Revox B77 MKIII - new Reel-to-Reel model in 2024!

Revox B77 MKIII - new Reel-to-Reel model in 2024!

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JohnnyF2

Original Poster:

168 posts

189 months

Wednesday 23rd October
quotequote all
As a reel-to-reel fan, I was excited to hear about this the other day, a new, updated Revox B77 reel-to-reel available from December 2024.

Price is a bit to steep for me, just over £13K !

More info on the Revox website


WyrleyD

2,048 posts

155 months

Thursday 24th October
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I too was a reel-to-reel fan many years ago and purchased on HP (it cost £74 guineas at the time) a Brenell Mk5 S3, must have been 1962-ish. Used to take it for regular servicing to their premises in Liverpool Road, London where they had moved from Clerkenwell and was very local to me.

Edited by WyrleyD on Thursday 24th October 08:59

996owner

1,452 posts

241 months

Thursday 24th October
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No way i'd pay that for one of those. At least they give you a certificate!

Much rather have a professional machine and get it re conditioned. I've a couple of Studer (the pro version of Revox) a807's one almost brand new.
The main issue with these machines if finding someone who can maintain them and parts are eyewatering.

the eq switching and balanced xlr in/outs are a good benefit





Edited by 996owner on Thursday 24th October 11:33

nuyorican

1,857 posts

109 months

Thursday 24th October
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Wow, I make music as a hobby. Often dreamed about recording to a Studer. Is that the 2” tape version?

996owner

1,452 posts

241 months

Thursday 24th October
quotequote all
nuyorican said:
Wow, I make music as a hobby. Often dreamed about recording to a Studer. Is that the 2” tape version?
If your asking about mine, no 1/4' As for the B77 above i'd only ever consider a 2 track version.

As for recording to tape, a well aligned machine should put out exactly what goes in (with a slight level of added tape noise). I can't really tell the difference between recording and playback on my machines. That said, one does sound slightly different to the other. Maybe its time I did a calibration on them both, a winter project.



nuyorican

1,857 posts

109 months

Thursday 24th October
quotequote all
Ahh,

I was thinking of a Studer mastering tape machine that takes 2” tape. I’ve never used one but like a lot of analogue equipment, I believe the fun starts when you start to abuse it. Running the signal into it too loud for example.

I have a digital emulator of a tape machine called Satin. It’s great fun.

LordLoveLength

2,053 posts

137 months

Thursday 24th October
quotequote all
I’m surprised there is enough of a market for this! And that Revox still have the tooling to make them.
As far as I know, the Revox factory that made the tape heads caught fire and the demand wasn’t sufficient to bother setting up again.

I was at the Studer factory in Regensdorf when the machines were being removed - lathes, mills etc and was told that a studer employee had bought them to set up a company supporting tape machines.
Studer by this point were owned by Harman group and were concentrating on digital mixing consoles, Revox had been long since been sold off.
The Studer/Revox machines shared a lot of common parts but the demand just wasn’t there - pcs had replaced tape recording and people used ProTools for multitrack recording.
Tapes has started to get expensive and BASF had stopped production of chemicals used in their manufacture as video tape demand was a major market and was rapidly drying up!

They were lovely machines though with beautiful Swiss engineering.

996owner

1,452 posts

241 months

Thursday 24th October
quotequote all
LordLoveLength said:
I’m surprised there is enough of a market for this! And that Revox still have the tooling to make them.
As far as I know, the Revox factory that made the tape heads caught fire and the demand wasn’t sufficient to bother setting up again.

I was at the Studer factory in Regensdorf when the machines were being removed - lathes, mills etc and was told that a studer employee had bought them to set up a company supporting tape machines.
Studer by this point were owned by Harman group and were concentrating on digital mixing consoles, Revox had been long since been sold off.
The Studer/Revox machines shared a lot of common parts but the demand just wasn’t there - pcs had replaced tape recording and people used ProTools for multitrack recording.
Tapes has started to get expensive and BASF had stopped production of chemicals used in their manufacture as video tape demand was a major market and was rapidly drying up!

They were lovely machines though with beautiful Swiss engineering.
You can still get parts for Studer from Audiohouse is Switzerland. https://audiohouse.ch/ From what i understand they bought all the stock when Studer left the tape market. Ive bought from them and their easy to deal with.

Heads can still be bought, if you want OEM its new old stock, I was looking at a set for the machine I restored £950/head plus import duty JF magnetics in the USA also make heads. I decided not to go down that route and get mine re lapped.

Tape is costly RTM (Recording, The Masters) make amazing tape. I use the high output mastering tape and its about £86 on a metal NAB reel.
Still a demand for machines these days.. There's lots of archive material that people want to save, unfortunately tape degrades and lots of old material is being or will be lost for ever.

This is worth a watch about tape. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KHSz9Gi-II

I know of 1 company who actively maintain machines, they have a waiting list! https://www.reelresilience.co.uk/






Edited by 996owner on Thursday 24th October 20:27

LordLoveLength

2,053 posts

137 months

Thursday 24th October
quotequote all
Audiohouse - that will be the bloke who set up with the factory tooling then. Maybe he supplies Revox.
Pinch wheels were a big problem, particularly for the multitrack machines as they turned to something of the consistency of jelly babies with age and were difficult to make as they need precision grinding / surfacing.

There is a market for archive machines - I bought a lot of A807 spares to keep a fleet of machines transferring archived material. I was fortunate that Studer made a large batch of A807s for the Indian broadcasters before shutting down production.

Willi Studer was an obsessive in manufacturing as much as possible - they even made their own screws! I suspect Audiohouse can make pretty much everything needed other than heads.

996owner

1,452 posts

241 months

Friday 25th October
quotequote all
LordLoveLength said:
Audiohouse - that will be the bloke who set up with the factory tooling then. Maybe he supplies Revox.
Pinch wheels were a big problem, particularly for the multitrack machines as they turned to something of the consistency of jelly babies with age and were difficult to make as they need precision grinding / surfacing.

There is a market for archive machines - I bought a lot of A807 spares to keep a fleet of machines transferring archived material. I was fortunate that Studer made a large batch of A807s for the Indian broadcasters before shutting down production.

Willi Studer was an obsessive in manufacturing as much as possible - they even made their own screws! I suspect Audiohouse can make pretty much everything needed other than heads.
Green pinch wheels turn to jelly and leave a horrid mess.
Ive 2 807 mk2 Both studio machines (no silly buttons to play with) Spent a good few years maintaining them. even made a tool to reprofile the capstan shafts when the wear smooth.
Happy days

JohnnyF2

Original Poster:

168 posts

189 months

Friday 25th October
quotequote all
LordLoveLength said:
I’m surprised there is enough of a market for this! And that Revox still have the tooling to make them.
...
...
They were lovely machines though with beautiful Swiss engineering.
I understand that Revox will only be manufacturing 20 of the new B77 Mk III's each month.