Tascam 44 no level controls


Hi everyone,I have just purchased a Tascam 44 reel to reel recorder,very nice unit but has no controls for the input or output.I guess it is supposed to be used with a mixer of some sort.I hooked it directly to my cd player & was able to make a recording that sounded quite good but all the meters were pinned during recording & playback.On all my other decks there is level controls for the input to adjust recording levels & also controls for the output.I was wondering if I should look for a cd player that has variable output to control the level of input going into the reel to reel recorder or if there is some other way to do this with a different device.Thanks for any input you may have on this topic.
128x128dogsonka
That Schiit looks like a good solution, as long as impedance and gain match the Tascam. But it would be better to go balanced.
I love R-R, but I’ve never used a deck that didn’t have input control. I believe that Tascam 44 was short lived and then replaced by a 44 model with input/output controls.
Thanks for the advice yogiboy & lowrider57,i think i will try the schiit,it looks like I should be able to control the input level at least with this.I have been collecting reel to reels for over 45 years,this & one other Teac are the only ones that come like this,i guess it was made to be used in studios or with mixer.This was the first model 44 & then came the 44-OB which had balanced inputs & oututs + RCA jacks. It also had adjustable inputs & outputs.I also have one of these in my collection.
Right, the 44-OB. @dogsonka , is the original 44 a RCA only deck?
I worked in studios and with a mixer you could record to channels 3 & 4, then bounce those tracks over to 1 & 2 for a stereo mixdown. And then keep repeating the process.
Music was recorded that way for many many years.

Good luck with it. I'm envious of you having a 44-OB.
Today i tried the Schiit passive preamp & this works great to adjust the input levels,well spent 50.00.Thanks again everyone for your advice.