TP-028, Nat Adderley's Work Song is now available

Author Topic: I REMEMBER WHEN ............  (Read 4312 times)

Offline rbwtapeinterlink-Bob

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I REMEMBER WHEN ............
« on: April 18, 2014, 01:46:41 PM »
Last night I spent some time (til well past midnight) thinking about my first venture into owning a reel to reel tape deck. Then, came the task of trying to find a place on the internet where I could get more information on this field I knew nothing about. Actually, as I think back on this period in my life, I should have sought out "The Tape Project" first but ignorance prevailed. My first tape deck was am Ampex 7300 (me thinks) ordered from Ebay. Prior to bidding on this tape deck I had read somewhere that I wanted a 2 track deck in good working order. Well, to be brief, what I got was not what I had read about. The Ampex was shipped from California. It arrived to Baltimore Maryland where I resided at that time in a cardboard box (no inner box) full of popcorn stuff and rolled news paper. Not only was the deck not 2 track, but, it arrived in several pieces. It appeared to have taken a terrible beating at the hands of the postal service after riding the rails and whatever else over 7 days. I immediately contacted (written letter) to the gentleman who sold the tape deck and his reply was "tough" or something similar. He suggested I contact postal service. He did not respond to why the tape deck was not 2 track as I had expected. He properly noted that his Ad did not say it was 2 track even though I thought it was. I figured the law suit would be too expensive, so, I gave up on that deal.

I was fortunate enough to find this forum and great group of folk who knew much about reel to reel and had not problems sharing their knowledge. Aside from the great knowledge base, I loved the fact that there were so many folk who were also new at this thing called "reel to reel" and like babies in toyland. I enjoyed the "family like" atmosphere and easy going attitude of everyone here including the Bottle Head Team. Steve was one of the first to make me feel right at home and was always ready to feed this "babe-in-arms" new reel to reel information as were others. Steve enabled me to reach the next level where I could actually begin to understand the particulars about tape decks.

Another joy for me was the fact that there were so many here who had different brands of tape decks with no need to knock anyone who did not have a Studer or studio Ampex. Eventually, and based on the information I got here, I was able to find a local radio station and purchased 2 Otari's and one Sony studio tape deck. And I got them all very cheap. A dear friend of mine (Bhek) drove me out to the station and helped me load those decks into my SUV and return home.

I believe this forum will be where a new generation of tape deck lover will be born. I say that because there are many who want to get into the tape thing but don't know where to start and don't have funds for the very high end tape decks. I believe it's important that no one feels the need to have to prove themselves based on how much they paid or the brand name of their tape machines. I sincerely believe it's important for people to have somewhere to come just to get information about tape decks whether they be Akai's, Pioneers or whatever. I am looking for that resurgence to start soon. 
Bob W. (African American) VPI, Ref Standard Grado, Denon 103r, Threshold, DecWare tube pre and Classe pre amp, Jolida tube phono pre amp, (Peter Gunn) modified Magnapan 1.6, Tascam 32-2B & 42B tape decks, Parasound belt drive CD transport, Pacific Valve tube DAC, VPI  TT, various upscale cables.

Offline docb

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Re: I REMEMBER WHEN ............
« Reply #1 on: April 18, 2014, 02:33:36 PM »
Thanks for the nice post, Bob. While our emphasis here will naturally be about the albums, we certainly appreciate that reel to reel is somewhat of a lost art and will happily offer what help we can to those who want to take a walk on the wild side of music reproduction.

Some of you may have noticed a big increase in our inventory of albums available to ship. Though we have been kinda quiet lately, behind the scenes we have been working hard on some new directions. I think the effect of this work will become apparent over the next few weeks and months. Paul has been working hard on refining and streamlining our duping process. Romo is working in the industry to find us some great contemporary titles to complement the classics we have been releasing. Up here in the Northwet we have expanded our facility with an annex dedicated to album packaging. Along with all of this I have begun the process of building a new website with our graphics and IT partners, Helix Creative. 

Stay tuned, it should be getting pretty interesting...
Dan "Doc B." Schmalle
President for Life, Bottlehead Corp.
Managing Director - retired, The Tape Project

Offline stellavox

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Re: I REMEMBER WHEN ............
« Reply #2 on: April 20, 2014, 05:23:25 AM »
NICE Post Bob!

THANKS

Offline rbwtapeinterlink-Bob

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Re: I REMEMBER WHEN ............
« Reply #3 on: May 17, 2014, 12:39:55 PM »
Hello all and thanks for your responses. Each of you gentlemen and others have been in the forefront of getting a renewed interest in reel to reel tapes and tape decks. My desire is that somehow we need to generate the kind of interest generated when The Tape Project put this website up some years ago. That was an exciting time. There was great joy as folk joined the forum and then introduced the tape deck they won on Ebay or purchased from a radio station, etc. Those were happy times and I loved every minute of it. I remember those times and they bring back broad smiles. There has got to be a way to help those who don't know, about the joys of playing reel to reel tapes to include the very high quality of sound. Let's keep thinking about how that may be done. Any ideas?????  Bob
Bob W. (African American) VPI, Ref Standard Grado, Denon 103r, Threshold, DecWare tube pre and Classe pre amp, Jolida tube phono pre amp, (Peter Gunn) modified Magnapan 1.6, Tascam 32-2B & 42B tape decks, Parasound belt drive CD transport, Pacific Valve tube DAC, VPI  TT, various upscale cables.