Revox 1222-HS
The Revox that shows up in the classifieds with a warranty card and thirty hours on the clock - and vanishes just as fast.
Overview
The documentary record barely mentions this machine. The Revox 1222-HS is real. It appears in period dealer listings and classified ads. But almost nothing survives to describe it: no confirmed production years, no manufacturer specification sheet, no service manual naming the model, no confirmed original retail price. What the record does preserve needs a careful reading.
The clearest picture comes from the classified pages of the American audio press. A 1973 Audio (September 1973, p.116) for-sale notice describes a 1222 HS with "Varipitch, built-in Sel-sync, amps and speakers. Remote control. Less than 30 hrs. use. With full warranty" at $900. Go through that slowly. Varipitch is variable tape speed. Built-in sel-sync is synchronous recording, which lets you monitor off the record head while overdubbing. Then there are onboard amps and speakers, and remote control. Those are the features of a self-contained tape recorder, not a bare deck. On the evidence available, the 1222-HS was a complete record-and-playback machine with its own amplification and speakers built in.
The British trade press backs that up, indirectly. A 1971 dealer price list in Studio Sound (February 1971, p.50) carries a "Revox 1222/4" at £215 0 0. It sits in a ladder of Revox tape recorders alongside the 1102/4 at £179 and the 1122/4 at £203. It's a dealer's tape-recorder table, and the 1222 is listed there as a tape recorder. Note the suffix, though: "1222/4," not "1222-HS." No available source documents whether these are the same machine under different designations, or two variants of one chassis. Treat the relationship as unconfirmed.
The "HS" suffix is not explained in any surviving document in the record. Anyone claiming to know what it stood for is guessing. The machine's reputation, such as it is, rests entirely on those classified descriptions - a feature list and a price, repeated twice by the same seller.
The $900 and $90.0 figures are the hard numbers attached to the 1222-HS. This was a used-machine asking price in 1973, from a private seller, for a unit described as barely used and still under warranty. It is not an original retail price, and it should never be quoted as one. It does suggest that a 1222-HS in near-mint condition with warranty paper commanded serious money on the secondhand market at the time, the kind of money that bought a new car in some markets, or a very good used one. The seller was pricing it as premium gear, and the same ad running in consecutive months suggests it did not move instantly at that number.
The features are period-typical for a top-line Revox of the era, and they point to the kind of user the machine was built for. Sel-sync means multitrack-style overdubbing was possible on the machine itself, which suggests a home or project studio rather than pure hi-fi playback. Varipitch means speed was adjustable, useful for tuning to an instrument or for effects. Built-in amps and speakers mean it could run standalone without a separate system, though that also made it heavier and less flexible than a bare transport feeding a proper amplifier. Remote control on a tape recorder of this vintage is unusual. It implies the machine was expected to be operated from a listening position, not just from arm's reach.
The 1222-HS is a documented but under-described Revox. It existed, it was sold, it had a serious feature set, and it fetched real money used. Beyond that, the record is silent: no production run, no confirmed year range, no measured performance, no service documentation, no owner community with a body of knowledge to draw on. A buyer should approach a machine this thinly documented with caution, and with skepticism toward any seller who fills the gaps with confident claims.
eBay Listings
As an eBay Partner, we earn from qualifying purchases. This helps support our independent vintage technology research.