Above is another view of Mr Blackham's unusual Nagra SNN. As far as I can see, apart from not having
8 K- M5 ?0 O% Q0 i" dthe various anodised legends on the deck plate, also absent are the adjustable AGC threshold knob and
! Y0 g/ D& d* z5 Tthe transport lock-out 'switch' next to the meter. The cover 'hinge' arrangement differs slightly from later
+ L" d' g/ v0 @' p6 Q A! dmachines, as does the 'patina' of the anodised finish. A most interesting version, has anyone got another?
' W& ^2 J2 T- m$ R( f
( ]. l# f5 \& @" \* u" B! J8 U) K(Apparently yes, I have recently been advised.)
T2 U2 Z7 z- ~3 J# b4 v
$ y8 ]! Y% p' v# D5 d8 e# R/ \# e" R+ |0 i% X
Click on either of the above images for more information.
! E# ~7 |3 q3 v3 L# C. h' _; R+ z8 `
- q0 v& }' u& w4 E1 m9 ?
4 U- _' t R2 Z# V* For those who are looking at the stereo versions of this recorder often to be found on 'Eday', do
) ?% E D9 {1 {* B
beware, as It is unlikely that these will be the recent versions designed to record high quality music.
2 b$ ~0 A- l! r# `" E
There are now apparently four versions of the Nagra 'SN':
, K! K; X; \) K8 k* R2 i
4 {0 Q( z5 z; R* f2 n5 G* j7 N0 }( d' J/ v: P' D
Nagra SNN - full track recording at 3 3/4 and 1 7/8 i.p.s. - high quality recording in Mono
2 v* [( `' ~( T. `3 l) N! ]+ t+ z* [" l
Nagra SNS - half track recording at 1 7/8 and 15/16 i.p.s. - surveillance quality recording in Mono
- n! O3 T2 K9 ^% M
1 W; ?' S9 R* |Nagra SNST - Stereo recording at 1 7/8 and 15/16 i.p.s. - surveillance quality recording in Stereo
, I1 k" D) p7 l7 p" d" C/ h# @
5 K# n* n- ?0 q: yNagra SNSTR (recent) - Stereo recording at 3 3/4 and 1 7/8 i.p.s. - high quality recording in Stereo
4 E* ?, U! h$ r2 m/ X& \5 o9 _" w
- |# j: f& ?9 @3 B
Apparently for covert surveillance use it was preferable to have two separate recording channels to
& o) R7 N4 p' [- H$ e
have some chance of capturing a muffled or distant conversations. So these older stereo machines will
5 y$ b7 ~; o0 W8 x( o( j5 f3 Etherefore be
optimized for speech recording only, and will also
run at low speed for maximum
$ P) C/ P' ~- g" Q) B& g6 xrecording time and not fidelity. Actually Nagra made a special playback loudspeaker system (25100
2 b, T0 N# i# L4 t6 r* ^* _7 \9 ODSP) with built in equalization to compensate for the quite limited frequency response of these
L4 |( a/ _4 L7 t9 |( Drecorders. A standard mono Nagra SNN running at 3 and 3/4, like the ones on this page are capable of
$ w2 I/ e5 H P7 S
truly Hi-Fi recording, but
the slow speed SNS and the SNST stereo versions are not. Perhaps it might
8 L. n' U* u$ ^, |5 {3 F2 |be possible to convert these machines for Hi-Fi use, but this would involve replacing most of the
+ ^; ^! B+ e( [6 `1 e5 F6 u
electronics and be very expensive.
/ g3 t' e! L' t( S4 h# j1 {
. {1 H. y! ~& w' P( k9 S$ z* e* q# i; O; l q
Cheaper to buy a rather bette
r stereo
IV-S in the first place!
# G7 Z4 `( x/ `0 k) o
/ _2 W/ v7 m d6 |! g+ j8 g E0 a" T' h
2 @4 ^4 {3 Z* k% B8 O0 S4 YTape for the Nagra SN
0 g* _1 n. D( w. m5 D, b# B7 K
0 ?' }' J# {* i5 N
# t& ^' J/ c& C1 z3 W$ b3 ?( PI have been amazed at the prices some people have been willing to pay on that wild west auction site for
% i1 O/ G; \0 Z9 M$ C vthe little reels of tape for this machine. When I first acquired my example from the BBC naturally I
( Y6 s; L7 g, d& |
wanted to play with it and make some recordings. I knew that the tape was basically re-reeled cassette
" o4 c7 m% i- L
tape so I approached a tape duplication house in the UK and quite easily obtained a few part used
# m3 N* E6 G& T* Z) I4 M'pancakes'. These are the un-flanged bulk reels of tape (about 10" dia) that are automatically wound into
" L$ M, {1 y3 ~8 T7 L% g8 f( M4 Fthe cassette shells. I then contacted Nagra UK (always helpful) and obtained for around ?5 each
. w, t( C0 ^) I5 H$ ~
several pairs of empty plastic reels. It then was quite a simple matter to wind tape off the pancake and
8 \( `$ m, P( P" p8 J. u- l
onto the Nagra plastic reel (by using the hand crank on the machine). I did this a few years ago and
: }6 z: ?# f- z( h
things may be slightly different these days, but perhaps worth investigating rather than spending some
! Q# `9 ?5 c1 @* s# p4 n
VERY silly money.
1 D" ?; E0 A3 F' f* p- N9 h
" A k2 F9 i$ L0 }
) N @) h1 f1 }" g2 Q) ?& ?