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Reel to Reel uses -

My wife and I love to entertain.  It never ceases to surprise me how many will walk over to my stereo and stare at my Reel to Reel tape deck.  Some under the age of 35, will ask what it is? Others want to know why I have it, and what do I use it for?  Of course I answer their questions, but now it makes we wonder how others use their machines?  I have been following a couple of high end blogs that I really enjoy and see that one gentlemen uses his machine to play master tape copies.  I do this as well, but have no where near the selection that he does.  I make copies of my favorite LP's to play when guests are over, and also make my own master tapes using a couple of neuman's microphones.  I record small jazz trios and solo artists straight to the machine.  People are amazed at how 'real' these tapes sound.  My main reel to reel is a Pioneer RT-1050 high speed half track.  I have a second just like it that I use for the above mentioned site recordings.  I also have a ReVox B-77, a Sony TC-765, and a Crown 822, all half track machines.  Anyone out there making your own masters?

Norman
normansizemore
normansizemore OP
601 posts
 
livin_262002,
When I bought my ReVox B77 half track new (series one), I thought nothing could top it.  I still have it, but rarely ever use it.  My Sony TC-765, and Pioneer RT-1050 sound so much better it's laughable.  And I believe it is because the ReVox is tied to the NAB eq curve.  The Pioneer has both NAB and CCIR, and is just an amazing sounding machine.  So much headroom.
For all my years in the hobby (over 40), I have never even seen a Tandberg reel to reel.  But, if they are anything like their cassette decks, or receivers and amps, then the sound must be first class!
I too am a BASF SM911 fan.  I also enjoy Agfa 468 (very smooth), but you need a bit more bias to make it happy.  
You should get a couple of mics (even something like two Audio Technicas or Shure 57's) and do some live recording. You won't believe how wonderful it will sound!  An entire second addiction will ensue.

Norman
inna
7,913 posts
 
How does this Pioneer compare to Otari ?
livin_262002
187 posts
 
Norman,

  I seem to like the CCIR eq over NAB, that's probably the reason why I didn't like the Revox that much. Tandberg with it's DynEQ and Actilinear implementations have nailed the sonics, especially the headroom with DynEQ.

I have a couple of recordings that I had done @ 15IPS. The sound is simply superb. The soundstage is huge. But again 15IPS with 1/2 track eats tapes and becomes an expensive proposition :-)

I also own Tandberg 3014A cassette deck and yes the Tandberg house sound is very addictive. I had a Nakamichi Dragon and still have a ZX-7, but liked Tandberg so much I sold the Dragon but kept the ZX-7 which I like over the Dragon.

Interesting you mention live recordings I'm scared to move the Tandberg because of it's fragility. I should probably look for another deck that can be hauled around.

BTW you can see my setup on my Virtual System Page.

jnovak's avatar
jnovak
446 posts
 
Great topic! I'm an open reel fan and I've also owned many great decks.
I actually owned three (yes three!) Sony TC 880-2 machines. I sold all of them to my regret. I have a lot of studio tapes I can only hope I can get to dub over to CDR before they are forever lost to oxidation. Back in the day, this was the only format to offer true high fidelity. I don't use any machines in my playback system. I only archive to CDR on the computer. Joe
inna
7,913 posts
 
CDRs will vanish too, dub to hard drive.
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