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Techman · 10th May 2019, 9:36 pm

Hi Steve,

I knew it would be a bit controversial, and it was a bit tongue in cheek, but here’s the truth…

That tape recorder, although looking brand new and in mint condition in the box, has actually been hammered. It was bought brand new by the drummer of the band I was in during the mid 70s and was used to record the band live on many occasions, he also used it at home as part of his sound system. When the band split up, I bought the recorder off him, I also bought his drum kit, but that’s another story!

Those pictures of it were taken a few years ago when I happened to find the original box and packing in the loft. That tape deck has had hundreds of hours use since I bought it around 1976/7. It recorded all the best sessions and tracks from the John Peel and Tommy Vance Friday rock shows over the years when they were being broadcast, and played back the recorded tunes many times over. Also, a lot of full albums were recorded on it. It has always been my main reel to reel tape recorder over the years and has never gone wrong, other than several years ago it had started to get sluggish on rewind. I opened it up suspecting it may need belts, but it just needed slight adjustment and its 40 year service, including a dodgy earth on an edge connector that needed sorting out. The sound is as crisp and clear as the day I bought it, sound stability on piano music is spot on. It’s never, ever broken, chewed or spun off a tape, even with lightening fast operation of the servo buttons from forward to reverse to play – unlike a lot of these other machines being discussed at the moment. Nowadays however, it gets very little use.

What can I say – the machine speaks for itself, although I’m sure if you ran technical tests on it then you’d find that it's probably lacking in comparison to some of those other machines.

10th May 2019, 9:36 pm	#68
Techman Dekatron Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Lincolnshire, UK. Posts: 5,000	Re: Reel to reel revival Hi Steve, I knew it would be a bit controversial, and it was a bit tongue in cheek, but here’s the truth… That tape recorder, although looking brand new and in mint condition in the box, has actually been hammered. It was bought brand new by the drummer of the band I was in during the mid 70s and was used to record the band live on many occasions, he also used it at home as part of his sound system. When the band split up, I bought the recorder off him, I also bought his drum kit, but that’s another story! Those pictures of it were taken a few years ago when I happened to find the original box and packing in the loft. That tape deck has had hundreds of hours use since I bought it around 1976/7. It recorded all the best sessions and tracks from the John Peel and Tommy Vance Friday rock shows over the years when they were being broadcast, and played back the recorded tunes many times over. Also, a lot of full albums were recorded on it. It has always been my main reel to reel tape recorder over the years and has never gone wrong, other than several years ago it had started to get sluggish on rewind. I opened it up suspecting it may need belts, but it just needed slight adjustment and its 40 year service, including a dodgy earth on an edge connector that needed sorting out. The sound is as crisp and clear as the day I bought it, sound stability on piano music is spot on. It’s never, ever broken, chewed or spun off a tape, even with lightening fast operation of the servo buttons from forward to reverse to play – unlike a lot of these other machines being discussed at the moment. Nowadays however, it gets very little use. What can I say – the machine speaks for itself, although I’m sure if you ran technical tests on it then you’d find that it's probably lacking in comparison to some of those other machines.