Best Revox,Studer for 4 track playback?

[Raanan]

I have a small collection of prerecorded reel tapes.They sound very good on the B77 that I got from Mr. Dietrich Heber,who has been very kind,helpful,and supportive throughout a number of transactions(Thanks,Dietrich).
While being happy with the B77,I was wondering,with my musicians' ears,if there exists a possibility to get even more out of Studer ,Revox machines.
Specifically,if it possible to retrofit a studio Studer machine with a 4 track Revox playback head,or ,if there do exist Studer machines that come with 4 track repro heads.BTW,I do not need the record function-only playback.
Thanks,Raanan

[Zeppelin]

AW: Best Revox,Studer for 4 track playback?

Raanan,

what is the purpose of this exercise?

a.) Do you actually possess 4-Track tapes to playback and if yes, 1/4", 1/2" or 1"? The only 1/4" 4-Track ever built by Revox was the C274. The few Studer 4-Tracks started at 1/2" as far as I can recall, e. g. A807

b.) What does the whole exercise have to do with your "musician's ears"? Only by adding tracks you will not get more out of the tape in terms of performance.

c.) Or do you actually mean 4-Track in terms of 1/4" quarter-track (2 Channels)? As far as I recall, Studer had no reasons to build quarter tracks as this format was not used in the studios. There might be some custom built B67 quarter tracks. But even if you add a quarter track head to a Studer you may not get more performance out of it.

Regards,

[Raanan]

Re: AW: Best Revox,Studer for 4 track playback?

Raanan,

what is the purpose of this exercise?

a.) Do you actually possess 4-Track tapes to playback and if yes, 1/4", 1/2" or 1"? The only 1/4" 4-Track ever built by Revox was the C274. The few Studer 4-Tracks started at 1/2" as far as I can recall, e. g. A807

b.) What does the whole exercise have to do with your "musician's ears"? Only by adding tracks you will not get more out of the tape in terms of performance.

c.) Or do you actually mean 4-Track in terms of 1/4" quarter-track (2 Channels)? As far as I recall, Studer had no reasons to build quarter tracks as this format was not used in the studios. There might be some custom built B67 quarter tracks. But even if you add a quarter track head to a Studer you may not get more performance out of it.

Regards,

Thanks for your reply.
Certainly,I meant quarter track.I have over 100 prerecorded reel tapes of classical and jazz music.Through a B77 they sound better than LPs through an EMT 950.I was just wondering if it is possible to extract even more out of the tapes.The half track tapes of concerts and also prerecorded tapes sound great with a B77 that has been modded to be play only-both half and quarter track.
I have heard of people who have modded Studer machines to take quarter track tapes for playback.
Thanks,Raanan

[Zeppelin]

AW: Best Revox,Studer for 4 track playback?

Raanan,

when you have half track tapes, you should reproduce them on a half track machine. You gain less noise, less sensitivity to drop outs and you reproduce at higher output levels when compared to reproduction on quarter track machines. Hence I do not understand why you would install quarter track heads???

Furthermore, ensure that you use the right half track size. Most recorders use 2,1 mm track width, while studio machines mainly use butterfly heads with 2,75 mm. Here you may wish to consider a replacement/modification (possible on all Revox recorders).

Also ensure that the de-emphasis (IEC/CCIR vs. NAB) of the recorder matches the emphasis used during recording.

Regards,

[Raanan]

Re: Best Revox,Studer for 4 track playback?

Thanks.Maybe it was not clear from what I wrote.I have at present a play only B 77 with 2 track and 4 track playback heads.The quality from the 2 track head is superb,from the 4 track-very good.
EQ is NAB,as befits the prerecorded tapes.I am hoping to find an arrangement that will enable superb playback of the quarter track tapes also.

[Zeppelin]

AW: Best Revox,Studer for 4 track playback?

You got me lost... (now the the tapes are quarter track again while you claim to have an additional 4-Track head in your B77)

[Raanan]

Re: Best Revox,Studer for 4 track playback?

Again the problem of terminology.We are talking about quarter track and half track.I am exploring the options for the highest quality quarter track reproduction of prerecorded tapes.
One such solution has been found by JDZA of South Africa as described on the tape asylum of Audio Asylum.
He is using a Studer A80R,to which he has fitted a Flux Magnetics quarter track head and dedicated electronics.He claims that superlative sound is possible with quarter track tapes.He has had previous experience with A77,B77,PR99,etc.
A little imagination!