Photos of open reel and cassette decks

[Tapepath]

It's always interesting to see what kinds of different tape decks people have collected. Here is a Revox A77 that I refurbished a couple of years ago. It had seen some smoke and fire damage so it was a "frame up" restoration.

 

 

[David A]

Speaking of Revox, i'm liking the new production B77 MkIII. That would be the R2R deck i'd buy if I were setting up my dream system, paired with a Doshi Evolution tape pre.

 

 

[Anodecap]

Here is my collection all restored to factory spec and working wonderfully. A lot of fun restoring these units. 

Magnecord PT6AH, Akai GXC760d, Plessey 77mk3, Rola 66, Revox A77 mk2, Revox D36, Akai Gx630db and Tascam 112R Mk2

Edited November 2, 2024 by Anodecap
Spelling

[Anodecap]

9 hours ago, Tapepath said:

It's always interesting to see what kinds of different tape decks people have collected. Here is a Revox A77 that I refurbished a couple of years ago. It had seen some smoke and fire damage so it was a "frame up" restoration.

 

 

A solid plug  to Nagravox here for the parts to be able to restore these units. Once restored and aligned they sound wonderful. 

 

 

[Anodecap]

Here is an early Teac 505 circa 1959 to 1961. Basically a Japanese copy of an early Ampex machine.

This one still has the original Matsushita tubes  and was one of the hardest machines to fix. Full of hard to get at Suzuki paper oil capacitors which turned into resistors. I spent weeks replacing them with NOS Mulllard Mustard capacitors. A 3 motor 4 track machine it sounds fantastic. TEAC got into the USA with this machine under the  name Concertone. This machine was owned by the RAAF and has little head wear. BB King the electric on this machine is a joy to hear.

Edited November 3, 2024 by Anodecap

[Anodecap]

My music room smells of hot tubes and hysteresis motors.

This post had me firing up all my old machines and having a listening session today.

I played Belafonte sings the blues in glorious full track mono on the 1952 Magnecorder. Hoodoo man Blues on the 1956 Rola 77 and an original copy of The electric BB King on the 1960 Teac 505.. 

These machines require regular maintenance and are full of surprises and definately not for the non technical. The Rola 66 decided to have lots of background noise today due to a faulty Mullard EF86 tube that decided its time was up after 60 years. 

Experience also says Revox A77 machines are also expensive to restore and it is mandatory to replace the Frako capacitors as they catch fire, creating a terrible stink. Most of the old B77 units I have come across have worn out heads, especially the high speed B77 units which were often used in studios.

The best unit imo is the Akai 630db with glass ferrite heads. A simple bomb proof unit. If it has Hitachi 2sc458 transistors in the rec/ play boards, however, they all must be replaced. 

I love reel to reel but it is not for the non technical with parts difficult to find.

30k for a new Revox B77mk3.......forget it.

It's no wonder not many are following this thread. If you thought vinyl was expensive....

Edited November 3, 2024 by Anodecap

[Tapepath]

I agree, Nagravox is a great source, I've bought lots of replacement parts from them.

[Tapepath]

This is a photo of my Stellavox SP7 portable recorder attached to a transport adapter that allows for 7" and 10.5" reel playing.

 

 

[Tapepath]

Studer A80 RC

[Ian McP]

another Stellavox

 

https://www.microphaseaudiodesign.com/

[Ian McP]

3 minutes ago, Ian McP said:

another Stellavox, spotted at Stereonet show last Oct

 

https://www.microphaseaudiodesign.com/

 

Edited December 10, 2024 by Ian McP

[Tapepath]

Tapesonic 

 

 

[Valik_t]

New addition to my Hifi system, took me a bit of time and money to bring it back to life, sounds amazing 

Edited Tuesday at 05:07 AM by Valik_t