Have you tried recording new material on this machine? See if you get the same effect on playback (assuming you have tape on which to record..maybe a blank spot at the end of one of your reels). dl Scott Phillips wrote: > This is part of the mechanical alignment of the heads, and can easily > produce the symptom you describe. It refers to the 'tilt' of the heads, > left to right so to speak, of the heads as you face them. That is, as > you face them the heads are supposed to have their 'gaps' perpendicular > to the direction of tape travel. This is normally set with a MRL or STL > alignment test tape with a phase meter or more properly (IMHO) with a > o'scope. For 'special' reasons it can me deliberately misaligned to > match a tape made on a misaligned machine. > > I'm likely not explaining this well.... As is common with someone who > has done it for so long... :>) > > -----Original Message----- > From: Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List > [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Paul Tyler > Sent: Saturday, April 07, 2007 3:28 PM > To: [log in to unmask] > Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Need help with a Revox A77 [?] in Chicago > > Ah, there's another word of which I was ignorant. Is the azimuth > related to the alignment? Could that be why one of the channels is way > muddier than the other? > > Thanks > Paul > > phillip holmes <[log in to unmask]> wrote: Paul, Could be the > playback head's azimuth was mis-adjusted (?). > Phillip > > Paul Tyler wrote: >> Hello, >> >> I'm hoping someone can help an electronic ignoramus. Here's the > story. I have a hundred and fifty open reel tapes I recorded twenty > five years ago that I've been trying to digitize. Most are field > recordings I made on a Nagra on loan from the American Folklife Center > or on a Revox B77 (I'm unsure of the exact model number) owned by a then > brand new public radio station in Fort Wayne. The restof the tapes are > the 26 one-hour radio shows I produced using my field recordings. After > that gig ran it's course, I was left with the tapes and no machine. The > original field recordings are in the Archives of Traditional Music at > Indiana University, and what I have are earliest copies dubbed on the > ATM's Ampex decks. >> Fast forward twenty years and I bought a Revox A77 on eBay and started > dubbing my field tapes in my spare time. Somewhere along the way my > preschool daughter filched a light bulb out the Revox--I don't know what > you call it but it was for a light activated shutoff. I took the Revox > to 20th Century Stereo on the north side. The elderly European-accented > proprietor ended doing $300 worth of repairs and adjustments. This was > two years ago, and I'm just now getting back to dubbing my tapes. >> But they don't sound the same. I don't have the technical vocabulary > to describe the sound difference. The clarity is gone. It sounds like > my recordings have gone through some sort of filter that distances the > sound. Another description: >> the loss of clarity sounds like what happens when you dub cassettes on > cheap portable decks from 1980. >> Can anybody offer any help? Like what kind of words I should use if > I take it back to the old German guy. Or do you know any other good > repairman (or woman) in the Chicago area I could consult. >> Thank you >> Paul Tyler >> >> >> > >