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

This is a rare machine, imported from New Zealand, this recorder was what EMI came up with when they built their first recorders for sale,

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Reel to reel
• tape recorder
• emi recorder
• BTR-2
• BTR-1
• first tape recorder
• british emectronics

[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 ?

[zog97xy]

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

[TheMrmagnetophon]

@Seblington the company or did you sell them?

[Seblington]

Wish they were still around :-(

[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]

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.

[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]

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

[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.