Reel 2 Reel - bottomless pit of faff, expense and hisssssssss

Steve Wright show archive FTW.

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I think they could be bought configured for either 3 3/4 & 7 1/2 or 7 1/2 & 15 but either one configuration or the other so they wouldn’t do all 3 speeds. Check what the switch says.

There were a good number of quite good sounding 3 3/4 tapes sold (mostly classical & mono) under the WRC (World Record Club) label. Some very good sounding Jazz stuff too. 3 3/4 is a valid format even if not quite to the standard of the faster speeds. Was listening to some Sarah Vaughan tapes the other night making sounds you’d struggle to get from any record player tbh.

All of them

http://www.reeltoreel.de/worldwide/B77.htm

It’s either the two slower or the two faster.They didn’t do a machine running all 3 afaik.

I think you are right. I’ll have to check which version it is

I’ve got a 2 track B77 which has 7.5 and 15 ips speeds. Great for recording quality but very few pre-recorded tapes use the 2 track format afaik.

Yes, I’ve decided that I’m unlikely to be using R2R for the very occasional bits of field recording I do. (too much hassle & too intrusive). So my choice of a decent semi pro machine will be for the purpose of replaying commercial pre-recorded tapes at 3 3/4 or 7 1/2 ips. Teac (X3R) is the current favourite.

It would appear mine is 3 3/4 and 7 1/2

Probably the most useful configuration if playback is the main intention.

Playback is all I’ll be using it for.

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I quite liked the Elcassett format and it’s a pity it didn’t last long.

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The only time I heard R2R was at Scalford and I thought it sounded amazing even though I didn’t care for the music. Wasn’t sure if the sound quality should all be attributed to the R2R but that’s what I assumed.

I wanted one immediately but lack of money, space and a clue stopped that thought in it’s tracks.

At the Scalford a couple of weeks before the Great Backstabbing there was an R2R playing mildly interesting tunes in the lounge next to the bar which I took little notice of. Then they played Power, Corruption and Lies by New Order, an LP I know extremely well (to say the least). I can honestly say that this was the best playback I’ve ever heard of that LP (notwithstanding various tubby types chuntering away close by and @coco and @Wayward’s horn lunacy tootling away in the background).

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I think that was the year after I was there as I missed that horn lunacy. The room was up the first flight of stairs, I think, the year I was there.

Yep, the previous year it was upstairs, and was very good then too. I think one of the blokes who did those shows passed away recently.

That was the crazy R2R world of Lodgesound and sadly Stuart passed away.

That year it was upstairs I remember listening at about 2am with the lights off and it was one of the best sounds I’ve ever heard.

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I would have been wandering around at 2:00 am ish that year too as the blokes with the 4xQuad ESL rig got it working at midnight and woke me up putting it through its paces. I wandered around with a nice bottle of Cote du Rhone until they packed it in. It took several pints of Doom Bar to resuscitate me the next morning, with the inevitable dire consequences that were compounded by the curry. I think Sodders was in the room opposite mine that year, the noisy fucker…:smirk:

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Sad to hear that.

It just sounded pure or something, not really sure how to describe it but it was special. Why the hell would people go for streaming convenience when they could have sound like that? (Rhetorical).

I thought only the A77 did 7.5/15 ips.

Charlie Chan on pfm has a 15ips r2r but buys the stupidly expensive new recordings.

No, certain versions of the B77 do