Tandberg tape recorder 1200X

My Tandberg open reel tape recorder,
model 1241.
Four-track recorder made between 1968
and 1970 by Tandberg Radiofabrikk,
Oslo, Norway.

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• Tandberg
• tape
• recorder
• open
• reel.

[harre67]

Yes, the toggle levers was a problem on this model, maybe one could rebuild the selector area by using relays.

[KodyIsNotAPerson]

What's the song playing?

[grahammanser999]

I remember these at school, and I wanted to have one sooooooo badly



[ludvan64]

@ricardlupus Yes I know it had RCA & Jacks at the back. But have you ever tried soldering a DIN plug, I had to several times. As I said it's a long time ago. It said multiplex at the back and there was a switch. I repaired the end-of-tape-sensor myself, but later on I had to take it back to the shop because of another fault, & they fixed the sensor properly. I think Tandberg were more concerned with build quality that was excellent, than reliability. Sound was very good.

[ricardlupus]

@ludvan64 I'm not trying to belittle your experiences with the Tandberg, but the machine actually does have RCA and jack connecters together with DIN, except for the microphones though -perhaps that is what you meant. The machine has an FM multiplex filter (for filtering out the 19 and 38 kHz resudiual tones from FM stereo broadcasts), but I don't think there was supposed to be an FM stereo decoder built in, I can't see where one would fit. The end-of-tape-sensor can be tricky, agreed.

[ludvan64]

Respond to this video... The counter never returned to zero it was always off a few numbers. For the money I paid I was not happy, but that's in the past, and most of the music I recorded I've manged to download in much better quality than was available in those days. The B&O was a dream in comparison.

[ludvan64]

@ricardlupus You are correct regarding the B&O. Nothing on Youtube, But a Google image search came up with it on the 1st picture. The Tandberg; well it's a long time ago. But it had a thing that unless it touched the tape the machine did not work. That went wrong quite early. It had a place for a stereo decoder for taping FM broadcasts, but it was not supplied & had to be bought separately. Those awful DIN plugs instead of RCA, or jacks. And the front toggle levers.

[ricardlupus]

@ludvan64 Well, basically what I said what the it can be significantly improved... What was it about the machine that never 'gave the results you expected'? The B&O you are referring is probably the Beocord 2000 de Luxe T . Agreed, the Beocords are very good, they tend to have a problem maintaining tape speed due to slippage in the machine though.

[ludvan64]

@ricardlupus I am not a technician so I don't understand all your technical stuff. When I bought it. It was one of the most expensive tape recorder around. It was good, but never gave me the results I expected. I only keep it out of sentimental reasons. My friend bought a B&O the type with that the top contained the 2 speakers that separated when opened. I've searched for it on Youtube without any luck. It was a much better machine than the Tandberg. With mixer & crossover from 1 track to other

[ricardlupus]

@ludvan64 Confusingly, the model 12, which is what you have, is in many respects rather different to the 1200X in this video, despite the similarities in the type number. The electronics was redesigned in the 1200X, and it features the Tandberg crossfield biasing system with a separate bias head opposite the record/playback head, as well as other minor changes. Basically it is very similar of course, as were all Tandbergs of that era.

[ricardlupus]

One problem that the 1200X shares with the models 14 and 15 is the way some of the contacts are at a DC potential of about 12 volts. If the contacts start acting intermittently due to dirt or oxide, you get loud clicks and pops as large voltages are injected into the audio channel. I've rebuilt mine (putting DC blocking capacitors in the signal chain), and the contacts don't cause nearly as much noise now.