On 3/30/2011 5:41 PM, Roderic G Stephens wrote:
> I know that Tom Fine mentioned that he had an old strobe for checking tape speed. Does anyone know of any that are available?
In the 50s OrrRadio made an Irish strobe disc on a handle which you
could lightly press onto the outside wrap of the tape on the reel as it
moved. Worked fairly well if you didn't press hard enough to slow
things down. Robbins (I think) made a strobe tape but it was bumpy as
it ran thru the machine.
> I think I remember Ampex decks in Hollywood that had a small circular strobe that fit on the top of the capstan, but they were of bigger diameter than my Teac 2340R.
That would make a very small strobe even on the larger capstans of the
30 IPS versions of the 200 and 300! What I remember is a strobe that
Land/Pultec had for the flywheel stabilizers of the 350. We had them on
some of the machines at a studio I worked for in the 60s, but they were
useless because some of the stabilizers were so used that a groove had
been worn into the shaft by the tape. (These machines were used for
editing with much shuttling.)
Mike Biel [log in to unmask]
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