[Tractorfan]

I've been looking for one of those Stella (or Philips) upright thingies too like the one in the pic at the top of this thread. Thought they'd be quite common here in France, but apparently not. One went for sick squids on Ebay recently, but I saw it too late to bag it. Oh well, maybe next time.
Cheers de Pete.

[camtechman]

Tractorfan,

The only problem with the Philps/Stella upright tape recorders is that most, if not all, of their drive belts and other rubber wheels & idler drives have perished. I have several of these machines and everyone has the same problem.

[RODALCO]

Mine was an old grundig TK 5 valve R2R which I got from an uncle of mine.
I still have it but not plugged it in for years so it probably won't work. belts and rubbers perished and dodgy caps (my guess).

I used to make microphone tape recordings from the TV, AVRO's Top Pop in the early 70's, while living in The Netherlands.

Everybody had to be quiet during the recording and I got really brassed off when the phone rang or the dog barked.

Good old days and the memories and tapes are still there.

Cheers, Raymond

[tsgunnell]

Not mine but my dads a truvox it was a beautiful machine he also had the radio attachment that plugged into the mic socket with a two channel switch .even though i was raised in the age of the cassette r2r still fascinates me.i was sadened to see the truvox name on a dvd player made in china

[Winners]

not seen anyone mention this so I'll throw in my twopenorth....my first r2r was a Ferranti (Ferrantitape). Looked a bit like a small suitcase with the lid on but it was solid...and heavy. I think it was a BSR deck (with the inverted "T" switch for play, rewind and ff; to record you had to hold a switch over to the left while putting the "T" switch into play, I'm sure many of you will remember it), great fun. Lasted me well through my teens. I think it eventually vapourised because it's gone and I don't remember selling it!
After this I built my own from kit (Heathkit), others I've had were a Ferguson, the one with the glass lid and the piano key controls, Sharp..upright stereo model with 2 front facing speakers, Philips, can't remember the model number, might have been an N4504? And then onto Akai's, a couple of 4000DS's one of which I still have and my latest toy, a Sony TC-377.
I always wanted, but could never afford an Ampex, Revox or a Tandberg...maybe soon.
Do you ever reach a point where you tire of this lot?

[ianj]

We had my Mums old "Grundig tk14" in the early 1970s, and my Sis and I shared it. We only had 3 tapes though!
That packed up by about 1976, and was chucked out-I got a "Waltham" cassette recorder, and my Sis, a "Duette" cassette recorder. In 1979, I got a "Waltham radio-recorder", and by 1983, I was working and bought a "Pye" music centre(wish I could find one now!) with a front loading, dolby,electro-mechanical servo controlled metal type compatible cassette deck,led recording/playback meters etc . I was in Heaven! ianj

[DOFFERY]

Hi Raymond,
Well remember the TK 5 , an excellent machine but as you say the caps. will have gone, especially in the osc. unit, however with new belts (still available) & renew caps, still good, weakness ... internal speaker ! Still get the odd one now & then for repair.

Winners. answer to your last sentence / question, NO

Doffery