AJ van den Hul and Tape

[MylesBAstor]

Known for his cartridges (and now electronics line), AJ has had a lifelong love for reel-to-reel tape. Here's a little snippet of him with his pair of Telefunken machines.

[JDZA]

van den Hul is always fascinating and the Telefunken M15s are stunning but .... what is this?

Screen Shot 2017-04-11 at 4.52.27 PM by jdza, on Flickr

[astrotoy]

Playing pancakes, without a top cover (not screwed on, but just held with the reel holders) is very scary to me. Look at the reel unwinding a few winds - what happens if A.J. dropped the pancake? Larry

[MylesBAstor]

van den Hul is always fascinating and the Telefunken M15s are stunning but .... what is this?

Screen Shot 2017-04-11 at 4.52.27 PM by jdza, on Flickr

I don't know but I'll see AJ next week and can ask him.

[Audiocrack]

His Telefunken as many other m15A tapedecks were dumped by the Dutch national broadcast company many years ago. (At that time a lot of these lovely tapedecks were also destroyed.)

Actually the same happens in Germany - West Deutsche Rundfunk (WDR) and Nord Deutsche Rundfunk (NDR) - although the people involved now understand that these machines deserve to be preserved and if batches of Telefunken M15A' s become available again in Germany they are bought up, checked and resold by some (clever) traders/dealers. That is how I bought my Telefunken/AEG m15A machine in Germany. Most of these tapedecks by the way are sold to the Far East.

Unless you buy these tapedecks from dealers that completely revise them (and price them accordingly), getting these machines in splendid working order is another story. I am in the middle of that proces.😢

[MylesBAstor]

His Telefunken as many other m15A tapedecks were dumped by the Dutch national broadcast company many years ago. (At that time a lot of these lovely tapedecks were also distroyed.)

Actually the same happens in Germany - West Deutsche Rundfunk (WDR) and Nord Deutsche Rundfunk (NDR) - although the people involved now understand that these machines deserve to be preserved and if batches of Telefunken M15A' s become available again in Germany they are bought up, checked and resold by some (clever) traders/dealers. That is how I bought my Telefunken/AEG m15A machine in Germany. Most of these tapedecks by the way are sold to the Far East.

Unless you buy these tapedecks from dealers that completely revise them (and price them accordingly), getting these machines in splendid working order is another story. I am in the middle of that proces.😢

I think AJ rescued his Telefunken decks from the dumpster.

I think the same sort of thing went on all over the world. With the advent of digital, studios no longer saw any use for their tape machines and threw them out in the garbage. Sure some people here could even expand on that too. All one can say is what a shame!

[Audiocrack]

Yes, I agree: what a shame.

So do I understand you correctly that Ampex and Studer tapedecks were destroyed/dumped in considerable numbers in the USA as well? I thought only the studios in Europe behaved in such a stupid way.

[astrotoy]

Yes, I agree: what a shame.

So do I understand you correctly that Ampex and Studer tapedecks were destroyed/dumped in considerable numbers in the USA as well? I thought only the studios in Europe behaved in such a stupid way.

I bought both of my Ampex ATR-102's from studios which had not using the machines for a long time (as they switched into digital recording). They were not in dumpsters, but they were both sold at very reasonable prices (very good for me and good for the sellers - who got money out of a non performing asset, taking up room in their studios.) I think is true of many pro machines. At least for the Ampex ATR100 series, there are a good number of very highly trained techs who worked on them for decades. They still service studios who use the machines (sometimes in addition to digital machines). Fortunately, that means they are available to service my machines.

Larry

[Audiocrack]

I bought both of my Ampex ATR-102's from studios which had not using the machines for a long time (as they switched into digital recording). They were not in dumpsters, but they were both sold at very reasonable prices (very good for me and good for the sellers - who got money out of a non performing asset, taking up room in their studios.) I think is true of many pro machines. At least for the Ampex ATR100 series, there are a good number of very highly trained techs who worked on them for decades. They still service studios who use the machines (sometimes in addition to digital machines). Fortunately, that means they are available to service my machines.

Larry

Thanks Larry for this info.

Do these Ampex tapedecks still now and then come available from studios as with the Telefunken M15A machines in Germany?

As far as I know no Telefunken M15A or Studer A80 machines are sold anymore by the Dutch broadcast/recording studios.

Btw, you are playng with the Ampex ATR-102 machines. Do you prefer these tapedecks soundwise to the Studer or Telefunken tapedecks? Or was your choice maybe predominantly motivated by the availability of your Ampex machines? Just curious as I have never heard your Ampex tapedecks.

[astrotoy]

Thanks Larry for this info.

Do these Ampex tapedecks still now and then come available from studios as with the Telefunken M15A machines in Germany?

As far as I know no Telefunken M15A or Studer A80 machines are sold anymore by the Dutch broadcast/recording studios.

Btw, you are playng with the Ampex ATR-102 machines. Do you prefer these tapedecks soundwise to the Studer or Telefunken tapedecks? Or was your choice maybe predominantly motivated by the availability of your Ampex machines? Just curious as I havbe never heard yoour Ampex tapedecks.

I bought the ATR's to play and be able to dub. They both can play 1/2" tape (I have a fair number of those) and I can switch the head blocks and tape guides in less than two minutes, so it makes it easy. I have only heard Studers, not Telefunken. The Studer A820, which is closest to the ATR-100 series, is generally more expensive and not as easily found as the Ampexes in the US. Both Tape Project and Chad Kassem's tape offerings use banks of ATR's to do their dubbing. I was connected to my local Ampex tech, Krieg Wunderlich, through Paul Stubblebine of the Tape Project. Krieg also does the tape work for Mobile Fidelity and other studios.

The record electronics of the ATR-100 series are very fine (hence the use in dubbing tapes). The playback electronics are not as good. I had my playback machine wired to bypass the playback electronics and bought an external tape prepro (a Doshi 3.0) which I think gives excellent sound. When dubbing tapes, I use the Doshi output to feed my other ATR-102.

I haven't had a chance to compare an A820 and my ATR-102 side by side. From what I hear from others, people in Europe generally find the big Studer machines more easily, while the Ampexes are found more easily in the US. There are companies who thoroughly recondition both the Ampexes and Studers. Prices are generally higher to much higher for those machines than for machines that were worked on by individual techs. No experience with the Telefunken decks.

As far as finding machines, both my machines were in recording studios (not radio broadcast). It may be worth while to call some of the recording studios to see whether they have machines which are not being used. Of course, a good tech is necessary to make sure the machine is in good working order and who can fix things that need work.

Larry

[MylesBAstor]

Just back to A.J. for a moment! It turns out I was able to schedule time to interview him at the show and will write it up for PF. No digital talk though. Think we'll cover analog and tape.

Any questions anyone might have for AJ?

Oh and for anyone going to Axpona make sure to hit AJ's seminar on Sunday where you can watch him actually build a cartridge in front of you!