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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.
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.