Teac A-6010 / A-7030

[hallen]

I am new to this forum, so let me give you a little back ground. I am strictly a back-room home recording enthusiast. My current set up is a conglomeration of different things, but revolves mainly around a Fostex VF-80. I am looking for a reel to reel to mess around with for mastering. Nothing serious, just want to experiment a little with analog mastering. A guy down the street has a Teac A-7030 in very good (cosmetic) shape for $100. Can anyone give me an idea if these are any good. I have also found a Teac A-6010 for around the same price.

Thanks,

hallen

 

[hubcapbrian]

When new (1970s) those were both high end consumer machines.

The real question is what shape the heads are in now and does it need new belts.

 

[A Reel Person]

Welcome to the back room of recording boards!...

[the Analog Forum].

The 7030 and 6010 were probably the nicer consumer R/R decks of their time, but IMO, you'd probably be better off with a Tascam 32 or 22-2, for "mastering" purposes.

 

[hallen]

Thanks for the reply guys. I do need to show my ingnorance. How do I go about figuring out if the heads / belts are good? I know very little about these things, but I'm relatively handy.

thanks again.

Hallen

 

[The Ghost of FM]

Thanks for the reply guys. I do need to show my ignorance. How do I go about figuring out if the heads / belts are good? I know very little about these things, but I'm relatively handy.

thanks again.

Hallen

The obvious signs of head wear in a visual sense is scar markings on the heads itself and the tape guide posts and lifters that share the tape path's movements across the transport.

Deeply scared or worn heads can appear flat looking where the tape touches them.

There are various degrees of wear obviously and minor wear is not a big issue. In most cases, if the tape plays well, with few or no dropouts or excessive shedding of oxide, the heads are normally still considered usable.

From a sound quality perspective, the highs are the first to go on a worn out head. A head which is in need of being demagnetized also will exhibit a poor high frequency response.

Cheers!