Reel to Reel decks

I have to say though that tape can sound pretty remarkable even with a modest set up. Can't keep it modest though, that's just not going to happen!

I'm just getting into tape myself. A friend had sold me some boxes of factory recorded 7" reels and it turns out about 60 are 2-track from the 1950's (mostly classical), I informed him of the value and he agreed it was a mistake to sell them to me but told me to just keep them (I offered them back twice, there has to be more than a few thousand dollars of 2 track tapes..at least a dozen of the early rca plain box for example, all early titles).

I bought an otari mx5050 mkii on craigslist for $60 that sort of works then unbelievably I found a technics rs-1500US at a garage sale with a spare headblock for $35 a few weeks later (the headblocks are rp-2224 and rp2422). Had to fix the 2/4 track switch on the installed headblock and got it set up. I have played a few of the 2 track tapes and have been amazed (one of the rca tapes from 1956 has a price printed on the box of $18.95, that is a lot of money for 1956!). A few friends had a chance to listen and had commented that they wish there were some current titles available (more affordable than the tape project tapes).

I plan to do a direct output from the heads on the rs-1500 and buy the bottlehead tape head amp. If I hadn't purchased this collection of tapes however I don't know that I would have pursued tape.

thanks C1ferrari, I'm just worried that it will drive me to new levels of buying madness

I've made some copies of vinyl on my mci jh 110 at 30ips and tascam br-20 at 15 ips, sound excellent but the vinyl sounds clearly better (wish there was not so much of a difference and think it could be tweaked to be closer..vpi aries/benz/george wright phono ag). Making copies of tapes is a something I still need to do (for sticky shed syndrome tapes, acetates or generally valuable/fragile tapes), tape takes a lot of time and effort, I think I have too many machines! Right now I am focusing on my mci jh110 which I feel sounds better than the tascam br20, technics rs1500 or otari mx5050 but no real comparisons have been made (just an initial impression), somehow I got sucked into the tape vortex (I just bought 5 boxes of 7" reels from an old radio station that I need to go through, they sit next to the 10 boxes of tape I got with the mci).

Orpheus10, good to hear about the rs1500 upgrades. I really like the rs1500, my first plan had been for outboard bottlehead electronics but will focus on transport performance then think about the playback electronics. The J corder decks made me think about possible upgrades to the stock electonics, I haven't even had the chance to use my 1500 much, there are a few corrosion spots on the two tape roller bearing housings that come in contact with tape so I stopped using it until I can replace/address that. Tape is great

Tony, just saw your schematic and will follow that thread to read comments from other studer owner's, I watch with interest, external playback electronics is expensive (bottlehead is the most accessible with eros kit) so to see diy is very exciting and inspiring. I know many upgrade existing circuits and for me that is my diy level although I have not tried yet. Thank you Tony for sharing with us on this thread and elsewhere, it is very much appreciated (all input is appreciated, I thank all of you for sharing your experiences with your machines)

Andy

Tonykyma, I have to say I am moving in this direction. I have a nagra iv-l full track 1/4" and seeing that head coverage makes me realize the potential (not using yet, waiting for a pinch roller). I have some 14" 1/2 track masters and they are an eye opener in terms of what is possible the closer you get to the original tape (these are just people that recorded some music and not people that are known). But the results are obvious. I keep thinking, lets see, my sister can play a violin and does play in some groups, my dad knows some old country songs that I could record, why not just make some high quality recordings to listen to?

Hi Tonykyma, I also don't have a background in pro audio recording. In my post I mentioned 14" 1/2 track but meant 1/4" 1/2 track. With the nagra I like that it is portable and opens up more opportunity for recording (the iv-l can take two mics). I think making your own live recordings would be both very challenging and exciting, I am looking forward to learning.

Something that I have been wondering about that is not obvious to me but also addresses some of the discussion in this thread is about making dubs of say master tapes. It has been debated that a dub cannot be better than the original and I leave that for others to debate. My question is suppose I have a 1/4" 1/2 track master and I want to make a dub. Let's say the master is fragile and valuable (only want to play it once to make a dub for example). If I make a dub I would want to use that dub to make other play copies (so my dub would be my working master). My thought is that it would be better to make my master dub onto 1/2" 1/2 track rather than 1/4" 1/2 track. My thought is that subsequent dubs would be better from the 1/2" tape than a 1/4" tape with less chance of loss? It seems intuitively correct but I don't have any experience to verify that (I don't have 1/2" heads but they are available for my machines).

Hi Tony,

I just saw your modified studer tube output electronics on the what's best f-rum, it looks like you did a great job and hope to someday be able to get to that diy level with one of my own decks.