Tonschreiber Ton S.b1 reel to reel recorder 1939

Posted by admin in Saturday, February 13th 2010

Topics: Music

Seblington asked:

this Tonschreiber is one of the oldest tape recorders (Tape, not steel or wire), the AEG k-1 came before in 1937 and the K-0 was invented in 1930 but was never sold, the K-1 demo was given in 1935 then in 1937 they became popular in radio stations, with WWII these recorders were seen for their potential and quickly adapted to this portable (87Kg) recorder, the machine comes in 2 boxes, the amp and the recorder with a third box which carries 12 reels, one empty and a box of spaces including all the needed valves, a replacement head block and 3 idler/pinch rollers as this machine has 5 idlers inside and one pinch roller. This is the oldest tape recorder on You tube and probably will be for a very long time.

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25 Comments

Seblington said in February 13th, 2010 at 3:21 pm

Thank you! I do have about 10 tapes, many of the one swhich came with the machine were blanked, though I brought a further 2-3 tapes I have not listened to, these tapes do not fit a normal reel to reel.

m134mr said in February 16th, 2010 at 7:34 am

this is an amazing machine - was there any reels of tape that came with the machine? be interesting to see whats on them

myid9876543 said in February 18th, 2010 at 5:07 pm

Yes swashstickers (lol)

Richardddoobies said in February 21st, 2010 at 12:01 am

This truly is the grandaddy of all tape recorders. 200 pounds, ugly as hell, and covered with swashstickers. But I would love to see it run!

btown2011 said in February 22nd, 2010 at 1:21 pm

did you ever get to play the tapes?

Seblington said in February 25th, 2010 at 8:43 am

I had seen a K-8 for sale in Germany not so long ago but the seller wanted a high price, I have not tried to look at the tonschreiber yet but in the next month or so I will send it off for repair/restoration, I know a very talented man who restores the components rather than replace them and I want to keep this machine as original as possible.

CMarkulis said in February 27th, 2010 at 4:57 pm

Hello,

i´m watching this video some times ago, hoping you had it repaired now. well, my K8 Magnetophon from around 1948, build with some parts from pre-1945 (only bought with a T8 mechanical part, which is running again meanwhile) isn´t done,too. i hope to see your tonschreiber run again !

best regards

CMarkulis

Seblington said in March 3rd, 2010 at 4:55 am

Hi, yes we will see this recorder up and running, I am going to send it off for repair very soon now.

waynealarsen said in March 5th, 2010 at 3:50 am

That’s a way cool machine you have there. it will be something to see it working!

btown2011 said in March 7th, 2010 at 5:20 am

really thats not really that expensive!

Seblington said in March 7th, 2010 at 1:20 pm

This recorder has cost me currently £1500 and going up, the electronic restoration is planed to cost £500 as it will be sent of to a specialist who will instead of replacing dead components, he will replace the insides of the dead components, keeping the correct look inside out.

btown2011 said in March 10th, 2010 at 5:05 pm

How much did you pay for this machine?

debuglive said in March 12th, 2010 at 12:38 pm

3rd time I’ve watched this in a year. Such an amazing machine - great to see someone restoring these machines rather than just having them on display… if it ever get’s repaired (good luck with it)

Seblington said in March 13th, 2010 at 1:44 pm

Cheers, still havent sent it off for repair yet.

VinylToVideo said in March 15th, 2010 at 10:55 am

Very interesting machine, thanks! I’d love to see/hear it working.

Seblington said in March 15th, 2010 at 5:20 pm

I know, every time I save some money, i blow it on more recorders, it will work one day.

oviwolf said in March 16th, 2010 at 4:28 am

lovlely video!i would love to hear it play a tape!

debuglive said in March 16th, 2010 at 5:16 am

This really is an incredible unit. Best of luck restoring it! I’m looking forward to a review of the sound quality once it’s up and running. wow

Seblington said in March 18th, 2010 at 1:38 pm

I have not done anything yet, I have found some more reels for it though. The recorder will go off for repair in the next few months, money is a little tight at the moment.

turntablesrock said in March 19th, 2010 at 11:00 am

So, anything new?

CassetteMaster said in March 21st, 2010 at 8:40 pm

That ias tooo cool! Now the heads, is that a turning headset? it that what plays the tape? And it that machine works, I would LOVE to hear how music sounds recorded on that!

Seblington said in March 23rd, 2010 at 8:14 pm

Cheers for the help, the control with 1-6 gives the emissions of the outputs of the valves numbered in the manual, the recorder is due to be shipped off in about 2 weeks for repair, hopefully I will have a video soon.

Director84 said in March 26th, 2010 at 3:48 pm

Okay, I did double-post. My first comment showed up after some time, it probably just took a wrong turn somewhere.

Director84 said in March 26th, 2010 at 10:55 pm

Hope I don’t double-post here, my previous comment kinda got “swallowed” by the system.
That dial of which’s function you were unsure due to your lack of German language proficiency is labeled “emitted amperage for pipe”, if that means anything to you. do to the unfocused camera I can’t read what it says on the scales, apart from the numbers 1-6.

Director84 said in March 27th, 2010 at 8:12 pm

Hi!

It’s hard to read due to the unfocused video, but that dial of which you said you’re not sure what it does, cause your German isn’t too good, is labeled with “emitted amperage for pipe”, if that means something to you. Can’t read what it says on the dial, apart from the numbers 1-6.
Hope I could help.