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Messages - rbwtapeinterlink-Bob

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1
General Discussion / Re: I REMEMBER WHEN ............
« 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

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General Discussion / 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. 

3
General Discussion / Red Rodney (Albino Red)
« on: February 19, 2014, 03:22:01 PM »
Today as I was heading to noon bible study at my church, I heard a recording of the late great Red Rodney. The recording was, "What can we do". I was almost moved to tears for two reasons. One, this was a beautiful recording, and two, I felt so bad that I had forgotten this extraordinary musician and trumpet player. I had not heard from him in some years and wondered where he ended up. I found out he had expired from lung cancer in 1994, but had a large selection of recorded music. He was around and actually played with Charlie Parker. Almost anyone who hung around with Charlie Parker  (Bird) would have gotten into the use of heroin and that included Red Rodney. In my honest opinion, there were only two trumpet players that could match this gentleman's musicianship. They were Dizzy Gllespie and Woody Shaw. I also learned that due to segregation Red had to play under the name Albino Red which was something I found amusing yet degrading. I found it hard to believe that segregation and the racial situation during that time period had reared its ugly head even where jazz music was played. I applaud Bird and other jazz musicians who did not care that Mr. Rodney was Caucasian. Their only requirement was that Red could play. There is an amazing amount of stuff featuring Red on YouTube. Check him out. He was one of the baddest and technically gifted trumpet players that ever lifted that instrument to his lips. His ballad playing was emotional and sooooooo beautiful.  I've got to start buying everything I can get my hands on of his music.

4
General Discussion / Re: To all of my wonderful friends here
« on: January 04, 2014, 02:35:08 PM »
Hi Bob,
         Note my tube selection in my AVA T8+, Valvo E188CC's are the best I found. This is very equipment specific. But keeping your eye on the ball can help gleene new testing vintage wonders.  As for the 6n1p see if you can get them cryo'd. I had a set that were nearly as good as the Valvos. Happy listening.

Neal

Hello Neal, I've already ordered a pair of 6N1P's and looking forward to getting them in my pre amp. I am sure they will make a difference. Thanks for the suggestion and info sir.   Bob W.

5
General Discussion / Re: To all of my wonderful friends here
« on: December 31, 2013, 04:22:25 PM »
Hello Neal and as always it's great to get this response from you. I am certainly going to take your suggestion and go with a set of cryoed 6N1P tubes. I think a little tube rolling can be fruitful. At some point though, I want to get a schematics so that I can do some cap and resistor change. This pre amp sounds good already and i am sure it can be made to sound even better. I've just got to figure some way to get around the junction box that provides the additional inputs. It's high quality but must add something to the sound even if I can't hear it so far. Neal, you and everyone here have a blessed and very prosperous New Year.

Bob W.

6
General Discussion / Re: To all of my wonderful friends here
« on: December 30, 2013, 03:33:33 PM »
Listens2Tubes, I've been trying since I became a member of this great and wonderful tape/music forum (6 years?) and still can't seem to pull it together. Being on a fixed income makes it difficult, but I keep trying. Being less than rich is why I have the Amina tube tape head pre amp instead of the fabulous Tape Pro, Charles King's production or one of the other tape head pre amps. Thank God there are tapes I can afford, though just barely and I can enjoy. Obviously being a jazz lover I would love to get my hands on some of the Tape Projects stuff.

Earlier today I pulled out a tube pre amp I had in storage for months. I had been using my Classe pre amp which was doing just fine until recently. When I put on some of my music the sound was lifeless with a significant reduction in volume level. So I went to the garage and pulled out the Zen Triode pre amp model ZTPRE made by Decware. I purchased this pre used and then put it up for hard times since the Classe was working to perfection. After it appeared my Classe was sick and no longer thrilled me. I needed to subsitute the ZTPRE just so i could have some music. The amazing thing about the ZTPRE is that it has several switches that permit changes in the way it sounds. 

Initially, I hooked up my belt drive CD transport and put on the Bill Evans 'Blue in Green" CD and WOW! This was absolutely the first time I actually heard Eddie Gomez sing along with some portions of his bass solo. It was an awesome experience and got me to thinking about what might happen if I am able to replace the few capacitors and resistors this thing might sound better. I am already thinking about rolling the 6N1P tubes. I played another CD titled "Vertical Voices" singing the music of Maria Schneider. This is powerful stuff and I was amazed at what can be done with the human voice. As a matter of fact there are just 3 people, Julia Dollison, Kerry Marsh and Ben Monder singing all of the parts originally play by a full orchestra. Hooking up my Amina Tube Tape Head pre Amp and Tascam tape deck, I put on my Sonny Rollins (The Bridge) tape. Sounds like that's a Buescher Tenor Sax he's playing. The sound was big, bold, powerful and awesome. I don't know if anyone else has experienced not wanting to listen to their audio system because the music had no life. I am feeling great again even though I will have to put my Classe pre amp in the hospital for a while. How sad. Thanks for listening everyone and again, hope you all had a great Christmas and your New Years will be an even better one than 2013.  Bob W.

7
General Discussion / To all of my wonderful friends here
« on: December 23, 2013, 05:29:08 PM »
May you, your family and friends all have a blessed and wonderful Christmas and New Year!

Bob W.

8
Prerecorded Tapes / Re: UltraAnalogue's Bach & Vitali's Chaconnes
« on: November 30, 2013, 04:06:52 PM »
Hello my friend Steve,

Great hearing from you sir. Hope you and yours had a blessed Thanksgiving. And yes, I know what you mean when you talk about your bank account. I have been in contact with Dr. Pong who is one of the nicest gentlemen around and he does all of the recordings in his studio. All of the talents he records are winners of known classical music recitals. Actually, these are master musicians who obviously love what they do and they all love to record for Dr. Pong. So, if you have any questions at all don't hesitate to contact this gentleman who genuinely loves people and love talking about the music he and his musicians produce. And, you'll be more than pleased with any recording you get.

Bob W.

9
Prerecorded Tapes / UltraAnalogue's Bach & Vitali's Chaconnes
« on: November 29, 2013, 07:04:50 PM »
I have always loved Bach's Chaconne for unaccompanied violin. I have several records featuring this music, but never thought I would hear it on tape. Well, I have a copy of UltraAnalogue's recordings of Bach's D minor and Vitali's music in G minor. Both are beautiful. I am amazed that Dr. Ed Pong could squeeze both Chaconnes on one reel to reel tape.

I put this tape on my Tascam 42B tape deck with cables running from the playback head out to a separate tube tape head pre amp. These are vibrant, sumptuous, and beautiful recorded tapes that almost took my breath away. The playing on this tape is outstanding. The violinist is Xiang Yu with Li Wang on piano. What a team and they compliment each other magnificently. This recording is so real I felt I could get up and walk to the front of my listening room and touch the artists.

Tony Ma who has designed and built most of the electronics used at the Studer tape decks and mikes is awesome at what he does. He and Dr. Pong who does all of the recordings work very well together. Please don't pass up an opportunity to go to www.ultraanaloguerecordings.com and listen to the many samples of what they have on reel to reel tape. I honestly believe you'll end up buying something.

bob w.

10
Reel to Reel Tape Machines / Re: Eros tape head preamp question
« on: November 21, 2013, 04:45:32 PM »
Mr. John French installed a pro Nortronics 400mHy  tape head on my Tascam 42B and with my Amina tube tape head pre amp I have plenty of gain to work with. The Eros pre amp you ask about is also tube and I am sure it will support a 400mHy tape head. 

Bob W.

11
Tape Tech / Amina HD4 Tube Tape Head Pre Amp Link
« on: September 17, 2013, 02:35:30 PM »
Good evening forum members,

With the full assistance of "Ironbut" who provided a ton of information on how to finally present photos of my new head pre amp and other music system parts, I am more than grateful. Thank you very much Steve.  Below is the link to those photos. Thanks for looking and all comments.


Link >>>>>>>>>>>>  https://www.dropbox.com/sc/e89sy7as4gb82lt/J8Q4GfekBM

Bob W.

12
Tape Tech / Re: My New Amina HD4 Tube Playback Head Pre Amp
« on: September 16, 2013, 08:25:59 AM »
Good morning Steve,
I just sent you a PM regarding "Dropbox". When you get time, please respond. Thanks much sir.

bob w.

13
Tape Tech / Re: My New Amina HD4 Tube Playback Head Pre Amp
« on: September 15, 2013, 08:16:20 PM »
Good evening Steve and thank you so much for sharing. I really wanted to be able to afford the Repro or King Cello. After I got my Magnapans modified I could never scrape up the funds to purchase anything over $1600 dollars at the most. So, you can understand my glee when I convinced my tech to design and build the HD4. So far I am loving the sound and look forward to it opening up even more. The tech said it should be settled in pretty good after 40 hours of continuous play. Thank you my friend for this link. I am going to check it out and will be back in touch. You and yours have a great coming week sir.

bob w.

14
Tape Tech / Re: My New Amina HD4 Tube Playback Head Pre Amp
« on: September 15, 2013, 12:16:12 PM »
Hello my friend Steve,
It's been a while and yes, you are right about getting a good sense of what the sound is like. I plan to listen good for the next several weeks and then, as you say, I will have some idea what may be lacking, if anything, in what I am hearing. I tried several times to put at least one photo of the pre amp up but to no avail. I did not think that a photo of my preamp would be a file too large. I've got to find another way because I want you and other forum members to see what I have. We will see if I can figure it out enough to post at least one photo. Thank you Steve for chiming in. When I am ready to purchase tubes I will check you out. Tell me Steve, what are you using to play your fabulous Tape Project Tapes? Thanks again sir.

bob w.

15
Tape Tech / Re: My New Amina HD4 Tube Playback Head Pre Amp
« on: September 14, 2013, 06:07:11 PM »
Good evening everyone,
As I continue to put miles on my HD4 the sound seems to open up a little more. I had some old (20 year old) GE 12AX7 tubes and decided to replace the ones that came with the head amp. There seem to be a slight change in the sound of music which was more open and a little more extended low end though there was not an extraordinary difference. I wonder if I should start doing some tube rolling now or give the HD4 more time to break in? Also I will want to replace the  AC cable that came with it. Does anyone have suggestions on a cable that does not cost an arm and eye to purchase?  Also, where would you suggest is the best place to purchase the best sounding new tubes. I am not interested in NOS? Thanks much guys for all suggestions.

bob w.

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