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Posted

I just hopped down to Indy yesterday with Greg N and bought this Scully 2" 16 track reel to reel machine. This isn't mine, but it looks just like this:

It needs some TLC, but I'm reading the manual right now and trying to learn how to get her back up to speed. Can't wait to track some drums to this mamajama!

Posted

No, I'm not sure about the price of tape. I was going by what the studio usually charges us for a reel, the last I knew.

Chuck, my machine actually came with 16 channels of DBX NR in the bottom rack. I just got done fiddling around with it, trying to figure out why the FF and RW only work for a few seconds (obvious tension issue) and had the platform where the motors are mounted come down on my head. Looks like somebody punched me in the mouth, since I just bit my lip something fierce. Ouch.

The literature I got with it says it was made in 1972 (five years before I was born!) and it runs at 15 ips, although somebody modified it to run at 30ips via a switch underneath. I wish I had the remote for it.

The meterbridge is way too cool looking.

Posted

$150 sounds about right for 24-track tape, I think you can get 16-track tape a little cheaper (about $120 or so). Of course that only buys you 15 minutes of recording time at 30ips...

Two inch tape don't care if it's 24 track or 16. :cool:

It is the recorder heads that matter unless you are talking about a one inch Fostex machine or something like that.

Posted

Yeah, it's all in the heads. This machine is capable of being turned into a 1" 8-track, but I don't ever plan on seeing heads for that around (it uses a very specialized head). Besides, 2" 16 track is the bomb!

I think I'm going to start with rebuilding the power supply and go from there. My instinct is telling me the motors are not getting enough juice and that is why they are unable to ff or rw since this deck does not use mechanical tensioning, just electric (ie, voltage).

Posted

$150 sounds about right for 24-track tape, I think you can get 16-track tape a little cheaper (about $120 or so). Of course that only buys you 15 minutes of recording time at 30ips...

Two inch tape don't care if it's 24 track or 16. :cool:

It is the recorder heads that matter unless you are talking about a one inch Fostex machine or something like that.

Oops, my bad...I posted that at 2:24am...must have had "brain freeze". :wacko:

  • 2 weeks later...
Posted

WOOT! I got the machine to rewind and forward consistently. The tape that came with it (Ampex 456) is really old and shedding like crazy, so that will go in the garbage. From what I've been told, this machine likes 499, which is $299 a reel new. I'll probably try the BASF/Emtec equivalent, which is a bit cheaper (I think).

Now to get a good reel of tape, bias this bad boy, and see (or hear rather) if the heads are decent enough to use.

  • 2 weeks later...
Posted

So I did my first test of passing signal through the machine and even recording a little bit to the crappy 456 reel that came with it (just for a minute or two... I know I shouldn't run that reel as it keeps shedding... I'm not going to put it through the machine any more). It put a stereo mix of a new Root Doctor tune to channels 1 and 2 on the Scully and pressed record and then played it back. Works great, although there are dropouts here and there no doubt due to the age of that shitty tape.

Then I passed a submix of some drums I recorded into Cubase (Randy tearing up the kit) through the deck, not even to tape, just through the electronics, and back into Cubase. Wow. It sounds totally sweet. The Scully is adding transients to the drums that are probably what most people mean when they say "punchy". The drums just sound huge and come alive. And that's not even printing to tape yet!

I'm excited about this machine. If I can find a good console to match up with it, I think it will really add some great dimensions to my recordings. I'm going to try to record the next organissimo album myself.

Posted

I'm excited about this machine. If I can find a good console to match up with it, I think it will really add some great dimensions to my recordings. I'm going to try to record the next organissimo album myself.

A vinyl-only release? :tup

  • 3 months later...
Posted

I'm currently trying to figure out a way to replace a stationary guide on this machine with a rolling guide. The stationary guide is adding unnecessary friction to the transport. Since my last post, I actually picked up ANOTHER Scully 100-16, so now I have a source of parts (which is good, because these machines are rare). I might just steal the rolling guide from that machine and replace the stationary guide with it.

I also invested in a console that will allow me to use the deck to the fullest of its abilities. I'm in the process of upgrading the power supply on that console. I'm still hoping to do the next organissimo record here, direct to tape. But man... tape has gotten really really expensive lately.

I've attached a pic of one of my machines.

post-2-1191209031.jpg

  • 6 months later...
Guest Bill Barton
Posted

UP because Greg found this video of Pink Floyd recording Echoes from Meddle. Check out the tape deck at 1:19.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5sht8MB37o

Looks like my Scully! How cool is that?

OMG! A Scully?!?! Blast from the past time... You have a Scully? Back in the day I spent many, many hours editing tape on one of those monsters. They're like Toyota engines: hard to kill. :rolleyes:

Posted

Floyd was pretty cool during that time period. Meddle / Dark Side Of The Moon / Wish You Were Here. Those are their strongest three albums, imo.

In any case, yeah Bill, I have a Scully. It's a bear to work on, but it sounds so good. I finally replaced all the meter bulbs today and figured out why the tape was creeping down at certain points in the reel. It's running very smoothly now.

I would not want to cut tape / punch in / or edit on this thing. :)

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