[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
Re: [ARSCLIST] Repairing (or purchasing) a Uher
Hello, Barbara,
Your problem is indicative of the problems we will see more and more
as the world of analog magnetic tape spirals down.
While I would like to be able to get my Uher 4000 Report S working, I
haven't spent the time doing it. The only tape machine with real
factory support that I am aware of is the Studer A807 and its factory
support is only through 2010. It was discontinued in 2002 or 2003, if
I recall correctly.
Studer/Harman is being wonderful about this, actually, but repair is
not inexpensive by any means.
My approach has been to standardize on relatively inexpensive,
relatively plentiful, and extremely capable tape machines for my tape
transfer business. For reel tapes, I do all my 1/4-inch transfer work
on Studer A810s and Sony APR-5000s. The Sony APR-5000 can be coaxed
into doing 1.88 (1-7/8) in/s. You set it at 3.75 in/s and then dial
in -50% varispeed.
I have a 1.88 in/s MRL alignment tape, so I adjust tape type preset 3
for 3.75 in/s to have the proper reproduce response for 1.88 in/s.
Quick, operation: Dial in -50% varispeed, push tape type 3 on the
alignment panel, press play after you start your computer recording.
What to do with 15/16 in/s? Simple: Record it at 88.2 ks/s and then
play the file back at 44.1 ks/s.
At 1.88 in/s and below we're talking voice grade on reels. There
isn't much "fidelity" there like there is in cassettes. Response is
flat to about 8 kHz on the APR-5000 at 1.88 in/s, and then starts to
fall off and is down about 2 dB at 10 kHz if I remember correctly.
So, at 15/16 in/s you'll barely get to 5 kHz, but only Nakamichi
cassette decks did much better than this at 15/16 (apparently one or
two had this speed and did very well with it).
One of the problems is optimizing the head for both fast and slow
speed operation.
Now I do have a Racal Store 4DS instrumentation recorder that runs
from 15/16 to 60 in/s in the normal speed steps and its amazing
response is here
http://richardhess.com/notes/formats/magnetic-media/magnetic-tapes/instrumentation/
but its noise performance isn't as good and the normal equalization
is not applied, so that would have to be post produced in the
computer. "Direct" means essentially no "audio" equalization, just a
constant current record.
You might find the Racal with computer or outboard EQs to be a good
solution to listening to these tapes, but it has its own problems.
One of the reasons that I chose to get into this business is I also
do my own repairs on most equipment.
I fear the Uhers are an end-of-life product.
Cheers,
Richard
At 04:50 PM 6/13/2006, you wrote:
The University of Chicago Language Laboratories and Archives has
four old Uhers (4xxx models) (used by various faculty in the field).
None of them works, but two of them seemed repairable. I sent them
out at the end of last year and got them back a week or so ago.
Apart from personal problems for the proprietor, there was a delay
in getting parts from Germany--and then only one machine was
actually "repaired". I put it that way because, when it came back,
it still did not work properly. Does anyone have any suggestions as
to where I can get this repaired? I need the 1 7/8 ips (and would
like to have the 15/16 and 3 3/4 ips) for some of the tapes in the archive.
Richard L. Hess email: richard@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Aurora, Ontario, Canada (905) 713 6733 1-877-TAPE-FIX
Detailed contact information: http://www.richardhess.com/tape/contact.htm
Quality tape transfers -- even from hard-to-play tapes.