Reel-to-reel tips and/or advice

[circularvibes]

Thanks for the link Tinkaroo. I got lost in it and a side link to Richard Hess's site. Very informative. I will be diving more into it when my head clears the cobwebs a bit.

[Tinkaroo]

I got a Sanyo N55 noise reduction system as shown on the previous page but didn't have any instructions for it so was kind of winging it. The guy I bought the set from was raving about it and said it was like Dolby but better.

Then this afternoon good fortune smiled and I found the instructions on HIFI Engine!
It has details on the proper connections, plus the all important calibration procedures.

There are two full sets of connections. From the deck to the encoder in and out, and the same from the encoder to the amp.

[Tinkaroo]

I found this thread from about 3 years ago which has some useful info on old and new tapes.

viewtopic.php?f=50&t=83350

[AudioFeline]

I am curious about buying used tape. I find locally that anything I would have used and respected in the 80's is as expensive used as buying new tape stock from the 2 or 3 suppliers that I know exist now. I bought a few used reels from a local audio shop to make mix tapes on and they all seemed to shed the oxide from the edges or all across the ribbon...

Yes, some brands of tape have a reputation for shedding oxide, the poor design of the tape didn't become apparent until years after they were manufactured. The design of other brands of tape didn't exhibit this problem. The problem can be related to tapes that were not stored appropriately.

Given the difficulty to obtain new tape, used tape is an option. Buy a known good quality tape, and do a visual check if you can - pull out a meter or so of the tape to see if it has been roughly treated - lots of creases. I would be more confident with a tape that has no excessive creases, indicating careful use. Check the edges of the tape, creases/damage indicates it hasn't been carefully spooled. To get the best recording from a used tape, get them bulk erased, it will remove any trace of previous recordings, so won't get any problems from different alignment of heads in machines. If you can't bulk erase, record no signal the tape once or twice (slowest speed the best) to get the tape as "fresh" as possible.

When I had my r-r, I bought a splicing block and lengths of header/tail tape (red and green plastic) so the tape was protected and damage would be minimised to recorded sections while threading onto the machine.

[ColdBeer]

... Given the difficulty to obtain new tape, ...

I see no difficulty here:
http://www.splicit.com/Reel-to-Reel-Rec ... -s/122.htm

and the prices are also ok :D

[Tinkaroo]

... Given the difficulty to obtain new tape, ...

I see no difficulty here:
http://www.splicit.com/Reel-to-Reel-Rec ... -s/122.htm

and the prices are also ok :D

I'm sure some of the members here would be interested in hearing which tape formulation you choose and your recording experiences with it. =D>

[AudioFeline]

... Given the difficulty to obtain new tape, ...

I see no difficulty here:
http://www.splicit.com/Reel-to-Reel-Rec ... -s/122.htm
and the prices are also ok :D

I see I am mistaken. Not as common to find in my land, as far as I know (but I may be wrong again).
It has been some years since I had my r-r.

[Tinkaroo]

Apparently there are a couple of sources in your neck of the woods.

http://www.rmgi.com.au/

[Tinkaroo]

The goal was to get a good quality 1-1/2 hour per side recording on one side of a 7" tape using a decent but not too expensive used high output/low noise tape. I know I can do that with an EE type tape on my Teac X3 Mark II deck, but those tapes are rather rare and expensive.

The deck was hooked up through my Sanyo Super D N55 noise reduction device which I calibrated after finally getting the instructions plus some input from an online video. It is similar to DBX but apparently eliminates the breathing that occurs with DBX.

The result on such a tape recorded from vinyl records at 3-3/4 IPS has been very impressive and a great success! 8)

It actually sounds better than the records to me, which some might not believe but hearing is believing.

[KentT]

Maxell UD and UDXL or XL1 are recommended. Unless damaged, never give trouble. For new tape, the Capture is very fine for your application.

[Spinner45]

The goal was to get a good quality 1-1/2 hour per side recording on one side of a 7" tape using a decent but not too expensive used high output/low noise tape. I know I can do that with an EE type tape on my Teac X3 Mark II deck, but those tapes are rather rare and expensive.

The deck was hooked up through my Sanyo Super D N55 noise reduction device which I calibrated after finally getting the instructions plus some input from an online video. It is similar to DBX but apparently eliminates the breathing that occurs with DBX.

The result on such a tape recorded from vinyl records at 3-3/4 IPS has been very impressive and a great success! 8)

It actually sounds better than the records to me, which some might not believe but hearing is believing.

My "goal" was to use a good reliable back-coated tape (Maxell/TDK/BASF) with 1800 feet (45 minutes/side at 7.5 IPS)
I've still got a few precious "still sealed in plastic" boxes of Maxell UDXL tucked away for future use on my Akai 4000D. :wink:

hifi1.JPG

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[Tinkaroo]

You'll have to break down sometime and use one of those sealed tapes to make a great mix tape. That does look like a lovely set up. 8) Thanks for sharing.

I used to have a nice Akai 4000DB but when I moved a number of years back I foolishly let it go along with some very good quality tapes. Stoopid me! #-o

Rather than live the rest of my life in regret I got a nice recently serviced Teac machine and some good quality tapes which I am now enjoying. More than half the fun is in the recording, and the listening is just the icing on the cake! :mrgreen:

[Jim Leach]

I used to have a Teac A3340S but sold it years ago. Then a few less years ago I picked up a Tascam 32 the seller had when I grabbed my Thiel CS 2.2s. I wasn't looking for one at the time, but it was/is mint-mint and came with a tape and take=up reel.

Anyway, I always used Ampex 456 when it was available. I never had any issues with shedding, and recording quality was acceptable. I never really used it as a music source per se, but did put a few double-albums onto the format to avoid record flipping.

I think I was looking a while back and there is another company making "456" replication but not under the Ampex name of course.

The 2" 24-track tape we used in the studio on the Studer A80 was also Ampex I believe...

I have MANY Tascam manuals in .pdf if anyone here needs one.

[Legrace]

May join the club. Going out this week to look at an early 70's A series Teac. Speeds are 7.5 and 15 ips, 2 ch record, but up to 4 ch for playback. Includes a box of NOS tapes, although of unknown provenance. Rabbit hole here I come!

[Bob Dillon]

Messing about with 40 + year old RtR machines is for nothing if the heads are worn.