The dangerous world of Reel-to-Reel Tape

I never had a reel-to-reel back back in the day, and only in the past few years did I discover the format (and only then to help a frield digitize some home tapes his parents had of their wedding). Once I got a feel for the format however I was hooked.

I went through a couple of decks before landing on my Teac X300 which was newly refurbished when I bought it. I have had a great deal of fun with it since, and have invested in about 150 factory reel-to-reel tapes to play in my office setup (no home tapng for me).

Yes, it’s a hassle at times keeping the heads clean, splicing the tape where someone in the past treated the tape unkindly, organizing and cataloging, but the rewards are worth it.

Check out this series on reel-to-reel on Copper Magazine.
 

50 years ago I was into R2R and the first thing I did with all my albums was record them at 15 IPS from the new vinyl.  At that point I had complete collections of the Stones, Les Zeppelin, Bob Dylan, The Allman Brothers and more.  Then I got into 4 Channel but was limited to buying prerecorded material.

It was quite the journey, but life intervened and divorce dismantled my system and my musical world at that time.  The only downside as I recall was the inability to quickly find a specific track and switch and what I wanted to hear.  It was terrific at putting on music that lasted longer than one side of an album.

I miss it, but time has not been kind to the genre.  I hope enough people get into R2R so that it can make a comeback where more choices are available for those who have discovered its merits and understand the shortcomings.

You all are making me want to get my old R2R serviced and added to my system. It’s nothing special, but I still remember how amazed I was that my recording of Working Man’s Dead and other recordings sounded better than the vinyl I recorded them from. Being analytical that never made sense to me - but my ears knew it was true. I hooked up the deck a couple years ago and one of the channels had major issues.  I think it’s time to find someone that can get it back up to speed.  Hope to see you all in rehab. 
 

Matt

As a servicers who occassionally "enjoy" the opportunity to get the lights to come on, reels spinning, and meters bouncing on 50+ year-old R2Rs, I can best describe the experience as attempting to fix a combination of a (non-functional) Wurtlizer Juke Box and (mechanically challenged) vintage Pinball machine stuffed inside of the same chassis. Not for the faint of heart. But, it will take plastic surgery to get the smile of the faces of the owners when they are brought back to life.

I need an r2r rehab……

I tried to post a pic. Two otaris: mtr 10 and 12. The 12 is recent to copy and trade.

buying tape is like scoring drugs from a new dealer: its easy to get burned.

but once you do…..

i now have a friend teaching me long distance. Fluke meters, Oscilloscope, oscillator. A lot of learning but fun.

if you have a lot of disposable income it is easier with tapes at $500 a piece and techs and maintenance adding up quickly.

it is more hands on by a mile than vinyl.

The sound, call it a different coloration, call it what you will, i have compared mediums, and if the music was originally recorded to tape and you have a low generation numbered copy, then there is no better. Period. 
 

Self built, modified for nab and iec, phono preamps are a year or so away. 
sweet, sweet, madness it is.