Help with basics

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quarterinch

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If it's not OK to ask very basic questions here please let me know. Or steer me towards the appropriate FAQ or site. Very basic info seems to be hard to come by for tape machines.

I have recently acquired a Revox half-track. All I know so far is that it looks very cool sitting in the room and people now think I'm a much more interesting person :o . But other than that I've not done much more than record a very short pass because I'm not totally sure how to operate it correctly.

I picked up a brand new reel of Quantegy 456 on a 7" reel (1200') from the local music shop and spooled it over to the take up reel then manually spun it about two revolutions. Then I hit play & record and recorded about four minutes of "music" then hit stop. Next I hit rewind. Well I've never rewound tape on anything other than a cassette deck so when I saw this sucker haul off at like 100 mph I was :eek:. So before I could even hit stop it had rewound completely off of the take-up reel and the end of the tape was slapping around and around and around.

So my first question is: Is that how you rewind? Just let it go til she slaps?

I'll refrain from the next questions in case I've stepped out of bounds here.

Either way, you have a nice forum which also leads me to wonder why it's not more extensive.
 
quarterinch said:
I have recently acquired a Revox half-track. All I know so far is that it looks very cool sitting in the room and people now think I'm a much more interesting person :o . But other than that I've not done much more than record a very short pass because I'm not totally sure how to operate it correctly.

I picked up a brand new reel of Quantegy 456 on a 7" reel (1200') from the local music shop and spooled it over to the take up reel then manually spun it about two revolutions. Then I hit play & record and recorded about four minutes of "music" then hit stop. Next I hit rewind. Well I've never rewound tape on anything other than a cassette deck so when I saw this sucker haul off at like 100 mph I was :eek:. So before I could even hit stop it had rewound completely off of the take-up reel and the end of the tape was slapping around and around and around.

So my first question is: Is that how you rewind? Just let it go til she slaps?
Click to expand...

Depends on the design of the deck. The Tascam and Fostex machines I have all stop automatically when the tape comes off the transport. The Tascams will also start winding slowly and build up speed. With the '32 I tend to watch it closely and hit STOP as it starts to approach the end (these machines will actually brake the motors electrically so they slow down gradually.. the Fostex tended to slam to halt which I didn't like). The TSR-8 is microprocessor controlled, and will automatically begin to slow down as it approaches zero.

I would say that your deck is an earlier design, and yes it looks like rewinding could be tricky. I'm not sure it's supposed to do quite what you've described.. what model of deck is it?
 
quarterinch said:
If it's not OK to ask very basic questions here please let me know. Or steer me towards the appropriate FAQ or site. Very basic info seems to be hard to come by for tape machines.

I have recently acquired a Revox half-track. All I know so far is that it looks very cool sitting in the room and people now think I'm a much more interesting person :o . But other than that I've not done much more than record a very short pass because I'm not totally sure how to operate it correctly.

I picked up a brand new reel of Quantegy 456 on a 7" reel (1200') from the local music shop and spooled it over to the take up reel then manually spun it about two revolutions. Then I hit play & record and recorded about four minutes of "music" then hit stop. Next I hit rewind. Well I've never rewound tape on anything other than a cassette deck so when I saw this sucker haul off at like 100 mph I was :eek:. So before I could even hit stop it had rewound completely off of the take-up reel and the end of the tape was slapping around and around and around.

So my first question is: Is that how you rewind? Just let it go til she slaps?

I'll refrain from the next questions in case I've stepped out of bounds here.

Either way, you have a nice forum which also leads me to wonder why it's not more extensive.
Click to expand...

Hi,

You certainly have not "stepped out of bounds". Welcome to the forum.

Ok, let me answer and perhaps someone else can fill in where necessary. The Revox half track is an awesome machine to have. What model is that btw ? Anyway, yes, what you describe is how it rewinds. The trick here is to hit stop before it unspools, either using the counter or eyeing it or both. (Unless it has an auto stop at zero feature). Another thing to do is manually spool it on the take up reel more than 2 revolutions or to a point where you know it's nice and tight on the take up reel. Then play about a minute of the tape, reset the counter to "0" and when you rewind next time, make sure to hit "Stop" just before the counter is to reach "0". Why ? Because the reel will not stop dead in its tracks but will gradually come to a stop. Therefore you don't want to hit "stop" when it reaches your "0" point but shortly before. You'll have to play with it a little to get good at it. Again, leave about a minute of tape spooled onto the take up reel before recording and hit "0" at that location.

Also, are you sure your revox is biased or setup for Quantegy 456 ? If possible, you should take it to a qualified technician and have it set up for that tape or any tape you wish to use with it. It may record fine with it as is but it may not be an ideal reproduction.

~Daniel
 
jpmorris said:
what model of deck is it?
Click to expand...
It's a B77 mkII.

It definitely did not slow as it approached zero.

I think you can see what my concerns are. It's like which is worse? Throwing on the brakes during fast-rewind (which appears to be the only kind of rewind on this machine) or tape slap.
 
quarterinch said:
It's a.

It definitely did not slow as it approached zero.

I think you can see what my concerns are. It's like which is worse? Throwing on the brakes during fast-rewind (which appears to be the only kind of rewind on this machine) or tape slap.
Click to expand...

No, I meant you have to manually stop it 'cause if your revox doesn't have the zero stop feature or is disabled, then it won't stop.
 
cjacek said:
Another thing to do is manually spool it on the take up reel more than 2 revolutions or to a point where you know it's nice and tight on the take up reel. Then play about a minute of the tape, reset the counter to "0" and when you rewind next time, make sure to hit "Stop" just before the counter is to reach "0".
Click to expand...
Thanks Daniel. I'll start doing that.

It's set up for 456.
 
quarterinch said:
Thanks Daniel. I'll start doing that.

It's set up for 456.
Click to expand...

Welcome! :)

Btw, you could also fast forward to about a minute's worth of tape (then reset to "0") so that when you rewind and stop next time, it won't spool off. That way you're always maintaining about a minute of blank tape at the beginning, before recording anything.

The B77 MK II is a superb machine. Make sure to clean the tape path after each session.

~Daniel
 
cjacek said:
Make sure to clean the tape path after each session.
Click to expand...
I'd like to put together or just buy a cleaning kit. Is there a shop you guys use to get supplies?

Tomorrow I'll make some calls around town.

Besides alcohol and q-tips, what should a kit contain?
 
BTW, here's another question I better throw out here lest I forget. I read recently that it's important to store (not sure if they meant long-term and short-term) the tape a certain way on the reel meaning either not rewound or rewound. There was debate as to which way was best. One way (can't remember which) supposedly caused an echo or something on playback. Does this make any sense? I'll try to find the source.
 
quarterinch said:
I'd like to put together or just buy a cleaning kit. Is there a shop you guys use to get supplies?

Tomorrow I'll make some calls around town.

Besides alcohol and q-tips, what should a kit contain?
Click to expand...

Your MOST important friends are the 99% alcohol you can buy at a drug store and q-tips or as an alternative, those little flat circular cotton pads girls use to clean off their makeup. I use these for my reel to reel and the q-tips for my cassette 4 trackers. It's just much easier to clean off oxide with these "pads" on the larger heads (and entire transport area) on the reel to reel. Make sure to get lower lint ones. Your rubber pinch roller, you may want to do a once over with this: http://store.caig.com/s.nl/sc.2/category.179/.f

After that, you can just use a damp (not wet) lint free cloth to clean the rubber roller. The caig stuff you can use very ocassionally.

~Daniel
 
C'mon, guys wear makeup too!

Like,... Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley,... David Bowie,... Lou Reed,... Marc Bolin!
...
Insane Clown Posse, Mudvayne! (although I find these two unlistenable!)
;)
I saw Green Day had TONS of makeup on at the VMA's!
Beyonce and Alicia Keys combined had less makeup than Green Day!:eek:
 
A Reel Person said:
Like,... Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley,... David Bowie,... Lou Reed,... Marc Bolin!
...
Insane Clown Posse, Mudvayne! (although I find these two unlistenable!)
;)
I saw Green Day had TONS of makeup on at the VMA's!
Beyonce and Alicia Keys combined had less makeup than Green Day!:eek:
Click to expand...

Ok, Dave, fair enough :D
 
Splicing

Would someone please point me in the direction of a reputable site/resource/book/link, etc. for the proper method of splicing analog tape.
 
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