Hey, late getting in on this thread but have to say.. Pioneer made some wonderful open reel machines. My youngest son uses a 909 every single day... all day long. Pioneer was really committed to reel to reel in the late seventies. Here in Chicago, many radio stations used them, the RT 1050 half track was seen every where. Very robust machines, every bit as good and as well made as Revox (calm down guys I used to own a B77 for 10 years and thought my Teac 3300s and Sony TC 755 were as well made and much better with tape handling) Teac, Akai and Sony. I would have no problem living with a nice 1050 or 1020. For that matter, the 909 would do me fine too. Get a pioneer half track and you can enjoy tape project tapes. The 1020 and the 1050 have changeable plug in head block assemblies for 1/4 track and 1/2 track.
Enjoy,
Norman
Enjoy,
Norman