Well you all know i am a bit crazy, well i think this seals that thought completely.
Today on a road trip up north to once again see my new grandchild, i picked up this on the way home.
2 track, high speed machine.
Ready to play them master tapes, and hopefully make some for myself.
I don’t need it, i probably won’t use it much, god knows where i am going to put it, but here it is.
Off to my mate to give it a good going over and set up, and then we will see what it can do.
Cheers dunc
That looks neat and well looked after, Dunc. Do you know if it’s ever been serviced at all? Very few things could go wrong with it but glad you’re having your friend to have it checked.
Lovely machine.
Enjoy it.
Be interested to hear what your thoughts are. I always enjoyed the 4 tracks I used, though always sound best on the faster tape speeds… I think 7.5 IpS
I am out of touch with what good tape is these days.
I did also have a vintage 1950s Philips reel to reel, but sadly it bit the dust big time. Old valve electronics can literally explode! A lesson in there to service large electrolytics….
In the days before good ADC/DACs a 4 track was a must have I felt… when creating electronic music in the early 80s of course it was the go to device as you could more easily splice, and today they can give that lovely soft saturated sound if setup right when recording… you will learn to love compression
It really is in very nice condition, almost on par with me mate’s one.
Plus for what i paid for it, it was a complete bargin.
Got the perspex cover for it as well as the genuine Philips metal reel.
Vic is going to service it, set it up as he has all the right gear for the job, plus he knows what he is doing. But before that he is going to see how good it is, or bad before he starts.
Will report back once he gets going.
But i expect the 2 track to perform better than the 4 track version i tried earlier this year.
And can be a right dog if it’s not. I hope his mate can do a good job. In the end it will be down to how much recording Dunc will be doing with the it. Best of luck to him.
Any reel to reel can be a pain due to age.
That’s why you have to be as careful as you can when buying one.
Heads are the main problem, as in wear. Luckily the Philips has longer life heads fitted than most machines. Plus this machine is in very good condition for it’s age.
But the main reason for getting this is because i have a great mate that loves working on these. He knows them very well, and all the problems that they can have. He repairs them, has the right gear to set them up as good as they can be.
Without this then i personally wouldn’t buy one.
I will probably make some nice 15 ips recordings from my digital side, and maybe look into the pre recordings that are done at 15 ips.
But obviously before all that, it needs the all good to go.
Cheers dunc
I never doubted that your mate could do a good job but if he can get it done on time, I will be looking forward to listening to it at the Maverick show, Dunc.
If I can make it I will, although a fair distance from me. Fascinating to see you all doing this out your passion for Hifi and some beautiful gear on display. Not forgetting the good charities some of you guys are supporting.
Tiny touch of jealousy here. Then I remember the weight of them and where the hell would I put it !
I still get ‘reminded’ that there’s a Creek 4040 tuner, a Denon MD and a good cassette recorder all boxed up in the attic along with a small set of Denon speakers. I just can’t bring myself to throw them out.
Anyway spent a few hour’s round me mates house this afternoon, as he is going to sort it out.
The good news is it all works, we gave it a quick clean up before trying it. As it is dirty.
But all the main problem’s they can have aren’t on this one, and so it seems i have been very lucky.
The main faults are, obe buld on the meter doesn’t work, easy fix and cheap £2.
The peak lights don’t work, again a easy fix for my mate.
The biggest fault being tape monitor switch, this when recording doesn’t give you the recording to listen too, its just the source. Funny think is my mates one was exactly the same when he got his, so is confident he can fix that.
So as said it looks like i got an absolute bargain here.