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The dangerous world of Reel-to-Reel Tape

It feels like I re-entered the world of tape knowing full well of all the downsides, yet I  did it anyway.  I spent much of my youth glued to my dad's decks, making recordings.  As cassette and digital came of age, I always appreciated the sound of tape. 

Whether this adventure is worth it is a subjective exercise.  For folks who plop down $500-$1k on cables or those who swap gear often, tape is really not that expensive, relatively speaking.  Titles are limited though. 

The sound quality and experience is quite something.  Before jumping back into R2R, I had 4 versions of Muddy Waters' Folksinger.  Hearing Chad Kasem's firm's work on it in 15ips it's just something else.  Body, size, and presence are just different than very good vinyl and digital.  And this is with the stock reproduce board from a Revox PR99 MKIII. I can only imagine what's going to happen when I rebuild that card, put in a modern one, or run directly from the head out to a preamp. 

Maybe I'll see some of you in R2R Rehab, where I'll try to get sober from tape. 

128x128jbhiller

Showing 1 response by larryincmh

larryincmh
59 posts
 

I never had a reel-to-reel back back in the day, and only in the past few years did I discover the format (and only then to help a frield digitize some home tapes his parents had of their wedding). Once I got a feel for the format however I was hooked.

I went through a couple of decks before landing on my Teac X300 which was newly refurbished when I bought it. I have had a great deal of fun with it since, and have invested in about 150 factory reel-to-reel tapes to play in my office setup (no home tapng for me).

Yes, it’s a hassle at times keeping the heads clean, splicing the tape where someone in the past treated the tape unkindly, organizing and cataloging, but the rewards are worth it.

Check out this series on reel-to-reel on Copper Magazine.
 

 

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