16 inch transcription turntables

[bobofhollywood]

Now playing - my Gates turntable with Gray research tone arm. This massive machine has an 18 inch platter designed to accommodate the 16 inch transcription discs and still leave room for fingers. Shown here playing a 16 inch red vinyl Muzak vertical transcription.

 

[bobofhollywood]

playing a 7 inch 45

Here it is again playing a standard 7 inch 45 rpm single.

 

[bobofhollywood]

arm as big as mine

You can see the tone arm is nearly as long as mine from my elbow to my fist.

 

[bobofhollywood]

Califone Director

Here is another transcription player in my collection - the Califone Director.

 

[bobofhollywood]

and my third transcription table

Here is my incredibly high quality Pioneer PL-7L which also handles the 16 inch transcription records.

 

[bobofhollywood]

size reference

Here you can see two 12 inch records, a 7 inch, and again the 16 inch Muzak disc.

 

[frontaloadotmy]

BoHw

Are the Gates and Pioneer DD or BD?

 

[bobofhollywood]

drive types

Good question and one I was hoping you would ask. The Gates is an idler wheel driven table. The wheel drives on a hub near the center of the platter. Look on ebay and you can see what I mean. Because of this design I was able to install a 2nd drive system - an electronic control belt drive which is far more accurate than the original idler drive. So I suppose you could say my Gates is dual drive. The thing really rocks steady now for sure. For 78 however only the idler option is available. The Pioneer table is quartz locked direct drive and the accuracy is unbeatable. 33 and 45 speed only. The Califone has an idler drive which is infinitely variable speed between 10 and 100 rpm.

 

[tolivac]

I can't remember how many of those Gates TT's I have dealt with in radio stations-Mostly cleaning or replacing idler wheels.Worked on the 12"and 16" ones.also QRK and Russco.very similar machines.
The Califone reminds me of the machines we used in schools.They were so nice---Classroom Hi-Fi!And similar Newcomb machines used in schools and square dance callers-they loved the Newcombs.They were also variable speed idler TT's-sat on top of the amplifer-the amp had a mic input for the callers mike.And when they had the tubed amps-again so nice sounding!
I have some aluminum transcriptions recorded by the agency I work for-they used them until the 70's then replaced them with tape cart machines.Now transcriptions would be completly unknown to todays "DJs" who don't use discs anymore at all!

 

[bobofhollywood]

Califones in schools

That's where I first remember seeing a califone of course. Always loved the cork turntable. Indeed the Director does have a microphone input and is a tube amplified set. The sound is warm and full. It's a cool machine.

 

[gansky1]

Thanks for the interesting thread, Bob! I should start and ebay auto-search for one of these as I need one for the 16" records from the Frigidaire training kits (with filmstrips) I have. I have a Motorola Illustrovox, but it's in rough shape and the projector bulb is missing and the record player will no longer play. Is there anyone that might still work on or have parts around for these? For occasional use, what machine would be best for me?

 

[bobofhollywood]

new tables

I actually remembered your film strip illustrovox Greg and was hoping you would notice this thread. You can buy brand new transcription size tables at www.garage-a-records.com . Part of the reason I started this thread though is to express that if anybody needs any size record made into digital and put onto a CD my computer is attached to the PL-7L as well as a lovely Thorens TD-124 and I will be happy to perform the transcription service for you. Bring those records with you the next time you come to the Washington D.C. area and I will make them playable in the 21st century. I would even like to volunteer to be the official transcription artist for this club. If anyone has any recordings relative to appliances I can make them into mp3s for us all to share here from the club.

 

[djmjlcst]

Califone Director

Hi Bob, Our high school had a Califone Director just like the one you have! I remember distinctly the 12" speaker in the lid and the mile long speaker cable with the 1/4" plug. I also loved the cork turntable, it wouldn't scratch your LP's when putting them on or off the rotating turntable. One of the cool things was the 45rpm adaptor was permanently attached to the turntable and spring loaded! It would always stay popped up for 45's but would lower into the turntable even with the cork mat for playing LP's. Ours was a tube type of course - nice rich warm hi-fi sound! One thing though, the tubes are located behind the screen trap door underneath the tone arm. When playing LP's manufactured in the mid 70's they would warp the longer they played! I remember spinning Queen's "A Night At The Opera" and by the time "Seaside Rendezvous" was over you had a wavy record spinning around. Of course it would go back to it's former state once taken off the turntable. Imagine if you stopped the turntable with the motor switch but left the amp on! Could've been trouble! The tone arm was unique with the floating cartridge head that would just "float" above the turning record and not bear the entire weight of the tone arm. I've never seen anything like it at the time and I can't remember if Newcomb had that feature on their record players or not. The Califone Director had an Astatic cartridge. Does yours have the Astatic or did you modify it to something else? While I'm at it what kind of cartridges are you using on your Gates and Pioneer TT's?

Really cool post and pictures! - Mike L.

 

[djmjlcst]

Weight of the TT's?

Hey Bob, one more thing - how heavy is the Gates and Pioneer TT's? Being that massive I would imagine very heavy! Not made for portability!!! - Mike L.

 

[bobofhollywood]

more details

Right you are Mike the Gates and Pioneer are not portable. Everything you remember about the Califone is correct right down to the Astatic pickup. I have two arms for the Pioneer - one is mounted with an ADC 25 which has three stylus choices - a spherical and two sizes of elliptical and the second arm has a high grade Shure similar to a V-15 type III. for the Gray research arm on my Gates I have two head shells. One has a Shure M7D stereo cartridge and the other a GE variable reluctance gold body mono pickup which has 2 needles - micro and wide groove.

 

[bobofhollywood]

alumina ceramics arms

Here's the two arms for the Pioneer. They are made of alumina ceramic material which incredibly light and rigid. The linear arm in the back is used to determine the absolute center of the playback matrix so I can align it perfectly to the spindle thus eliminating wow. With 85+ decibel signal to noise ratio this is the most impressive table I have ever experienced. It's truly mesmerizing. You can hear it at YouTube by searching for PL-7L.

 

[bobofhollywood]

how heavy

They are HEAVY HEAVY HEAVY. Very heavy. They are heavier than anything I have ever seen and I have a lot of phonographs . They are SUPER heavy.

 

[djmjlcst]

Califone Director Cue

Hey Bob, I also remember the Califone had a cueing type device installed on the tone arm post where it fastens down for locking. There were two silver cue levers - one raises the floating cartridge to where you could play 16" and 12" records by using the lever. It wouldn't work with 7" records (if memory serves me correctly)! This cueing device had a semi circle device located above the rear of the floating cartridge head. I didn't see that on your model and maybe the one I used was a step above your model or it was a feature that could be purchased and attached to these models. Not sure. - Mike L.

 

[paulg]

Califone Director Tech Tip

I too love my vinyl. A number of years ago I picked up a Califone Director. Loved it immediately.
However, the caps had dried up. You all know the loud-hum scene...
I am a stickler about performing repairs in an exacting way. However due to some unexplained lapse of judgement (I am again shaking my head at myself as I write this) I decided to replace the can electrolytics with axials that went under the chassis instead of on top.
Well, I was rewarded with a low-level hum that would never go away.
The phono went to phono-heaven. And stupid me relearned a lesson about the critical nature of component placement.