1960s Juliette mini reel-to-reel recorder
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diggy_dude
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The Ghost of FM
Banned
I feel like I should know what you're talking about, but I don't?
It's a reference to the old Mission Impossible TV series where Jim Phelps would receive his assignments on 3" reels which would self destruct 5 seconds after he heard them to destroy the evidence. In the show, a mysterious cloud of cigar-like smoke would envelop from the tape leaving the viewers to imaging the tape have melted/burned away...though they never actually showed us that. It would have looked like a gooey mess for sure! "D
Cheers!
diggy_dude
Now 169% diggier!
Ah, okay. I didn't watch that show enough to catch the character's name.
The device arrived today. The mic and earphone jacks are slightly larger than today's standard 1/8" jacks, so no luck plugging accessories into it yet. The machine does work. The batteries move around and become disconnected from the terminals when I move it around. Apparently whatever foam rubber or other material that was holding them in place has long since disintegrated.
The tape that came with it has a child singing "Three Blind Mice" and other children's songs. It has about five minutes of recording time, and the fidelity is about the same as the cheap cassette recorders we played with in the late 70s and early 80s.
The device arrived today. The mic and earphone jacks are slightly larger than today's standard 1/8" jacks, so no luck plugging accessories into it yet. The machine does work. The batteries move around and become disconnected from the terminals when I move it around. Apparently whatever foam rubber or other material that was holding them in place has long since disintegrated.
The tape that came with it has a child singing "Three Blind Mice" and other children's songs. It has about five minutes of recording time, and the fidelity is about the same as the cheap cassette recorders we played with in the late 70s and early 80s.
The Ghost of FM
Banned
Cool!
Well, the foam shouldn't be too hard to replace in the battery compartment and I suppose you could always replace the non-standard jacks with proper 1/8" ones. At least it actually works!
Cheers!
diggy_dude
Now 169% diggier!
She's a beauty. The seller's photos don't do it justice. I'll get some good pics and an MP3 dub of the tape up soon.
It turns out that, although the 1/8" plug fits rather loosely, I can record with an SM58 clone through a UB1202 and a 1/4"-to-1/8" TS cord into the machine.
It turns out that, although the 1/8" plug fits rather loosely, I can record with an SM58 clone through a UB1202 and a 1/4"-to-1/8" TS cord into the machine.
Blue Jinn
Rider of the ARPocalypse
Those cassette decks, I know exactly what you mean. Also, as to the 641, I suggested that as it is a non backcoated tape that you can find relatively easily, more often than not NOS, and is more or less a standard output tape.
Interesting side note about the jacks, I'll have to dig up some ARP literature, but I would swear that the cv/gate/trig jacks are also slightly larger. Maybe a metric/english thing?
diggy_dude
Now 169% diggier!
I have 1800' of 641 on the way, and a few 3" reels because I need 3" reels. The original takeup reel is broken.
Could be. I remember seeing slight variations in plug sizes when I was younger. In particular, DC power plugs seemed to be a different size than audio plugs. Nowadays most consumer DC plugs are barrel plugs.
diggy_dude
Now 169% diggier!
You'll be able to post links after you have 5 posts, I think. I'll check out your YouTube clips. Thanks!
diggy_dude
Now 169% diggier!
Thanks! I look forward to seeing the pics.
Man, you NEED to archive those things! Great resource for your family. Find the means to convert them to digital and email the files to everyone in your family!
diggy_dude
Now 169% diggier!
Some of the 3" reels I've bought have old audio correspondence on them. One of the boxes is plastered with postage stamps and labels from being used as a mailer multiple times.
Man, I wonder how appreciative the people who originally sent or received that correspondence would be to find it was still around? Any of those labels have readable addresses on them? It would bring tears to my eyes, if I could hear my brothers' voices again...
diggy_dude
Now 169% diggier!
I have a 3" reel with the mailing label still on the box. There are actually layers of labels, as the box was apparently re-used as a mailer several times. The tape was made by a family in Indiana and sent to a man in California. The father discusses the old tube recorder he borrowed to make the tape.
sweetbeats
Reel deep thoughts...
That...is just cool. Today it is texting/facebooking/tweeting/emailing/online chatting...then it was an old tube tape machine and a small reel sent by postal mail. Before that it was just postal mail and early on you likely had to travel some to get to where the mail was dropped.
diggy_dude
Now 169% diggier!
This one is a 6-transistor recorder. The tape that came with it was recorded on a different machine, which can still be found on Ebay. (I forget the name of it now.) In the early days of transistorized consumer electronics, manufacturers would boast about the number of transistors a device contained. In many cases, the transistor count was featured prominently on a chrome (or plastic faux chrome) badge on the product. Nowadays, it's no big deal if a computer chip has a million more transistors than its predecessor.
