I'm in the market for a decent reel to reel mixdown deck, and i'm leaning heavily towards a Revox. my question is, for anyone here who has worked with either one, am i going to notice a big difference in features or performance between the B77 and the PR99? the only differences i've noticed is the PR99 has a digital tape counter and XLR in/outs, and the B77 has RCA, which is really what i'm concerned about - are the XLR connections going to give me a noticably nicer signal in and out of the deck? the cable runs to and from the mixer won't be long (under 10 feet), so i don't think i need to worry about noise from that, but just in general...? thanks.
Revox B77 or PR99?
- Thread starter Matt C.
- Start date
Tim Gillett
Banned
You seem to have the main differences between the two. The PR99 is much easier to access the head block for tape path cleaning. The B77 has a carry handle.
Whether your mixer uses balanced or unbalanced inputs and outputs might be the most important factor. There should be no sonic difference for balanced or unbalanced so long as the lead lengths for unbalanced are observed.
The condition of the machine will be important. Heads for these are available but quite expensive.
Tim
Whether your mixer uses balanced or unbalanced inputs and outputs might be the most important factor. There should be no sonic difference for balanced or unbalanced so long as the lead lengths for unbalanced are observed.
The condition of the machine will be important. Heads for these are available but quite expensive.
Tim
sweetbeats
Reel deep thoughts...
Just a comment on the whole balanced/unbalanced thing: balanced circuitry wasn't introduced to high-fidelity audio because it sounds better, it was introduced to deal with hum and noise on long cable runs. It carried over from the telephone industry...because there is additional circuitry introduced to balance the signal, it can, in some cases, negatively impact the sound quality. My Tascam 58, 48 and BR-20T decks have both balanced and unbalanced I/O, and the response specs on paper are better using the unbalanced I/O. I have no idea if that plays out to what you hear, as what's on paper doesn't necessarily tell you what sounds good, but there you go.
Like Tim said, you want to match the format of your ins and outs, and if your cable runs are under 25' I'd be using the unbalanced I/O. It is a cleaner simpler path.
My 2p.
Like Tim said, you want to match the format of your ins and outs, and if your cable runs are under 25' I'd be using the unbalanced I/O. It is a cleaner simpler path.
My 2p.
jpmorris
Tape Wolf
I may be wrong, but I don't think you do. So far as I can tell, you have to replace the entire case (the back and sides, it's a single unit that the front slides into). Rackmount cases sometimes turn up on ebay, but not very often. The PR99 might have been a better bet in that regard as they usually come in the rack case.
Alternatively, if you're good at woodwork or suchlike, you could build a replacement case that will fit a rack unit.
david winter
Member
The B77 can be converted to rack mount or horizontal operation but you will need to remove the back cover (which contains the whole machine), then put the two bars allowing to fix to the rack, and then put a metallic case around the machine (back / sides) to protect it. Kits are still available from Studer / Revox but are not cheap. In the B77 service manual, there are all the measurements to build your own case or rack fixations.
technoplayer
Recovering Gear-aholic
On the other hand, vertical mounting keeps the machine cleaner as you dont get dust settling on the top plate, easier to see the contols and operate, takes up less studio space, and if it is run regularly I don't think the effect on the motor bearings is significant. Also better cooling, as most units have the vents on the top and back, neither of which is as effective when the unit is horizontal.
Oh yeah, and you cant spill s*** on a vertical machine (as easy)
Oh yeah, and you cant spill s*** on a vertical machine (as easy)