Stephens Electronics, maker of the 40-track analog multitrack machine (1973)

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• One of the Stephens special features (other than its track count) was its portability, because you could separate the meters from the deck for easy shipping (compared to an A80). Hence all the lugging and train tracks.

  • nice one man. i think u might be right. good call.

• Can you confirm if the transport is a 3m? looks like a iso loop to me...

  • Stephens manufactured his own transports which were without capstans or pinch rollers. Instead his constant-torque reel motors relied on a tach pulse generated by the reversing idler at the middle front center of the tape path.

• I believe Queen and Giorgio Moroder made use of 40 track Stephens machines. I had one of his 24 track machines myself. John Stephens was a genius.

  • John Farr of ONJ fame owned a 40 track.

• Some early Stephens decks used 3M transports but John came up with something different later on - a precursor to some of the later high-speed data tapes and also on some video recorders. The later 811 and I believe all of the 821 machines had a very unique system with no pinch roller and only two motors. Tape speed was sensed using the tape reversing idler and an optical pickup underneath it. Control electronics in the bottom steered current to each reel motor to maintain backtension (total current) and speed control (current steering). Very clever idea, sometimes very tough to fix.

• Being John's brother, I've created a Flickr website which gives quite a bit more info on John. He started out by being one of the first to use transistor electronics (opamps) and transformer-less output on highly modified 3M 1/2" decks. When he started to be competitive with 3M, they basically cut him off from buying the deck only. That's when he invented an iso-loop revision using a capstan-less speed control from the readout from a strobe wheel on the bottom of the puck/idler at the bottom of the loop. It was/is a very sensitive kind of control as you might imagine, and I remember he had problems even with different types of tape, so his feedback info he continued to modify. Every deck was a bit different, and many of his "babies" came back to his shop for modification. Just that kept him in business for a time. Later, he got into making a modification package for the Bosch FDL-60 telecine that included a better software upgrade and optics package. A quote from a client, "New CCD preamps that are 10-12 dB quieter,
  affordable resocketing, etc." He was always interested in the broad field of science and even made a "black box" sun tracker for the Griffith Observatory (planetarium) in Los Angeles when the clock guidance system had to be constantly reset. Using his shop test telecine, he did some high quality film to tape transfers from moon landings for NASA.

  • Thats grt rod. Thnx for getting in touch. I look fwd to checking out yr flickr. C.

• Yeah, if you click on my name (above), it will take you right to my Flickr site. I just remembered that Robert Altman, the film director, bought a number of John's
  8-track high portable decks to use on location for recording up to seven actors' dialog simultaneously. Then, in post-production editing, he could bring their tracks up or down them all talking at the same time to feature one or the other as the camera panned across a group. Jim Webb was the location recordist that used them for Altman and others. You'll see his cart with the 8-track on my Flickr page.

  • I worked for John for about 5 years before moving to Robert Altman's company Lion's Gate for another 5. I could probably answer all kinds of questions.
    John also made a 3 track console using optical faders, a photographic log taper that Led Zepplin used on Led Zepplin 3 as I recall.
    The Cars 1st album was recorded and mixed on Roy Thomas Baker's 40 track in 21 days.
    Pink Floyd used a Stephen's to Playback on while mixing some of The Wall
    Ambrosia recorded a lot on the Stephens at Mama Joes.
    Seals and Croft owned a 24.
    Leon Russel had a 40.
    Altman owned 3 - 8 tracks, Coppola used an 8 track on One From The Heart, still has it in storage in Napa, I worked for him for a while.

    The real beauty of the machine was - 1 discreet custom made epoxy amplifier between the input and the tape. No kidding, 1 amplifier period. It took 2 amps to do effective EQ and output isolation for Playback. That's 3 amplifiers total from input to tape and output. There were wow and flutter issues that required maintenance and knowledge of how the loop worked.
    The machines were often rented to do tape transfers, I recall Steely Dan and Stevie Wonder doing that.

  • Hey Rod, you wouldn’t happen to have any scanned Manuals would you? I’ve got an 821A and a 821B. I also have the Stephens Type 709B limiter desser. Huge fan of your brothers work.

    • Dan,

      This is weird, but I'm just about ship the original Stephens shop 811B manual from which circulated copies were made to go with the sold decks. It's dated 12/20/83. It's too late for me to scan it, but I can give you the name and email of the guy I'm sending it to. Ironically, I only saw your post today as I was looking through postings about John. The name of the guy is Jim Rogers, and he lives in Gilbert, AZ. His email is: jim8078@me.com Let me know if this is of help. Rod

• I had several discussions about the technology with Stephens at the '78 AES. He was one of the brightest inventors I have met and it was one of the most enlightening conversations of my audio life.

  The transport was a marvel of execution, using better bearings than even Studer (AFAIR, he said "Class 7", which was the penultimate aerospace category). The motion control circuit was deceptively simple with few parts but complex feedback and torque compensation for winding radius for constant tension without separate tension sensing.

  The audio circuits also had novel configurations, with current feedback on the record heads and a transimpedance amp on playback. The 40 track has the same mix-down SNR as the competitors' 24 tracks. I had a friend with a Stephens 16, it best sounding multi-track until multi-track DSD.

• I have a Stephens 40 track frame with 16, 24 and 32 track heads. I'm in search of some technical support as most techs I have tried are either unwilling to attempt the unfamiliar design, or are restrictively expensive. Anyone interested in taking a crack at this beautiful machine, please do contact me. I am not asking for freebies at all, but I do think it needs a considerable amount of work and I'd like to find someone with the time to spend on it at a manageable rate.

  • Lou, if you are still in need of some assistance I may be able to help, or at least provide some useful contacts. Please email me at jesse52(replace with at symbol)hotmail.com.

    • Thanks Jesse, will email you now!

  • Are you looking to find it a good home???
    Or are you looking for a studio "Partner"...???

    It's a little unclear...if it's a 40 track frame...you only listed up to 32 track heads???

    • Wow, didn't see these!
      I'm not looking for either, just some tech help with my machine.
      Mine was delivered as a 40 track frame with 32 track heads and electronics. I have 16 and 24 track heads as well.

• I worked with John from 1978 -1982 as production manager/service tech/purchasing agent etc. while in my late 20's. John was a brilliant guy, always interesting. I always considered myself to have blessed to have been able to work with John. We became good friends. I learned a lot from him. It was one of the most inspiring and fun periods of my life! Randy might remember me. I started with John shortly after he left to work at Lions Gate.
  Doug Cioce

  • Hi Doug Cioci!
    I worked for you in 1979 or 80. I was the kid that built and wired up the power supplies. I remember those two old ladies that wired up the amplifiers and John's girlfriend Gina Desopo? what was the name of the guy that assembled the decks? He got angry one day at John and walked out.
    John never spoke to me, but you spent a lot of time showing me how to put those analog electronic devices together. You helped me develop skill that were very useful for the next 37 years. Thank you for that. I'd love to have copies of any photos of the old shop or sales and engineering literature.

• I have two channels from a Stephens mixing console that was used to record a Kenny Rogers album, (or so I was told). I have never found the info for power supply etc. to get them up and running as preamps, but would really love to do that.

  • Bob, did you ever get these modules running? I fix Stephens machines and can help with the console strips. Contact me through History of Recorded Sound, 310-204-4911.