Brand new reel to reel decks ?

Forgot to say - those comments were for multitrack; $2k for a 2 track is entirely reasonable. I'm not sure what the current Otari sells for, but a 32 was NZ$2,500 in 1993 when I sold two to a radio station, so again at the rate 'back then' (before USD fell and NZD rose) that would have been $1,250. Can't remember pricing on the BR-20. Damn I wish I hadn't thrown out my 1993 Tascam catalogue and NZ wholesale pricelist a couple of years ago....
 
Straight from TEAC: I recall being quoted $4000 CND (roughly 3400 USD) + tax for a then still recently made TASCAM 34B, a 4 track recorder. That was in mid 2004 and stock, at that price, sold out quickly.

I still can't see a quality 8 track being offered for less than $5000 and I don't mean the narrow track format either but a serious, well made, wide track workhorse.
 
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...and one must remember that a buck in '85, for example, is close to two bucks in today's money. :eek:
 
That is some nice shit Dave!
I need to work on my Tascam rack gear cause it totals 0 right now. Except 1 nasty looking Dbx unit.
 
Good Friend said:
You fuckers have inspired me. I am going to get the cheapest crap i can. I am going to get a bunch of old teac consumer reels and run them at slowest speed and use only dynamic mics made in the 60s. I might even bounce a track or two who knows. And when im done and it sounds like ass at least it will be my own ass that i cooked up myself. For mic technique i am jsut going to point the mic at the instrument and call it done. For monitors im going to use just some old pro4aa type. No eq. No compression. Nothing lame no tricks. For reverb ill use some old crappy spring type. And hopefully itll only be like 4 tracks so ill have to bounce a few times. And when im done ill make mono 45s instead of cds. And people will say i suck but at least they wont say i sound like creed's new album. Or 311's new album. Teenagers wont like it. It will not "bump" your system. There will be noise and anomolies and clicks. Chicks wont see an exciting future in the music and it will not trigger their hormones so that i can get laid. There will be no t-shirts made. I will not live forever. But at least i wont be some 40 something fat old bald man trying to compensate for his lack of creativity with a bunch of shiny objects that only the other fat old men care to even know about.

The only question left is, who is with me?!?!?
Click to expand...



So you are trying to emulate some analog geeks here?

Good on ya mate.
 
A Reel Person said:
I agree, that I personally don't need any new reel-to-reels, but instead maybe need a new house to put all this gear in!
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Did you get all that off ebay? How long did it take you to assemble that collection? That's pretty impressive!
 
Nah,...

that's just from a few good days of dumpster-diving!
:eek: :confused: :rolleyes: ;) :cool:

Seriously, all that gear came by way of Ebay, except (1) 244, (1) 38/M30 system & (1) 424mkII, which I had since brand new in 1982, 1983 & 1997, respectively.

Any other gear pictured (or not) was purchased off Ebay since sometime in Y2k, to the present. I've purchased so much gear, that it's literally stacking up 3 & 4 units high, and it's pushing the limits of my space constraints at home!

Did I tell'ya that I got a broken 414mkII the other day for $37/delivered, which I fixed in a few hours & now have a like-new working unit? I'm still stoked about that! ;)
 
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reel person is right. Analog is going by by. Depending on your frame of reference, you may disagree, but you cannot change the inevitable. Analog is costly to produce, costly to use, and costly to repair. People's pocketbooks win out over their idealisim. I use a Tascam 38, and an analog mixer blah blah blah. These items will go out of production, quicker than we'd care to admit. No it's not time to slit our wrists and die the long slow death of a raving idealist. I love analog and the way it sounds. And i love that i can still use analog machines to record music. But i'm a realist more than an idealist, and we are on a road to mass produced, cheap digital equipment. We have been for some time now. So let's stop all the fussin ana fightin.
 
Good Friend said:
You fuckers have inspired me. I am going to get the cheapest crap i can. I am going to get a bunch of old teac consumer reels and run them at slowest speed and use only dynamic mics made in the 60s. I might even bounce a track or two who knows. And when im done and it sounds like ass at least it will be my own ass that i cooked up myself. For mic technique i am jsut going to point the mic at the instrument and call it done. For monitors im going to use just some old pro4aa type. No eq. No compression. Nothing lame no tricks. For reverb ill use some old crappy spring type. And hopefully itll only be like 4 tracks so ill have to bounce a few times. And when im done ill make mono 45s instead of cds. And people will say i suck but at least they wont say i sound like creed's new album. Or 311's new album. Teenagers wont like it. It will not "bump" your system. There will be noise and anomolies and clicks. Chicks wont see an exciting future in the music and it will not trigger their hormones so that i can get laid. There will be no t-shirts made. I will not live forever. But at least i wont be some 40 something fat old bald man trying to compensate for his lack of creativity with a bunch of shiny objects that only the other fat old men care to even know about.

The only question left is, who is with me?!?!?
Click to expand...

A lo-fi, stripped down sound??? Why that's brilliant!!!!! Too bad the White Stripes beat you to it. (And I hate them.)
 
white stripes

I hate to say it but the White Stripes really arent any good. Very average songwriting ability. There really not even that original. There are some older records by lesser known bands that sound EXACTLY the same as the White Stripes. Riffs, drums and voice. The White Stripes are only popular because teenagers want to identify with something "cool". But honestly theres nothing cool about churning out shitty rock riffs to forgettable tunes.

"We Are Going To Be Friends" or whatever that song is called they wrote is pretty genius, but i think Ray Davies deserves all the royalties off that tune. Its such a fuckg Ray Davies ripoff its sickening. From the "amen" cadences to the melodies and subject matter, it SCREAMS 60s era Davies. Anyone whos learned loved and memorized "Village Green Preservation Society" will know what i mean. But it still is a good song i will give them that credit.

The White Stripes keep going into the studio to try to produce oldish analogish recordings, but honestly i was disappointed in the sound. It didnt sound old fashioned it sounded overly huge like every other record on the radio made today. Sounds like the kick drum was miced in 6 places. I dont like that sound.

You guys out there may love the white stripes, but Ive been listening to alot of music very closely for a very long time. And they are of average actual music talent/songwriting talent in the world of musicians. Even for their style, there are already hundreds of performers at that tit and have been at it long before they came around. What is it about tv that makes something seem better than it really is? To say that the WHITE STRIPES "did it first" when it comes to simplied rock riffs and drums is one of the most ignorant statements ive heard in awhile. They havent done shit except make a few teenagers want a guitar for christmas. To each his own i guess.

I guess next people will be saying that Clay Aiken invented singing.
 
Jillchaw said:
I hate to say it but the White Stripes really arent any good. Very average songwriting ability. There really not even that original. There are some older records by lesser known bands that sound EXACTLY the same as the White Stripes. Riffs, drums and voice. The White Stripes are only popular because teenagers want to identify with something "cool". But honestly theres nothing cool about churning out shitty rock riffs to forgettable tunes.

"We Are Going To Be Friends" or whatever that song is called they wrote is pretty genius, but i think Ray Davies deserves all the royalties off that tune. Its such a fuckg Ray Davies ripoff its sickening. From the "amen" cadences to the melodies and subject matter, it SCREAMS 60s era Davies. Anyone whos learned loved and memorized "Village Green Preservation Society" will know what i mean. But it still is a good song i will give them that credit.

The White Stripes keep going into the studio to try to produce oldish analogish recordings, but honestly i was disappointed in the sound. It didnt sound old fashioned it sounded overly huge like every other record on the radio made today. Sounds like the kick drum was miced in 6 places. I dont like that sound.

You guys out there may love the white stripes, but Ive been listening to alot of music very closely for a very long time. And they are of average actual music talent/songwriting talent in the world of musicians. Even for their style, there are already hundreds of performers at that tit and have been at it long before they came around. What is it about tv that makes something seem better than it really is? To say that the WHITE STRIPES "did it first" when it comes to simplied rock riffs and drums is one of the most ignorant statements ive heard in awhile. They havent done shit except make a few teenagers want a guitar for christmas. To each his own i guess.

I guess next people will be saying that Clay Aiken invented singing.
Click to expand...

my comment was almost entirely in jest. I hate the white stripes anyway.

I know they weren't the first to do it. But then again, hardly ANYONE is the first to do anything. Everyone builds on what's been done in the past. The Beatles are my favorite band of all time, but they certainly "borrowed" just as much as they "invented." I know there are clones, and that's not what I'm talking about.

I simply meant that the White Stripes are using the stripped down, amateur-sounding thing as a gimmick, which is what the other guy on this board was essentially talking about doing.
 
Im sorry

OK OK im sorry. I just get riled easily when it comes to handing out credit in the world of music. Like a dog thats been caged and teased.

Plus, the White Stripes arent exactly lo-fi. They were using u67s and Studer 1 inch 8 tracks on their album. It gets a little lower-fi than that in the world of lo-fi.
 
Good Friend said:
You fuckers have inspired me. I am going to get the cheapest crap i can. I am going to get a bunch of old teac consumer reels and run them at slowest speed and use only dynamic mics made in the 60s. I might even bounce a track or two who knows. And when im done and it sounds like ass at least it will be my own ass that i cooked up myself. For mic technique i am jsut going to point the mic at the instrument and call it done. For monitors im going to use just some old pro4aa type. No eq. No compression. Nothing lame no tricks. For reverb ill use some old crappy spring type. And hopefully itll only be like 4 tracks so ill have to bounce a few times. And when im done ill make mono 45s instead of cds. And people will say i suck but at least they wont say i sound like creed's new album. Or 311's new album. Teenagers wont like it. It will not "bump" your system. There will be noise and anomolies and clicks. Chicks wont see an exciting future in the music and it will not trigger their hormones so that i can get laid. There will be no t-shirts made. I will not live forever. But at least i wont be some 40 something fat old bald man trying to compensate for his lack of creativity with a bunch of shiny objects that only the other fat old men care to even know about.

The only question left is, who is with me?!?!?
Click to expand...


Look Out Dave Geffen wants to preorder 200,000 copies and market it as vintage. I'm with ya.
 
Hi All,

Since this thread just refuses to die, I might as well jump in in too.

I have a Tascam 2488 DAW. But since I was 17 (roughly when Teac introduced the 3340) I always wanted a reeler. I am now 45, so if not now, when, right? Sooo...EBaying I went, and initially I wanted just a good, heavy-duty, late-80es consumer machine with 2 tracks, big reels and 15Ips. This is what I wound up with in the Digital Year of 2006 (gearlust is on par with cocaine addiction I imagine):

A Studer 807, MK2. Two tracks. Dolby HX Pro.
High-speed version: 7.5, 15, 30 IPS.
Timecode center track so it will slave to the Tascam.
Line and mic (with switchable phantom power on board) and you can mix freely between them as you track, so a down-and-dirty 4ch. mix can be done live on the machine.
$2800. Like a pearl. You really have to look for any scuff marks. I am on my knees with my MagLite, looking at the heads, going: did ANYONE ever pass tape over these??
Needless to say, sounds like a dream, just even based on my crude test recordings. It is really a relief to be able to see the overload LEDs slam peaks at +12 (with Quantegy 9 tape) and it is still clean...no worry.

So that's where the magic is for me, analogically speaking, LOL...it does not replace, it augments, and allows for free-standing experiments, like live recording straight to tape, and either play around with it in the Tascam or just master it digitally and have a CD based on beautiful, old-school sound technology.

Call me crazy, but that's how we are I guess...I initially got 6 reels of Quantegy GP9 and I have 4 reels of 456 coming, for that compressed slam at 15IPS when you want it.
And as soon as the inept management company in my building finally repairs my roof, I can get everything back together for some real recording....can't wait.

Great thread, keep it coming....

Best,
C
 
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