Above is another view of Mr Blackham's unusual Nagra SNN. As far as I can see, apart from not having
7 B0 W0 I* P5 {4 T4 S# Pthe various anodised legends on the deck plate, also absent are the adjustable AGC threshold knob and
5 ]0 y9 W) i' f3 d+ V1 Rthe transport lock-out 'switch' next to the meter. The cover 'hinge' arrangement differs slightly from later
. s/ W* G% E$ L, p8 Bmachines, as does the 'patina' of the anodised finish. A most interesting version, has anyone got another?
% r H6 N- Y e
1 L1 ~9 B) E4 ]$ F; n' z(Apparently yes, I have recently been advised.)
/ `$ M9 |9 W2 h( d/ U z
' L& b2 R$ e+ h Z* j# M
- v& d# p* t2 q0 r1 JClick on either of the above images for more information.
+ t( z+ a3 k! ?4 ]
4 z3 c1 y! s4 i7 {/ U2 v1 e
" ~6 b3 J* B. b' [+ e
* For those who are looking at the stereo versions of this recorder often to be found on 'Eday', do
0 {+ L$ K7 y) b
beware, as It is unlikely that these will be the recent versions designed to record high quality music.
- x1 i4 f0 ^7 x; HThere are now apparently four versions of the Nagra 'SN':
$ m+ A0 ~+ [0 ?+ X. I" ?
% B' j8 D I3 m1 s8 L, h6 k \- g. ]% y. E
Nagra SNN - full track recording at 3 3/4 and 1 7/8 i.p.s. - high quality recording in Mono
9 F, g* ~/ \8 }$ W
2 U8 ]0 ~! S3 SNagra SNS - half track recording at 1 7/8 and 15/16 i.p.s. - surveillance quality recording in Mono
" B+ k3 b* D% z4 _7 N+ e8 p, B* a) c6 p8 ]$ [" m
Nagra SNST - Stereo recording at 1 7/8 and 15/16 i.p.s. - surveillance quality recording in Stereo
. a4 Q! Y- l% f5 c
/ I8 W0 x- F2 O& f5 rNagra SNSTR (recent) - Stereo recording at 3 3/4 and 1 7/8 i.p.s. - high quality recording in Stereo
B+ }+ y* A" |, B( W9 }% W
M' p3 N! |$ N4 f3 f
- F1 r0 u; k' q! D6 tApparently for covert surveillance use it was preferable to have two separate recording channels to
8 b' n- g3 f3 y5 ~( ihave some chance of capturing a muffled or distant conversations. So these older stereo machines will
7 n O9 H7 l: y! C3 s( {/ _
therefore be
optimized for speech recording only, and will also
run at low speed for maximum
; R# M7 C/ B" Arecording time and not fidelity. Actually Nagra made a special playback loudspeaker system (25100
/ a% i( a: N( ~ F# H( k
DSP) with built in equalization to compensate for the quite limited frequency response of these
h; k5 p. k3 }2 ?' @2 {- Wrecorders. A standard mono Nagra SNN running at 3 and 3/4, like the ones on this page are capable of
' f4 B# G/ W' v# n9 i
truly Hi-Fi recording, but
the slow speed SNS and the SNST stereo versions are not. Perhaps it might
2 |0 V5 A; ?: h1 z( j! h
be possible to convert these machines for Hi-Fi use, but this would involve replacing most of the
2 H5 S& }- U3 O; u ]electronics and be very expensive.
/ y9 a+ K; e0 l0 K4 F, A# i& ~8 D/ Z; S- m# Y& @: o
0 V$ v6 }, j3 b4 E4 LCheaper to buy a rather bette
r stereo
IV-S in the first place!
; P8 b4 M$ n( J3 k. P! Z! e b9 e* O2 W/ W& v5 R% u0 O
8 f1 v! p1 m* {8 i- O9 t A
Tape for the Nagra SN
- ]5 k. j# r' h4 J% T
. w) M7 B2 m+ f% m; R, o. q
6 v, k! @8 M' n, b' I7 VI have been amazed at the prices some people have been willing to pay on that wild west auction site for
3 M0 _' W5 ]. n; [1 c) b6 Y8 N
the little reels of tape for this machine. When I first acquired my example from the BBC naturally I
+ L$ N0 R' b7 j! W% V" x! m
wanted to play with it and make some recordings. I knew that the tape was basically re-reeled cassette
% L+ a( m9 B; Z0 d
tape so I approached a tape duplication house in the UK and quite easily obtained a few part used
3 V9 r# t1 ~' j% s* A
'pancakes'. These are the un-flanged bulk reels of tape (about 10" dia) that are automatically wound into
6 E( O6 S, V$ I
the cassette shells. I then contacted Nagra UK (always helpful) and obtained for around ?5 each
7 S/ X3 E, l# X1 N* _several pairs of empty plastic reels. It then was quite a simple matter to wind tape off the pancake and
& I3 y x. Z4 e5 N' W* L8 f
onto the Nagra plastic reel (by using the hand crank on the machine). I did this a few years ago and
% q" A2 K- f( p! [( v5 H+ p5 }$ |things may be slightly different these days, but perhaps worth investigating rather than spending some
8 L2 @! g7 s! h b0 T
VERY silly money.
* y5 h' _3 v5 U( [* {
# c) C( G- Q/ r! w& S
2 L+ U+ f: S6 `8 k! z