This is meant as a parallel to the thread I started about Nakamichi cassette decks. But unlike that thread, I know who I'm going to take at least the first repair to: Andrew at "Funktionaltech" (
www.funktionaltech.com). I'll post again here to let people know how that goes.
Background: In the early 1970s I had a number of Revox A 77s including a high-speed model (i.e. 7-1/2 and 15 ips) and two that had built-in Dolby "B" noise reduction. Very, very good-sounding decks. I was living in Cambridge, Mass., and there was a gentleman named Scott Kent who had a set of custom circuit modifications for the A 77 which improved its dynamic range by several dB. He became a friend with whom I spoke rather often. I still used these decks even after I got my Nagra IV-S. The heads on Nagra recorders are rather soft, and especially at 15 ips the Revox decks, with their Studer playback heads, had flatter, more extended low-frequency response than the Nagra. So even the tapes that I recorded on the Nagra got played back on a Revox for best results.
Fast-forward 45 years or so, and I now have a large number of old open-reel recordings that I need to transfer to digital. I still had three Revoxes from the old days--see photos of one of them below--but when I tried the two that are half-track, one didn't work at all. The other one I was able to get working after I scraped some contacts clean--but then after I'd transferred one reel and was a few minutes into the next one, its speed switch failed, and the capstan started spinning at high speed uncontrollably.
Today I found out to my sadness and dismay that Scott Kent had a serious stroke two years ago, and another one two weeks ago has rendered him unable to speak or even swallow. He doesn't want to be hooked up to a feeding tube. My father-in-law and a beloved aunt made this same decision in recent years; it means that he will now have only a few weeks to live at most. This is a person who made many wonderful recordings himself, and was a good friend. Even if no one else here knows him, I want to "say his name" and express my respect and gratitude.
Meanwhile I could probably still use my Nagra, but I don't want these Revoxes (Revoces? Revoxim?) to become useless hunks. I looked around, especially on
www.tapeheads.net, and found praise there for "Funktionaltech"'s work, so I will try it and see.
--best regards