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RoKKo
 
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Default REVOX PR99 ?

Hi!
I big studio has recently closed and the owner has brought me 2 1/4"
Revox PR99 with the monitoring and original rack. I'd paying $200 for
each...which should be cheap for what they are.
Now, the problem is that they both need to be serviced. What I wanted
to know is essentially about how reliable they really are, and if they
are easy to repair in any case.

Regards


Rocco Flores Oneto
  #2   Report Post  
Richard Kuschel
 
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Default REVOX PR99 ?


Hi!
I big studio has recently closed and the owner has brought me 2 1/4"
Revox PR99 with the monitoring and original rack. I'd paying $200 for
each...which should be cheap for what they are.
Now, the problem is that they both need to be serviced. What I wanted
to know is essentially about how reliable they really are, and if they
are easy to repair in any case.

Regards


Rocco Flores Oneto



Some servicing is easy--General electrical and physical alignment.

Soem stuff isn't a lot of fun or even covered in the service manual. Replacing
heads.

I wore out a capstan on mine a long time ago and that was relatively expensive.

I've had mine since 1984 and have worn out three sets of heads on it.

Back tension and other tape path adjustment is very crude and you must use
reels of the same size and weight on it for good results when FF or Rewind.

Richard H. Kuschel
"I canna change the law of physics."-----Scotty
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James Boyk
 
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Default REVOX PR99 ?

It makes an acoustic tone in the room (from "magnetostriction" of the speed-servo gear on the perimeter of the flywheel). The tone changes pitch with capstan speed (i.e., tape speed). This precludes using it in the room with the mikes unless you take a lot of care.

James Boyk

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nmm
 
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Default REVOX PR99 ?

On Sun, Aug 10, 2003 12:25 pm, RoKKo
wrote:
Hi!
I big studio has recently closed and the owner has brought me 2 1/4"
Revox PR99 with the monitoring and original rack. I'd paying $200 for
each...which should be cheap for what they are.
Now, the problem is that they both need to be serviced. What I wanted
to know is essentially about how reliable they really are, and if they
are easy to repair in any case.

Regards


Rocco Flores Oneto



someone mught yell at me for saying this, but 'aren't they just a B-77
with balanced ins and outs."?

these machines are reliable, but they don;t like to be moved alot.

servicing should be pretty simple but parts are going to be a pain since
the last Studer-Revox outpost is now closing and Studer is now trying to
build a dealer network through their Harmon connections. So all the new
dealers for
Studer will have limited knowlage of any older products. ( Studer Canada is
set to close in a coupel of months)

If you are in Europe you can probably deal with the swiss ofices direct.








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Stephen Sank
 
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Default REVOX PR99 ?

What IC's depends on what version PR99, i.e., plain PR99 or mkI, mkII, mkIII
version. I like the original best, due to the nice, simple, discrete
transistor pb head amp, which sounds better than the later IC head amps.
But it is not usually IC's that fail in Studer/Revox decks of any model, but
is almost always electrolytic capacitors that fail. The best thing you can
do for a PR99 is replace every electrolytic in the unit with Nichicon,
Nippon Chemicon or Panasonic caps. It'll save you LOTS of aggravation on
the long haul, and will sound better too. Once re-capped, they are superb &
reliable machines.

--
Stephen Sank, Owner & Ribbon Mic Restorer
Talking Dog Transducer Company
http://stephensank.com
5517 Carmelita Drive N.E.
Albuquerque, New Mexico [87111]
505-332-0336
Auth. Nakamichi & McIntosh servicer
Payments preferred through Paypal.com
"RoKKo" wrote in message
om...
thanx for the info...

i'll let a technician check the machines... before that.. how do I
know if the heads or capstan need to be replaced? BTW most of the
problems are from inputs and outputs... does anybody know if the use
very specific IC in their cards?


thanx again

regards

Rocco Flores Oneto



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Edi Zubovic
 
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Default REVOX PR99 ?

On 10 Aug 2003 10:25:02 -0700, (RoKKo) wrote:

Hi!
I big studio has recently closed and the owner has brought me 2 1/4"
Revox PR99 with the monitoring and original rack. I'd paying $200 for
each...which should be cheap for what they are.
Now, the problem is that they both need to be serviced. What I wanted
to know is essentially about how reliable they really are, and if they
are easy to repair in any case.

Regards


Rocco Flores Oneto


Well, the PR99 are just Revox B77 in "Pro" version that is, balanced
in/outs and impedance-matched in and outs. I'm very happy with my B77
Dolby (a relatively rare piece of B77, only 5000 pcs produced) and it
took me quite much time to fix everything it was needed. The
electrolitic caps survived the first schock at the first power-in
(barely) and I guess formed well again, since the machine hasn't been
switched on for years. This is too bad for any tape machine. I
dismantled everything and cleaned all the contacts well, inspected
every solder which looked suspect on the PCBs, even removed the main
PCB and washed it in the water/detergent (that's because of the
contact rail which I wanted it to be in mint condition and there were
cold solders at the imput amplifier socket pins); I dismantled all 3
motors to wash all bearings troughout and re-grease (with Slick
grease); I cleaned all the parts as far as I can on the tape path
especially the guiding ball bearings (I have two of them, just like
the PR99 has; normally there's a fixed aluminium block right at B77s).
Take care that these roller guides are mint clean; I experienced
varying tape width issues sometimes -- the slightest tolerances in
tape width (as with some broadcast Ampexes) could make the transport
jam at ff/rewind and it could end into a tape salad if using AEG
pancakes -- well I am running these things vertically due to lack of
my place, this is mad enough but it's ok for now). I checked the
possible wow/flutter at the very end of the tape then I've seen it's
within tolerances. The winding is tight and clean and yields shorter
times than specified (abt. 130 seconds for 1000 m). Check and degauss
the heads. Revox says anything broader than 3 -5 mils of the tape
contact area of a head is worn-out head, I think it's not. Check by
ear if the tone is a little dull despite cleaned and degaussed heads.
Scott Dorsey says that the tape is prone to swimming when the head is
too worn-out so it may well be worth recording a 10 kHz stereo tone
and let it see on a PC x-y "scope". Check if the tape stabilising
rods and forks before the heads show indents of the tape; it may give
you a clue how much working hours the machine has behind if they
did'nt refurbished these (bet they didn't; the forks exchange asks for
lifting the head block etc... a case for an authorized service).

I hope all the trim pots on the PCB are intact so give a drop of a
lacquer to each of, just to fix them. Maybe you don't have to
recalibrate the machine yet... if the 1kHz tone shows abt, 0,1 to 0,3
pct. of 3rd harmonics distortion, it's OK then.

Edi Zubovic, Crikvenica, Croatia


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Scott Dorsey
 
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Default REVOX PR99 ?

RoKKo wrote:
I big studio has recently closed and the owner has brought me 2 1/4"
Revox PR99 with the monitoring and original rack. I'd paying $200 for
each...which should be cheap for what they are.
Now, the problem is that they both need to be serviced. What I wanted
to know is essentially about how reliable they really are, and if they
are easy to repair in any case.


They are basically B-77 machines. Parts are mostly available and they
are mostly easy to work on.

Alignment is a pain in the neck because of where the alignment controls
are; you can't easily get to them when the machine is in a rack and your
arms are bent around the side while you watch the meters. But it's not
that bad.

The one nightmare is that the button assembly is one plastic molding, and
if it breaks, the machine is effectively unrepairable because even when they
were available, the assembly cost more than the machine was worth.

$200 is a reasonable price if the heads are in good shape.
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."
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Scott Dorsey
 
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Default REVOX PR99 ?

In article , nmm wrote:

someone mught yell at me for saying this, but 'aren't they just a B-77
with balanced ins and outs."?


They are just a B-77 with balanced ins and outs, and with a fancier
timer. The fancy timer is really nice for editing work.

servicing should be pretty simple but parts are going to be a pain since
the last Studer-Revox outpost is now closing and Studer is now trying to
build a dealer network through their Harmon connections. So all the new
dealers for
Studer will have limited knowlage of any older products. ( Studer Canada is
set to close in a coupel of months)


Studer basically dropped Revox support five or six years ago. There are
still folks with Revox parts out there, though. Depends on what you need.
New heads are easy to get. New capstans are a bit harder.
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."


  #11   Report Post  
RoKKo
 
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Default REVOX PR99 ?

This is plain Revox PR99, no MKs at all. They are in pretty good
shape, the owner is going to pay for the servicing, so $200 is all i
should spend. I'm in Perú... and don't think there's a big demand for
this recorders here... It's just i felt i would like to experiment
mixing to 1/4" after years of HDs, DATs and other digital stuff...
Thanx again for the info to everyone...

Regards

Rocco Flores Oneto
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James Perrett
 
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Default REVOX PR99 ?

Scott Dorsey wrote:


The one nightmare is that the button assembly is one plastic molding, and
if it breaks, the machine is effectively unrepairable because even when they
were available, the assembly cost more than the machine was worth.


On a B77 there is a remote control connector. I wired a set of push to
make connectors in a die-cast box which worked fine. I was lucky enough
to blag the connector from a Revox guy at an exhibition many years ago
(in the days where they offered a free line-up if you brought your
machine to their stand). It may not be as pretty as using the controls
on the machine but it would get around a broken switch assembly.

Cheers.

James.
  #14   Report Post  
RoKKo
 
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Default REVOX PR99 ?

Again the machine is in great shape and the owner is going to give me
a new set of heads just in case i need to replace them... I've been
checking the electronics and channel 1 balanced output is not
working... inputs are ok and headphone and pr99 monitor outputs are
perfect... hopefully this will be easy to repair... I've heard some
gaps on recordings during some tests... maybe because i'm using a very
old tape... not easy to find 1/4" tapes here. BTW is there any special
brand of tape you can recommend me?

Very useful info

Thanx


Rocco Flores Oneto
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