Let's Talk Reel to Reel Tape Decks & Music


Good afternoon all,
Just wondering if there are members here who are into reel to reel tape decks and the newly recorded music? What deck do you have and is it 2 or 4 track? Did your deck require service when you got it? Did you get your tape deck from Ebay, here or some other source? I purchased my latest deck, Tascam 42B from a member here. The deck was in great shape. I am having it converted to play IEC recorded tapes, and, the tech is in the final days of building a tube tape head pre amp for me.

Are you purchasing some of the newly released reel to reel recorded music? Please let me hear from you.

RBW
rbwinterlink
I can answer many yes's to items in your post, but not to newly released music. I have ten decks. Before I think about purchasing newly released material, I buy the CD to see if it matches my musical tastes. I have not found such, yet. I do have a large collection of tapes used in broadcast studios years ago. In addition I have a large collection of AFRTS tapes, which I find high quality. Our government spent huge amounts of money on these and they are top quality pre recorded media. Try one, you will be surprised. I have about 3,000 pre recorded tapes.
J. Valin just reviewed the United Home Audio Tascam BR-20 phase-11 reel to reel, with lot's of mods and silver wire, etc. the machine costs $21K for record and playback mods (17K for playback only). he seems VERY enthusiastic about the sound, especially SGT.PEPPERS (a studio master!) that's a lot of money for
a compact recorder (not a big studer or ampex, 3M, etc.) but IF YOU CAN GET
SOME GREAT TAPES FOR IT he claims it sounds MUCH better than a Walker turntable.
of course vinyl records are far more available than 2nd generation master tapes (!) but the idea is pretty intriguing.
i have a bunch of "cheap" decks- teacs, a tascam br-20 (stock of course), etc. i like them a lot, but admittedly to get them up to the standards of a good SACD disc i have a ways to go yet. OTOH, i can still make live recordings with them which is still a lot of fun if you play an instrument. Years ago if someone had a record you wanted to copy, this was the way to do it. Now not so much (thanks to Jobs and gates).
I still have my Teac 4 track lying around. I used it a lot back then for home studion work.

I rarely use it now, even though I have some nice tapes, both home recorded and commercially produced. In general it sounds a bit hissy and rolled off compared to CD and vinyl. I think it's top end is only 17kHZ, and it is all original, so it could be the deck or it could be the tapes.

If I were to consider playing RTR tapes, then I would most certainly have to consider newer produced recordings. Most of the old stuff is going to be deteriorating in a big way now.