New Toy!

[The Ghost of FM]

True enough. Its one thing if these tools are laying around at lunch time vrs, paying someone to do it.

I've been doing some research on sourcing out these knobs and I found that ADC Sound Shaper I & II models used the same knobs on those models. So this dramatically improves my chances of finding these knobs on the cheap as these eq's often can be found for 5 to 10 bucks in pawnshops and garage sales. As an added bonus, they also use those same black screw dressing grommets! So I can kill two birds with one stone if I can track down one of those relics!

Cheers!

 

[RFR]

Oh well. I tried. I figured the moment you asked what it was, chances were you didn't have one anywhere around.

 

[The Ghost of FM]

Nearing completion...



View attachment 92683

I still haven't found the grommets or proper screws but got tired of looking at the unit with only one trim board on it, so I borrowed a couple of screws from the other side to hold it in place for now.



Cheers!

 

[The Ghost of FM]

Went to see one of my technician buddies today who thought he might have the fader caps in stock. Problem is, he's got thousands of parts sitting in about 25 boxes and doesn't know specifically where they were. So I offered to start sorting through it all and only managed to go through 4 of them so far. I found two of them but they were for the teac GE-20 which are the wrong colors. He remains convinced he's got a bag of the right ones somewhere in that mess, so I'll go back next week and work my way through another few cartons!

Anyway, while I was there I saw a really nice tascam 122 3 head cassette deck in really nice shape that he had just freshly calibrated and installed all new belts and rubber. He wanted 250 plus tax for it and I weaseled him down to $200 taxes included!

So...here's toy # 2 for this thread!



View attachment 92777

Just finished testing it here at home with a couple of recordings at standard and high speed and it sound amazing! As good as my old teac V-800X if not even a shade better!



Cheers!

 

[j.harv]

Very nice deck! I have that exact one too. I use it to do quick reference mixes from my 388. And you have a cool reel cassette too! Nice score!

 

[The Ghost of FM]

Very nice deck! I have that exact one too. I use it to do quick reference mixes from my 388. And you have a cool reel cassette too! Nice score!

Thanks!

Yeah, I remember seeing yours in those pics you posted a while back about the custom desk you made for your recording set up!

I've been without a cassette deck for close to 5 years now since I sold my teac V-800X. Luckily, I hung onto my dbx 224 thinking if I ever got another deck, it would probably come in very handy as I've got boatloads of stuff recorded with that format.

I used to have more of those teac open reel cassettes but sold most of them several years before they became as expensive as they now are on evil bay!

Luckily, I hung on a couple of them. A gold one and a blue one.

Cheers!

 

[Beck]

Anyway, while I was there I saw a really nice tascam 122 3 head cassette deck in really nice shape that he had just freshly calibrated and installed all new belts and rubber.

Nice! That model has double normal speed selection, right?

 

[The Ghost of FM]

Nice! That model has double normal speed selection, right?

Yup! 3, 3/4 ips. Though even at standard speed, the sound quality is really solid with no loss of highs with the Dolby on. One of the few decks with switchable HX pro too.

If I were still doing multitrack work with a Portastudio, I'd probably run it at the higher speed and with the optional dbx nr for doing intermediate stereo bounces with virtually no loss that could be directly transferred back to a 244 or 246 just by taking that tape out of the 122 and working with it further on the 4 track. The newer versions of this deck sadly dropped that feature.

Cheers!

 

[A Reel Person]

...

Love it! You really scored!

I often wished the 124AV had a double speed option. That's the one that is half-track and can record tracks 1 & 2 independently. Half-track, independent 1-2 dubbing and double speed would have been a keen combo, but... I'd been looking at the 122 line of cassette decks, & the mk2 & mk3 look nice, but they lack the double speed option. Thanks for clearing that up for me!

Maybe I should put the 122 on my wish list, but you hardly ever find one as nice as the one you got!

(& welcome back to the world of recording!)

 

[The Ghost of FM]

^ Thanks, Dave.

Yeah, I've looked at the 124 before but got scared off of it when I saw the piano key transport. That's a bit too 1965 for me, technology-wise!

About the 122 mk II and III, I like the feature mix of the mark II. Dolby C is a mighty fine NR system when calibrated properly and the real time counter beats the hell out of a 3 digit mechanical counter, though the 122 that I've got does have a RTZ stop or play facility and if you don't mind doing the math, 25 clicks of that counter equals a minute of run time at the standard tape speed, so its not too difficult to know where you stand time-wise on the tape.

The thing I also really like is the 122's ability to remove the rack ears for those that want to integrate it into a more pedestrian looking environment. I might even add some wood trim side board panels to mine one day!

Cheers!

 

[RFR]

ADC Sound Shaper I & II models used the same knobs on those models. So this dramatically improves my chances of finding these knobs.
So I can kill two birds with one stone if I can track down one of those relics!

Cheers!

Here's one in LA. Not as cheap as you like, but I doubt it's moving anytime soon, maybe you can haggle and talk the guy into shipping.
los angeles musical instruments "ADC soundshaper" - craigslist

Then again it may not be worth it just for some knobs. Looks like a cool unit though, wonder if it's any good to put in a rack, besides looking cool.

 

[The Ghost of FM]

Here's one in LA. Not as cheap as you like, but I doubt it's moving anytime soon, maybe you can haggle and talk the guy into shipping.
los angeles musical instruments "ADC soundshaper" - craigslist

Then again it may not be worth it just for some knobs. Looks like a cool unit though, wonder if it's any good to put in a rack, besides looking cool.

Thanks for the lead!

CL is designed for face to face cash transactions and I know when ever I've sold stuff on CL, if anyone contacts me who talks about shipping stuff, they go straight into the delete bin. Plus, I've seen local ads, Toronto area where they're going for less then that and in Canadian funds too.

Also, I should make a bit of a retraction on those knobs being the same. The side ridges which the teac knobs have are abscent on the ADC ones. So while the general shape is very similar from a distance, there are actually some visible and tactile differences up close.

I think my best odds still lay with going through my technician buddy's stockpile of parts, 2 miles from my house.

Cheers!

 

[Beck]

Love it! You really scored!

I often wished the 124AV had a double speed option. That's the one that is half-track and can record tracks 1 & 2 independently. Half-track, independent 1-2 dubbing and double speed would have been a keen combo, but... I'd been looking at the 122 line of cassette decks, & the mk2 & mk3 look nice, but they lack the double speed option. Thanks for clearing that up for me!


Maybe I should put the 122 on my wish list, but you hardly ever find one as nice as the one you got!

(& welcome back to the world of recording!)

I have a Tascam 124AV with the half-track heads. I actually bought the unit just for the heads. I've been planning to put them in a 122 and use the double speed. It will be a conversation piece for sure, but not so practical, as any tapes made on it will be incompatible with 99.9999% of cassette formats. The machine will always have to go with the tapes. Still I'm just curious enough to see what it can do. The capabilities of the 124AV head far surpass the specs of the 124AV.

 

[A Reel Person]

Yeah,...

a half-track, double-speed mastering cassette that also dubs L & R independently. A niche format (that never was).
Would have been sweet! If that had existed I'd have bought one. Let us know if your mod is successful.

The 124AV is already a niche format that's not compatible with standard cassette, unless you record pgm mat'l onto one track & play back in mono on a standard cassette stereo deck. Unique proposition but probably less desirable in a practical sense.

One-of-a-kind formats can be a curse and/or a blessing. (Tascam 388).

 

[Beck]

Yeah, very true. As I remember there was some fuss when Tascam offered double speed for standard cassette with the 122 and some fuss when they brought out the 124AV because of the non-standard heads. Neither were in compliance with the Philips cassette standard. So those didn't last too long. For some reason 4-tracks on cassette got around the rules while other formats did not.

It would have been cool to see a double-speed cassette half-track format for mixdown. What I'd really like to find is a 3-head half-track design so you can monitor off the repro part, but to my knowledge no such head exists in the cassette world. Half-track record only will have to do. There are plenty of 3-head standard cassette decks where the rec/repro heads are part of one assembly of course.

 

[The Ghost of FM]

Teac and Tascam certainly weren't the first to come out with double speed decks. BIC Venturi made a whole line of them back in the 70's and at one point I owned a T-2 model from them which sound damn fine. It was a standard 4 track stereo format though.

Used to use it part of my first music production system with a second cheap-ass JVC KD-11 cassette deck and a Radio Shack mixer to do tape to tape overdubs with Realistic 12 dollar hiball 2 microphones!

Take about humble beginnings!

Cheers!

 

[Beck]

Yeah, I can relate to those humble beginnings. Back in 1978-79 while I was apprenticing at a TV studio learning about audio-video I had access to all kinds of great recording gear. But at home I was bouncing between two identical top-loading cassette decks through a Radio Shack mixer. The decks were genuine imitation wood with bright chrome tops.

I'm thinking those decks were TEAC, but not 100% sure. I have a memory of taking one into a local shop for service and the old guy that ran the place pronounced it Teek as in Teak wood, instead of Tee-ack. What I don't remember is if he was referring to my cassette deck or something he was trying to sell me.

I had a Realistic drum machine... The Concertmate. It had a few selections like Bosa, Rock, Latin, Waltz, etc. Somehow I managed to take it apart and isolate the drum sounds and then wire switches so I could turn off certain sounds. I could start a song using the Rock selection, but with only the kick drum switched on. I had no idea what I was doing modding these things back then. I just felt my way around the circuit board reading it like a road map. I was still a teenager. One of my older sisters was so blown away with what I was doing she went out and bought my first decent mic from Radio Shack. It actually wasn't a bad mic. I was impressed she figured out where and what kind of mic to buy. It was a surprise.

One thing I do remember is copious amounts of tape hiss from bouncing between the two decks. When I finally got the 144 I couldn't believe how quiet it was, even though it only had Dolby B NR.

I don't remember the BIC decks. Back then I didn't even know enough to understand how tape speed would make a difference or even what tape speed a standard cassette was running.