Moderators Travis In Austin Posted August 21, 2006 Moderators Share Posted August 21, 2006 To fellow reel to reel owners: I was surprised to see a fair number of reel to reel owners on the forum in Wardsweb's post on his Teac 1000R "Old School" thread. A couple of folks even said they were gonig to pull their units out of the attic/basement and start playing with them again. Wardweb was up last Sat. to bring me a great birthday surprise, a superfine rackmount power distrabution strip for a rack I am setting up, and I gave him some new 456 to play with on his restored Teac. I told him we should each record a 10 and 1/2 reel with some music on it at 7.5 ips and exchange it back and forth. Then I remembered that there were some others on here that has r2r units that may want to do the same thing. So if anyone is interested in exchanging some music, listening to recordings from different machnes, please post on here and we will include you in the circle. The object is to hear some different music, and learn somethig about home recording. The idea is that your tape would be returned to you after it was passed along to everyone else for a listen and then we could decide from there whether to record another tape and pass it along again. Each person would record a tape and then would note what make and model of deck it was recorded on, what the source was, brand and type of tape if not indicated, and what settings, eq, NR, etc., were used. These tapes would preferably be done at 7.5 ips since everyone should have that speed, and on a 10 and 1/2 reel. I assume everyone has 1/4 track machines, but if someone has 1/2 track we can try and figure out something on that as well. If your deck only takes 7" reels that is fine, you can still join in. If it is of any interest great, let me know and I will get it rolling, if not, that's fine too. Travis Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jcmusic Posted August 21, 2006 Share Posted August 21, 2006 Travis, I like the idea but my Revox is a 1/2 track slow speed. I sold the 4 track fast speed a while back. Jay 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Travis In Austin Posted August 21, 2006 Author Moderators Share Posted August 21, 2006 I can accomodate you on 1/2 track at 7.5 ips. There may be one or two other 1/2 tracks out there too, we will wait and see. Travis 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jcmusic Posted August 21, 2006 Share Posted August 21, 2006 Travis that sounds good. Jay Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluesboy Posted August 22, 2006 Share Posted August 22, 2006 Travis I called Tarheel last night about your idea about your idea of exchanging reei to reel tapes. ( He doesn't have a computer at home yet) Tarheel's all for the idea and so am I. He should be posting this morning sometime. Don Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wardsweb Posted August 22, 2006 Share Posted August 22, 2006 Sounds like a plan. The more the merrier. This reminds me of one of the best things I like about our Lone Star Bottleheads meets is hearing new music. Not everyone has the same taste or the same collection of CDs, vinyl or tape. So, this is a great way to "spread the wealth." I just need to pickup a second deck so I can do some tape to tape editing. Then there is hooking one up to my vinyl rig. So many ideas, so little time. Don't you just hate how work takes this big chunk right out of the middle of your day. Premium time when you could be doing audio stuff.[] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coytee Posted August 22, 2006 Share Posted August 22, 2006 Dang... You guys are making me pissed that I gave away (literally) my pristine Akai GX-747 along with about 20 reels. The only good news is it went to a good friend who will appreciate it. Heck, I even drove from Knoxville to Cincinnati and DELIVERED it to him. Hmm.. free of charge and door to door delivery. Tough to beat that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wardsweb Posted August 22, 2006 Share Posted August 22, 2006 Dang... You guys are making me pissed that I gave away (literally) my pristine Akai GX-747 along with about 20 reels. The only good news is it went to a good friend who will appreciate it. Heck, I even drove from Knoxville to Cincinnati and DELIVERED it to him. Hmm.. free of charge and door to door delivery. Tough to beat that. Wow, must be some friend, or at least, you are. And to think, you could have sold it to me. Oh well, life goes on and the reels go round and round. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coytee Posted August 22, 2006 Share Posted August 22, 2006 Ya, gave him my Akai 747 & tapes, 2 "crates" of LP's (remember "Peaches" crates?), my dbx 224 for the tape player, a Phase Linear TT (PL 5000??) I don't remember, and I had a decent MC cart on it though I don't recall what it was....all at zero charge. Gave another friend my old Yamaha CR-2040 receiver, dbx 3bx, dbx 110 (boombox), Audio Control C-101 equalizer/analyzer also at no charge. Gave a friend of my wife, my old Pioneer CTF 1000 cassette deck, no charge. All the stuff was in working condition, some was fantastic condition (Akai) and others was nicked & bruised from 20+ years owning & moving all over the country. Unfortunately, this was in the days prior to ebay & internet. I didn't think those things would bring in $200 combined. Seems I was wrong. Woe is me [] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Travis In Austin Posted August 22, 2006 Author Moderators Share Posted August 22, 2006 Don, Glad you and Tarheel are going to be joining us. I figure what we would do is let this thread run into the weekend and see how many were interested. I would then come up with a master list of folks who would be exchanging and spell out who would be sending to whom all the way around in a circle. Maybe shoot for a week from Sat. to have them sent out. However I think everyone is totaly flexable on time frames on when we will send out first tape and how long we should each keep them before we send them onto the next person. Travis Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Travis In Austin Posted August 22, 2006 Author Moderators Share Posted August 22, 2006 Dang... You guys are making me pissed that I gave away (literally) my pristine Akai GX-747 along with about 20 reels. The only good news is it went to a good friend who will appreciate it. Heck, I even drove from Knoxville to Cincinnati and DELIVERED it to him. Hmm.. free of charge and door to door delivery. Tough to beat that. I am going to PUKE. Coytee I hate you!!!!!!!! Not really, sounds like it went to a good home and it is being used. You need to tell your friend (I agree with Luther, you are a good friend and he must be a good friend) that he better be giving that 747 plenty of use or two Texans are going to show up in the middle of the night and give it a good home. Travis Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Travis In Austin Posted August 25, 2006 Author Moderators Share Posted August 25, 2006 From Tarheel: Travis, Iam back on line after being out of town for 2 days. No pc at home but hopefully that will change shortly. Bluesboy told me about your idea and we are ready to go. We can make a tape this weekend. I just got a batch of CDs from Amazon most have been remastered and some have bonus tracks. They will sound even better on tape! Also just got some 180gram Miles Davis and Art Blakey LPs. Do we need to know what kind of music everyone likes or are we just going to send whatever we have? I imagine musical taste of contributors will be varied. I would like to hear from any other forum members in my neighborhood (Wilmington, NC) who wants to contribute to this tape. 910 200-1225 or 910 395-0825 Tarheel (Chuck) Chuck, Glad to see you are back. My suggestion, and I am open to any and all ideas, is that we record whatever strikes us, with maybe trying to get at least a couple of different types of things on the same tape. An example, and only an example, jazz on one side, rock on another. Could be all rock, could be all jazz, but if it is all jazz or rock try and mix it up a bit. There are four folks how are in so far, and we will see if there are any more by the weekend, and I think it would be impossible to try and please everyone on the music front. I know Luther and I like listening to music of all kinds and are willing to listen to just about anything once, even if it is to determine we don't like something. As for me, I am as interested as hearing the recording quality from the different decks as I am the musis. I think it's a good plan to try and have something recorded over the weekend and ready to send out on Monday or so. I was thinking it would be best to ship them media mail, much cheaper, but also much longer to arrive. It does not matter to me, I just want to do whatever will keep this thing going as long as possible. So if you and Bluesboy have a preference on regular mail vs. regular USPS parcel post let me know. I also thought it would be best for Luther (Wardsweb) and I to send our tapes to each of you guys, you would send yours to Luther, Bluesboy would send his to me. You would swap with Bluesboy, Luther would swap with me, then Luther would send your tape to Bluesboy, I would send Bluesboy's tape to you. Then everyone would then send the tape back to the original owner. Everyone would listen to three different tapes and there get their tape back. After that first round we would see if everyone (hopefully) wanted to do it again and go from there. Travis Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tarheel Posted August 25, 2006 Share Posted August 25, 2006 That sounds fine Travis. We will get to work this weekend. Hope others will join us. BTW for now I am only on the pc the first thing in the AM at work but Don is 24/7. Chuck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scott0527 Posted August 25, 2006 Share Posted August 25, 2006 Travis, If I only have room for one Reel to Reel machine, which one should I look for? Budget of say $700 or less. I would only be listening to existing tapes with possibly an occasional recording of cd's or albums. I've had a couple fo r2r's in past, didin't use them much so I got rid of them. However I would like to have at least one machine around now and then. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Travis In Austin Posted August 26, 2006 Author Moderators Share Posted August 26, 2006 Travis, If I only have room for one Reel to Reel machine, which one should I look for? Budget of say $700 or less. I would only be listening to existing tapes with possibly an occasional recording of cd's or albums. I've had a couple fo r2r's in past, didin't use them much so I got rid of them. However I would like to have at least one machine around now and then. Scott, With a budget of $700.00 you have so much to choose from, and you really don't need to spend near that much if it is going to be listen only. My personal choice, in that price range, would be the Tandberg 10XD. Handles up to 10.5 inch reels, does 3.75, 7.5 and 15 IPS, has built in dolby NR, is a very sweet sounding rig. Best part NO BELTS, except counter belt. They typically go for 5 to 600, but look for one where the seller says that its has recently been gone through by a tech and where they give at least a 30 or 90 day warranty. Stay away from sellers who say they have turned it on, all of the lights work, but they have no way to test it. For a little more you could get a TD20A or even the SE (special equalization) model with are, in my opinion, amoung the three best consumer recording machines ever made. Another good choice, if you are going to just play 7" reels are the Pioneer Products, the RT-707 for 7" reels, the RT-909 for 10.5" reels. Both are auto reverse, play great, and even record well, though I think the Tandberg is a much better recording machine. Again, no belts. THe RT 707 and 909 would need to come with the assurance they they have been reworked, cleaned, etc. The auto-reverse system uses two pinch rollers that move up and down and they get gummed up and need to be cleaned and re-lubed. The pinch rollers also tend to gum up and need to be replaced. The good news, you can still get pinch rollers from Pioneer. The Pioneer RT 1011 is a workhorse of a machine and goes for about 300, will last forever, great playback, good recording, but not as good Tandberg or the two previous Pioneers. If you can get any of the Technics 1500, or 1700 for $700 jump on it, this is the very best consumer play and record machine that has all three speeds. The 1700 is the only 15 IPS 1/4 track auto-reverse machine ever made. It records as well as the Tandberg, (which has a special bias head), and has the best tape path (capstan loop). Unfortunatley they usually go for $1,200 to $1,500. If you seen one advertised locally for $700 or so it would be worth the effort to go check it out. You might end up with a steal. Teac makes a good machine, however, you have to be very careful with the better ones. They were used in schools, studios, radio stations, and they can be beat to death on the inside. The consumer decks, the 1000 and 2000 are well regarded, Luther/Wardsweb loves his 1000, and some other forum members have the 2000 which they love. Both of those are in your price range. The Akai are also a very well liked machine, I have never owned one, but they use glass heads which have an almost unlimited life. You can find the GX-636 in your price range and there are folks who just love these machines. The top of the line is the 747 but they usually go for a bit more then 700. There is kind of a cult following on the 747, but the specs, even when new, don't rise up to the Tandberg. Bottom line, if I had $700 for a deck, used primarily for playback, with 10.5" capibility, but could record well, I would be getting a Tandberg 10XD or TD20 hands down no question, UNLESS, I happend to find a Technics 1500 or 1700 which is a steal. I will do a little hunting over the weekend and post some suggestions. I hope you end up finding something, would love to have you in our recorded tape music exchange. If you just want to dabble in it, maybe get your feet wet first, you might be able to talk me out of my Pioneer RT-1011 at a special forum member price. I tend to hold on to my decks forever, but a chance to get a forum member involved in playing and recording tapes again is the perfect motivation for me to sell a deck. Travis Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Travis In Austin Posted August 26, 2006 Author Moderators Share Posted August 26, 2006 Here is an X-1000R that went for a fair price, (750) from a very reputable guy. Note that he is the person how services it, goes through everything, and is willing to back it up. http://cgi.ebay.com/Teac-X-1000R-Reel-Tape-Recorder-Awsome-Unit-Like-New_W0QQitemZ170017190577QQihZ007QQcategoryZ67814QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem I wil find some current listings for you as well. Travis Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scott0527 Posted August 26, 2006 Share Posted August 26, 2006 Thanks Travis that exactly the information I'm looking for. I'm very familiar with vintage audio gear, so I'll take your advice and keep my out for the Tandberg (or Techinics if I get a nice bonus this quarter). Looking for one that has been serviced by someone who knows what they're doing. I used to have a Technics 3040 and Pioneer RT707. Like I mentioned, I didn't really use them much. They both sounded very nice but were in just average cosmetic shape. I just want one unit, in very nice condition, that will be good at all speeds and reel sizes. And I wasn't feeling up to doing my own research! So you've given me some great things to look for. Thanks again, Scott PS. I'm the same way with my vintage collection. Although I have doubles of some very nice pieces, I just can't seem to let anything go! So I won't ask you to part with your Pioneer just yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Travis In Austin Posted August 26, 2006 Author Moderators Share Posted August 26, 2006 Attention Don (Bluesboy), Luther (Wardsweb), and Chuck (Tarheel) Ok so far it looks like the four of us who will do the exchanging of tapes, if more folks want to join in that is fine we will figure out a way to slip them in. So this is the way it is going to work, unless someone else has another suggestion which I am more then open to. FIRST: Record a 10.5 inch tape this weekend and have it ready to send by Monday or Tuesday, we will send them media mail (if you want to go with priority that is fine with me, we just need to send them all the same way so that they arrive about the same time for everyone). The music can be anything, try to vary it a little bit. If you listen to all rock and roll, that is fine, just try and mix it some. If you have something you think is unusual that would be great. It can also be something we have heard a 1000 times before as well. If you want to do Jazz on one side, blues on the other that is great. The KEY is that whatever you record you will want to detail what it is, Artist, Composer (If applicable), Title, Names of Tracks, the source, LP, CD, name and brand of turntable, cartridge, cd player. Most importantly list the brand and model of recorder you made the tape on, whether you used noise reduction of any type, dolby or dbx and the brand and type of tape it is on if it is not on the reel. For me at least, it is as important, if not more so, to know how and what you recorded it on then the music itself. I am looking forward to listening to different music, plus also learning how to improve my recording. Second: Send your tape by media mail to the first person on your list, to keep it easy if you and put in a "routing slip" to make it easy to follow. I will put everyones address together if you will email me with them. For the first round the Texas tapes will go to North Carolina, and the North Carolina tapes will go to Texas, this is simply because of mailing time so that everything arrives about the same time. Picking at random: Luther will send his tape to Chuck Travis will send his tape to Don Don will send his tape to Luther Chuck will send his tape to Travis After the tapes are sent we will acknowledge arrival, and indicated how much time we will realistically need to listen to the tapes and send them on. Hopefully that amount of time will be about the same for everyone, I dont think if someone needs an extra couple of days is going to make any big difference. From there we will let everyone know when they are being sent out again. For round two, we will swap locally, again to keep the mail time about the same. Luther will send his tape from Don to Travis Travis will send his tape from Chuck to Luther Don will send his tape from Travis to Chuck Chuck will send his tape from Luther to Don Same thing, now they criss cross back: Luther will send Chucks tape to Don Travis will send Dons tape to Chuck Don will send Luthers tape to Travis Chuck will send Travis tape to Luther Then they all go back home: Luther will have Travis tape which he will send back to Travis, Travis will have Luthers tape which he will send to Luther, Don will have Chucks tape which he will send to Don and Chuck will send Dons tape back to Don. After that we will confer about whether we want to do it again, whether it be right away or down the road a bit, hopefully what we are able to comment about it will get some other folks interested in doing it also. Confused? I hope not. As I said if you will get me everyones address this weekend to my email at tcwesq@texas.net, I will come up with a routing slip that you can put in with your tape so that it will be easy for everyone to see where it has been and where it needs to go. I am looking forward to this. Please post any suggestions, comments or changes, it does not matter to me how we do it, so long as we get to doing it. Travis Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wardsweb Posted August 27, 2006 Share Posted August 27, 2006 OK here is a shot of the recording in progress earlier this evening. A real mix with Jazz on one side and rock on the other. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tarheel Posted August 28, 2006 Share Posted August 28, 2006 That is quite a system Luther. Looking forward to hearing your tape. Please let us know what all your components are at some point. I hope to post a picture of my system this afternoon since I am going to try to sell the LaScala clones (never thought I would consider selling them). Bluesboy, a master carpenter, is going to build some Super LaScalas for me. We are looking at veneers today. Thinking about rosewood....any suggestions? Chuck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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