Spare parts for Studer A80

[redroomstudio]

Hi.


Anyone know where I can get spare parts for an Studer A80?

And while we are at it :

My Studer is starting to sound like an chorus/tremolo effectbox and thats not what I want it to sound like.
Do you do your own service on your tape machines? Is there a DIY website with a "walkthrough" out there or should I just pay the only person in my city 1000$ to have it done?



thanks
Morten Stendahl/Redroom Studio

[Riccardo]

Originally Posted by redroomstudio

Hi.


Anyone know where I can get spare parts for an Studer A80?

And while we are at it :

My Studer is starting to sound like an chorus/tremolo effectbox and thats not what I want it to sound like.
Do you do your own service on your tape machines? Is there a DIY website with a "walkthrough" out there or should I just pay the only person in my city 1000$ to have it done?



thanks
Morten Stendahl/Redroom Studio

Hi Morten,

it very much varies with the geographical location you are in.
Unless you are in or close to a big city in Europe it will usually be difficult and expensive to have somebody come and service ATRs for you.

I know it myself as my recording studio is in a smallish city. You could either do the service yourself (if you are technically competent) or at least try to learn all you can in order to carry out the basic or at the very least assess the problem.

The technician I use for my studio is a genius but as all geniuses has his quirks. The difficult thing is to get him to show up . Once he is there he can fix anything.

Spares for the A80: Studer does not support and will not answer questions about the Old Beast, Nor do they carry spare parts.

They did have a few part left but not on their inventory last year. I desperately needed an extension card and luckily got hold of somebody there that told me that they had one left even if it didn't show up in their inventory! Thanks to KMR and Studer UK I managed to get it. (tried with Studer Italy but as always they were useless to say the least, and I am being polite here )

I usually source spare part when needed or in case they are needed from trusted sellers on evil bay.
Much better if you come across a second machine for sale in your area to use as spares

I have had the odd relay go bad on one or two cards so far as my A80 is from '82.
The wiring I re-did myself as nobody could bother doing such tedious job.


Can't help you with the tremolo effect as I have never experienced such behaviour.
See if you can track down the problem. Is one channel delayed in respect to the other? Also varying in signal amplitude? Heads? Electrical?

[finetuner]

Morten,

I have my studer A807 serviced at our local (Holland) distributor who have experienced in-house tech dept. Heynen Professional Electronics, GSM and GSM-R related They're about the only ones i'd trust to open my machine.

You may check this store in Germany: Schmitronic, Studio Equipment
They sell a lot of used recording equipment including old Studers. Not sure about service and smaller parts but worth a try.

For small parts, you can always check Ebay. I've seen lots of smaller Studer stuff there.
Maybe you can find a service manual too.

Good luck,
Peter

[mata_haze]

the only person you could really ask for spares in Uk is
Clive Kavan (he lives in London),has been my menthor, he is THE tech!

07860519748.

just call him,you will no believe how many parts he has for spares.

Best
Mattia.

[Thor]

Hi Morten,

parts are available a niumber of places, from ebay to commercial sources. Studer sold off their service department and assets a few years back, iirc a German company bought pretty much everything and are still servicing Studers.

In Norway, your best bet will probably be NRK, they still have a tech staff, and old machines used for parts. I have no idea how you would go about getting them to come and have a look (they're in Oslo), but maybe a phone call would be a good start. If you're running an A80, there's a good chance it came from NRK originally....

You can PM or email me off list for more info, names, etc.

How's business up there?

Cheers,
Thor

Originally Posted by redroomstudio

Hi.


Anyone know where I can get spare parts for an Studer A80?

And while we are at it :

My Studer is starting to sound like an chorus/tremolo effectbox and thats not what I want it to sound like.
Do you do your own service on your tape machines? Is there a DIY website with a "walkthrough" out there or should I just pay the only person in my city 1000$ to have it done?



thanks
Morten Stendahl/Redroom Studio

[redroomstudio]

Thanks for all your replies.

The technician I use for my studio is a genius but as all geniuses has his quirks. The difficult thing is to get him to show up . Once he is there he can fix anything.

This is also a problem I am having, in addition he can charge anything he wants. It seems my machine needs adjustments quite often so it would be beneficial to know how to do the basics myself.



Thor, I´ll PM you in our native language later this evening.

[hsten]

I would check with Morgenstierne Teknisk AS.

IKM Morgenstierne AS
Olaf Helsetsv. 1
N - 0694 Oslo

Tlf. 2278 2740
Fax 2278 2749
http://www.kalibrering.no/
E-mail: teknisk@ morgenstierne .no

They used to do service for Studer and maybe they still do? I had some dealings with them a few years back concering parts for a STUDER A80 and Revox B77. They supplied all the parts I needed. Good luck.

[psycho_monkey]

Originally Posted by mata_haze

the only person you could really ask for spares in Uk is
Clive Kavan (he lives in London),has been my menthor, he is THE tech!

07860519748.

just call him,you will no believe how many parts he has for spares.

Best
Mattia.

...although if you actually want him to do any work, you have to feed him coffee and leave him to it, else he'll talk...and talk....and talk.....

...and if you really want him to talk, ask him about why he bills himself as "sir clive"!

[gpiccolini]

...just in case someone needs them: I have one playback and one rec heads for A80VU. 1/4 Butterfly. NEW... never used. Get them by mistake. They´re on ebay.

Studer A80 1/4 Stereo Butterfly Playback Head NEW NOS bei eBay.de: Recording (endet 29.06.08 20:15:42 MESZ)


and...



Studer A80 1/4 Stereo Butterfly Record head NEW UNUSED bei eBay.de: Recording (endet 29.06.08 20:13:42 MESZ)

[George Necola]

we have a tech here, who is servicing only Studer A-80 and B-67..

you might want to contact him directly.

Location:
Switzerland

andreas.kuhn@mac.com

Andreas Kuhn

cheers

[David March]

My hospital radio station in London has a few spare A80s that we are looking to get rid of. Fantastic machines, but take up too much space, and we don't use them! All were in working order 6 years ago when they were last used.

If anyone is interested, you would need to collect from East London. They are in a basement with no lift, so you would have to help carry them up the stairs! But anyone is welcome to them for a reasonable donation to the station (we are a registered charity that relies on fundraising).

We also have another model of Studer machine. It may be a B67, but I can't remember off the top of my head.

[Dave Slevin]

I'm looking for some 1/4" hubs for an A -80.
Anybody can help please send me a PM.

[Swell]

Hello Redwood Studio Norway,

I sent you a private message...

Swell

[Swell]

Sorry I meant Red room !! Still in Norway.

Swell

[Clive Kavan]

No problem with some spares for the A80. It is probably the most reliable machine you could get if it is serviced properly. For flutter, check the capstan motor drive. It can be monitored at TP2 on the control board with a scope. The waveform should be stable and not jigging about. If it isn't stable the fault is in the card or the motor. If OK, then check tensions. The slides and linkages in the tension servos need to be cleaned about once every 2 years. Clean them and very lightly smear the slide rod with light silicone oil. Re-assemble and set the tensions as described in the Studer manual. Make sure that the whole tape path is scrupulously clean and use Isopropal Alcohol and kitchen roll to do the job. This is no job for cotton buds! All should be well. E-mail me if it isn't. Clive

[Paul Gold]

Willkommen - Welcome has the Studer service spare parts supply. You should hire a qualified technician. The basic mechanical adjustments are in the manual but you need someone with experience to go through the transport. You may find you want to replace "everything" that wears mechanically. Bearings, brake drums and bands, dash pots, worn rollers and rebuild the capstan motor. A like new machine feels great to use.

[mpdonahue]

Well, there are a couple of things to check out before you go down the rabbit hole and start trying to source parts and support.
1) Are all the rotating parts spinning freely? It could be something as simple as a failed bearing.
2) are the tension idlers/dashpots (the 2 rocker things at the outside of the machine) wobbling up and down as the speed fluctuates? THis could be a bigger problem with a failed Dashpot or tension sensor pot.
3) Finally, when is the last time the capstan motor bearing was lubricated? THis is a huge deal as the sintered bearing at the top of the capstan motor could be damaged and getting a rebuilt capstan is tough these days. THe only thing I will say about lubricating the capstan is that you should read all the documents on the Studer FTP. WRT capstans and lubrication. Also, you MUST use the correct (and very expensive)oil to lube the capstan. It's not rocket science to lubricate the capstan, a lube needle makes it much easier to get the oil down into the right place.

All the best,
-mark

[Paul Gold]

Although I'm fairly technically minded I didn't come up with A80's or know much about ATR's in general. I needed to be shown what a worn bearing sounds like. It's not like they are good one day and bad the next. Same with much of the other mechanics.

In the last month I've been having a lot of work done on my A80's. They worked fine before but I decided I wanted them as new. I've learned a lot from Dan Zellman about them. I'm still not ready to replace brakes, bands, springs, dashpots ect. I also needed to be shown how a tweaked tape path looks and the shims to make that happen.

Unless you know what it looks like when it's good there is not much of a chance of knowing when it's bad. Can you say "compensating error".