Roberts 455... any thoughts about it?

Hi there,
Noticed this Roberts 455 for sale on eBay, and it appears to be a solenoid operated deck, unlike most Akai/Roberts of the era, and has a tube preamp, and transistor power amp. I'm thinking about buying it. What do ya'll think of this deck?
Thank you,
Ryan

 

@JohnO , could you please help me with this, sir?

 

I do not know this unit. From the site that shall not be named, it has (the surprising number of) ten 12XXxx type tubes, that's good, another site says it has three motors, that's good, and there was apparently an (optional?) sleeve for the capstan which made it do 15ips, which is good if you have that sleeve.
There is a video of one working halfway down this page:
ROBERTS — Reel Tube Sound

Which shows it had an available wired remote control. The video shows the wire connected but not the remote itself.

If it is working it could be very interesting.

The odd thing about your question is last week I purchased a different Roberts tube reel unit locally, but I cannot pick it up until next week (around 10 days from right now). But the 455 would be a better unit with more tubes and more motors.

 

It seems to have a powerful amplifier in it. I have a sleeve that will fit it, pretty good. It reminds me a lot of a Akai 355, except with a tube preamp in it. This thing will be a beast. Thank you for your research and help.
Ryan

 

Roberts were built by Akai, hence the resemblance. A friend has a Roberts deck that he like very much. He said that the tube electronics in the Roberts sounds fantastic and he uses the electronics for amplification outside of use as a tape deck. He likes the sound of the Roberts as a tape deck too. He owns an Otari 50/50 and services tape machines for a local audio shop, so he knows tape machines.

 

That sounds great! I just won the Roberts.

 

Congrats! The 3 head 3 motor, tube Akai/Roberts units are really nice. But I would avoid any Roberts with just 2 heads, one motor, or transistors.

 

I gave up on the M7 and 997, those are very persnickety decks to work on. Selling them soon. The 455 should be easier to service than some others, no cams to have to worry about! This one is actually just pulled out of the box, sales tags and all. Record and playback are very good he said with no hum or distortion, heads are of course brand new, tubes have no hum, etc.
Ryan

 

I'm sorry to say that no piece of electronics which is chock full of >50 year old electrolytic caps will run for very long without a complete recap. But this is a machine which might be worth the effort since it has 3 heads, 3 motors, and tubes.

 

I agree. Dad and I will recap the tube part. How about the solid state part? Dad and I don’t want to damage the solid state power amp.
Ryan

 

I'm rather biased against early solid state equipment. But it still might sound OK. However it may be difficult to keep it running though as the replacement transistors are no longer made, and transistors don't last forever. Plus Akai was infamous for using transistor which had leads which would oxidize badly.

This is one of the reasons why I like a lot of classic tube gear: Because you can still buy new replacements for most audio tubes. And once you recap these units, they will often run for another 30 years.

 

Well that's good on the recapping part, but I hope the solid state part works. If not, Dad's gotta make a custom tube amp! Yes, he rarely does it, but he does. He changes an old tube amp and soups it up.

 

I'm guessing that it will probably work initially. But how long it continues to work is anybody's guess. A recap should help a lot, but it won't cure transistors of old age which might be just hanging on by a thread after >50 years.

 

I agree, sadly. I hope these transistors last a few years before they finally give out, maybe by then someone will be able to remake a better version of the transistors, just like they make cams for the one motor units.

 

BTW, if you are not a member of the Tapeheads forum, you should consider joining. You will find lots of very knowledgeable people there.

 

I've been banned from there, nobody likes me there. It's a personal thing. You were goldear, right?

 

There may well be some common transistor substitutions which I am not aware of. IDK. Hopefully it holds in there long enough to get you through high school at least. The odds are that you will have something better by then anyways.

 

I agree. It should get me through high school, then I'll probably have a Revox PR99 by then.

 

Really? I find that surprising. And yes, that is one of my alter-egos.

 

I have to admit, they don't like me because I'm very self centered, dogmatic, and a control freak. I always like to hog threads and get an accurate answer to someone, and correct people older than me. I need to work on that badly. I've learned just to keep my mouth shut and listen to others' opinions to help the situation.
Ryan