revox a77

[kip4]

I've been offered a revox a77
i dont know the condition except that its ex studio so i'm guessing its had some hammer.
Its a really good price but i suspect it will need some work.
Are the bits hard to find?
Is it the kind of thing i could recondition myself (mechanically)
What should i look out for?
What kind of thing would make me not buy it?
I hope to go and see it before the end of the week.
Advise me pls

 

[jpmorris]

There are a lot of variations on the A77. There were four revisions of it, some have Dolby, some don't. For mastering work you want to make sure it's a half-track, high-speed version, capable of 15ips speed.

The Revox was a high-end consumer machine, and the A77HS version has been used as a mastering deck in some small studios. The tape loop on "Money" by Pink Floyd was originally recorded on an A77 of some kind in Roger Waters' home studio.

Bear in mind that the transport will be fairly primitive, in particularly you must remember not to stop the machine in the middle of a fast wind - if you need to do this, put it into reverse first so it has a chance to slow down. Otherwise it may stretch or snap the tape. I think later versions had an interlock to prevent that but I'm not completely sure.

 

[kip4]

At £60 i'm hoping the guy will sell it to me as a long term diy restoration project.
He said he would so i'm going to get it on monday.
I figure even if it's not repairable i can resell it for spares and repair and still not loose any money.
Chime in and tell me what you think
BTW i asked and the remote is in place he says he's heard it going and it all functions and he's going to test it this afternoon.
and he said the power cable is with it too
I've done a little research and its a swiss made model from 1967 to 69 mki model.
and it came from a studio the guy got it off an audio engineer. I'm hoping the seller will put me in contact with the previous owner so he can tell me more about its history and if it's been recapped, head lapped and some more about its service history.
Heres hoping.

Jp it is a 15 ips model but i doubt its got dolby since it was an early model.