Haggy38

Well guys, 

No worries, I just found the DVD drive on eBay pretty cheap, I will use this machine just for home stereo music recording and amusement.

Gustavo

Hi guys,

so I found a nice Fostex PD606 in good condition, unfortunately the DVD Ram unit it’s faulty, anyone knows where can I get a replacement? Or a good usen one?

i just wanted to use it to record music.

Thanks,

Gustavo

I would love to meet Mr Dugan, my Nagra III sure needs more maintenance, unfortunately  I live so far (Bogotá) it’s financially impossible to me to send it to the real experts, so I got to work with I have locally and you guys.

Gustavo

Hi guys,

Long time since my las post, hope you all are doing fine in this weird times.

Just to share my story, my Nagra III started to develop a rumbling sound in the motor, I was shocked when I was reading all the process to replace the internal bearing, special tools and lots and lots of courage!! Then I just read the manual and I found an interesting section “Dirty Commutator “ so it was a simple process and without the brushes I can confirm it wasn’t the bearing..... I just proceed with the cleaning with deoxit and get rid off the brushes dust between commutator section with an exacto knife, in my case That was it!!! A beautiful silent 58 years old motor, lots of torque, full rewinding, etc. Just cleaning!! A humble advice, start with the easy one.

And there’s she is, beautiful and silent with new reels this time.

Gustavo

Hi  guys,

Long time since my last post, I got to say I really love my Nagra actually I'm using it very often and this is the final display show.....

Regards,

Gustavo

Hi guys,

A short video of my beautiful Nagra III, finally with its oown psu  and tuchel connector, it's amazing how she sounds, pretty happy guy, hope you guys use and enjoy your Nagra recorders......

Hi Mike,

I would love to but they're almost impossible to get and wayyyyy to expensive, I'm just grateful to have a 1963 working machine and probably in the future the BM-2 mixer......

Regards,

Gustavo

My beautiful Nagra III with few reels, she looks lovely or what, new tuchel connector ready!!

Hi guys,

I'm wondering if anyone here can help with the Nagra III service manual, I'm looking the head azimuth adjustment in particular. Thanks,

Gustavo 

I'm not expert at all, but I do used lots of reel to reel machines a long these years, let me tell you how gratefully I am with the sound quality of a Nagra 1963 mono recorder, I'm not discussing terms of practicality or hi fi quality, just a beautiful vintage piece of machinery working as it should.

It took me years to afford one and I love it!  The thing is this machines are in high demand now, not sure if is just for the looks or history or audio quality.

Gustavo

On 9/1/2018 at 8:22 PM, The Immoral Mr Teas said:

Now you have me really interested Gustavo!

 

I remember 'shopping for' the unbelievably expensive top Walkman before the (unbelievably expensive) WMD6C came out and I bought. Maybe I saw the 600B but could there have been a model between that and the WMD6C? It's a vague memory from the early 80s!

 

Jez

Hi Jez,

I'm glad you're getting interest in those machines, they're truly beautiful recoding/playback gadgets from 80s, by the way a good Sony WM D6C can be as expensive as a Nagra.

I finally was able to get a tuchel connector for the external power supply, new fresh LPR35 tape, beautiful 7in aluminum reels and a  gooseneck  lamp for a dramatic illumination ! 

20 minutes ago, The Immoral Mr Teas said:

TCM 600B

Yes that's a beauty to me. And definitely not the 'early pre-pro walkman' that I was thinking about. Never seen it before, cheers!

I'll even venture to stick a year on it - 1983 at a guess!

You are right the Walkman precursor was the Sony Bm-12(78), it looks very similar to the TCM 600B(79-81) though.

Gustavo

41 minutes ago, The Immoral Mr Teas said:

 

 

And likewise the BM2 mixers. And also (mentioned already?) possible polarity change on pins 2&3 on XLRs anyway ...

What is the VERY NICE looking Walkman at the extreme left of the row? I remember as a kid looking at a 'precursor' to the WM-D6C which I eventually bought which was around the same price: this might be it but I (ha - vaguely) remember it being slightly bigger. What you have looks a lovely unit of the D6C quality but half the size (and not the D3) - I'm sure it's not the early pre-D6C model I'm thinking of but still looks of a build quality above the rest.

Thanks, actually this is the Sony TCM 600B, the pre cursor of the TPS L2, the same mechanism but the recording factor and mono, I do really love the evolution till the 90s when the Logic series appears, most beautiful and Japanese micro technology.

And the great but delicate Sony TCD D8 Dat walkman....

Just now, Philip Perkins said:

For your Nagra III?  You already have the correct connector--a previous owner made the mod for you!

Hi Philip,

Well thanks, time to get a new microphone then.....

Gustavo

So, what should I do if want to connect a regular microphone? Should I get an adaptor. Thanks.

Gustavo 

I was checking my Nagra III microphone connector, this one looks weird and its been altered??

Gustavo

Thanks, I do really love my Sony TC D5 ProII, I still got my D6C as well, great machines.

Hi guys,

its me again, I've been doing some nice 60s-70- classic rock recordings and I really love the Nagra III sound, but I do live in paradise and want to do some nature, birds recordings now, not sure what type of microphone should I get? Budget please.... 

Im still using my trusted Sony TC D5 ProII professional cassette recorder and enjoying with nice Walkmans I've collected....  but it's time to move to Nagra!!!

Gustavo

On 8/15/2018 at 9:47 PM, mikewest said:

Great stuff!

 

I've just posted some Nagra items on the For Sale section of this site1

 

mike

Hi Mike,

Thanks for the offer, no budget for now.....

Gustavo

Hi Guys,

Nagra III project is done, small details. Playback RCA to Banana is working perfectly, just hooked it up to my Pioneer Rack and sounds fantastic even at lowest speed, very happy now. Thanks to all you guys for the tips!!

Gustavo

8 hours ago, dela said:

The pilot indicator will show if a pilot signal is present on the recording being played. If there is no pilot signal (which there isn´t, if you didn´t input a pilot signal...). it will not be activated. 

 

But it shouldn´t be a problem; you have absolutely no need for recording a pilot signal. It is only needed if you have a (very old) film camera connected.

Thanks Dela for the clarification, I would like to see the pilot working just on playback but it's intended for other use....

Gustavo

Last night I did some light reading regarding the pilot from Nagra III, I saw some videos and some of them the pilot works on playback, could be any modification or just an update on later models? Is there any way to do it?

Gustavo

3 hours ago, The Immoral Mr Teas said:

 

Not quite sure what you mean here Gustavo - the Nagra is mono so it's up to you if you want to work with a mono channel or sum some kind of stereo input (presumably line level and already mixed) into it - or indeed send a mono signal identically twice to a stereo input. What exactly am I missing in what you want to do with using a mono vintage tape machine (knowing you have stereo tape machines to hand) ?

 

Jez

 

Just realised Philip is answering your need but still not sure why you would want to 'combine' stereo onto a Nagra III ...

Hi Jez,

Sorry for any confusion here, I wasn't sure if I should sum Right and Left input signal on one cable or will be the same as using one of them for recording, I know it's a mono machine but music as far as I know is not exactly the same on both channels. Its merely for display and joy, not performance.

Gustavo

1 hour ago, Philip Perkins said:

There are lots of other small mixers avail used if you want to mix down stereo to mono for your Nagra.  APretty much any will do.  But the BMII would look cool with your III

Completely agreed with you Philip, that BMII mixer its beautiful, probably in the future I will consider buy it, it took me years to wait for the right moment and budget to buy this Nagra III, they're high audio collectors demand and prices are proportional.

Gustavo

Hahahaha I hate that reel already as well, it's wearing plastic 7in and tomorrow arrives the 5in ones,  next picture will be better.....promise!!

Gustavo

1 hour ago, Philip Perkins said:

Looks clean, man, congrats!  Fills my heart with nostalgia!   The heads are fairly worn but if you aren't going to do a lot of recording on it they'll hold you for a while.  But you gotta ditch that 16mm film takeup reel right now--that really make you look like a dweeb!   Your III looks like someone took good care of it, I hope it sounds great!  Re: summing stereo into mono....best is to actually mix it down in a mixer, but for testing you can just sum the L+R in a combiner cable.   This isn't what you'd want to do on an ongoing basis (like for a permanent hookup to your other, stereo, gear), for that you should get some sort of small 2>1 mixer.  If you want to stay All-Nagra look for a Nagra BMII, will match the look (and technology) of your III perfectly.

 

 

Hi Philip,

Heads still got some live fortunately, just deoxit all potentiometers and deep cleaning, it sounds amazing!! I will just do a couple of tapes for occasional playback, I got some 7in reels and this week will receive 5in, actually I just bought a beautiful metal reels, it will look astonishing!!

Regardind the Nagra mixer, wow way to expensive for me...... Thanks for the tips.

Gustavo