[Soundsinspace]

Greetings:

Anyone here heard of converting a Studer A-810 or A-807 (1/4") with the optional sync head, to 4-track playback, swapping the sync head out for something out of one of Revox's commercial machines, like a A77 or B77? I would like to play prerecords (4-track) on my 1/4" 2 track machine, and wonder if this is feasable, using a toggle between the 2 playback heads. Would alignment of the 4 track head be a big deal? Thanks in advance for comments.

Steven

Soundsinspace wrote:

Anyone here heard of converting a Studer A-810 or A-807 (1/4") with the
optional sync head, to 4-track playback, swapping the sync head out for
something out of one of Revox's commercial machines, like a A77 or B77?
I would like to play prerecords (4-track) on my 1/4" 2 track machine,
and wonder if this is feasable, using a toggle between the 2 playback
heads. Would alignment of the 4 track head be a big deal? Thanks in
advance for comments.

Don't those machines have removable headstacks? Just get another head
assembly and mount a Nortronics quarter-track head in there. If you
aren't up for the mount machining, ask John French who would probably
be delighted to do it.

On my ATR-100, I have half-track, full-track, and quarter-track stacks
and they all seem to get a little use now and then. The quarter-track
one is a Nortronics set.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

[Soundsinspace]

Yes, the A810's have removable stacks, although they use allen keys which I seem to be perpetually running out of. I never thought of just having seperate stacks for each configuration, but that does make some sense. Bascially, since the sync head on the 810 physically resembles the package of the A-77 playback head, I thought it might be as easy as bolting the other head into place and wiring it up. I'm cheap. But I like your idea.

On 31 Jan 2005 10:06:15 -0500, (Scott Dorsey) wrote:

On my ATR-100, I have half-track, full-track, and quarter-track stacks
and they all seem to get a little use now and then. The quarter-track
one is a Nortronics set. snip

Scott:

How's your bottom end on the Nortronics quarter tracks? I've found it
to be pretty bad, even compared to consumer grade stuff.

dB

DeserTBoB wrote:
On 31 Jan 2005 10:06:15 -0500, (Scott Dorsey) wrote:

On my ATR-100, I have half-track, full-track, and quarter-track stacks
and they all seem to get a little use now and then. The quarter-track
one is a Nortronics set. snip

How's your bottom end on the Nortronics quarter tracks? I've found it
to be pretty bad, even compared to consumer grade stuff.

It's okay by consumer standards. It's not anywhere near as good as with
the Ampex heads, just because the pole pieces are so much smaller.

If you are getting "pretty bad" response, I might suspect the heads are
not the right impedance. This was the real problem with the Nortronics
heads; there are not very many different impedances to choose from and
they may not be a match for existing electronics without adding some
lumped sum stuff.
--scott

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