Thinking of taking the plunge into reel to reel... advice?

[Nick Danger]

Akai GX 635D/ 646/ 747

Akai GX 635D info here:

Akai GX 646 info here:

Akai GX 747 ​ info here:

 

[Elite-ist]

Hi Nando,

The 636 was a beauful deck. I had the matte black one. Actually, there was one more deck, the 646, in between the 636 and the 747 and for some reason it's really rare to see one, which is some-what of a surprise, because they did sell very well from what I have read.

I still have a rack full of Sony's in the playroom, plus several spares. The one in my avatar with the black reels is the TC-765.

I'm just down to the Sony decks now. I finally got rid of all the Pioneer decks a long with the Teacs. So my stock pile is down to about 30 pieces of gear left. Hopefully, most of that pile will go this year.

The only thing I'm still looking for is the dust covers for the 700 series. I have two for the 75X series, but the one's for the 765 and 766-2 have eluded me.

Ron

Thanks for the update, Ron. I see way more 747s available than 646s for sale. Whittling your collection down to 30 pieces was a serious effort. If you do have pictures of what's left of your R2R collection, or pictures of what you had, feel free to post them in the new thread I started.

Nando.

 

[nobody]

Dang holiday had me out of town for most of the weekend with barely any time to play with the new toy. But, I have listened to my one tape several times and it sound great. And I've just run through a could quick recordings to get the hang of things. Still have a lot to learn, especially with buying blank tape so advice is welcome. I've read that the Quantegy 456 like I bought is usually prone to sticky shed. Then I've also read that the tape they made post '95 is fine and the stuff I have is from 98, and looks just fine by eye to me, although I don't really know the finer points of what to look for.

I also just bought a couple pre-recorded tapes off Ebay, gotta grab a few anyway to get started right.

 

[Nick Danger]

Dang holiday had me out of town for most of the weekend with barely any time to play with the new toy. But, I have listened to my one tape several times and it sound great. And I've just run through a could quick recordings to get the hang of things. Still have a lot to learn, especially with buying blank tape so advice is welcome. I've read that the Quantegy 456 like I bought is usually prone to sticky shed. Then I've also read that the tape they made post '95 is fine and the stuff I have is from 98, and looks just fine by eye to me, although I don't really know the finer points of what to look for.

I also just bought a couple pre-recorded tapes off Ebay, gotta grab a few anyway to get started right.

Glad to hear you got to play with your new toy, Dave. I started an open reel tape thread so we could discuss open reel tapes in depth.

 

[orange]

None to spare,,Sell may be a different story

Keep me in mind down the line then...I really want them for takeup reels so if you can handle other reels to spool them onto I can provide them.

 

[Oldaudioschool]

Custom Reels 10-1/2"

Here's some new custom reels to enhane the machines. These are original Sony reels that were redone by Twinimage, a TH's, member.

Ron

 

[Nick Danger]

Here's some new custom reels to enhane the machines. These are original Sony reels that were redone by Twinimage, a TH's, member.

Ron

Killer deck you have there, OAS! The reels look suuuweeeeeeet.

 

[Oldaudioschool]

Killer deck you have there, OAS! The reels look suuuweeeeeeet.

That's a Sony TC-765. This was the last of the big Sony decks. By 1980, the era was over for Sony to produce any more of these decks. I also have the half-track, TC-766-2. Plus I have five of the Sony TC-75X series decks. All have been worked on or rebuilt and run very well.

Ron

 

[Nick Danger]

That's a Sony TC-765. This was the last of the big Sony decks. By 1980, the era was over for Sony to produce any more of these decks. I also have the half-track, TC-766-2. Plus I have five of the Sony TC-75X series decks. All have been worked on or rebuilt and run very well.

Ron

I know a forum member here(boatdrinks77) has been looking for a couple of the Sony decks and would be drooling over all over your collection.

 

[orange]

Which ones? Mine's a meager TC-230 or 250 needing some cleaning up but maybe it would be a fitting return to send your way.

 

[Nick Danger]

Which ones? Mine's a meager TC-230 or 250 needing some cleaning up but maybe it would be a fitting return to send your way.

765/ 6 and 880 series at this point, Steven.

 

[Elite-ist]

Here's some new custom reels to enhane the machines. These are original Sony reels that were redone by Twinimage, a TH's, member.

Ron

Very nice looking custom take-up reels, Ron. That's one accessory that can make or break the looks of an open reel deck.

Nando.

 

[orange]

765/ 6 and 880 series at this point, Steven.

That's a Holy Grail, this is a relatively easy to service complete tape console with line in/out as well as speakers, and a limiter, of all things. There are even the original Sony microphones in there *although they ain't exactly Neumanns or Shures or even AKGs.

Somebody will get this, I'm working on that.

 

[Oldaudioschool]

Very nice looking custom take-up reels, Ron. That's one accessory that can make or break the looks of an open reel deck.

Nando.

Thanks Nando.

One of the things Twinimage does with his reels is to use colored screws. There was some colored reels on ebay a while back, but they still had the silver screws. I didn't care for that look.

These reels are powdercoated so they are quite durable. However, the screws are black lacquer which isn't very durable. I would suggest that if anyone was going to load them with tape, don't take them apart. Just spool your tape from another reel. That saves the possibility of damageing the screws. At least, this is what I do when I load them with new pancakes.


Ron

 

[Joetown]

Well, those damn reel to reel players just look so fun I may need to have one for my very own. I'm starting to get seriously interested in getting something to start out with and was hoping to lay out what I'm thinking now and get any sort of advice anyone wants to throw out there.

Basically, there are a couple places in town that sell vintage gear and I'm planning on going to go have a look around and see what they have. If they have anything I like, seems like buying local and not having to pay for and worry about damage caused with shipping would be a good move. Plus, I get to check the thing out live first hand and I have someone to call on for problems. I've also seen a guy who fixes and sells on Craigslist at pretty good prices, and was considering checking out one of his machines, but right now he's only got 7" capable available.

Which leads me into my next issue. What features to look for? Basically, I am thinking I do want something that can handle 10" reels, just because let's face it, reel to reel isn't looking like the most convenient format, so I'd like to get a long play time once I load up the thing. If the sound quality at lower speeds isn't bad, I may well like to make things like a several hours long mix for background music with friends and that sort of thing. Any opinions as to how long you can stretch playtime and still have acceptable quality would be appreciated as would advice and suggestions on what other capabilities/features I should be looking for.

I don't know enough about reel players to go the fixer upper route, especially at first. I'd rather have something I can use and enjoy, learn about over time and maybe down the road I will want to mess with more technical things or fixing up what I come across. But for now, I want to stay within a reasonable budget, thinking 400 or under, preferably far under depending if it comes with reels, hubs, etc... And I want something I can start using right away and also something I will not get an urge to upgrade so soon that it's just money wasted in the long haul.

So yeah, I'm hoping to take a day off soon and go hunting around the places in town I know to have reel players and my initial thought is to just look for whatever catches my fancy that plays 10" reels, is low priced and is in solid playing condition. But as someone who knows close to nothing about reel to reel players, I am guessing some of you may have some good advice as to what to look for and what I'm not thinking about.

Also, by the way, I blame Nick Danger's sneaky mailing me his latest mix on a very tempting looking reel for spurring this sudden surge of motivation. Be careful around that guy.

Well, those damn reel to reel players just look so fun I may need to have one for my very own. I'm starting to get seriously interested in getting something to start out with and was hoping to lay out what I'm thinking now and get any sort of advice anyone wants to throw out there.

Basically, there are a couple places in town that sell vintage gear and I'm planning on going to go have a look around and see what they have. If they have anything I like, seems like buying local and not having to pay for and worry about damage caused with shipping would be a good move. Plus, I get to check the thing out live first hand and I have someone to call on for problems. I've also seen a guy who fixes and sells on Craigslist at pretty good prices, and was considering checking out one of his machines, but right now he's only got 7" capable available.

Which leads me into my next issue. What features to look for? Basically, I am thinking I do want something that can handle 10" reels, just because let's face it, reel to reel isn't looking like the most convenient format, so I'd like to get a long play time once I load up the thing. If the sound quality at lower speeds isn't bad, I may well like to make things like a several hours long mix for background music with friends and that sort of thing. Any opinions as to how long you can stretch playtime and still have acceptable quality would be appreciated as would advice and suggestions on what other capabilities/features I should be looking for.

I don't know enough about reel players to go the fixer upper route, especially at first. I'd rather have something I can use and enjoy, learn about over time and maybe down the road I will want to mess with more technical things or fixing up what I come across. But for now, I want to stay within a reasonable budget, thinking 400 or under, preferably far under depending if it comes with reels, hubs, etc... And I want something I can start using right away and also something I will not get an urge to upgrade so soon that it's just money wasted in the long haul.

So yeah, I'm hoping to take a day off soon and go hunting around the places in town I know to have reel players and my initial thought is to just look for whatever catches my fancy that plays 10" reels, is low priced and is in solid playing condition. But as someone who knows close to nothing about reel to reel players, I am guessing some of you may have some good advice as to what to look for and what I'm not thinking about.

Also, by the way, I blame Nick Danger's sneaky mailing me his latest mix on a very tempting looking reel for spurring this sudden surge of motivation. Be careful around that guy.

Hey, I just bought two in last 6 months off E-bay. The Teac 3300-10 & the Pioneer 701-Rt Reel to Reel. I like them both. I really didn't know much about them except I wanted one since the early 1970,s. Both ads on the auction said in great working order. They both weight over 40lbs. I talked to the guy at the audio repair shop, he said Teac, Pioneer, and Akai are easier to get parts for. The main thing I believe to do the maintenance work on them to keep them running smooth like clean the heads & the path ways, pinch roller, demagnetizing the heads, oil the motors, and deoxit the switches. I also watched a youtube video on cleaning your reel to reel tapes. I heard people say if they are not running, sometime they just need the belt replaced those are about 15.00 or less on E-bay. Once you own a reel to reel you will be hook. I wanted at least one more. good luck, ask a lot questions.

 

[orange]

I've known 'nobody' for several years, but I don't believe he's been here in at least a couple (note the 2014 date of the original post).

In fact, I've known him perhaps since the Rams were still in his home base of Missouri.

 

[Skywavebe]

I say don't buy old junk and also stuff that looks good but has junk design inside. I told a trainee about the Teac A6300 and even though he has BR20 and Otari decks he now has 4 A6300 decks. I wonder if I got through? Maybe some other people should listen so well. I would not be surprised if he ends up with 5 or 6 of them.

 

[Skywavebe]

The A3300 is a good deck but to be honest I have had to change too many slide switches in the transport and I suggest a minimum model of the A3300S or SX or SR. This way you will get a model higher up than the slide switch model. That part was discontinued back in 1987.

 

[Skywavebe]

The Pioneer RT-707 is an excellent choice. They can have some issues but overall it is a pretty solid little deck but no 10.5" reels can be used. You can not beat a direct drive motor!

 

[Skywavebe]

Well to add if anyone is still looking at this- I have a RT-707 for sale with recap, new brakes new belt and meter lamps changed and LED direction indicators. It is a consignment so he wants $1050. It was adjusted to MDS36 tape. It works great and I have pictures plus 2 more came in but it will be a while to get to them. I have a A3300 deck almost ready but I will need to put new heads on it.