Studer 1/4": B67 vs A80?

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outoftune

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currently have a B67. I saw an A80 1/4" for sale locally and am considering it. Have never heard one.

Just wondering if anyone has opinions, pros and cons, of the two machines.
 
Given equal maintenance (and the A80 should need a LOT less) The A80 will beat the pants off a B67 (ReVox A700). -You omit to mention if it's a VU or an RC (different electronics in the machines, but the same basic transport: the RC is a 'Radio Compact'). A lot of people preferred the sound of the RC: It's like going from an A80 multitrack to an A800.

The A80 was a proffessional machine, the B67 was really little more than a jollied-up ReVox.

..And converting an A80 to ½" is a piece of cake...

Keith
 
i am waiting to hear back from the seller regarding if it is the VU or RC version. is there any version of the a80 to avoid?
 
Not really... the older MkI's might have some difficulties synchronising to external clocks, and punch-in changed, as did biasing (to allow for Dolby HX-Pro by the time the MkIV came around) but much of that is daughter card stuff which nowadays comes up on eBay fairly affordably.

Heads. Wear. Maintenance. Anything bad in those three is a deal-killer.

Keith
 
i am going to have a look at it this weekend. will be bringing a reel of tape with me and some stuff to give the heads a cleaning. from what ive been told it was used and working perfect until it was put away a few years ago.

any machine specific faults/problems to check for?

do you have any tips for assessing head wear on a tape deck?

as for the old MKI's...are these sonically in the same ballpark as later versions? i won't be needing any external clocking stuff and will mainly be using it as a mixdown deck.

thanks for all the replies keith!
 
The MkI's have nice full size Weston VU meters. Depending on the head type the preamp will have a transformer or not. My 1/2" heads use the transformerless. I have 2 1/4" headstacks one is a 317 the other is a 318. The 317 uses the transformer which has more gain. The 318 uses the transformerless. I have no way to do a fair A/B test.

I've asked around to see if there is a consensus on which sounds better. There isn't. There may be some subtle differences in the transports, I don't know. Most of the difference is the electronics. As A80 multitracks get parted out it's pretty easy to get later versions of the electronics.
 
thanks for the reply gold.

does anyone know where i would find the hour counter on this machine? from what i gather the a80 should have this, but i've never seen one before.
 
Paul, Just to be clear, the A80 multitrack electronics are compatible wth the 2-track A80VU. Not compatible with the A80RC.

Studer also has a long history of 'sharing' stereo electronics with multitrack machines: even the A827 had two-channels-per-card, twelve stereo cards per 24-track, and one A827 card was used as the audio card for the ReVox C270, as I recall...

I've a sneaky feeling that the A80RC electronics may be a lot more like the A800 electronics: The A800 had banks of eight, but each bank of eight was somposed of four side-by-side metal 'boxes' of two sets of electronics, and all the connectorisation was in pairs...

-Now that I think about it, I remember that the A80RC looked very similar... -I should ask Steve Smith (of Studer Nashville) about it. -Certainly, a lot of people told me that they prefer the A800 multitrack electronics to the A800, and I've also heard of a preference for the A80RC version, though I've heard different reasons as to why they may be better. -The RC is much clearer in terms of 'overhang' whem loading tape, and looks 'cleaner' too, though the A80VU version is nice and convenient to align/calibrate without sitting down... However, I think I remember hearing also that the A800 had a much easier time driving the tape at elevated calibration levels than the earlier A80s...

The counter on a VU should be under the transport dress-plate. -Bend down and peep upwards underneath it, (as though you were trying to look under its skirt to tell what sex it was! :oops: ) and you should see the counter over to your left. -There was a (usually left off) darker metal dres-plate which sits below the brushed-silver front skirt, which may or may not obscure your view a little... usually I see these left off though. -On an RC, this location is hidden behind the audio card racks I sem to remember, so it may have been relocated to the back of the machine.

Please post and tell us whether it's an RC or a VU, because this affects a few of these matters. -They shared transport but no audio stuff, and even a few of the shared things were moved around to make space.

Keith
 
[quote author="outoftune"]currently have a B67. I saw an A80 1/4" for sale locally and am considering it. Have never heard one.

Just wondering if anyone has opinions, pros and cons, of the two machines.[/quote]

I know the one you're talking about... :green: I know the guy who's selling it...

eD
 
[quote author="vertiges"]I know the one you're talking about... :green: I know the guy who's selling it...

eD[/quote]
have any details to share about that particular machine? have you heard/used it before?

thanks for the reply keith, very informative and helpful!
 
[quote author="SSLtech"]I've a sneaky feeling that the A80RC electronics may be a lot more like the A800 electronics[/quote]

All the manuals are on the Studer ftp site. If your curiosity is killing you...

Yes, I was refering to the VU versions. The RC is generally prefered which is a little funny because it was the budget version.

I know of an A80 prelisten deck for lacquer cutting that was made with A800 electronics from the factory. It has them mounted in the VU style meter bridge. It doesn't look like an RC.

I've been told there are RC pre listen decks but I've never seen one and there is no official literature that lists one that I've seen.
 
I think that the basic R/C came without meter bridge, you had to specify meter bridge, monitor speaker etc. as options.

As a basic 'radio' version (without penthouse) it probably WOULD be quite a bit cheaper!

Keith
 
i ended up taking the machine because it turned out to be an a80rc mkII in great shape!

it needs is a calibration. the digital counter does not work, it doesn't even turn on. any idea what this could be?

thanks for the input folks!
 
I did an alignment and tracked this weekend on a A820. What a pleasure to work with! I have worked with the A80VU as well. I must say I prefer the A820. I also feel the transport is far superior on the A820.

I'll be working with it the next two weekends...
 
Worked on an A820 all weekend... fantastic machine !!! Fast and accurate transport... smooth punch ins/outs. It really helped keep the session moving smoothly.

Will be working with it again this coming weekend.
 
The A820 transport is FAR gentler... but that's what 20 years of development and microprocessor control will do for you.

There's an A820 over in California which I occasionally look after, which has discrete head preamps, and a single discrete op-amp-per channel in record and playback; audio electronics courtesy of Bud Wyatt.

-The original audio cards have been removed, and the sound is fantastic. -It's probably the best sounding A827 on the planet... It's really incredible.

Bud did tell me that he too was mightily impressed by the transport's tape handling. -That studio has NINE A820 transports though... (One two-track machine and EIGHT multitrack machines!!!) very.... VERY cool indeed!

Keith
 
hey Keith:

Do you know the studio in Bogalusa, LA called Studio in the Country? It's been around since the 70s and is most known for recording a couple Kansas records and some Stevie Wonder tunes. From what I've been told, it was a really popular place in the 70s and 80s but lost some of its national notiriery in the 90s (as did a lot of large facilities I suppose).

I've been doing tech work over there for a year or so now. It was a natural progression for me to start engineering there.
 
Can't say's I know that one, but it sounds like it had declined somewhat by the time that I came to the US of "Eh?".

-But I have recorded with ONE of the two artists that you named, and am currently in murmured negotiations to record with the other...

Keith
 
NEAT-O !!!

www.studiointhecountry.com

Working there was a pleasure. The live room is great. Great mic and gear selection. Cool 70s vibe.

But I think the most unique aspect is their live echo chamber. The reverb coming back truly is unique and extremely useful on vocals.

Hope your murmured negotations work out for you.
 
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