Revox B77

[Jonboy]

Did anybody else see this at the pie show, i managed to do a deal with Nick and here it is, it has only done 10 hours work and is mint condition complete with box, paper work and tags, and also has had a service and check over last month.
This is my first foray into reel to reel but thought this was to good to miss and possibly a bit of a future investment?

http://i419.photobucket.com/albums/pp272/jonboy_01/DSC_0183-1.jpg

[Rare Bird]

Mk II is it John? Never saw that!

[Spectral Morn]

MkIII is it John? Never saw that!

You mean mk2 Andre...to my knowledge there was no Mk3.


Regards D S D L

[Rare Bird]

Hi Neil
Yeh i realised i cocked up & amended it

[Jonboy]

The letter that comes with it confirming and registring the guarantee is dated 1981, ther serial is 79754 and was supplied by F.W.O Bauch Ltd

Not sure about it being mk2 but judging by the age i think it is.

[Beechwoods]

Nom nom nom! I hope you enjoy your new toy... what a find. Minty minty!

[Spectral Morn]

The letter that comes with it confirming and registring the guarantee is dated 1981, ther serial is 79754 and was supplied by F.W.O Bauch Ltd

Not sure about it being mk2 but judging by the age i think it is.

If it is, it is marked on the front of the recording heads cover, just to the left and below the Revox logo. If nothing there just B77 then its a MK1. If a MK1, then I hope your deal was less, rather than more.

Ken Kessler's item in this months Hi-Fi News was very interesting, but he is way off on current S/H prices imho. Its only in Germany (or from an audio dealer) were mad amounts are asked/paid for Revox reel to reels, now days. In the UK over the last year (and I have been watching very closely) the range of prices fall (on E-Bay) between £200 to at the most £500 ish...that for a MK2 (Mk1 usually less..seem to be fewer of those listed on E-Bay). At the upper limit you are getting a pair of Revox metal reels (silver never coloured ones), dust cover, Revox Nab adapters, and or a remote...usually.

So far this year, and last, that has been the prices. So sorry to say, but its not really an investment imho.


Regards D S D L

[The Vinyl Adventure]

can i ask a typical hamish (patent pending) stupid question - what do people use these tape machines for?
and dont say "playing tape"
if they are for recording.. what are you recording
if they are for playing and you have just bought it as a player where do you get the tapes

i saw someone mention (i think it was dave) the other day about buying the beatles digital apple and recording it to tape intead of buying those tapes that andre was dribbling over ... now i accept that it more viable than buying those very expensive tapes .. but why bother ... why not just listen to the digital files? you would have to have the means to play the digital files to there fullest in the first place so why record it to tape?

i would love one of these tape players, they look awesome and i can well imagine with the right tapes they sound it too... but what are the right tapes?

[Spectral Morn]

can i ask a typical hamish (patent pending) stupid question - what do people use these tape machines for?
and dont say "playing tape"
if they are for recording.. what are you recording
if they are for playing and you have just bought it as a player where do you get the tapes

i saw someone mention (i think it was dave) the other day about buying the beatles digital apple and recording it to tape intead of buying those tapes that andre was dribbling over ... now i accept that it more viable than buying those very expensive tapes .. but why bother ... why not just listen to the digital files? you would have to have the means to play the digital files to there fullest in the first place so why record it to tape?

i would love one of these tape players, they look awesome and i can well imagine with the right tapes they sound it too... but what are the right tapes?

Hi Hamish

Well I use mine to record of my analogue FM radios. I would not buy a pre-recorded tape as issues with tape print through, oxide shedding etc mean its really to risky to pay big money for pre-recorded tapes imho (not tried yet I know Nick does...brave man). This can happen to blank tape as well.

I also plan to use both my A77 and B77 mk2 in recording my brother in laws wife. She is a very talented singer song writer. So pro or semi-pro recording is also a use for reel to reel. Most recordings in the early days of music recording, up to the early 80s (when music recording started to go wrong and digital imho) were recorded on reel to reel tape...either quarter inch or larger 1 inch to 2 inch tape.

You can record from CD etc as well.


Regards D S D L

[The Vinyl Adventure]

belive it or not, i did analogue recording at college, we used a huge 1" tape machine... loads of fun - if you actually got a chance to use the thing... to many students and not enough time... i dropped out :(
radio tape recording, was the only thing i could think of.... we have a customer who did the same for years, although he says in recent times he has become a bit disolutioned with the quality

[Spectral Morn]

belive it or not, i did analogue recording at college, we used a huge 1" tape machine... loads of fun - if you actually got a chance to use the thing... to many students and not enough time... i dropped out :(
radio tape recording, was the only thing i could think of.... we have a customer who did the same for years, although he says in recent times he has become a bit disolutioned with the quality

Me, very happy with the quality.....:):):):):)


Regards D S D L

[Beechwoods]

The key reason for me getting into reel to reel was so I could play old stuff recorded on tape... and there is good 'official release' stuff to be had for around the price of decent old vinyl. I've not had the misfortune to suffer from oxide shedding on NOS pre-recorded tapes, though the quality of the duplications does vary.

I'm with you Hamish that recording digital to tape doesn't really make sense. CD, particularly compressed modern CD masters don't do reel to reel justice. I put a tape together for Scalford recorded from a few SACD's though... if you're going to copy from digital you may as well do it from a high-def source! Tape can take the digital edginess off a recording, and I can only guess that this might be some of the attraction. Perhaps like the 'pleasing distortion' you get in certain valve systems :)

Just like those who enjoy the tactile qualities of vinyl, there's a joy to listening to well recorded audio coming off an open reel tape. I think that decent VU meters bouncing around has a profound subliminal affect on the listener... but that's another story!

[The Vinyl Adventure]

to be fair he was also telling me about how he had bcome disolutioned with a pair of speakers he had built in the 70's and that as he had been so happy with them for nearly 30 years he wondered whether or not he might be loosing his hearing

[Jonboy]

If it is, it is marked on the front of the recording heads cover, just to the left and below the Revox logo. If nothing there just B77 then its a MK1. If a MK1, then I hope your deal was less, rather than more.

Ken Kessler's item in this months Hi-Fi News was very interesting, but he is way off on current S/H prices imho. Its only in Germany (or from an audio dealer) were mad amounts are asked/paid for Revox reel to reels, now days. In the UK over the last year (and I have been watching very closely) the range of prices fall (on E-Bay) between £200 to at the most £500 ish...that for a MK2 (Mk1 usually less..seem to be fewer of those listed on E-Bay). At the upper limit you are getting a pair of Revox metal reels (silver never coloured ones), dust cover, Revox Nab adapters, and or a remote...usually.

So far this year, and last, that has been the prices. So sorry to say, but its not really an investment imho.


Regards D S D L


After a bit of delving ( i know nothing about these ) it appears that it is a Mk1 so not in some peoples opinion "the better one" but you live and learn, Hey Ho i like it anyway

[Beechwoods]

I'm guessing that most machines that come up on eBay have had a lot more than 10 hours use, and don't come as such a complete, and pristine package. As for the Mk1 versus Mk2 - I'm not sure you're missing much: http://reeltoreel.de/worldwide/B77MK2.htm

I think you've done well Jonboy.

[Themis]

10 hours of use !!! This is really an exception, thus. Good move, Jon.
The MK1 vs MK2 is not a big deal, as far as I remember. ;)

(I think I will always miss R-to-R sound...:()

[Jonboy]

Hi Nick, i have read the info and on paper there seems very little between the two that would be of use to me or most others come to that, i was guided by my mate Mike who has a wealth of knowledge and whos opinion i trust ( no dissrespect Neil), i hope the tip he gave you Nick about tape selection and prefernce was of benefit.

[Rare Bird]

Apart from the Mk being marked on the haed cover as neil mentioned look for a head sheild, i think only the Mk.II had this

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a222/LIVING-SIN/Headsheild.jpg

That bit of info gotta be worth a free Lafayette amp

:lol:

[Spectral Morn]

I'm guessing that most machines that come up on eBay have had a lot more than 10 hours use, and don't come as such a complete, and pristine package. As for the Mk1 versus Mk2 - I'm not sure you're missing much: http://reeltoreel.de/worldwide/B77MK2.htm

I think you've done well Jonboy.

That is true, but is the machines actual (real) history known ? Sadly talk is cheap imho/e. It dates from about late 79/early 1980 and the Mk2 a wee bit later. So for it only to have 10 hours use is, well, frankly stretching things a bit imho. Getting it serviced is a major plus (assuming someone like Brian Reeves did it), because any machine not being used much is going to be in need of work..perhaps a lot of work. That in itself is dear. The chances of getting a good one on E-Bay is rare, but not impossible..assuming you buy from someone good. My A77 mk3 was bought from a highly respected Revox/Vintage audio seller from the Liverpool area....and above all has been Brian Reeves serviced.

The MK2 is generally felt to be a better machine in a number of key ways (not just the variable speed control)....sound quality being one important area.

Getting any Revox with all the flick switches intact in its self is a good thing, they break way to easily and are both expensive (spare parts) and very labour intensive to replace. My own machine has 1 of its toggles broke off (still works using the shank). I can live with that, as I have priced getting it replaced....this is way dear.

[Beechwoods]

i hope the tip he gave you Nick about tape selection and prefernce was of benefit.

Definitely! It was something I'd never thought of doing, but utterly obvious and simple, like the best things are :)

Cheers matey!

[Themis]

So, how is the B77, Jon ? :)

I've seen you've changed your avater, so I was wondering what were your impressions on this nice piece of equipment... :o

[DSJR]

Wish I still had a use for one.. I had two hi-speed B77's in my times and both were excellent. A mate used his semi-professionally and it had a good few hours under its reels and well flattened heads and guides too. Still sounded good.

Sadly, I sold my last one, a mk2 and the friend who bought it had all the tapes as well. if i were ever to get another high-speed reel to reel, it would be a Ferrograph Logic 7 I think.

Enjoy your B77. Great fun :)

[Jonboy]

I have had a bit of a play this week after discovering that i didn't have its power lead, this has now been forwarded on and we're up and running, it's all a bit of a learning curve at the moment as i had a box of tapes given to me with all sorts of strange stuff on them, i have discovered a few that were taped at 15 ips which mine isn't and a few 4 track which mine also isn't, but a few were ok but appear not to take any new recordings then i discovered a nice Maxell tape that had a 4 track recording on it that was of high quility, so this has now been re- recorded from a cd and the results are very good, i'm very impressed with the quility and certainly adds that anologue sound to mix, its early days yet but so far it's all good, as for the machine it is mint and i confirmed with the seller about the fact it had only done about 10 hours work this is proven by the lack of oxidising on the heads and the general appearance and lack of wear on all the parts.

As i have said it's a learning curve and have discussed with a mate who knows a lot about these machines the merits of 2 track as appossed to 4 resulting in more surface area to record on, giving a better recording, i just love those anologue meters, i would like to get some pre recorded stuff to see what the quility is like over home recorded stuff.

[shane]

My greatest joy with my old A77 was live recording, although I only managed a couple of efforts. I recorded a local choral society singing Faure's Requiem in a local church using a simple crossed pair of moderately priced Sony electret mics, and although the performance wasn't that brilliant, the sound stage, ambience and general "being there" quality of the result was astonishing. This was in the 70's so I can only guess at the current cost of equivalent mics, but I'd be surprised if modern equivalents would be more than £100 or so. Definitely worth a try.

[Rare Bird]

Wish I still had a use for one.. I had two hi-speed B77's in my times and both were excellent. A mate used his semi-professionally and it had a good few hours under its reels and well flattened heads and guides too. Still sounded good.

Sadly, I sold my last one, a mk2 and the friend who bought it had all the tapes as well. if i were ever to get another high-speed reel to reel, it would be a Ferrograph Logic 7 I think.

Enjoy your B77. Great fun :)

Nice Dave...I loved the old Sony 'TC-755'..I was one knob selling mine, i really was. I do have a very big fettish for the little Sony 'TC-377' always thought they were great little machines, so great i just bought another one :) . I have more use for a 7'' machine than a 10.5' tbh...I refuse to buy a bigger machine for bragging sake.

[Beechwoods]

Recordings I've made on my 377 sound surprisingly good on my 707 and TD20A. The Sony is a better machine than lots give it credit for, and I'd venture to say that record is better than playback... They are nice, pre-logic control machines and for the kind of prices they get, a bargain.

[Themis]

Jon, perhaps you could do some copy from another RtR tape, with the help of another RtR fan here ? ;)

[Jonboy]

Now theres a thought, i have this Akai 4000ds at the moment

http://i419.photobucket.com/albums/pp272/jonboy_01/DSC_0187-1.jpg


http://i419.photobucket.com/albums/pp272/jonboy_01/DSC_0191-1.jpg


I have just got to buy some tapes to make it happen, not sure what it will prove though

[Rare Bird]

Now theres a thought, i have this Akai 4000ds at the moment

http://i419.photobucket.com/albums/pp272/jonboy_01/DSC_0187-1.jpg


http://i419.photobucket.com/albums/pp272/jonboy_01/DSC_0191-1.jpg


I have just got to buy some tapes to make it happen, not sure what it will prove though

The Akai '4000' are dull & lack a bit of Bass compared to the Sony '377' ;)

[Jonboy]

The Akai '4000' are dull & lack a bit of Bass compared to the Sony '377' ;)

Its a good job that it's borrowed than, it has a recording of the chart countdown circa 1983 running on it, my era :)

[Rare Bird]

Its a good job that it's borrowed than, it has a recording of the chart countdown circa 1983 running on it, my era :)

Do an A/B with a new tape from CD you'll hear the difference between the Akai & B77, yeh the Revox is suppose to be leaps ahaead (Its not that much really) but just to show what i mean.I'm not pulling the 4000 down cos i have two of em aswell being a magpie.

[Beechwoods]

I like your 'reverse AKAI' metal reel. For a moment I thought it was one of the ultra-cool Sony 'telephone dial' reels. It took me ages to get hold of one of those :)