Scully 280B-2
A stereo two-track workhorse from a company that built lathes first and tape machines second - and priced it accordingly.
Overview
The 280B-2 was the stereo two-track, two-channel member of Scully's 280B series. The company's own catalog copy pitched it at "professional mastering service or general recording and reproduction." The 280 line sat below the 400/4400 logger series, but it was no consumer deck. The AC-motor version carried a net price of $3,795. The DC servo capstan motor pushed that to $4,195. The same catalog listed the mono half-track 280B-1 at $2,995, so the second channel and the two-track stereo heads cost real money.
The big choice was the capstan drive. Buyers could specify either an AC hysteresis capstan motor or a printed-circuit DC servo motor, and the catalog lists them as separate orderable variants. The 280B family also offered what Scully called "selective synchronization," which the documentation describes as permitting precise alignment of sequentially recorded segments on separate tracks. That suits people assembling takes rather than capturing a single pass. Speeds were specified at order, 3.75/7.5 or 7.5/15 IPS, and set when the machine was built. You didn't switch them casually afterward.
The 280B-2 was a system, not a box. Scully's ordering information lists a 10.5-inch reel configuration for rack mounting. It also lists a "Series 280B (SP-14)" version built around 14-inch reels, available as the 280B-2/SP-14 in stereo two-track. Console mount for the 280B series ran $350. A standard remote control in a box added $190, and a rack-mount remote was $165. Line voltage and frequency were specified at order too, with 220/240V 50 Hz available at no charge. The catalog's ordering note is blunt about how customized these machines were: specify speeds, equalization, AC or servo drive, and line frequency.
Studio gear lists say more about what the 280B-2 was in practice than spec sheets do. Through the late 1970s and into the 1980s the 280B turns up as the two-track mixdown and mastering deck in working facilities. A Square Studios in Ann Arbor listed one alongside MCI multitracks, and Minot Sound in White Plains ran a 280B 2-track next to MCI and Ampex machines. It was the second machine in the room, the one that caught the stereo mix while the 24-track did the heavy lifting. It also showed up in the classified pages. DB (June 1975, p.50) ran dealer listings showing the 280B-2 with console at $2,995, and by Mix (July 1988, p.176) used 280B two-tracks were changing hands around $1,500.
Anyone chasing one today should know that the 280B-2 was specified at order, so no two are necessarily configured alike. Check the capstan motor type, the speed pair, the equalization, and the reel size before assuming anything. The 14-inch SP-14 variants are a different beast from the rack-mount 10.5-inch units. These decks lived hard in professional rooms, so head wear and the condition of the servo electronics matter more than cosmetics. On the used market they go for well below the original $3,795 net.
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