Reel to reel

orpheus10
I don’t know what is more shocking about that tape you recommended. That it costs twice as much for one as I used to pay for a box of 10, or that the reels are 10.5 feet! That is one BIG tape deck! No wonder dweller complains about space! https://www.amazon.com/RMG-EMTEC-Studio-Mastering-4x2500/dp/B00890FBXY

Yeah I was dumb to sell mine but the heads and pinch roller were worn and this was before the internet when it was hard to find stuff like this, shops were chock full of gear being jettisoned by people who bought into the digital hype, if someone had said fix it it'll be worth more 20 years from now I'd never have believed it.

So instead of keeping a deck that would be worth twice new, and which I'd probably not want to sell since it still sounds good, I bought CD which is worthless, and two or three more since, all just as worthless.

Then you try and tell people don't waste your money on digital. Analog is the only way to go. And they won't listen. Now that's crazy!

Of course you can buy new blank tape. Of course it might be hard what with Google finagling their filters but if you use one of the less manipulated search engines like DuckDuckGo it should be a snap to find.

I had a 10.5" open reel deck for years back when it seemed smart to make tapes to avoid wearing out my precious vinyl. Nowadays that seems silly but that’s what we did back then. You can buy it just like I did back then in boxes of 10 which at 7.5ips is a whole lotta music.

The question isn’t availability, its all that and more. The question is why? And what? And how good? Unlike back in the day when we had few choices today you have everything from preserved or restored vintage to new to heavily modded high end boutique to pro decks.

Think carefully and do a lot of research because while open reel is awesome its also really heavily mechanical and maintenance is much more an issue than even with turntables. Not that its not worth it. Its hard to explain to anyone who hasn’t had one how great they are. But use one a lot and it is a fairly high maintenance piece of gear so think it through.