The Rare EMI BTR-1 (British tape recorder 1) 1948 reel to reel

[zog97xy]

@Seblington i used to own one of these bought it for £25.00 from broadheath worcester in the late seventies two were used in recording studios for sound on sound.

[Seblington]

Wish they were still around :-(

[TheMrmagnetophon]

@Seblington the company or did you sell them?



[zog97xy]

@Seblington yes these were used for a lot of the sixties merseybeat etc, i think the sound was much better than todays stuff!

[latour56]

Hello!

Very interesting video and I am longing for the next one. Do you know how many BTR1:s were produced? On the back of the machines there is a number after the letters BTR - does that indicate the number in production, what machines do you have?

[Seblington]

Hello and thank you, the machiens do have plates on the back ( I have 2 of them now), one is a BTR-2-C and the other I cant remember if it was a BTR-2-A or B (30 ips no speed changer), the first machines serieal number is up in the thousands though cant remember what, but the second one has a serial number of 130 which makes me think its a very early example, I dont think the serial ever started at 1 and think it may be machine number 30 ?

[OFR]

Clearly one of (if not THE) most-beautiful tape machines ever made! EMI were magicians for things like this...

[Seblington]

Thank you for your kind comments, I really like these machines (now have 2) very heavy, you can tell when you listen to it that there are lots of design flaws which is what you would expect from the first.

[CATHODEBIAS1962]

In the mid sixties I worked at ARC records/Tapes in 15b Maresfeild gardens Finchley.

One of the recording machines was a BTR 1,Mr Marcell Rodd owener of ARC d had the basement of his home converted into a recording studio,The BTR 1 had fire damage and bought as salvage,Modified, All the valve equipment removed .Full track Head fitted and used as a master feeding 3X TR90's for pre recorded tapes.I had the monitor amp( KT66's and 6J7's) for many years.Built like a battleship. GREAT TIMES

[audiotrax2000]

Wow, that is really interesting! It just radiates charecter, and history. Thanks for sharing this with all of us.

[Seblington]

Thank you, tomorrow, I have another one of these monsters arriving which I brought from the US, funny as its a UK machine.

[OlegKostoglatov]

@Seblington I wonder if it belonged to Decca or another British company with an American branch originally? That BTR1 reminds me of an Ampex machine from the 1950s in some ways. One good think about the KT66 is that I think it is equal electrically to a 6L6 which is still being produced, if the machine burns through them fast it's good that it isn't a rare tube/valve.

[Seblington]

Not sure, the machine in the video was from Australia and had some modifications done to it, the second one I had which came from the US is very early and is thought to have been used at Abbey road studios (as the first lot were), more to the theory, the owner had strong ties with EMI and had written books on the Beatles (this machine is pre their records), it is thought this was sold from Abbey in 1980 to a private collector, then stored since.

[vk3ase]

Great video. When i worked at the Australian Broadcasting Commission in

Melbourne in the 1970's they still had TR90's in service. In an old abandoned

studio that was built for the 1956 olympic games there were some BTR 2's

gathering dust. Have never seen or heard of a BTR1 before, love the cabinet

design,like an old radiograme. Bet a few people lost an important recording

with that magnetic erase device, no interlocks so you could wipe what one had

just recorded.

[Seblington]

Thank you, it is funny that I find the oldest British machines from around the world, I am now hoping to buy another.

[Seblington]

This machine though made in the UK came from Australia, I had it imported a few years ago, cost a fortune

[oviwolf]

Awesome reel to reel! It's a really interesting and rare machine,you're lucky to have such a treasure! I am curious to see and hear it working :-)

[Seblington]

Hello, sorry for the late reply, I had the machine working but it was cooking components inside, its still at my old house but in the next few weeks I will be getting it moved and repaired.

[cuz19672]

Must have been pretty quick in reverse engineering the machine.EMI would have had at maybe 3 years or so, just to get it sorted out !

[kogvos]

Very interesting. Looking forward to the running demo when you've checked it's not going to go up in smoke. Was the machine in private ownership in New Zealand or ex Broadcasting Corporation?

[tubeie07]

Beautiful machine - I do love your videos exploring vintage equipment so thoroughly. Looking forward to the 'working' video, however I'm sure we all understand that that posting may be sometime yet in the future...!

[BrentAudi]

Awesome find!

You amaze me how you find these treasures!

I am blown away at the engineering that went into this machine!

It is a very superior looking machine!

Great video! Thanks for sharing!

Brent

[spannerworks1]

Stuart

Great video and lovely machine to own. Interesting the shafts to reduce wow and flutter.

Warm regards

Richard

[vidprowler]

An absolute coup in acquiring this machine! The engineering and the build quality appear to be first rate.

[clydesight]

That is a very impressive machine, quite interesting. I agree, the long motor shafts are  odd, obviously they could introduce wow and flutter. I like the shape of the unit with the rounded corners and such. I hope you get it running some day. However, I imagine it is a real electricity hog!

Thanks for the interesting video!

[garyspong]

Great machine. Look forward to seeing it work, especially that strobe light. I noticed the dumbbells in the background. I imagine you have to keep in shape to move these machines around. Ha ha! Sorry.

[AstAMoore]

Unbelievably awesome! Enjoyed every second of the video. Hope you'll fix her up soon.

[CoolDudeClem]

Cant wait to see (and hear) this up and running.

[btown2011]

let me know about the magnetophon's you have a chance on, because i would like them.

[TrowbridgeHardcore]

i wonder what the soundquality of a decent oldskool trebely trance track would sound like on this amchine lol, reminds me of old cars the way the front is curved, looks nice tho

[patterson9991]

trance you say mr g

[TrowbridgeHardcore]

Defoneteoly Babe lol