Re: arsclist IPS speed

["Richard L. Hess" <lists@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi, Preston,

Many (if not most) of the top-end machines will play 3-3/4 ips. I believe 
that the Ampex ATR-100's would do four speeds or two speeds and two tape 
types. My Sony APR5003V will do three speeds--and mine came set for 
7.5-15-30. I've kludged it for reasonably good 3-3/4 ips by using the 
offsets in the 7.5 MRL test tape and calibrating a second register to make 
those flat with -50% varispeed from 7.5. I believe the Studer A820's will 
go to 3.75 as well. I don't know about the Nagra T.

On the other hand, 1-7/8 i.p.s. is more problematic.

I am still evaluating whether or not I like my APR at 3-3/4 better than my 
Tandberg 3400X. That is a good machine and is of high quality. In many 
regards it's better sounding than a ReVox A77 (something I had to compare 
it to). For 2-track, the APR is better than the ReVox as the ReVoxes always 
had a bit more hum than they should have.

Of course, track format becomes an issue. Your best playing 1/4 track tapes 
on 1/4 track heads (in most instances you have to) and vice-versa!! I've 
just put a 1/4 track repro head in place of the 1/2 track record head in my 
APR and I'm getting good results from it.

If you don't have a high-end machine that can go down in speed, the you 
should probably look for used, but refurbishable, high-end consumer 
machines such as a Tandberg that can be used for playback.

I'd suggest that you look at two relevant workflow issues:
  (1) Triage tapes so that those most likely to decay are
         transferred first: acetate tapes with vinegar syndrome
         come to mind and acetate tapes that are cupping badly
  (2) After (1) is done, do your 1-7/8 i.p.s. tapes because
         they are twice as susceptible to a given bit of damage
         than 3-3/4 tapes and machines to play 1-7/8 are probably
         harder to find long-term than machines to play 3-3/4.

As to the latter comment, yes, I know that I can switch the APR to 
3.75-7.5-15 and then do the same trick to "jeep" it down to 1-7/8, but the 
gap width issues of using heads optimized for 7.5 to 30 will not give me as 
good response as gaps and pole pieces designed for 1-7/8 to 7.5 like the 
Tandberg.

It's a tough issue, but I'd look at transferring the stuff to CD-R. Put it 
in next year's budget <smile>.

Cheers,

Richard

PS I looked on eBay and saw
http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1235980480
http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1236186471
I would suspect that either of these machines would work for you after the 
belts were replaced. There are people who can find belts--at least as of 
last year.

Cheers,

Richard

At 09:36 AM 05/11/2001 -0700, you wrote:
> I have many oral history tapes recorded at various speeds below 7.5.  As
> far as I know, reel to reel machines today do not play at those speeds.
> I do have two early 1970's machines that do, but very uneasy about using
> them because of the poor quality.  What makes the speed possible the
> motor that drives the reel at the desired speed or the magnetic head?
> Is it possible to replace an old head with a new one on an old reel to
> reel machine?  We would like to be able to transfer these in house.
> Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated.
>
> Preston Everett
> Mississippi Department of Archives and History
>
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