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Nagra QGB vs QGB II?


Philip Perkins

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Another Old Nagrist question:  back in the day I often rented a QGB so I could record to 10" reels.  The one I rented was a box about 4 inches deep and maybe 18 inches long that attached to the back of the Nagra, and had reel motors of its own.  I recently saw a picture labelled as "QGB II" that appeared to be a smaller, simpler version that used the Nagra's own motor, via accessories attached to the reel holders, and did not appear to have motors of its own.  Has anyone used this QGB II?  Does anyone rent one out?

 

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I’ve seen these QGB IIs available on eBay. I think that they are a third party device. I’ve thought about getting one because I’d like to record on 10” reels too, and it doesn’t look like I’ll ever own an original QGB unless I spend big $$$!

 

If you have a source, I’d be interested ;)

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You are right--further research revealed that it is a 3rd party device from Belgium, called an "ABR".  I haven't found any info about who makes them, and they only seem to be available on EBay (for about $1200).  That price is about half of a decent deal on a used QGB, if you can find one for sale.  Their approach is less robust than Kudelski's--their device imitates the way Stellavox made their 10" reel adapter in that it uses the reel platens of the recorder plus rubber bands running over the reels.  One major issue between this approach and that of a real QGB is that changing reels is kind of a deal--you have to remove the drive bands to get the reels off, and the "fast wind" of this system will be VERY slow!   Also, the tape wrap on the takeup reel would be very loose.  In any case, I don't think I'd go for one of these unless I could look at it in the flesh first....s-l1600.jpg

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I dunno--I found an old post by Bruce Bisenz himself, a famous old Hollywood Stellavox user who used the 10" reel adapters with his machines, the ones these Belgian devices are a knock off of.  Even for him using them was no picnic.  Using a QGB requires much heightened "recorder awareness" to avoid damaging the tape....and this thing is far scarier.

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Aloha, interesting but quite short of the original Nagra QGB. The original used the batteries in the 4STC to power its source. The original had spacers fitted over the supply and takeup spindles to keep the tape from contacting the spindle surfaces. Because the Nagra has tension rollers, the QGB11 when starting would more than likely generate an oscilating cycle until the tape comes up to speed. Possible tape alignment might occur until the speed is reached. It would seem likely there may be loads generated on the Nagra spindles as the tape is moved from one reel to the other. The original was expensive, however when you consider the quality you were getting it is still the best way to go  

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Yes, I have a lot of experience with the Nagra QGB thanks, and it worked well if you paid attention.  The QGB did not run directly off the batteries of the Nagra (and not just IVS-TC, but any IV or 4-series Nagra) but off whatever power supply the deck was switched to.  Running the combo of the Nagra (esp @ 15ips) and the QGB (with 10" reels of 1.0 mil tape) off the internal "D" cells would not have been a great idea.  I've seen videos of the "Belgian QGB" running fine (with the recorder on AC power), but the design won't work well re: reel changes for live recording so I can't even consider it.

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Aloha, their advertising shows this being made out of Hong Kong. It is also offered for the Stellavox and Sony APR-2003. In the Sony it requires custom fitting and uses a flat plate for assembly. At some time in the past I owned the Nagra QGB and it was a real state of the art and it worked great. Happy Holidays

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