The oldest recorder you have ever recorded with?

[truetone36]

Wow! I am amazed at how many here actually used a wire recorder. truetone said he had a 30's Ediphone. Did it have the big cone you put your whole face into when you spoke into it?

It had a brass horn about 8" in diameter that slipped onto the recording head. The horn also fit onto the reproducer for playback. It also had a listening tube, which was a rubber tube that slipped onto the reproducer and split off into two tubes, one for each ear, attached to a headset similar to a pair of headphones. The machine could record for 4 minutes on a wax cylinder. "Wax" is actually a misnomer for these cylinders as they are actually made of a lead soap.

 

[KentTeffeteller]

The oldest recorder I ever used was a Presto disc lathe from 1940. Oldest tape recorder I ever used was an Ampex 200A which was converted to a bathtub 300 mono full track and spent it's last years as a 300-2 1/2 track Stereo machine. This warhorse was built in 1949.

 

[oldvinyldude]

I think those T1500s must have been in every school's AV department at one time or other. I remember the early ones that were mono 1/2 track, followed by a stereo version with only the internal amp, but a built-in preamp you had to connect to a second amp for stereo. A very good design, handy to drag around from classroom to classroom; absolutely a classic from the mid-'50s to the mid-70s. It's a shame 3M couldn't keep Revere/Wollensak going - they shut the consumer division down in about 1973 or 74...although the commercial division (duplicators, winders, etc.) continued under the Mincom name for a few more years.

Yup-my first recordings were on school units in the mid 60's. Wollensack, suitcase style. Thing weighed probably 30 lbs. Magic Eye, mono 1/2 track.

I keep looking for the same unit to buy locally. I can never seem to find one, including on the Bay. But then, my memory of what it looked like may be faulty.....

 

[1tumbleweed]

Yup-my first recordings were on school units in the mid 60's. Wollensack, suitcase style. Thing weighed probably 30 lbs. Magic Eye, mono 1/2 track.

I keep looking for the same unit to buy locally. I can never seem to find one, including on the Bay. But then, my memory of what it looked like may be faulty.....

Here 'tis:

http://www.retrothing.com/2006/09/3m_wollensak_t1.html?ModPagespeed=noscript

I think you're misremembering the Magic Eye - this one clearly has a meter. I think Webcor was the one with the Magic Eye. I could be wrong, of course.

EDIT: Hmmm...I've been looking at different pictures of the T1500, and it seems some do have the Magic Eye. I wonder if they switched to the meter at some point. I know the originals were tube, later solid state; perhaps when they redesigned the internals they eliminated the Magic Eye.

 

[oldvinyldude]

I probably have things mixed up, but I seem to remember the brand being Wollensack, as I was very much into gadgets by then. I was the 16mm projector man for my class, and the only one that used the tape recorder. In middle school, I was one of a handful who knew how to use the reel style B&W video recorder-heady days indeed

What I remember of the Wollensack, was that it was a suitcase style-rounded corners, and brown crinkle vinyl or plastic. Had magic eye, and a volume/recording level concentric knob arrangement. I think it was a lever transport-and not keys, but I am not as sure of this. Speaker was internal-not in the lid.

Here's a pic of a Revere-which looks suspiciously like what I recall as being my school Wollensack. Again, memory is now 40+ years old now.....

 

[Sandy G]

Yeah, there were always a few guys in each classroom who "Volunteered"-or GOT "Volunteered" to be the "Recorder" guy or the "Projector" guy, especially if the teacher was female & didn't wanna fool w/it..Did plenty of THAT duty, even if I was makin' it up as I went along..(grin) Luckily, a lot of that stuff, especially the items destined for classroom use was fairly fool-proof..

 

[1tumbleweed]

That would be me for certain. Anything to get out of sitting in those $%#@& chair/desk combo things being bored...

 

[Ragnar_AT]

Me too!

I even progressed as far as occasionally fixing extension cords and other equipment in the afternoon every once in a while.

 

[Belo]

My dad had at one time an AMPEX 800, it had a nice sound.

 

[Lavane]

My dad had at one time an AMPEX 800, it had a nice sound.

I always liked the sound of those old Ampex full range speakers that were used in most old class rooms that hung on the walls.

 

[Mingo]

My dad and uncle each had a late 50s-early 60s Knight tube "portable" 1/2 track mono open reel that took a 3", 5" or 7" reel. They mostly used them to send letters back and forth to each other. My uncle Moshe Paranov was the conductor of the Hart Symphony Orchestra. He'd send us a reel of whatever symphony they were performing that month. I still have all of them!

Recording of the Hart SO? That is pretty darn neat. How's the audio on the recordings?

 

[david winter]

I think I beat you all with my AEG Magnetophon FT4 from 1940 (and my AEG K8 from 1948/50). You can see both on YouTube.

 

[LAB3]

Recording of the Hart SO? That is pretty darn neat. How's the audio on the recordings?

Ditto, talented Uncle :thmbsp:, curious of how good the fidelity is.

 

[FAB1]

Our family had a 3M/Wollensak. This is was around 1960, I still have a 3" reel with me goo-goo and ga-ga-ing on it.

 

[danj]

The oldest on I've used was an RCA wire recorder from the 1940s. I restored it as my project in high school electronics class. The oldest I've ever owned was new at the time - about 1965 and a Mayfair portable reel-to-reel machine that used, iirc, 3" reels. It was a lot of fun. My first cassette machine was a Craig 2614(?) that was purchased at Woolworth's in 1968 or '69. My first hi-fi was a Sony TC-366 reel-to-reel deck back in 1972.

 

[audiojones]

Wollensak T-1500

This is the oldest one I currently own and occasionally record on, a Wollensak T-1500:

I got it recently from a family friend who found it in her attic. I remember recording on this very machine many years ago when I was just a kid and we would visit (wish I could find that tape, it's probably still up in her attic somewhere). It sat unused for decades but after a little cleaning, greasing and belt re-dressing it works as good as new! I had to clean up the the tube sockets and the pins on the tubes but they still work just fine :thmbsp:

Probably the oldest machine that I ever had and recorded on was a mid 1950's "Recordio" by Wilcox-Gay that I used to have (again, back when I was just a kid). I think I still have some of the "Recordio" branded tubes in my old tube box in the attic. Before that I also had an old Telectro "Telectrosonic model 64" that dated back to the dawn of stereo in the early 1960's but I can't really count that one because I never got it to work so I never actually recorded on it (though I did try).

 

[goldear]

The oldest Deck I have ever recorded-on was a Roberts tube unit. That was the first stereo R2R I was ever able to afford as a kid (I think that I paid $25 for it in about 1980). But I quickly decided that I was not fond of this unit for many reasons. My next R2R a Sony TC-399 absolutely destroyed it.

 

[MarkSA]

An 1960's National reel to reel that weighed 26kgs. I used it during the early 80's. Migrated to an Otari 8 track.

 

[wualta]

I think I beat you all with my AEG Magnetophon FT4 from 1940 (and my AEG K8 from 1948/50). You can see both on YouTube.

Just want you to know I'm a fan of the Magnetophon and have greatly enjoyed watching your YouTube video presentations.

 

[Tinman]

I know there was an older one, all tube, but I don't recall what it was....
But my latest one that I currently own is a 1961 Nagra III.