Above is another view of Mr Blackham's unusual Nagra SNN. As far as I can see, apart from not having
( m* w- \6 W8 C! M2 E" M5 {
the various anodised legends on the deck plate, also absent are the adjustable AGC threshold knob and
: @) ^2 {$ y! U4 j6 ?; E8 u2 A
the transport lock-out 'switch' next to the meter. The cover 'hinge' arrangement differs slightly from later
8 G7 ^5 s- i$ `) q- X4 d
machines, as does the 'patina' of the anodised finish. A most interesting version, has anyone got another?
+ ~) x/ _ j0 E2 {! }7 v& ]2 F
# i7 ]' d; K5 c. \8 z
(Apparently yes, I have recently been advised.)
8 H& V6 R' j" S. P. {$ v, M- D5 Z
4 o( }1 O' B% T1 D( V+ J- G: t
1 [5 Y3 M. [+ Y7 a, w! GClick on either of the above images for more information.
' T: _- W* g) O& S1 V4 U6 r5 d9 g L* F& q) q/ F: j
% d4 A) H5 w' p5 S9 ~
* For those who are looking at the stereo versions of this recorder often to be found on 'Eday', do
1 T7 p: Y) s) e% L
beware, as It is unlikely that these will be the recent versions designed to record high quality music.
0 e% e& s7 G. E, c0 o
There are now apparently four versions of the Nagra 'SN':
7 G8 x% n/ Y" C: ~2 V. X% t
" l$ w f( h- |
% c5 v+ d" x4 Q9 a0 v9 C- M, a8 VNagra SNN - full track recording at 3 3/4 and 1 7/8 i.p.s. - high quality recording in Mono
( r; ]( P2 g3 s6 J
5 G- M! j* h# J1 v: J
Nagra SNS - half track recording at 1 7/8 and 15/16 i.p.s. - surveillance quality recording in Mono
+ N% ?4 \0 [+ m$ p9 j. ?% H0 h$ W3 t z) v" C3 ~$ |) M
Nagra SNST - Stereo recording at 1 7/8 and 15/16 i.p.s. - surveillance quality recording in Stereo
$ R# |, [' h: @! t" g2 M1 ~
/ @' g4 N+ e, b7 J
Nagra SNSTR (recent) - Stereo recording at 3 3/4 and 1 7/8 i.p.s. - high quality recording in Stereo
! `, R4 A0 B6 D
( i7 g6 Y5 E- p$ S
/ R5 z! D) Q3 T+ [" p/ R% @2 H) ?* sApparently for covert surveillance use it was preferable to have two separate recording channels to
& z j0 u' u6 W1 V) F
have some chance of capturing a muffled or distant conversations. So these older stereo machines will
/ v" @. H4 i* W. dtherefore be
optimized for speech recording only, and will also
run at low speed for maximum
# G) r. `+ y6 ~) N) T$ d. U
recording time and not fidelity. Actually Nagra made a special playback loudspeaker system (25100
* N% _3 \5 S1 @: h
DSP) with built in equalization to compensate for the quite limited frequency response of these
1 C2 X+ p" W& C2 r* z% Yrecorders. A standard mono Nagra SNN running at 3 and 3/4, like the ones on this page are capable of
7 y. K/ g- \1 m {7 y- Y$ o+ u' Atruly Hi-Fi recording, but
the slow speed SNS and the SNST stereo versions are not. Perhaps it might
# l3 H" s4 ]2 r! [ Pbe possible to convert these machines for Hi-Fi use, but this would involve replacing most of the
6 m: Z4 v# M& L2 m, J
electronics and be very expensive.
3 G8 }# Z6 M+ q% Q7 n1 `
6 L& K( v5 X6 n
8 j# I- O! @8 T4 t t! kCheaper to buy a rather bette
r stereo
IV-S in the first place!
2 o: S& R8 G1 c1 a& y6 S9 h
# U3 D0 _& }" r# e
: n+ z5 P/ ~% u2 J1 FTape for the Nagra SN
: y T% k/ Z8 l3 f3 ~; D3 }
u* D' l7 |7 q$ x+ W7 I
& G. h9 f1 a5 ~. J; d% w7 rI have been amazed at the prices some people have been willing to pay on that wild west auction site for
5 W. }! D8 f+ C/ O% o! A* l, M0 r- O
the little reels of tape for this machine. When I first acquired my example from the BBC naturally I
+ I/ A. h# E1 U+ P0 ^2 x
wanted to play with it and make some recordings. I knew that the tape was basically re-reeled cassette
( G# _/ i: b G
tape so I approached a tape duplication house in the UK and quite easily obtained a few part used
; U8 s& ^5 b* v( I/ v& P& w
'pancakes'. These are the un-flanged bulk reels of tape (about 10" dia) that are automatically wound into
$ _3 H7 H1 Y( S; e: Z. mthe cassette shells. I then contacted Nagra UK (always helpful) and obtained for around ?5 each
* q3 A3 t+ j" d% G) sseveral pairs of empty plastic reels. It then was quite a simple matter to wind tape off the pancake and
p2 a3 j4 z9 O
onto the Nagra plastic reel (by using the hand crank on the machine). I did this a few years ago and
: c( s9 _1 I: i1 C
things may be slightly different these days, but perhaps worth investigating rather than spending some
! s, I& l- F' S# [ F* W
VERY silly money.
: a2 o. o. z0 {3 E* E
- ^- n4 I5 ~0 j( g& m
1 q8 n6 `6 ?3 }$ W8 q1 K