Reel to Reel

[mindbass]

Hi,

so last week i got my dad's old reel to reel recorder from the attic and plugged it in to see if it still works. It does! The trusty old Revox does need some bearings replaced and a potentiometer, but the heads look just fine after some cleaning. These were pretty much the first machines for four track recording and some even had Dolby. We are talking late 60's here, maybe early 70's. Anyone else here with some vintage HiFi equipment who wants to share a story or experiences?

Analog FTW

[ggunn]

Originally Posted by mindbass

Hi,

so last week i got my dad's old reel to reel recorder from the attic and plugged it in to see if it still works. It does! The trusty old Revox does need some bearings replaced and a potentiometer, but the heads look just fine after some cleaning. These were pretty much the first machines for four track recording and some even had Dolby. We are talking late 60's here, maybe early 70's. Anyone else here with some vintage HiFi equipment who wants to share a story or experiences?

Analog FTW

When my brother and I started doing sound designs for community theater, R2R was the way we ran cues. There was a length of tape for each cue separated by 3' of leader tape, edited with razor blade and splicing tape. Producing a design was very labor intensive; just cutting it up into separate cues and splicing in the leaders took hours.

Minidisc changed our life.

[fdeck]

I had a Revox that I sold to buy a minidisc recorder.

[Jim Carr]

The two channel Revox machine I used in the analog electronic music studio was quite good for a 1/4 tape machine. I have no idea how you are going to find parts.

[mindbass]

finding parts is not a problem, here in Europe pretty much everything can be bought from an official Revox dealer or ebay. I guess that it's the same in the US.

Yeah minidisk is probably a much better technology, but it doesn't have that 'cool vintage vibe'.

[fdeck]

Originally Posted by mindbass

finding parts is not a problem, here in Europe pretty much everything can be bought from an official Revox dealer or ebay. I guess that it's the same in the US.

Yeah minidisk is probably a much better technology, but it doesn't have that 'cool vintage vibe'.

True. I just couldn't transport the thing, and the tapes were beyond expensive. So I never used it.

[barricwiley]

I've had a few.
Only one I have now (several years) a Sony TC580. I probably have a few hundred tapes and slowly going through them and finding some real gems. It was starting to sound like a slowed down record player so a couple days ago took it all apart and cleaned/demagnitzed/ajusted and it now sounds crystal clear. It IS old tech but as mindbass said it has that cool vintage vibe to it. It's history, and not used to much but still - something special you can't get in today's high tech stuff and not for everyone for sure.
Richard

[rtslinger]

I have a TEAC A-3340 4-track that I used to record the bands demo's on long ago and mixed them down to a two track Pioneer RT-1050 reel to reel and then down to a
Fisher cassette deck yeah a lot of work for a demo back in the day ha ha ha. And yeah I still have all of them.

[BlacksHole]

I still have 3 reel to reel decks, but I just don't use them.

[Rickett Customs]

Best reel to reel recorder that I ever recorded on was an Otari Mx-80, just don't make 'em like that anymore, although a friend of mine just bought a "Clasp" and an Mx-80 for his protools HD, sounds uncanny to that sweet saturated tape sound..........

[runmikeyrun]

I had a Sony TC-630 reel to reel. The motor cap blew and a replacement was $50! So I ended up selling it on Craigslist. If I plugged my guitar into the left input and daisy chained the output into the phono input of the right channel I could get an awesome "Revolution" fuzz out of it.

by the way... when did FTW come to stand for "For The Win" instead of it's original biker tattoo meaning, f**k the world?

[mindbass]

Originally Posted by runmikeyrun

I had a Sony TC-630 reel to reel. The motor cap blew and a replacement was $50! So I ended up selling it on Craigslist. If I plugged my guitar into the left input and daisy chained the output into the phono input of the right channel I could get an awesome "Revolution" fuzz out of it.

by the way... when did FTW come to stand for "For The Win" instead of it's original biker tattoo meaning, f**k the world?

I didn't know that about FTW. I'll stop using it.

[BassChuck]

I still have my TEAC 3440. I drag it out sometimes for my students and show them why loops are called loops. There's nothing better about the sound, the editing is a much bigger PITA and limited at that. But there's just something about being able to touch what you are working with.

[Billy K]

I still have a Akai I bought in Vietnam 1968.A big tube run mother with "cross field heads" I had problems with the motor or belts that make it turn.I sure was a sweet sounding machine. I have about 60 reels of late sixties early 70's rock that I can't listen to. I don't know why I have kept it all these years.I have no clue where/who could get it fixed.The heads could be manually moved or switches to record or play trac 1 and 3 and 2and 4.Anyone know anything about this deck?It was sold in America as a Roberts until Akai got U.S. licencing.

[barricwiley]

Try Vintage Electronics Sales, Repair, Parts for Marantz, Pioneer, Teac, Etc.
Ton of info and through the menu on the left you will also find links to companys that work on and sell parts/manuals to all the old reel to reels and other oldie equipment.

Originally Posted by Billy K

I still have a Akai I bought in Vietnam 1968.A big tube run mother with "cross field heads" I had problems with the motor or belts that make it turn.I sure was a sweet sounding machine. I have about 60 reels of late sixties early 70's rock that I can't listen to. I don't know why I have kept it all these years.I have no clue where/who could get it fixed.The heads could be manually moved or switches to record or play trac 1 and 3 and 2and 4.Anyone know anything about this deck?It was sold in America as a Roberts until Akai got U.S. licencing.

[laughing house]

Back in the day, I use to brag to the ladies about my big Wollensak.....