[Courtney Louise]

The alba was probably a 3 1/2 ips half track mono machine. The Akai can do this as it has the right speed and a 3-2 / 1-4 switch to allow you to play mono recordings.

Akai's are very common and relatively easy to get parts for and don't usually give too much trouble. The Revox machines are expensive if all you want to do is preserve the tapes themselves.

Alternatively, I am sure there are a number of people on the forum, me included that can transfer the tapes for you at a reasonable cost if you don't want to do it yourself.

Regards

Courtney