Sunday 6 January 2013

Oh No! It's a new media format!

Sony Tapes

No it is not a new digital thing to take over from CD, Blu Ray MP3 or whatever. It's actually a very old format... Reel to Reel tapes. It's just new to me.

Even that is not quite true. I have used RtoR a lot but that was back in the 1970's either at home with cheezy portables or at CHSR radio at university where I used some very good gear and was pretty good recording and editing on it. I might have to relearn some of those skills.

I answered a Free ad on Craigslist and was not the first in line but the other guy could not make it in from Surrey right away and the owner called me back. The Akai 1730D-SS tape deck and the Akai AA-6100 amplifier that he gave me with it are still in the car (so no pics yet) but I got manuals, about 30 tapes, a tape head demagnetizer plus some Dual turntable parts and brochures too. Even the Puma sports bag was almost worth the trip.

Akai 1730D-SS

I don't know where I am going to put this but it should be fun to play with! At least it came with an instant music collection so I don't have to search that out right away.

Akai AA-6100

...I couldn't resist. I went down to the car and brought them up for a quick test before bed. I have Janis Joplin (backed with The Stones - Get Yer YaYa's Out) on the phones right now. It looks like the tapes were all recorded at 3 3/4ips and 2 sided. They are also about 40 years old, and the amp & tape deck have not been cleaned in any way so far so the fidelity and noise level is not the best, but they work!

Akai tape deck

Akai amp


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