Revox A77 vs. Otari MTR 12

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Lost on side
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Revox A77 vs. Otari MTR 12

Post by Lost on side » Thu Jun 18, 2015 5:33 pm

So I'm in the hunt for a mixdown 2-track. I record to an 8-track 1/2" Tascam 48, and I have zeroed in on the Otari MTR's as the best mixdown deck I can afford (Studer. Ampex, etc are out of my range). I have checked out a few Otari's in the LA area, and am close to making a decision, but now I have had my interest piqued by the 15ips Revox A77.

I know the Otari's reputation is that it is super clean, rock solid, easy alignment, etc. And that it is a newer, "better" machine. But I'm after a British Invasion type sound, and reading about the A77 (with the easy "Abbey Road" mod), leads me to believe I might like the sound better.

I'm not a studio owner, and I don't really need a "workhorse" machine, because I'm just going to be mixing down my own music (as opposed to working a machine hard every day).

I know about the B77 and PR99, but those don't get the same luv that the A77 gets.

I am working all analog, so I intend to mix to 2-track, then take that to get mastered, and then released on vinyl. So I'm curious about the mastering stage too. I'm assuming that the mastering engineer will be using a Ampex ATR102, so wouldn't that be the machine that has the most impact. In other words, if I mixdown to a super clean" Otari MTR, but it gets mastered from an ATR102, will the Ampex provide the "glue" that I'm looking for.

An A77 is cheaper, but I expect to pay for some reconditioning. I'm just curious if anyone has taken stuff mixed down to an A77 to a mastering engineer, and was pleased with the results?

Any samples of A77 recordings?
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A.David.MacKinnon
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Post by A.David.MacKinnon » Thu Jun 18, 2015 6:02 pm

I've got a 15ips A77. I bought it years and years ago when I was running an 8 track studio. Mixed lots of records to it.
I later bought an Otari 5050 but honestly I like the Revox better and switched back a few years ago. It has an insanely simple and elegant design. No bells or whistles but if you can find one with good heads it'll run forever.

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Post by Lost on side » Thu Jun 18, 2015 6:13 pm

Thanks for the response. So is it difficult to align, or otherwise maintain? Is an Otari MTR just so much better that it's a silly comparison?

Do you have any (or can you direct me to) examples of the A77 I can hear?
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Post by A.David.MacKinnon » Fri Jun 19, 2015 6:59 am

It's not particularly hard to align or maintain. It's sort of like the model T of reel to reels. It's pretty easy to work on and there are lots of parts out there.
The biggest issue I've ever had with mine is that the relays that control the transport get dirty and I'll loose play or FF/REW function. Pulling them and re-seating them usually fixes it. If that doesn't work a blast of de-oxit does the trick.

It's been ages since I mixed a record on it. These days I mostly use it for tape loops. When it was my main mix deck I think the best things I did were these. Both recorded on a Tascam 38, mixed through an A&H System 8 to the Revox. -

http://music.cbc.ca/play/artist/The-Mid ... ot-Like-Me

http://music.cbc.ca/play/artist/Fembots/Broken-and-Blue

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Post by A.David.MacKinnon » Fri Jun 19, 2015 7:08 am

The last thing it got used really heavily on was this record -

http://xnightterrorsx.bandcamp.com/trac ... reams-mean

All the weird background parts are loops made in the A77.

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Post by joninc » Fri Jun 19, 2015 11:49 am

sorry to hijack the thread but do you guys ever use your 2 tracks as tape echoes? I have a otari 5050 that i'd like to try this on...
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Post by A.David.MacKinnon » Sat Jun 20, 2015 8:51 am

joninc wrote:sorry to hijack the thread but do you guys ever use your 2 tracks as tape echoes? I have a otari 5050 that i'd like to try this on...
Yep. The 5050 is great for that because it's got veri-speed and you can daisy chain channel 1 into channel 2 for extra long delays. If you feed it from an aux you can get extra repeats by feeding the playback back into the record chain.

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Post by tjcasey1 » Sun Jun 21, 2015 5:51 am

joninc wrote:sorry to hijack the thread but do you guys ever use your 2 tracks as tape echoes? I have a otari 5050 that i'd like to try this on...
We used to do that back in the eighties when playing in bars because we didn't have any other delay. It worked great - until the reel ran out, usually in the middle of a vocal line!

I was recently going through reels of tape and I actually found one from one of those gigs. Too bad it only picked up the band a little bit through mic bleed - I would've loved to have a recording of one of those wild nights!

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Post by Lost on side » Sun Jun 21, 2015 10:00 pm

I bought an Otari MTR 12. I'm considering getting an A77 too, and just keeping the one I like best. I already have a couple MX5050's at my disposal, that I use for tape delay.
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Post by tjcasey1 » Mon Jun 22, 2015 2:20 am

I have to admit a Revox A77 is a beautiful thing to behold.

I used to work at Northeastern University in the media lab. We had about 24 of them. I wish I had a picture of the wall where they were installed in racks - I think it was four high and six wide - it was enough to make one drool....

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