another useless endeavor/ acquisition

[hermitcrab]

As some may know I am into everything including reel 2 reel ... in my collection I have a couple of the tapes pictured below... Realistic 3 hour tapes of various genres... so for the fun of it I looked though the RS catalogs, and found these tapes , but only for 2 years... 69, 70 in 69 there were 6 tapes... in 70 there were 10 tapes .... beyond that they switched over to 8-tracks and cassettes ... now I am on a journey to see how many of these I can find ... so far I have found 6 of them...from various places like fleabay and second hand shops ... there is one on fleabay now ... around the world in 180 minutes that the seller is asking a ridiculous 50 dollars for ... most I have paid for one is 12 bucks ... but i will keep looking for... strings for lovers, around the world in 180 mins , country and western ,and pop organ hits..... why? just so I can say I have the whole set... weird right

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[Firedome]

I love those String Romance musical selections! We have a '70 Sony 250, a fairly low end 1 motor R to R, that hasn't been used to at least 30 yrs and is currently getting fixed by a friend who owns a recording studio and knows tape recorders, so am hoping to have it back and useable soon. What's a good source for pre-recorded reels like these, with music of the '50s/60s era? Is the tape material likely to be any good, and is there anything special to look for when buying? Can new heads be obtained or fixed if needed? It takes up to 7" reels and is a 3 3/4 IPS machine.

[hermitcrab]

The 250 is a great machine!... that is what I have in my Fisher regent...I usually buy tapes that are in a lot... cheaper than buying one at a time ... I have only come across one tape with SS or sticky tape syndrome.. ( where the oxide flakes off) and there seems to be a fix for them using of all things Nu finish car polish in the orange bottle... I have found some great music that others have recorded .... also recordings of people from the past...I.E. kids opening their Christmas presents from 1963 , the coolest recording I found in a lot, was a recording of the final live performance of the band leader Wayne King in 1964 live from the Aragon Ballroom in Chicago broadcast on WGN radio ... someone on tapeheads told me it might be the only copy in existence... pretty cool...

[William]

Not weird at all, Elton. I collect demo records, and records that RCA, Zenith, Admiral, VM, Magnavox, and others put out. Zenith did a bunch and I think I have them all, and even duplicates. I have several Maggie's, and VM's. So, I guess I'm weird too.

In your recording of Wayne King, was the organ used along with the band? The Aragon Ball room has a 3/10 Wurlitzer to use for the dancers when a band was not available. The Aragon is still there, and is still used.

Bill

[TC Chris]

We have a '70 Sony 250, a fairly low end 1 motor R to R, that hasn't been used to at least 30 yrs and is currently getting fixed by a friend who owns a recording studio and knows tape recorders, so am hoping to have it back and useable soon.

Don't dismiss the little Sony. I have a ca. 1968 350, the same machine with three heads, also one motor. Long ago I took it to a "tape recorder clinic," like the old Mac clinics for amps. Can't recall who sponsored it, but the Sony's wow and flutter were way low.

Chris Campbell

[electra225]

I also collect R-R tape. I have about 350 reels. My personal belief is that R-R tape was the best audio medium ever. Most of my tapes are home made. Many I haven;t played in YEARS.

[TC Chris]

Long ago an elderly family friend (at the time, he was younger than I am now, but seemed OLD) gave me a couple prerecorded 4-track tapes. He had a 2-track stereo Norelco machine that I have now. One of them was a Benny Goodman tribute band, and wow, did it sound good. Always better than LPs. When he gave me the 2-track machine some time later he also gave me a bunch of prerecorded tapes that played perfectly well on my 4-track machines.

Chris Campbell

[electra225]

I have a VM model 730 Tape-O-Matic mono recorder that I got used from Lefferson's in 1964. It was obsolete when I got it, since stereo recorders were available and were getting popular. Nobody wanted mono tube equipment anymore. I believe I gave $25 for it. I have used it a million hours, but it needs one of everything. Pinch rollers, pads, belts, the whole schmeer. It has a 6X9 speaker with 6BQ5 audio. I still have every tape I ever made with it. Mom used to get me "cull" rolls of tape when she worked for Sarkes Tarzian. The reason the rolls were cull is that their length was incorrect. On a 1200 foot reel, you might have 1050 feet, or you might have 1425 feet. The tape was fine. And, it was free. It was going to be tossed.

[hermitcrab]

Don't dismiss the little Sony. I have a ca. 1968 350, the same machine with three heads, also one motor. Long ago I took it to a "tape recorder clinic," like the old Mac clinics for amps. Can't recall who sponsored it, but the Sony's wow and flutter were way low.

Chris Campbell

does that model auto-reverse?

[TC Chris]

Not mine.

Chris

[Firedome]

Agree! good R to R using high-grade tape may be the best audio medium, after all original analog recordings were always to tape.
I was floored the first time I heard a good R to R playback, an engineer neighbor that I babysat for at around age 15 had a Magnecord R to R, a very high end machine, and one time when I was there played a Mantovani London ffrr tape that blew me away, played through a Dynamo stereo (forget which models, ST70/PAS I think?) despite the fact my Dad had a very good Fisher stereo w/ Garrard AT60/Pickering, this was a whole new level of sonic faithfulness that I'd never heard before. I wish one could still buy new pre-recorded tapes!

[electra225]

In the band room at school, we had a 10" Webcor stereo tape recorder. Mr. Harris set up a couple of those old RCA mics that could be used as a lethal weapon. The sensitivity of that tape recorder was amazing. You could hear a fly fart on the drummer's sticks. We would play a piece, then Mr. Harris would play it back. I've often wondered what happened to that old tape deck after they closed the school.

[TC Chris]

Our "band room"was the auditorium stage. It was a nice auditorium. Mitch Miller brought a youth orchestra to town as a part of the Community Concerts series. He paused during the performance to address the audience, noting what nice acoustics the auditorium had, and hoping they would never carpet the floor or install upholstered seats. About 15 years later, yup, carpet & upholstery.

In any event, the first recorder there was an old V-M mono model, the one they made forever. Later it was upgraded to one of those Wollensak machines, still mono, but one of those good ones, a T-1500 (just went out and peeked at the no. on mine). There was a mic hanging over the stage and a Telefunken speaker up there too for playback.

Chris Campbell

[hermitcrab]

I also collect R-R tape. I have about 350 reels. My personal belief is that R-R tape was the best audio medium ever. Most of my tapes are home made. Many I haven;t played in YEARS.

I agree with tape being the best medium for analog ...I never understood the cassette fad... Sony did a great PR job making people think cassettes were great thus the walkman ... cassettes were never meant for music they were for dictation ...only reason we got Dolby was for the awful hiss on 1 7/8 ips speeds

[Firedome]

Actually the best component 3 head cassette decks like my Teac 360 (an early and highly well reviewed one) using TOL Chromium Dioxide tape like BASF and Dolby had excellent quality audio and a very high signal-to-noise ratio. I recall tests by people like Julian Hirsch and Len Feldman and others in the HiFi magazine business saying that the best ones were very competitive to reel to reel and one advantage to me was being able to record very high quality tapes and use them in the car. My 360 finally needed belts and service about 10 years ago so I sold it on CL, now I wish I hadn't, I particularly liked those top-load types. Good cassette systems were light years better than dictation quality or for walkman use, even if the latter were a revelation in their own way to joggers and a completely new and different market for cassettes.

[TC Chris]

I agree with tape being the best medium for analog ...I never understood the cassette fad... Sony did a great PR job making people think cassettes were great thus the walkman ... cassettes were never meant for music they were for dictation ...only reason we got Dolby was for the awful hiss on 1 7/8 ips speeds

Cassettes gave us portability, and eventually when R2R tape became scarce, a way to record at home. R2R in a car would be no fun at all. I recall putting my Sony 350 in a little suitcase, and with the old Emerson portable phono in the other hand I'd walk to work on the evening shift when I was the highest authority on-site and could decide to play music. What a pain!! When I got a Dolby cassette recorder I took a lot of music off the air, mostly live performances. And I'd move stuff from LP to cassette so I could play it in the car.

Chris Campbell

[electra225]

I also have a large collection of cassette tape. As has been mentioned, if you had the right equipment, the right tape quality and good recording techniques, many times cassette tape comes real close to open reel tape in audio quality. Some of mine are close to 50 years old, and still play just fine for the most part.

[TC Chris]

Some of the tape brands are subject to deterioration. They get sticky and develop a catch/release motion across the head that causes a high frequency oscillation--a squeal. There's online advice about a one-time fix. You bake it at a precise temp, then play it one time as you transfer the recording to another medium. Most of mine are still OK too.

Chris Campbell

[hermitcrab]

Not weird at all, Elton. I collect demo records, and records that RCA, Zenith, Admiral, VM, Magnavox, and others put out. Zenith did a bunch and I think I have them all, and even duplicates. I have several Maggie's, and VM's. So, I guess I'm weird too.

In your recording of Wayne King, was the organ used along with the band? The Aragon Ball room has a 3/10 Wurlitzer to use for the dancers when a band was not available. The Aragon is still there, and is still used.

Bill

Bill how many demo records did VM put out?...

[William]

Elton, I have 3 VM records. I'm trying to remember, senior moment, but I think they are on the Mercury label. They are a mix of music and the recordings are excellent for sound quality.

Bill