Oh wow! What a blast from the past! I had one of these when I was eight years old. I inherited it from the trash pile of a family that moved away. Took me the longest time to figure out that you had to push down and turn the knob to record. I remember the familiar clattering sound of the motor, and the hollow microphonic motor noise getting into the 12AX7 preamp. Made a ton of "mix tapes" from the radio. Thanks for the memories! Mine was in a gray cloth covered case, with the cubby hole to right side for storing the cord and tapes.
people who moan about the way you do things and the stuff you use have never done this kind of work as a job. it is obvious to me you know what you are talking about. i was in the trade for over 40 years and i can not fault what you do. Keep up the good work.
This was made by Crescent. This is essentially Crescent's TR-672. Crescent supplied many manufacturers and retailers with bare chassis to full units. Sears sold Crescent-made reel-to-reel recorders until the end (after Sears switched from Pentron in 1953.) Crescent also made the classic 45 RPM mechanisms for RCA. Crescent Industries was located it Chicago.
Excellent detective work. That would explain the made in usa capacitor because normally Canadian manufactures would have used canadian made components.
What a cute reel to reel what a find this shows how great the build quality of these machines are a seized motor that mainly is always what the issues are besides caps enjoy it and thank you for sharing this vintage find I am still trying to find out how to fix my teac a-1200 u it will happen so far there is only one switch near right motor hub all the best and you really know your stuff never listen to others you rock all the best
Great classic old reel recorder ,yes i think it will be a rare one ,Good job there on getting a piece of history back to life ,and for its age it works really well ,Enjoyed many thanks.
I picked up a Voice of Music open reel recorder about a year ago from a friend of a friend. Canvas covered case. Mechanically works like a champ. Clean as a whistle. No audio whatsoever. Figure a capacitor shorted and blew its output tube. Have it wrapped in a plastic garbage bag in our storage shed. Don't have the electronic dexterity to fix it. Shame on me. Doc Foot
I've had long term problems with the standard 3 in 1 oil, which is different from what he is using. I like the "zoom spout" oil available at HVAC supply houses.
Back around 1958, I had a tape recorder with a transport mechanism very similar to this one. It was a Sears Silvertone, but mine was in a large, heavy wood cabinet with a lift-up lid. It had great sound from a front-mounted 6x9 inch speaker, and a small VU meter instead of the neon bulb level indicator, otherwise it was much the same as your Minerva.. I used it a lot. (Wish I still had it today!)
Hey, I am from Hungary and I thought you should restore a Hungarian made reel to reel at some point if you can. I think they are really interesting because of the engineering that went into them, because we did some pretty good things in a tight budget. For ex some brg products. They are not high end by any mens, but i thought it would be interesting for you and some of your viewers to see what we had at that time.
I think the only thing I have against certain brands of oils is their popularity to be used in the wrong application. Regular 3-in-1 works OK for a squeaky hinge, or rusty pair of hedge trimmers, but it's no good for any kind of long term, high speed bearing lubrication. Just like WD40, great for Water Displacement. Can do other tasks marginally well, but not as good as a purpose made lubricant/penetrant. I have the 3-in-1 20wt you used, and it works great for motors. Use it when I want something a bit heavier than the Zoom Spout turbine oil.
When I went to High School in the early 50s, the school had a 1947 Brush Sound Mirror tape recorder. The supply reel was on the left, takeup on right, but the supply reel was oxide out and the takeup reel was oxide in. This was so you could tell if a spool needed rewinding or not. Full track recording on black oxide coated paper tape.
AH YES! Brush recorders and sound mirror tapes. What a swell name. That paper tape wasn't too bad sounding, but tore easily. Uncle had one in 1951. Good microphone on a nice stand. Mike was wired backwards from the factory. Terrible AC hum. Didn't realize it until the foam rubber mounting deteriorated and I took it out of its shell.JAMES AZBELL
I've got a real challenge on my bench. You've no doubt heard of or seen those high end Crown Reel to reel decks, right? Basically the very beginning of the famous CROWN brand we know now. The one that I have is the GCR.... THE GOLDEN CROWN RECORDER... which they made for a while... the one I have here is from 1956!!! First year! Now... the heads are toast. Bur get this.. it was a FOUR TRACK STEREO recorder, with matching STEREO amp. Likely for a professional studio at the time. Note: though it is a four track stereo, there is no mention of stereo on the unit, as it wasn't an accepted term yet. It only has TWO heads... but I think the record head has an erase head built into it. I'm thinking about replacing the heads. I have the whole head assembly from a newer Akai... they measure 250 ohms, and the original measures 375, for the play heads. I'm wondering if that's close enough to work? I'm thinking if the impedance is that close that maybe it could be a drop in replacement.? I don't think there's a chance I could find the actual heads anywhere.... I was thinking about changing it to a scully... Because there are some scully head assemblies on riverb for about a 100 bucks.... And this unit runs on 3 and 3/4 to 15 IPS... Three speeds... To change the speed you have to actually physically move the belt... I got it to play and I didn't try to record.... I got the original amplifier to work after a little bit of repair... It used originally... A duet of EL37 tubes.... per side. Mullards! Unfortunately, they were only 2 left of those... And they were completely trashed.! But I think if I could get some decent heads in there and work on the transport a little bit.... And all tube recorder like that could probably sound pretty amazing!
I've seen this machine labeled as 'Crescent', and a similar version from Sears, in old catalogs and eBay. I have a Telectro recorder that has almost this same twisted fabric-reinforced FF/REW belt setup. From that, I wonder if Crescent and Telectro had any connection? I think Telectro was eventually absorbed by Emerson. My Telectro seemed really crude and basic compared to some old German and Japanese machines, but it worked very well and actually sounded pretty good! My Telectro threads in the normal direction. Does it feel weird threading this one 'backwards'?
I’ve got my dads old Truvox MK lll open reel deck, which he bought when he was 21, (he’s 81 now) and that fed from right to left.... beast of a machine three motors AC, which have a unique method of braking.... squirted DC across the spooling motors to slow down the ultrafast wind/rewind speeds!
That's the cleanest old reel-to-reel unit I've ever seen. I bet it has very few hours on it. That twisted cloth belt design was not too uncommon back then with American-made units.
Can't get enough of these videos! You've actually helped me out a lot moving forward with my electronics career. Even though most of the equipment is dated, everything still applies, the components are just in a different package. I hate to say it, but I like the royalty free radio station you have broadcasting. What source/station are you using? Could be worth a video about your system too (unless I'm missing the one you've already made on your channel). Thanks!
Nice machine. It reminds me of the recorder my father had. It was a DuKane, and the tapes played from right to left. Also, the oxide side of the tape was facing out and the heads were on the opposite side mounted on the front of the machine instead of behind the tape.
Interesting machine! I first thought it was an Austrian machine, but have never heard of them making tape recorders. Some days ago I repaired a Norwegian Radionette "Multicorder" with the reels coaxially mounted to save space. No wonder the techs quickly named them "multi trouble" , I quite agree with that. Not service friendly at all. Tandbergs, on the other hand.. great machines!
I've used high-activity flux and a hot air gun in the past to clean an extremely oxidized board, made the thing look like I just bought it after cleaning
This looks over 90% identical to a Sears Silvertone 7070 from 1956. The controls are in the same places, and most of the internals are the same too. My deck has no braking system or dual speeds - that cost extra. I did a (much less technical) RU-vid video on this a few months back, and had the same level of success - all original belts and still working great. At about 42:00 in your video the bottom head cover should come off too. Thanks for uploading this!
The One thing I noticed is the plug. is not polarized, so wouldn't that be a hot chassis - would be safe to change the plug to a polarized style or not make any difference? Here's a funny thought for ya in addition to the name of the tape recorder Minerva was the cats name of Mrs Davis { from the Radio show called - Our Miss Brooks }
I have a BIC 940 turntable, it changes the speed in the same manner: the speed change lever has diagonal slides on it that moves the belt up and down on the motor pulley. That is a really cool reel to reel!
Dave, I’m one up on you. My 3 in 1 oil is still in a metal can probably purchased in the 1960’s. I guessing you use more than I do, though a lot of electric fans and phono motors are still running because of it.
Its made similar to my telectro 1960 but this one is better with dual speakers and a more powerful amplifier. I wish I could find where to get new fabric belts but for now they're ok
While not something to record hi fidelity on, it's built like a tank! Good for playing half track tapes or making spoken dialogue recordings. Never seen a reel to reel play right to left, so that's a first for me. The only other way is having a machine with auto reverse! A unique find indeed.
My Concord 220 was built like a tank, and it was a reel-to-reel tape recorder from 1964 that has two vacuum tubes, and two transistors and it says “Transistorized” on the front panel, because it was a hybrid set. It was also a 2-track mono machine, and it won’t play a 4-track stereo tape on the Concord 220. Perfect for spoken word recordings on 1 7/8 IPS and music for 3 3/4 IPS and 7 1/2 IPS.
the AC erase/ bias oscillator relies heavily on the low ESR of the main electrolitic filter capacitors. If their ESR is high, the oscillator will interfere with the recording amplifier, causing all kind of problems. Also, if you want good treble playback, change the play/record head, since it's probably at the end of its life, being worn beyond repair.
Reminds me of transferring a friends tapes when they resurfaced many years after he moved from Sydney. He had an evenings DXing recorded from his fathers prewar tube radio in the mid 60s. I later transferred that to digital along with a tape I got at the flea market which had a recording of 3KZ Melbourne Xmas top 40 from 1975. If you wonder what happens when a spool falls off at full rewind speed, it happened to me. It was a metal spool and it the concrete of my garage with sparks before it gained traction. Took off and hit some sacking which deflected it 90 degrees. It then travelled the length of the garage, hitting the rolling door with a resounding bang. Edit, forgot to mention it left a trail of 1/4 inch tape behind it
If the front can't be removed with the fuse holder attached and the new holder is glued into place with JB Weld, what happens if the front has to be removed?
It does look very clean inside, obviously didn't spend time in a humid environment. Interesting that it wasn't branded as a Viking, being an Eatons house product.
I had an old uncle Alf who worked for Otis elevator. He introduced my dad to the virtues of 3 in one oil. We always had a tin around the house. My dad bought me an american flyer train set, and the wise guy from next door came over and ran it full speed around the curve and the engine flew onto the floor. It never worked again. I put a half a tin of 3 in one in that thing, and it still didn't work. I remember the days when my grand parents bought everything from Eaton's, or Simpsons. We even had a green teco master lawnmower from Eaton's. They even had outboard motors called Viking. The only Minerva I could find was from the eastern block, and made by Grundig.
Austria most definitely wasn't part of the Easten bloc, although parts of it were under Soviet occupation for ten years after WWII. The Iron Curtain went east and north of Austria.
@@Ragnar8504 I know, I wasn't sure where they were made exactly, but I saw a video of a guy from czech republic talking about some minerva products. I didn't know where grundig was made. Now I do , thanks.
There's actually some places in the UK that no longer accept cash, and is nothing to do with Covid, because they stopped sometime last year. But then I still remember the day in 2005, I filled up my car with petrol, and then found that the filling station no longer accepted cheques.
Gas stations here went to prepaid years ago after a guy was dragged to death trying to stop a gas thief. Theif (in a stolen car) mowed the 19 year attendant over and dragged him for about 15 blocks under the car. So the knee jerk reaction was prepay for gas. They take cash still but it is a pain if you want to fill up because you have to give them more, pump gas and then line up again to get change. Once the got card readers at pumps installed it is better.
@@12voltvids War on cash has nothing to do with CV. Neither does the lockdown. Banks started blowing up in September 2019. Lockdown was to reduce velocity of money, and stall a banking collapse. Alasdair McLeod is expecting a banking and currency collapse this year. See here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-RCzBMJG_CRw.html
Hi,, Cool find will be very neat to restore... Out this way,, when a retailer illegally refuses to except cash we let them know that we'll warn people not to go to their establishment and to go some where else. Things are getting stupid for sure.
@@12voltvids Ah, so 6 volt preamp and phase inverter. I have a couple similar amps. The gem is that Hammond PT! That amp could be modded to make a real screamer.
@@12voltvids Where? I only saw the same 4 tubes that Crescent used. From the service manual: V1: 12AU7A "Mixer & Playback Preamp", V2: 12AX7 "AF Amplifier", V3: 6V6GT "Output - Bias Oscillator", V4: 6X5GT "Rectifier". The 6V6 does double duty in record: regular output with a 50 KHz oscillation above the audio range. The head is a rather primitive Shure Brothers all-in-one used by many outfits up to 1960.
What an unusual machine, very rare. Shame the person that put that fuse holder in didn't put it in the holed plate where the mic is stored, it would not have impacted on the looks. I imagine if you wanted a better sound a little eq and auto level circuit would be possible (An external plug in).
@@12voltvids Almost never on some bits of equipment, it sounds silly but some fuses seem to weaken over time and pop when the unit is powered up, the inrush current must overload a slightly corroded part of the fuse wire (maybe near the ends where the acid flux is?) I've seen it on old original fuses mostly. Shame some asshole drilled that hole :-(
Well, seems that this machine has nothing to do with the mentioned brand Minerva from Vienna, but it's an just an Model name for (maybe) a series of products built by T. Eaton like this one: www.radiomuseum.org/r/eaton_co_minerva_fa_11.html
Yes microcenter here in Baltimore is the same way no cash . And they was so shity about it. It sucks because they are the only electronic parts store in Baltimore. Thanks for the video thats a super cool player .
The one that ticks me off is restaurants. The credit card machine automatically pops up with a 15% tip and you have to touch the machine to change it to 0% tip. Sorry I don't tip on the after tax total to begin with, and I certainly don't tip on take out.
This looks like the same tape recorders that were made for Sears for many years. I believe the mfg company was Warwick Manufacturing Corp. of Chicago. I have seen that Sears had several similar looking models to yours in the late 50's and early to mid 1960's. and yes, all the Sears tape recorders ran backwards like the one you have here! I have a video series on a Sears stereo tape recorder which was probably made by Warwick for Sears. My video where I identify Warwick via 2 patent documents is here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-RQfCjXtyoTQ.html Buzz1151 also has a series on a different styled Sears stereo recorder that uses the same type of transport. Hope this gives you a lead on "Minerva" Love your vids!
Places Here in the States are not Accepting Cash Either, must be some thing has to do with the Covid Pandemic, and we have a Coin Shortage now too. wonder now how we gonna Buy stuff when one does not have a card which i don't have, just Cash or Checks is all i have, Must be going on all over, i wonder why though for real.
I remember mine had a 12AX7 preamp - the tube mounted on rubber grommets, a 5Y3 rectifier, I think another 12AX7 driver stage, and 6K6 or 6V6 audio output. That was a long time ago. I'll be damned! I remembered fairly correctly! Here is Sams Photofact PDF: www.sportsbil.com/other/Crescent%20TR-672,TR-673.pdf
Back in the 1950s everything was made so much better than and everything lasted longer everything was American made in the good old USA and in Canada to, but now everything is made overseas and it’s always cheaply made and it doesn’t last as long. Back in those days things would last 30 years before they broke down. I don’t know why they can’t do that today.
They can, but you don't want to pay for it. Back in 1969 my dad bought a McIntosh 1600 receiver. He paid about 600.00 for it. Do you know how much money that was in 1969? A months wages at the saw mill he was a foreman at was about 175 a month! You could buy a BRAND NEW car for 2000.00 and a house for not much more. I have a copy of the original deed for my property for when it originally sold. Now this was bare land, in 1949. Lot size is 55 x 140. Total price for the lot was.... wait for it.... 490.00! That is to put things into perspective. My dad paid, in 1969 110.00 more for a stereo that a good size chunk of realestate sold for 20 years prior. Incidentally, that chunk of land, where my house sits, valued at 1,240,000 today. 2 years ago when house prices were higher it was assessed at 1,410.000! That just puts things into perspective. In 1985 a 50" projection TV was 5,000.00 today you can buy a 50" 4K TV for under 300.00. Will it last 40 years, no, but hey it is cheap when it breaks go get another one.
Damn that’s a lot of money, but back then you had repairman who would repair it for you if it broke down now today you don’t have that anymore you just go buy a new one whenever it breaks no matter what it is and also today everything is in one piece back then you could take the circuit boards out and replace it.12voltvids
@@thepastcomesalive2082 again it boils down to replacement cost. When I was in the TV repair business in the 80 & 90s a 20" TV cost between 600 and 1000. A 27" crt between 800 and 1400 and a 34" between 1500 and 3000. Projection sets ran 3000 to 5000. Parts and service data was available and there was a service industry. I got out in 2003 at the first opertinity to retrain and move into a different industry. (phone company) I watched colleges and friends in the business go broke and close their doors. Even the local parts store where I had bought parts at since I was 13, and had been handed down from the founder to his son ended after the both the founder and his son passed away. The grandson had no interest in maintaining the shop with all the repair shops that bought large quanaties of service parts closing their doors, there just was no interest in doing this for a 3rd generation. Its sad, I used to like to go there to get parts, usually they had that specific part I needed and the shop was a throw back to the 70s. It looked exactly like it did back in the 70s. Strips of 8 foot fluorescent tubes buzzing away big service counter that wrapped all the walls and floor to ceiling parts on multiple racks. Computers with monochrome crt (green and amber with lots of burn in) displays still running dos text based inventory and pos systems. It was like taking a step back in time. The place was always busy too.
i bet ya a million buck's another cool Canadian would know all about it.(or can i say aboot it) Paul Carlson from Mr. Carlson's Lab!!!! Just Goes To Show How Cool The Instructions Were Back Then That They Give You A Full Schematic Inside It!! VERY COOL : ) oh speaking of oil Nazi's, isn't the tape that came with that unit the highly combustible stuff like they used in that film "Inglorious Bastard's" to burn all the Nazi's at the end in the picture hall???
Paul probably has one of these in his collection of old stuff. He is into all those old tube dinosaurs. He is more into the old ham radio stuff, I am more of an audiophile (but not an audiophool because I won't spend the bucks that some will, i wait till I get my hands on stuff cheap or free and I have a few nice pieces including mcintosh and sansui vintage gear)
Austrian Minerva was sold to Grundig in 1968 and a Grundig brand until 2003. This one clearly isn't Austrian nor Grundig. Even if it were European, I'd probably suspect the Italians as they had some very basic RTRs. The Germans and Austrians preferred mid-range to high-end recorders, incorporating things like insanely complex linkages and idler assemblies, EM xx magic eye/magic ribbon valves, mechanical tape counters etc.
I'm all for a cashless world but I never knew banks in Canada charge you when using a debit or credit card. That's ridiculous! I never pay with cash unless I absolutely have to and I get charged exactly what I'm paying.
We have unlimited banking plans which they charge you a fee to use but I am not on one. I get 20 free transactions a month and then pay for each one. I generally use my credit card but many businesses have a surcharge for credit card transactions because the bank charges them 2 or 3% for credit purchases. Of course they can not "add" that to the price so they offer a cash discount of the amount they pay for credit card purchases. Up to March of this year I had never used a debit card for anything. I made regular trips to the bank machine and grabbed some cash and pay for small things that way. Always have. That was how I was brought up, and I have zero debt. How many can say that? My house is paid for, all my vehicles paid in full when I drive them off the new car lot. The last new car I financed was back in 1998 and I have bought 4 new vehicles since then. How? By not going on big expensive vacations, fixing old devices and continuing to use them, and not borrowing to buy things and handing over a bunch of interest to lenders. I know people with 20 or 30 grand on credit card debt with interest upwards of 30% or taking payday loans at 59% interest. They have good jobs and make good money but end up going into debt bailing their kids out of student loans, buying expensive cars or having to go on that 30,000 tropical vacation every year. No thanks, if I don't have the cash in my hand, no matter how much I might like something it is staying on the shelf. I hate paying a dime more for something than I have to and banks that make record profits every year are one of my biggest pet peeves. They pick your pocket at every turn just like the government with all the taxes.
@@12voltvids Here in ND, payday loans are only for 2 weeks and a person can extend it 1 time. It's 500+% for 2 weeks and over 1000% interest if they extend it 1 time. They prey on the low income people.
The government stepped in here and put limits on what they can charge. 60% and it is racketeering. So the payday alone people charge 59.9% and have a transaction fee. I wouldn't know though as I have never used them but an old friend did rely on them for years and wondered why he could never get out of debt.
@Kent Teffeteller Crescent of Chicago made these for a ton of outfits. The basic mechanism was used throughout the life of the company, ending in 1967. Because of sales resistance to the "backward" tape flow late units flipped the mechanism upside down to give a "normal" left-to-right movement.
That was a different Minerva brand, founded in Austria before the war and sold to Grundig in 1968. I wonder who owns it now since Grundig's gone belly-up in 2003!
Too much hassle to change banks. I used to deal with CIBC and the crap they put me through when I was buying my house in 93. I kicked them to the curb back in 93 and will never deal with them again. When I was buying my house I had saved up over 60 grand. Needed another 65 to buy it. You would think with a 50% down payment this would be a no brainier, but both Royal and CIBC said no, sorry we can't help you. House was not on a foundation (I was buying it for the lot value to build on) and they don't finance land. Both CIBC and RBC treated me like dirt, and now would love my business but I won't give either of them the time of day.
Nope, US-made but if it were European, I'd immediately have pointed to the Italian as well! The utterly basic simplicity reminds of Geloso, Castelli etc.
Oh boo hoo. I got it running didn't I? I solved the problem, a seized up motor and inspected the chassis. Nothing else to do on it. I showed the internal workings for those interested. Sorry you are so impatient.
Then why did you watch it Martin? There are plenty of other repair technicians posting videos on RU-vid. Just "change the channel" and watch something else! I will never understand why people spend time complaining about something that they had the freedom to "walk away" from, at any point in time, once they realized that they were not interested. Sheesh... What a world this has turned into. Thank you very much Dave for sharing this ultra unique reel to reel tape recorder with us, the people that are interested in your content and also have an attention span longer than that of a gnat! Cheers, Fred
@@12voltvids I think your electronic skills are the best but most of us don't want see extra long videos that show nothing that we can't do scanning the dial or playing a tape recorder. I know the longer the program the more adds you get paid for .I do enjoy learning how you work on and find problems in circuits, but give us a break.
@@MartinSBrown-tp9ji Here we go again someone bitching about the length. How does this sound. I won't shoot a video next time. How would you like that? 99% want the long form, and then there is you. Guess who I cater to. If the majority wanted 5 minute videos that is what you would get and then you wouldn't see troubleshooting and testing or what procedure was needed to get the unit apart or back together. What would you learn? Very little.