[beat]

Hey all,
I'm considering a reel to reel. Any of you tape heads out there have suggestions?
thanks, beat

[meilankev]

beat,

I admit I haven't looked at reel-to-reels in over 20 years, so any advice I give you is ancient news.  To be honest, I'm not even aware if there are companies still manufacturing them.

But in the old days, the Tascam decks from Teac were well-regarded.  But the Studer Revox decks were even more desirable.  Note I've owned a Studer Revox turntable since 1981, and it is still in great shape (although in my 2nd system).

Good luck,
Kevin

[zako]

Recording on reel to reel can be very rewarding. Ive recorded a large symphony orchestra for 20 years.  Have stacks of master tapes. Have played them over FM (NPR).   Although Ive used  pro recorders, Ampex 440B , Technics 1520, Crown 800, even digital Sony PCM F1.  Good condenser mics are a must.  Telefunken, Sennheiser , Neuman etc.  But the standard hobby none pro recorders can be extreemly good . Revox, Technics, Pioneer & many others are good units.  Some day Ill sell the tapes I have. & retire. Ive converted most of my master tapes to digital archiving. (harddrive).

[beat]

Thanks guys,
there is a repair shop near my house that has a few. I saw a sony 600 (tubed, and I saw a telefunken in there but all the others had covers) a Teac of some sort and I think a pioneer. I'll spin by again and take note of model numbers and do some searches and get back to you guys.
beat

[John Ashman]

I've got a couple too!!! (due south!)

[doug s.]

seems many of the usual suspects have been mentioned.  but, i'd shy away from *any* deck unless it has a documented recent service history.  even if ya get one free, by the time yure done overhauling it, it may *still* cost more than a freshly refurb'd unit.  

doug s.

[thayerg]

What you need is not a reel-to-reel but a frontal lobotomy. Reel to reels are maintenance headaches like you wouldn't believe, and even when they are working well and the bias, eq and head azimuth are all perfect and you've just swabbed the heads the machines are still slowly grinding themselves and the tape to bits. And forget about quickly finding replacement parts more esoteric than a pinch roller. At the same time, if you get one you'll get a pleasant thrill every time you push a button and the right things happen,  'cause you'll know the day will come when they don't no more.

Having said that there are cults around Revox and Otari, neither of which ever skimped on build quality.

But I'll take iTunes or an iPod every time, thanks. There's nothing special about analog tape from the audio point of view, apart from intrinsic distortion, a high noise floor and lousy headroom.

If you want to record live check out the new Edirol R-1 or R-4.

[zako]

i tunes & i pod are low rez crap. Not mutch better than a clock radio. Im right your wrong & thats the end of the argument.  Good R&R are still being made by Otari, Studer, ATR. Of course you can get into Digital  Both R&R like Nagra & Studer recorders.

[thayerg]

ipod & itunes are not low-rez crap--I'll take them over 7.5 ips anytime, over 15 ips most of the time & over 30 ips probably never, but who is going to actually use 30ips, or even 15? Lossless digital like AAC has better dynamic range, flatter freq. response & cleaner 'saturation' than any analog format. Not to mention no dropouts, the bane of the analog tape world. And if you want to get serious about computer sound you can go a whole lot better than that for not a whole lot of money.

Consumer reel-to-reel from pioneer, tandberg, most sony, Akai (Roberts) etc maybe sounded alreight but back in the day but they were never particularly reliable, except perhaps those manual-control Sonys. One other thing, they were noisy---scrape scrape scrape scrape scrape CLUNK Whirrr whirr whirr slap slap slap slap slap.

Reel to reel were marvelous complex electromechanical devices and they have a certain romance. As I read your profile (industrial designer) I realized that your interest may lie more in that direction rather than function. The coolest-looking decks were the Revox/Studers, and come to think of it I wouldn't mind having a Revox B770 right where everyone could gawp at it.

[beat]

Thanks guys,
I didn't wanna start a war with the which is better thing...Anyway, I was just blown away recently with a set up that consisted of a newly rebuilt ampex deck and what looked to me like original studio recordings of some 70s music that I would never go out and buy..that set up made me think twice about crosby stills and nash! The guy pointed out to me (and I knew this) that old recordings were always coming from tape originals...NOT VINYL!!!  So how could vinyl have more info on it than the tape that created it? One of my good friends is and engineer from "back in the day" he is totally convinced that digital rules now as it has come so far in recent history. I ain't lookin for no headaches though.

[beemer]

Well now you've heard how good it can be.

Being a reel person I've been listening to reel tape since the late 60's.

These days you would want to find an Otari MX5050BII or BIII.

Ebay is a good place to start. These are just now being "found out" so pricing is still good. Otari is an unknown brand to most folks as they sold strictly to the studio and radio markets, never to home use.

These machines are reliable, built like tanks and parts are plentiful.

Good Luck,

Paul  

Thanks guys,
I didn't wanna start a war with the which is better thing...Anyway, I was just blown away recently with a set up that consisted of a newly rebuilt ampex deck and what looked to me like original studio recordings of some 70s music that I would never go out and buy..that set up made me think twice about crosby stills and nash! The guy pointed out to me (and I knew this) that old recordings were always coming from tape originals...NOT VINYL!!!  So how could vinyl have more info on it than the tap ...