The Revox C36 was possibly the penultimate personal reel to reel machine from the Hi-Fi monaural age. We have been authorized to sell this excellently preserved Revox C36 which is fully functional in every way, having been restored to new operating condition. The purchaser, a USA citizen, was transferred back to the states shortly thereafter. It was sent to Elpa Marketing Industries, the USA Revox agent at the time, for conversion to 60Hz operation. It saw moderate use until the owner passed away, with his son inheriting it. Last year the owner, still the son of the original purchaser, took it out of storage and discovered that the pinch roller had turned to “stone” and the grease which had originally made the controls feel smooth had turned to glue, making them inoperable. He brought it to us to loosen the controls, which we were able to accomplish, except for the Radio Input Record Level control, which broke mechanically, even though our technician was trying to be gentle. We replaced the control with a new Alpha pot of the same value and taper which was actually closer to spec than the original. The new pot works perfectly in the circuit and is indistinguishable, except by internal visual inspection, from the original. Afterwards, the owner found trying to test the machine to be frustrating as the transport was misbehaving and he was unable to get it to record. It came back to use for further evaluation. It was determined that several of the brown Eroid foil capacitors had failed, or were in the process of failing, so we replaced all of them with modern Panasonic high voltage polyester caps. Likewise the selenium rectifiers were no longer operating within specifications so they were replaced with recent production industrial silicon bridges. After all those years, some required motor lubrication was performed. Heads and pots were cleaned and the pinch roller was rebuilt. The left reel table felt pad was missing and was replaced. After several long sessions of operational testing and servicing, it was determined that neither the motor capacitors nor any of the electrolytic capacitors were displaying any signs of failure, so they were not replaced. Mechanical performance is up to standards for the machine and wow & flutter indiscernible to the ear with the “new” pinch roller in place. Playback of our test tapes is spot on and record/play on Ampex 406 tape is excellent. The internal speaker sounds surprisingly good. As this machine is 1/2 track format, signal to noise ratio is better than subsequent generation 1/4 track stereo machines. Motors, sheet metal and castings are all clean with virtually no rust or corrosion. The enclosure is in very good condition. There are a few blemishes to the covering which can be seen in the photos. The machine came in so clean that we made no effort to clean it, It appears in the photos just as we first received it. The original complete, although a bit tattered, but usable and copyable, owners manual is included. I can provide more photos if needed. The item “Revox C36 HiFi Monaural 1/2 track reel to reel tape recorder” is in sale since Tuesday, September 8, 2020. This item is in the category “Consumer Electronics\Vintage Electronics\Vintage Audio & Video\Reel-to-Reel Tape Recorders”. The seller is “litsou” and is located in Ashland, Oregon. This item can be shipped worldwide.
- Model: Revox C36
- Type: Tape Recorder
- Brand: Revox