Hoping to find someone to service a Nagra IV-S

[Fishfood]

I finally got my uncle, a feature production sound mixer, to let me look around his storage unit and I found a beautiful IV-S and begged and he is letting me borrow/have it (I'll pay for it in other ways for sure!). I'm hoping that someone here knows who I might be able to go to and have it serviced. I've run it and everything is smooth and quiet in all functions and directions. I can't test playback or recording for a few days until the cables I bought off ebay get here.

 

That said, I'm going to want someone to go through it and make sure all is well. Any help would be appreciated!!

 

 

[Axel Mishael]

Glen Trew at Trew Audio in Nashville!

 

 

Axel.

[Scott D Smith]

And if Glen can’t take it on, try Forrest Forbes.

 

-S

[The Immoral Mr Teas]

Hi Fishfood,

 

Since you're new here be sure to look at the thread started by JBond in Images of Interest on the Nagra - your uncle may have a story or two concerning the above Nagra to contribute.

 

It looks in excellent condition and well taken care of (which also means maintained and calibrated up until it was retired to the shelf) so I would start with your uncle, with your plan for a health check and hope to get it running perfectly, if you haven't already. Who (in California) serviced it back in the day - as recent as the 1990s by the look of it - and are they still about (retired or not)?

 

Also - especially if you're not terribly familiar with tape recorders and magnetic recording (given your expected age you may not have had the amateur or professional experience older folks have had) - it may be well worth reading up on magnetic media theory in general and essential to familiarise yourself with the IV-S in particular before you start. The Nagra recorders from the III up have been beautifully designed for the job they did, but that job was complicated and developing and the machines are not intuitive to learn. The Nagra site now has most of the manuals available to download for many of its heritage models (and certainly the IV-S instructions, possibly the IV-S maintenance manual too). It also has a useful tool to find the exact factory date of the machine which is pretty obvious for most Nagras but not for instance the SJ and some others. It could point out things of interest for your exact era model like components and such like.

 

Finally, if your uncle isn't already part of our community here you may want to point the site out to him. We're all grateful to the work put in and friendship extended out by Jeff our late host and are determined that his spirit continues to lead our efforts to carry on. As online experiences go here is certainly one of the most positive so again welcome.

 

All the best, Jez

[dela]

Nagra machines are incredibly well built, and often they can stand on a shelf for ages and then work perfectly fine when switched off. So for a start you can test it, and then find out if it needs servicing.

 

Some things to look out for when testing:

 

- Does it make any strange noises? Nagras are almost silent when running, so look out for knocking sounds (especially when rewinding). In some cases rollers can need lubrication; if you rotate them by hand, they should run silently (no screeching) and they should keep on rolling for several seconds

- Does it record/play back? Be aware that the rotary switches on the IV-S tends to corrode when not used, but often the problem can be solved (or mitigated) by exercising the switch until the noise stops. In some cases you won´t have any signal at all because of dirty contacts, so be sure to exercise the switches. If they are dirty, a non-lubricating contact cleaner can be used. But don´t thy to open the gray rotary switches!

- How does it measure? For measuring basic data I use a (good, but not high end) USB audio interface, and the NAK T-100 application. The application is really cheap, but very well working, and it is quite intuitive, since it is basically a software emulation of the Nakamichi T-100 tape recorder analyzer.

 

But to keep it simple: Ask your uncle to help you make a test, and if any issues show up, write here with questions. You won't damage anything by using it untested, and in the vast majority of cases, it will work fine. Don´t consider recapping or preventive replacement of rubber parts (belts or pinch roller) if there are no problems; the unoriginal replacement parts or components will probably be worse than the  original. I bought a IV-S of the same age as yours a couple of years ago; it hadn't been used for 20 years, and it worked perfectly.

 

The only capacitor that might be dried out is the filter capacitor in the ATN-2 supply. They sometimes need to be replaced, but that is easy and inexpensive to do; many of the electronic components are still easily available. 

 

On www.nagraaudio.com you can find both user- and service manuals as downloads. You can also enter the serial number of you machine and find the production year.

 

NOTE: I just read the Tapeheads thread about your Nagra: If if supposedly was serviced a few years ago, I would no expect any age-related problems by now. And regarding the heads: It is absolutely not my impression that Nagra heads were soft and wore out fast. Your IV-S model has ruby tape guides that almost never get worn, so even if there is a wear groove on the heads, it might not be a problem. Which is fortunate, because NOS Nagra heads are very, very hard to find.