2. analog
  3. 147702-34305

Reel to reel

I’m entertaining the idea of purchasing a reel to reel to record my albums on and also use to possibly soften the digital age a bit. Does anyone know where or if NEW blank tapes can be purchased? Are there any thoughts on a resurgence of R2R and if blank media will become more easily accessible?
luvrockin

Showing 4 responses by johnss

johnss
610 posts
 
wynpalmer4,

don't forget, a properly maintained and aligned deck is not the same as a hot rod deck. they are quite different.

I have an 820, a pair of MTR-15s and numerous other decks. The stock decks are inferior sonically to those same models that have been upgraded, and hot rodded (better parts, foil resistors, etc) regardless of the name or label on the deck.

Sounds like Orpheus has done some considerable upgrades to his 1500 series machine.  The Technics 1500 series had only "OK" playback circuitry from the factory, but those decks can really sing once they have been gone through....The transport is extremely good.

 I have never tried recording CD to tape, so can't speak for or against it, other than say it sure is interesting experiment to consider.

Orpheus, if you want to take your 1500 further, replace those circuit input and output load resistors on the playback and record PCBs with Vishay foil. You will pick up a few more db of signal to noise improvement.

and as far as the hi rez digital vs. high speed analog differences, the hi rez digital is really good, but 15 or 30 ips tape still outperforms it; sounds much more like the real thing.....I do live to 2 track all the time. I usually use hi rez digital simply because its so much less gear and equipment to haul, but if its something I really want a reference copy of, I will take a high speed machine in addition to the hi rez gear.

The other tough part with hi rez digital is every time you move the files or do any editing, there is a slight degradation  in resolution.
johnss
610 posts
 
I used to have a 377. Nice deck. they benefit greatly from film bypasses on the interstage coupling caps and a fresh power supply rebuild.
johnss
610 posts
 
as far as output level, as several posters already noted, the consumer output level was established as -10db, while the pro level was established at +4 db. so considerable difference. if you plug a pro level deck into a consumer level pre amp, will have to lower the output a tad to make sure you don't overload the input stage. 

and yes, 1.0volt into a phono input is way too hot for most preamp phono stages.....

but if you side step the playback electronics on the deck, you can come off the tape head and go into a phono stage. The eq willl need to be changed from RIAA or NAB or IEC, but the gain will be similar. 

happy reeling. 
johnss
610 posts
 
don't forget, 30ips half inch was the original standard on Ampex machines back in the early 1950s, 15 and 7.5 came later.

And yes, 30 ips is very nice. I have a few masters of 1/2 inch at 30 ips, and they do sound wonderful...The big drawback is 10.5 inch reels are not large enough to record more than a few tracks. Its about the same as running 7 inch reels at 15 ips. The tape goes quickly.

You really need 14 inch reels, which will hold 5000 feet of tape...or twice what a 10.5 reel holds. Only a few decks out there can handle 14 inch reels though.

and with 30 at 1/2 inch you also pick up quite a few  db of signal to noise improvement.


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