UHER 4400 Report Monitor 3 head tape recorder 

I've done repairs on these in the past. Lovely machines. x

My goodness you have taken me back in time! I used the Uher 44 hundred for recording reports and interviews from the 90s right into the early 2000s for BBC Local Radio (GLR 94.9fm). The BBC must have had thousands of these wonderful machines. We had about 10 of them at GLR. They lived in a rack in the corner of the newsroom where they were all plugged in charging when not in use. Brilliant quality recording, the beauty of having three heads (ERR as we knew it) was that as you were recording you could flick your cans to listen to the replay head whilst still recording and check the quality/level of what was going on tape. (You would hear the audio on the tape was obviously slightly delayed because the tape was physically moving from the record head to the replay) We always used it at 7½ inches per second - which in the BBC was standard for Mono recording. The machine could also record at 3¼IPS but we never used that for broadcast - too much hiss. Studio machines could also record in Stereo at 15 IPS. We never recorded Stereo at 7½ IPS - most BBC machines would automatically switch to mono at 7½, and would only record on the 'A' channel (Left was 'A', Right was 'B'). The hours and hours and miles and miles of tape I've used and cut and stuck back together (how we edited - literally marked the tape with chinagraph grease pencil, cut the tape with a razor blade, removed the bit you wanted to, and then stuck the tape back together with special sticky tape. I reckon I could still do a passable job cutting an I/V now with ¼" tape. You mentioned cassettes - by the mid 90s cassettes had improved so much that you could use them to record broadcast quality audio - I couldn't tell the difference aurally between something recorded on a Uher and something recorded on a Marantz cassette machine. The downside with cassettes, was that you had to dub the cassette onto ¼ inch for editing, which took extra time. But the cassette machines were much lighter, and the battery lasted much longer. But I still preferred ¼ inch for the time saved. Thank you so so much for this - I've been transported back to happy times in the 90s, at a great Radio Station. Best Wishes Zac

Thanks for showing this. UHER tape recorders are now classics and were of excellent design and build quality only bettered by Nagra units - which were three to four times more expensive. For interest the list price of that unit in 1977 was £290.70, ( about £1960.00 in today's money) the power supply & link cable was £28.18, metal tape spools £3.70. A lead acid battery £18.33 and a NiCad (higher capacity) battery £36.16. Surprisingly you can still buy a compatible 6 volt lead acid battery for about the same price today. You just have to adjust the tab connections on the battery a little to make them contact inside the machine. The units were also available in half track (4200 stereo) and single track (4000) the unit in the video one is quarter track - so you can turn the tape over. The power supply connection at the side also has, as do the microphone DIN sockets at the front, a pin connection for a pause switch - either foot or on the microphone. This operates a pause relay which you can see towards the front (pink unit) when you removed the battery holder. It is a testament to the design and build quality that I still have the previous version, bought as a 21st birthday present 52 years ago, and it still works well with a little servicing along the way. Only issue is rumble has developed from the capstan idler wheel because the rubber has hardened.

Thank you very much for this great video and so many informations about this amazing tech wonder.

Thank you!

You need to soften up the rubber on the flywheel. Use 60 glycerol 40 white spirit. Put oil in the rollershaft for the backtension lever.😂

Que belíssimo equipamento!

Rolls Royce of kit there...with a price to match...

My friend, when I watch you threading that tape, I can tell that you are new to the reel to reel Taperecorder. If you leave the ends sticking out like that, you will have marks on either the Lid or at the bottom Aluminium plate. I have the same UHER 4400 and I run the tape around the core of the spool holding it with my finger one turn and then it catches on its own without any part sticking out. Just saying!

One more correction, it is not 1.9 cm per s. but 19cm s, it also says so on your Unit in Inches, 7.5 inch p. s. so that is the fastest speed and gives you 20-25.000 HZ, where 9.5cm s. only gives you 20-16.000 HZ. Hope I´m not intruding, it is a very nice UHER 4400, just like mine and I really love it.

Correction, the Radio/Phono socket is in and out, at least on my Unit. The Monitor socket is for external Amplifier.

hi ace vide good to see the insides with reel to reel you got to have alot of good tapes i service all my decks and have the right test tapes are made in the same place in the eu i have some uk model brenell mini 8 i done hell a lot of work on myself yes re cap all over 100% check all over i put alot of time in to my decks note to all looking for reel to reel decks beware there's alot of bad decks out there i have a mate he deals with used parts and new rubber parts he said he got a big waiting list of people looking for parts he said i just done alot of fine tuning to my 8516 i find alot i had to put right please to all the more tracks you have the move you find bad tip say you have a soundcraft 760 put all the good card at the lower number like 1-8 if they are working and 9-16 cards are not working right i pull the cards test them put them away get a panel cover made to fill the hole i had to do this with reel to reel decks the teac 8516 there's alot of audio cards around still around just ask i got 16 audio card for £100 uk

I have the 4200 stereo version. If anyone knows how one could calibrate these machines so we can use it with new tape, I'm all ears!

Isn't it 19cm/s?