Scully 280

jca83 · Post by **jca83** » Fri Nov 04, 2005 10:57 pm

so there's this local gear/junk store that i frequent... one day i was fed up of all my old/broken crap, so i took it all down there and traded for a channel of pre/line amp from this box.

it doesn't have a power supply.. i've got the schematic and the resources to build a PSU. i'm just wondering if anybody knows if this thing is worth the trouble...

the guy also has some old altec pres racked up. i was thinking of returning this, shelling out a little more cash and getting those. any opinions on what to do?

djimbe · Post by **djimbe** » Sat Nov 05, 2005 1:31 am

If you have the ability to build a PS for that Scully, then by all means do it! They are (or can be) very nice sounding units. They have a nice fuzzy sorta breakup when driven hard, and a very full bodied clean sound under more mangaged conditions. You see them without supplies on the 'bay all the time, so do yourself a favor and build a supply that will drive more than 1. I have a 1/2" 4 track 280 that almost never gets used as a tape machine, but always gets used as a bank of preamps. I've been running a lot of vocals through mine lately, often using either a Coles 4038 or a Shure 300. Love 'em...

jca83 · Post by **jca83** » Sat Nov 05, 2005 7:05 am

the dude i bought it from has more available, and also has a PSU. however, he's high priced. i don't really wanna go back, but yeah. the idea would be to build a psu to power several and then work from there (at least 2..). glad to hear they're alright

joel hamilton · Post by **joel hamilton** » Sat Nov 05, 2005 7:48 am

ssshhh!!!!

honkyjonk · Post by **honkyjonk** » Sat Nov 05, 2005 8:59 am

Oh great.

Just the fact that Joel shushed it, means there going up about 200 dollars on ebay right about . . . . . . . . now.

moogplayer · Post by **moogplayer** » Sat Nov 05, 2005 11:38 am

those pres have high quality components. UTC transformers. Nice front end. Worth it in my opinion

gevermil · Post by **gevermil** » Sat Nov 05, 2005 4:14 pm

Any one have a PSU schematic I can check out for a couple of scully channels ?
gary

soundguy · Post by **soundguy** » Sat Nov 05, 2005 4:16 pm

theres actually a power supply on ebay now for $60. By the time you get a power transformer, enclosure, parts and build it,$60 might not be a bad deal, sure saves tons of time and leg work.

dave

djimbe · Post by **djimbe** » Sat Nov 05, 2005 5:18 pm

I have all the schematic info on the 280 series decks. I think I even have a complete original spare manual or two for anyone interested.

gevermil, if you're in the city next weekend, I could get you that schematic, and then maybe I could get my 1/2" MRL back from you? Lemme know...

gevermil · Post by **gevermil** » Sat Nov 05, 2005 6:31 pm

Hey jim
I can swing by sunday or any day next week . Could you spend a few minutes to talk shop ?
gary

djimbe · Post by **djimbe** » Sat Nov 05, 2005 7:17 pm

I'm not sure of my whereabouts tomorrow yet, Gary. Gimme a call down at the studio, 'cause I may be doing a vocal tracking session from noon-6. If I'm not around, I won't likely be around again until next weekend. I can make some time to show you the documents and run some mics through the Scullys though...

jca83 · Post by **jca83** » Sun Nov 06, 2005 8:40 am

http://web.telia.com/~u31617583/#Scully ... 0schematic

this is where i got mine.

jca83 · Post by **jca83** » Sun Nov 06, 2005 8:42 am

re-reading your post, that's just the unit's schematic... we're backwards engineering the PSU but a real one would be nice. i'm relatively certain that the PSU on ebay, etc, has a cable that goes into the main part of the tape machine, and then another cable runs up to the individual pres. so, the ones on ebay are missing a few conversions to get to the pre stage.....

blackmajik2021 · Post by **blackmajik2021** » Wed Aug 24, 2011 11:09 am

If I have a scully tape deck with everything intact, can I remove the psu and run the preamps standalone with the ribbon cables? I have two of these preamps and would like to use them in my rack, but I dont have the room to sit the deck in the studio just for powering them.

I cant find schematics because all the links are dead.

djimbe · Post by **djimbe** » Wed Aug 24, 2011 12:24 pm

the complication with running 280 amps without the transport is that the P/S output cable goes to the transport, then the big multi-conductor cables come from the transport to the channels. Clearly you know this if you've looked at the back of your deck.

You should be able to dismount the P/S, find the -24V output on it and connect that up to the back of the channels, but you won't use the big multi-conductor cables. You'll have to land power and ground on their individual pins on the backs of each channel. And they are ground sensitive, so you really gotta have a good ground to keep the hum out.

There is a Yahoo! group devoted to the Scully products. My advice would be to join it and surf through the history of discussion there. This subject comes up all the time because nobody wants to hang on to the deadweight that is a transport if they're not using using the thing as a tape deck. There are a variety of ways folks have skinned this cat, so don't waste time reinventing the wheel.

One suggestion that you may not have cottoned to is to rack mount the whole shebang. The transports were made with mounting screws on 19" centers, so you can bolt them to a good rack just like any other outboard. That's how I have my 280-4 set up and it takes up much less space than having the deck sitting in the big carts they came in. That rack is also holding 4 outboard reverbs, a Valley International rack, and some other oddball rack gear anyway. It's a good use of space to me, and I don't have to worry about bastardizing the channel back connectors or dealing with random noise from a cobbled together P/S.

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