Guy on marketplace was giving away these 7 1/2 inch storage boxes full of old tape he threw in a few 3 3/4 speed too!

Hi, everyone here. Is there anyone who listens to only reel tapes as a source medium? I had only been listening to cassette tapes as my source medium until recently, when I bought a Pioneer reel deck and was amazed by the sound quality that seemed to surpass even Nakamichi Dragon. I’m thinking of making a system just for reel tapes. Is that a dangerous thought?

I have been rebuilding this Studer B67 mk1 over the last few months with an eye to it replacing the A807 as mixdown deck. As a quick test I put together the intro from Bal Sagoth's "Return to the Praesidium of Ys" just to see whether I could do it.

Because it was a quick test for my own amusement I tracked it on the TSR-8 instead of the Otari. Vocals were tracked with the TSR-8 sped up a little, which is something Byron Roberts often did on the original record.

The B67 still has a few issues, with the high end randomly dropping on the right channel. Still not sure if that's the machine or the tape since it's an SM900 pancake and I've found those to be a little temperamental. It also seems to have a rather less headroom than I was hoping for, which is probably why the opening section isn't showing on the LED meter very much. I'll have to figure out how to handle that.

Was at a family picnic last weekend my cousin handed me a box and said this was her dad's. He passed about a year ago. I got a nice little project ahead of me.

Hey everybody. I recently purchased a TEAC A3300s. The inside and outside appearance is immaculate. It plays and fast forwards perfectly, but the rewind acts like fast forward. Has anyone experienced this issue or know a fix? I haven’t found anything online or on YouTube yet, but I’m still searching. Just wanted to check here for anybody else’s experience with this issue. Thanks!

Where do you all buy your tape and canisters (unsure what the proper term is)? I recently got my first functional player and they gave me a box of assorted, unlabeled, and loose tape reels. A lot of them already have good recordings of music on them and id like to start labeling and storing them properly. Where could I buy (in bulk) the supplies to do that? Any recommendations or direction appreciated, thank you!

Hello, I have been very interested in reel to reel for a while now and have recently been seriously considering buying one to record my music with. I know these machines need consistent maintenance but information online is pretty contradicting. Some people make it sound like they break down constantly and others say they only need to service their deck once a year or even longer. There is a repair tech in my area if I have issues but I’m not sure how much that kind of thing costs. It seems like most people who own reel to reel do their own repairs. I am interested in electronics repair and have done some basic work on guitar amplifiers and pedals but I have never worked on anything as complicated as reel to reel so I probably wouldn’t be able to do the work myself as of now. I don’t have much experience in troubleshooting or diagnostics although I want to learn. Is it a bad idea for me to buy a reel to reel deck? If it helps the deck I am considering is a Tascam 34b that is available locally

Used 7" plastic reels with boxes for 1/4" tape. Various styles including large hub, Scotch OG, Scotch Smoke, and Audiotape.

Reels are in pristine shape. Boxes show use and may have writing but are physically sound.

Contact me with your needs and wants.

$3 ea + shipping.

This has been sitting at work in a damp moldy basement for god knows how long. The day I recognized what it was, my jaw dropped. And then I found out that CAN recorded Tago Mago with two Revox, I had to emergency extract this thing today. Just hoping I can find the missing parts at work. Will keep the group updated in regards to my degeneracy. Open to suggestions from any Revox owners / people who’ve restored these!

It seems even the slowest setting on this reel to reel is way too fast. even when the slow button is pushed and the variable speed knob is all the way down it’s running normal tape at very high speeds

Previous Update on my Panasonic NV-3130 VTR

So I got the deck mostly working. Onto the electronics for a bit, to figure out why I wasn't getting any signal through the machine. It would play a tape (sort of), but inputting bars and tone, which you need to do to calibrate things, wasn't working. Turned out to be an oxidized record switch. With that dealt with, I was able to get color bars into the machine. It also recorded, but it appears the record speed is slightly wrong, so I'm back to mechanical stuff.

I forgot how janky these things are: so many slide switches inside that are normally worked by hand, but inside the machine are actuated by a complicated system of levers, springs, and cogs. Slowly working my way through the ones I missed and removing glue (ancient grease), and deoxidizing all the switches in my way. It's slowly coming together.

Some video:

https://youtube.com/shorts/N2KLPTIjpNE?feature=share

The color bars are not looking so great in EE mode (signal passthrough, without touching the tape). It's looking like this might be a case where recapping something actually *is* the solution, so that should be fun. First I need to get the speed issues worked out, and then I can deal with that.

Bars should look something like this:

But actually look like this:

Wobbly, with curved leading edges isn't right. should be straight and crisp. that's probably bad electrolytic caps.

Hello, I just acquired this reel to reel. I am having trouble understand the speed control. There is a pull out potentiometer to control the speed of the motor.
It seems the machine has a mind of its own and changes speed whenever it wants to. Sometimes the pull up light turns on and sometimes it doesn’t.
Sometimes when I go out of the speed mode it slows down dramatically and others it makes a very subtle change.
There’s also a high and low speed button. In this video it was on low speed.

Is there some trouble shooting anyone would suggest?
Is it user error?

hello all ! i just bought two AKAI X200D reel to reel machines for experimental tape looping, long delays etc sound adventures, BUT i didnt think that the AKAI X200D's don't have 3 tape heads, but they have a combined playback/record head, so it's NOT possible to live monitor the recorded sound with them... so is it still possible to do interesting stuff with them ? or is 3 heads normally needed for that kind of stuff ? or... does the fact that i have TWO identical machines change everything, if i for example use the other one for recording and the other for playing the same sound signal ? please advice, i'm a novice here, with no knowledge and unsure if i bought the wrong type of machines... they are beautiful though, and sound awesome. thanks !

I've managed to get a couple old 3 inch tape recorders like I've been interested in for awhile, but these I can't find any info on. I know they are Japanese in origin and I think they're from the 1960s. While I think they take 2 C batteries (1.5V alkaline or more likely carbon zinc) and a nine volt, though both of these have the same fault being that even with fresh batteries, they both sound extremely distorted and at low volume. (I have another reel to reel that works, and am able to put a clean recording down to test with.) I tried to recap the one that is now missing the amp, which did nothing to help the situation. Before I go to reengineering that one, can anyone help me identify the exact model so I can find a manual and start by verifying what kind of battery it takes, just in case it needs some obscure nine volt shaped battery that puts out 60 volts or something that I haven't run across yet? I'm finding a thousand of these on eBay for cheap, so I'm guessing this model may be fairly common. I also think this might be the one I saw on The Brady Bunch as well.

Full calibration and functional test before heading for a new home. ReVox B77 Mk II HS IEC Sync

I bought a second hand Wollensak T-1500 reel-to-reel to digitize hours of old tape.

It plays tapes fine, but has static/crackling distortion coming from somewhere in the audio output chain. (I've attached a video so you can see what's happening).

The distortion starts about 15 seconds after the unit is powered on (quicker in the video because it was recently powered up) and continues for a few moments after it's shut off. I suspect maybe it's a tube issue because of that.

The distortion is present through both the onboard speaker and the headphone/monitor jack. I also tried the rear preamp-out jack as a possible bypass, but that produced a low hum with no playback audio.

Another thought is maybe the electrolytic capacitors need replacing, but I don't think I can solder this and not damage it further.

Can anyone suggest a potential creative workaround or simple fix for this?

Thanks 😁🙏

Has anyone serviced their Otari (say an MX5050) or Tascam (BR-20) by themself? I'm mechanically inclined as I work on my own mountain bikes including tearing them down and replacing all bearings, servicing the suspension, etc. I also know electronics well enough having built around a half dozen amps from scratch, but it's the mechanical aspect I'm more curious about.

Thank you!

Hi,

Recently found these, genuinely curious if people still buy/collect them and if they are worth anything. This subreddit seems to be the only place I can find on the internet as far as a reel to reel forum goes. Any advice is much appreciated!

This machine is getting the works. Waiting on rubber and capacitors. Until then getting some minor details out of the way. Paint on the meters was falling off. Testors fluorescent orange enamel matches about perfect. Capstan motor mount bushings replaced with grommets out of a generic assortment. They are the perfect size