Revox A77!!!!!

I just cleaned up an A77 Mk II I've had for quite a while and it really is nice. I picked up a refurb kit from an Italian guy off eBay that had all the bulbs and the tape counter belt I need, along with new brake linings. It works fine and sounds great so it may be my new keeper replacing my beautiful Akai GX-635D, but the heads do look like they are about ready for a lapping, which I'm certain I can do after following a thread here.

I'll have to give them both a good listen as the smoother transport, the looks and the reverse rec/play all are attractive on the Akai, but I do know the Revox is the more revered deck.
 
On A77, anybody know should the meter lights lite up once the deck is powered up to 3 3/4 or 7 1/2 ips position?

Thanks
 
To poster above: the lights on my meters only come on when recording mode is engaged.
In general response to original poster who is buying the machine: it seems the manual is not with it. The sound on sound functions are not exactly intuitive at least to me but once mastered, are a breeze and great to use. I just made my own chipmunks christmas tunes using a ferrante and teicher LP as the instrumental track. My machine was bought around 1972 and was given to me by original owner at least twenty years ago. Only trouble has been some dirty buttons and intermittent engagement of transport functions but nothing serious. The Mercedes Benz of tape.
What are you going to record on it? Live performance via microphone or LP or what? Enjoy! --Tom
 
On A77, anybody know should the meter lights lite up once the deck is powered up to 3 3/4 or 7 1/2 ips position?

Thanks
It seems like this varies by unit. Mine MK-III unit lights-up all the time, but others who I have talked with say that theirs only do so on Recording.
 
There is something magic in the engineering of the Revox machines of those years. The looks and enginnering of the 70's decks was passed on to the 80's series with minor improvements and a strong resistance to bells, whistles and plastic. Especially plastic.

The machines looked unattractive back in those years. Their looks now have a name: "Minimal". Since we now find these machines attractive, I can only assume that the Revox engineers and stylists were way ahead of their time.
I've got to disgree with you on this point. While I think that these unit sound fantastic, I do not especially care for their cosmetics.

And what do you mean about resisting plastic? Yes, they do have sturdy metal frames inside, and are built like tanks. But most Revoxes (like the A77, and B77, G36, C270) have almost entirely plastic front-panels. :headscrat
 
Revox A77 meter lights

It seems like this varies by unit. Mine MK-III unit lights-up all the time, but others who I have talked with say that theirs only do so on Recording.

Thanks for the input. I was about to buy A77 baseline and tested it. The meters did not light up when powered up or in playback. I was thinking that was malfunction, but you guys tell me that is normal. Thank you guys.
 
I've got to disgree with you on this point. While I think that these unit sound fantastic, I do not especially care for their cosmetics.

And what do you mean about resisting plastic? Yes, they do have sturdy metal frames inside, and are built like tanks. But most Revoxes (like the A77, and B77, G36, C270) have almost entirely plastic front-panels. :headscrat

You are absolutely right about the cosmetics. I think I also stated that the looks are pretty ugly compared to other machines. When I compare my PR99 with the Technics 1500, the latter wins by far in terms of looks. But the PR99 is the winner in terms of build, ergonomics and serviceability.

Actually, yes, the B77 I have has a front panel (top part) entirely made of plastic. It is broken in some corner in a small way that doesn't really show but irritates me. Still looking for a good condition MkII panel to eventually replace it.

When reffering to plastics, I was having in mind the inner parts of the deck. And had also in mind the PR99 which has a thick aluminum sheet front panel - with the exception of the headblock cover that ... is plastic.

Well, resistance is one thing, total absence is another... :D
 
Been a long time but I think the I and early IIs only lit up on recording while the IIIs lit up during playback. At one time I had a pair of IIs and the earlier s/n only lit up on record. It actually was good as I used it as the playback machine and if the light ever came on I knew immediately I was about to wipe a tape. Revox offered in addition to the accessory remote a metal panel for the A77. The first version of the panel was a thin sheet with a sticky back panel that was put over the plastic face plate and one that totally replaced the plastic panel. I never saw one in real life except the full replacement panel I ordered with my late II unit.When I ordered it, it was backordered for several months. Really made it look nice but it was very expensive in relation to the unit itself. The sheets seemed offered them intermixed on a time line so I suspect they were job lotted.

The sticky add-on was just a very thin piece of what looked like stainless form the sheet but may have been polished aluminum. I would think you could go to a metal shop offering laser cutting and they could fabricate a stick-on panel for cheap.
 
Been a long time but I think the I and early IIs only lit up on recording while the IIIs lit up during playback. At one time I had a pair of IIs and the earlier s/n only lit up on record. It actually was good as I used it as the playback machine and if the light ever came on I knew immediately I was about to wipe a tape. Revox offered in addition to the accessory remote a metal panel for the A77. The first version of the panel was a thin sheet with a sticky back panel that was put over the plastic face plate and one that totally replaced the plastic panel. I never saw one in real life except the full replacement panel I ordered with my late II unit.When I ordered it, it was backordered for several months. Really made it look nice but it was very expensive in relation to the unit itself. The sheets seemed offered them intermixed on a time line so I suspect they were job lotted.

The sticky add-on was just a very thin piece of what looked like stainless form the sheet but may have been polished aluminum. I would think you could go to a metal shop offering laser cutting and they could fabricate a stick-on panel for cheap.
I've seen the metalic stick-on front panels. I've occasionally consider acquiring a worn-out that had the metal face plates, and swapping it with my plastic one. But when I figured-out that it was just a thin piece of sheet metal over plastic, I decided not to bother.

I agree that the A77 looks better with this option, but it seems like all of these units get circular scratches on the panel when this is installed, and that sort of defeats the purpose.

My favorite accessories for my A77 are the big dust cover (the one that you can play the deck with), and the remote.

Has anybody out there ever tried that logic module that somebody is selling on German Ebay? Supposedly this implements fully modern logic in the A77. It might even implement electronic braking too. If it did, that module might be worth the ~$100 they are asking. But that is unclear to me.
 
There was an instruction to reset the height of the spindles to compensate for the panel as well as a need to realign the heads. If they panels have marks, then it would not have been done. When I got my full panel, the instruction sheet was in 2 parts, the first related to the stickon and had the notice and the second that covered mine and only had a caveat to check and see if there was scraping and if so to fillow the instructions in the first part. I think I had to have the adjustment made but won't swear to it. Every Revox I had needed something done even the new unit and I sent them to Revox. Their QC after receiving them in the US was a bit shoudy.
 
I have an A77mkIII

Just to confirm, the Revox A77mkIII's and IV's DO have four bulbs in the right front of the deck (3 on the meters). 2 of the meter bulbs light up the dot under each meter to indicate "I'm recording..." and the 3rd meter bulb is mounted upside down and low between both meters (hidden from plain sight) to illuminate the meters when the deck is powered on--plus there is a 4th redundant light to light the pilot lamp over the speed/tension/power lever. The mark I's and II's (unless they have been modified) have 2 bulbs (one behind each meter). They only light up in record mode. On the mk I's and II's the pilot lamp makes more sense... The mkIV service manual that I had didn't even address the 3rd meter bulb on the Mk III's and IV's

My A77mkIII-HS (factory 7.5 and 15ips) had worked rather well, but on that VU meter board, I sometimes lose the sound of one channel unless I wiggle the wires--I have been meaning to go in there and resolder those connections--very frustrating.

The A77 does wind considerably faster than my 2 B77's and 1-PR99mkII for some reason. Plus, in fast wind, you can hit play and nothing will happen (locked electrically). But have mercy on your soul if, in fast winding, you hit stop and push play before the reels slow down.....(don't ask me how I know). I have always "rocked" the transport on my A77 (and I do that on my B77s to save the brakes). My brakes still function as new--that was worthwhile advice previous posters...

I've been warned about a capacitor that often fails violently behind the A77 transport controls and I really need to look in there but never had the need to mess with the function relays.
 
Finally up and rollin'!

Finally got the amp back from the shop and got the system up and running again.:thmbsp:

Everything works, and sounds great.

Did my first recording on this deck, Rolling Stones, "Goats Head Soup", from cd.

I got out the PH autocorrelator that I had in storage, but haven't used it yet.
wanted to try running the deck without first. Don't hear much noise, and it sounds pretty dynamic the way it is. Well, as dynamic as this old recording gets anyhow. Probably give the PH a try this weekend.

Any thoughts?

Anyways, I promised more photos, so here goes.

Dave
 

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Hi, the deck looks nice. How are the breaks going? Did you have a look at the heads? What shape are they in?
 
Hi, the deck looks nice. How are the breaks going? Did you have a look at the heads? What shape are they in?

Brakes work pretty good, certainly not a dead stop, but so far haven't been a problem.

Heads are a little worn, but not bad considering the age of this machine.
The guy I bought it from took the time to clean, align, demagnetize, etc. so the machine is very clean.:thmbsp:

It's rolling right now, as a matter of fact.

Led Zeppelin "In Through the Out Door".
 
Cool! Yeah, I had the MKII back in the day. If you get a 100 series DBX the noise will vanish, but you have to record/play through it, and you may not want to do that.
 
Noise reduction question?????????

Just tried the Phase Linear Autocorrelator (Model 1000 series 2). Can't seem to get any sound through it using the tape monitor jacks.

The last time I used it, it was between pre and power amp in another system
and it worked with the main in/out jacks.

Would it be okay to pass the tape loop through the main in/out jacks?

Or is it time to take this guy to my tech, and have him check it out?:scratch2:

Dave
 
Just tried the Phase Linear Autocorrelator (Model 1000 series 2). Can't seem to get any sound through it using the tape monitor jacks.

The last time I used it, it was between pre and power amp in another system
and it worked with the main in/out jacks.

Would it be okay to pass the tape loop through the main in/out jacks?

Or is it time to take this guy to my tech, and have him check it out?:scratch2:

Dave
It is probably not working. Bob Carver was the king of cost cutting measures, and never built anything using very high quality parts.

But I'd recommend that you get yourself a dbx 224, as it is a far more effective noise reduction unit.
 
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