anybody familiar with the Scully 280?

[Hi_Flyer]

I'm thinking about buying a 1/4" mastering deck and I'm just kinda putting the feelers out locally to see what I can find.

Found a guy through craigslist that says he might sell a Scully 280.

Anybody familiar with these decks?

I know the Scully is rather high end, but other than that, i don't know too much...

[technoplayer]

Been a couple decades, but I used a 280 in a "portable" recording setup (Dodge Tradesman Van) a friend of mine was running. Nice and robust , and top notch sound. Don't know about parts availability these days.
If the heads are good and the price is right, grab it.

[Talldog]

I had a scully 280 mastering deck a few, ok 10 years ago. i think I paid $350 for it locally. I liked it but didn't have much room at the time so I sold it it to a studio in Chicago. I think they took it apart and used the inputs as mic pres (well, its what they are). I'm pretty sure that parts are scarce.

[Harvey Gerst]

Ahh, the infamous Scully 280B - the "tape format converter".

You place a reel of 1/4" tape on the spindles, hit FF, let it get up to speed (a scary sound), then hit Stop. Your 1/4" tape is instantly converted to 1/8" wide tape, suitable for use in most cassette recorders.

[themaddog]

Sounds scary!

-MD

[Harvey Gerst]

Originally Posted by themaddog

Sounds scary!

-MD

If you're not familiar with a Scully 280 (or a Concertone 2020), it can be a scary sound indeed; kinda like a jet plane revving its engines before takeoff - that really high pitched whine that just keeps going higher and higher.

[RRuskin]

Originally Posted by Harvey Gerst

If you're not familiar with a Scully 280 (or a Concertone 2020), it can be a scary sound indeed; kinda like a jet plane revving its engines before takeoff - that really high pitched whine that just keeps going higher and higher.

But they did make some pretty nice recordings. What about 3M iso-loop transports that would throw huge loops off of the deck plate if the logic got a bit out of whack? I recorded on an 8-track M-56 , nicknamed "Maude," that would do that. 2 rules for using that machine:

1. Never let let her get up to full wind speed while shuttling tape
2. If she ever did get going that fast, let the tape roll all the way off before engaging any other function.

"12 Guitar Tracks???" It's ok if none of them are louder than "8"

[Hi_Flyer]

so I could probably take this for $100. head condition is unknown. he says transport works though.

I'm gonna go check it out tomorrow.

Anything specific I should look for? From what I have heard, the preamps on these things should be worth $100 alone...

whaddya think?

[Richard King]

This is from a studio in Fargo, ND where I assisted in the installation of a new console (Tangent 3216) in about 1980 or so. The middle machine in this picture is the Scully 280B.

[cjacek]

What is that 16 track beast on the left?

[sweetbeats]

Yah no kidding!!! No that's what I call a meter bridge!!

[Richard King]

Originally Posted by cjacek

What is that 16 track beast on the left?

I wish I could remember what that machine is. The control panel looks very much like a 3M (well, sort of), but, obviously it is not since the transport in no way resembles a 3M. Could be a Scully (yes, they did make a 16 track and a 1" 12 track), but it really doesn't look like one of those either, that I can remember. I'll send an email to the, at the time, owner (he's still around). I am sure he would recall. I found the picture in a group of slides from the time just a couple of weeks ago. I have a picture with the owner standing in front of the control room window and sent him a copy (after an exhaustive search on the net). He got quite a kick out of it.

[Richard King]

email sent. What am I doing up at 5:37 AM anyway?????

[Richard King]

Here's a very bad picture of the console that we installed on that trip. It's a Tangent 3216 with optional producer's desk and patchbay. The PB is cut off just above the producer's desk.

[jpmorris]

Originally Posted by Richard King

I wish I could remember what that machine is.

It is a Scully:
http://analogrules.com/Gallery/Stran.../Scully_16_trk

...that would have been the kind of machine Tarkus was laid down on, then!


**EDIT**

Dear God, are those things above the audio cards valves...?
http://analogrules.com/Gallery/Stran...cully_16_trk_2

[cjacek]

Originally Posted by jpmorris

It is a Scully:
http://analogrules.com/Gallery/Stran.../Scully_16_trk

Man, now THAT'S what I call a tape machine!!

[Richard King]

The response to my email from this morning..

That is a Scully 2 inch 16-track I bought up in Winnipeg. Thing sounded great. No Autolocator back then so it was a hassle that way. But we got by! Thanks again.

Could it be that some great Guess Who songs were recorded on this beast? The "sounded great" comment seems to be quite common for that machine and for Scully's in general.

[Richard King]

Originally Posted by jpmorris

\Dear God, are those things above the audio cards valves...?
http://analogrules.com/Gallery/Stran...cully_16_trk_2

I suspect that those are transformers.

[Talldog]

I had a 3216 ten or so years ago. It belonged to Heart when it was new. It was huge.

[Hi_Flyer]

So I checked this thing out today. what a beast. I don't really have room for it, maybe I'll go back and get it when/if I move into a bigger place. For a cost of next to nothing, it would be an interesting project. A learning experience if nothing else.

It was in a warehouse, pretty much gathering dust. It looked kinda beat up and neglected. Didn't have anything to test the pres with, but the transport seemed to work just fine. The heads didn't look too bad, they were worn a bit, but the wear looked even. Probably more than enough life in them for my needs.

I toyed with the idea of taking it, saving the pres and junking the rest. Ultimately I don't think I could allow myself to do that unless I just couldn't repair it, it would just be too cool to have this piece of gear in the arsenal.

But man, I was impressed that the transport functioned PERIOD. It looked DOA when I first saw it. Now I know what you mean by the "jet plane revving its engine before takeoff" sound, thats a heavy duty motor in there. They sure as hell don't make stuff like this anymore.

What would likely be involved in the restoration of this machine? Assuming the heads have useful life left in them, and no major parts (like a motor or PSU) actually need replaced, say its just stuff like some of the electronics. I imagine stuff like new caps and resistors and stuff like that. Would it be similar to the re-conditioning of a 35 year old guitar amp? Would I need to hunt down a schematic?

I guess I would need 1/4" calibration tape as well, but how would I even know what formulation of tape to calibrate for? I would prolly never find a user manual for something like this eh?

[Richard King]

Originally Posted by Talldog

I had a 3216 ten or so years ago. It belonged to Heart when it was new. It was huge.

It certainly was huge, way "huger" than it needed to be. The modules could probably have been half the width if they had been designed a with components a bit closer. I think having the faders so far apart was actually not very convenient at all.

[Talldog]

Faders did kind of suck being so far away from one another. Only 2 aux sends too, but it was made in 1978. As with today . bigger=better=more clients. Nice puffy arm rest though.

[sweetbeats]

I was thinking about the distance between the faders on my Tascam prototype M-___ mixer...the modules have two columns of knobs/switches each so the faders are, like, nearly double the distance apart as on a Tascam M-500 or M-300 mixer...not a big deal, and the strips would need to be about 3.5 feel long if the faders were to be closer together......I'm okay with having to spread my fingers to grab a few faders at a time.