Help evaluating heads on a Revox B77

[dpholmes]

First question: What are your general opinions on the Revox B77? I'm looking for a reel to reel to bounce down my mixes off a Tascam TSR-8. Is this a good option? Will I need noise reduction (the TSR-8 has it on board)? General thoughts/comments/recommendations? I'd really like a Tascam BR-20 or a Revox PR99, but they are few and far between.

Second, here are pictures of the heads. I (embarrassingly) don't actually know what I'm supposed to look for and what they're supposed to look like. Thoughts on them? The price is $650 obo plus shipping.



Thanks for your help!
-Doug

 

[jpmorris]

There are some flat spots, but they seem to be decent enough. I'm not sure it's $650 decent, though. Has the machine been completely rebuilt or something?

 

[technoplayer]

Not for $650. The heads look to have some wear and the guides certainly have flatting. Of conern to me is what looks like oxidation on the top of the head cover pin on the left, and orange corrosion inside the capstan center hoile. While not an issue by themselves, they may be a sign that the unit was stored in a damp lcation, which IS a concern. Moisture= corrosion= bad connections=all sorts of other bad things.
If you are serious about pursuing this machine you should take the back cover off and do some serious visual inspection. Look for signs of any kind of oxidation, discoloration of solder joints, powerdering on the aluminum panels, etc. A $650 B77 ought to be pristine.

 

[jpmorris]

Good point on the possible corrosion there - I missed that since I was concentrating on the heads. Other things to watch out for on these machines are:
1. Is it the High Speed version (15/7.5)? If it's the low speed (7.5/3.75) it's probably not what you want for mixdown.
2. Do Fast Forward and Rewind work properly? A common fault with these machines is that they start to slow down or struggle when winding a full 10.5" set of tape. I'm not sure what the cause is - I took mine out of service for this reason.