Uher SG 561 Royal: A Multipurpose High-Quality Tape Recorder from 1978.

A top-class reel-to-reel tape recorder with excellent sound quality, a wide range of features, and a sturdy construction is the Uher SG 561 Royal. With its numerous recording and playback options, this gadget can please both audiophiles and creative enthusiasts. The SG 561 Royal can provide the warm, rich sound of analog tapes or let you play around with various effects and setups.



The SG 561 Royal's excellent synchronization, which guarantees a steady and smooth tape speed and reduces wow and flutter, is one of its key advantages. This is made possible by the creative belt tension comparator, which modifies the tape tension based on the recording mode and coil size. The UHER SG 561 Royal's synchronization characteristics remain unparalleled: the maximum variation is 0.05% (19 cm/s), significantly surpassing the HiFi standard DIN 45500 by 0.20%.

The SG 561 Royal's interchangeable tape head carriers, which make it simple to transition between 2-track and 4-track technology, are another outstanding feature. Additionally, distinct head carriers can be used for specialized tasks including multi-vision control, narrow film dubbing, and slide pilot. Die-cast aluminum head carriers don't need to be adjusted when they are changed.

The SG 561 Royal also offers a range of trick options, enabling you to create various sound effects and layers and to record your voice or instrument along with a pre-recorded track.

With Multi-Play you can play up to 6 recordings on top of each other and then listen to them together. A soloist becomes a whole sextet in this way.

A slide pilot that records impulses and controls slides automatically is integrated into the SG 561. When filming, the control head can also be utilized to synchronize sound and image. For managing multi-vision shows, an AV head carrier (Z 346 AV) is also available.

The device can be used as a stereo mixer amplifier thanks to the independent, programmable radio/micro and phono inputs and the stereo power amplifier.
The advantage is that while music is playing, remarks can be made via a microphone (from a record player, etc.), similar to a disco. SG 561 produces high-quality sound with a frequency response of 20 Hz–20 kHz. Lastly, keep in mind that it was constructed in 1978.

 

Yes UHER was a german factiory, located in Munich. By the way - the notorious Eastern German "Stasi" - the state security - used UHER - devices for her surveillance, but almost exclusively MONO-types.

 

i made the winning bid in an auction for one of these on Tuesday.

the auction was selling over a thousand pieces from the offices of Bayerische Rundfunk, the Bavarian state public broadcaster, based in Munich, where the Uher was made. There were some fascinating items up for auction, studio monitors worth 2000EUR with a minimum bid of 30EUR, many many beautiful reel to reel machines, incredible PCM machines, cassette decks, studio headphones, pro Minidisc decks, professional quality CD decks being sold in block sets of 6, and entire studio desks, mixing boards, racks and racks of broadcasting equipment...

just waiting for my bid to be accepted, then i can pick it up and see if she works :-O

i'll post here once i've picked it up. it's my first foray into the world of reel-to-reel. i don't even own any reels or tape and it does not come with reels (but does have the heads, not sure if they are a 2- or 4- track)

Oh and I also won the bid on one of BR's cassette decks, a TC-KE500S which looked in nice condition (i'm sure as a public broadcaster they will have had a team of techs maintaining the recording and broadcasting equipment... right? :-/)

 

Yes, quite possible, it's on my mind as well, how long it might have been sitting around. Might I ask what you mean by using a dim bulb? Something to drain some current off between the mains output and the Uher when I first plug it in? I'm not sure I completely understand the technique.

Thank you very much!

Hannah/Lara

 

@Mister X

that is so kind and helpful of you, thank you very much!

Kind regards from Munich,

Hannah/Lara