Studio-quality cassette decks?

sad iron · Post by **sad iron** » Fri May 25, 2007 4:53 pm

Cross-posting a little here, (I have WTB posting over on the Buy/Sell/Trade) but I am going to be doing a on of cassette transfers this summer and am in the market for a good used studio cassette deck. I have been looking at Nakamichi MR-1's, Tascam 122 mkII. Wondering if anyone has any opinions on those models, suggestions for others and a ballpark idea of what I should pay for a machine that doesn't need a ton of servicing.

Also, if I were to buy something older, what kind of servicing should expect/consider on a used machine. I am going to be transferring author readings from cassette into the digital world. Maybe doing a little clean up along the way. The fidelity of said recordings is likely to be poor.

Cellotron · Post by **Cellotron** » Fri May 25, 2007 5:57 pm

One other option is the Denon DT 625 combo CD / cassette player which is available new for very reasonable cash. The cassette player has both unbalanced on RCA & balanced outputs on XLR, a bi-directional transport, Dolby B & C encoding/decoding, track start / silence searching, vari-pitch, and sounds very good to my ear. Plus as a "bonus" (or maybe the main reason to get it) it has a CD player with coaxial spdif output (so you can send it direct to DAW or to the DA converter of your choice) and CD Text display among other nice features.

Best regards,
Steve Berson

philbo · Post by **philbo** » Sat May 26, 2007 6:14 am

If you can find one, a Teac C3 is great - - built like a tank, 3 heads, no digital boogery, just a good, clean analog sound. Has bias adjustments right on the front panel.

I've had mine since '73, and replaced only 1 part, the belt for the tape counter. It still works and sounds great.
________
PORNSTARS CINDY CRAWFORD

kinger · Post by **kinger** » Sat May 26, 2007 8:09 pm

I own a Tascam 112MKII and the thing's built like a tank. I don't know how it compares to some other high-end units, but you can use it day-in, day-out with consistent results and no fear of break-downs.

sad iron · Post by **sad iron** » Sat May 26, 2007 8:14 pm

so, how much do folks really use cassette decks now?

I have this dream that I could mix down to cassette, just cause I like the Luddite vibe.

djimbe · Post by **djimbe** » Sat May 26, 2007 8:35 pm

Mixing to cassette can sometimes be cool. It sounds like the tapes you made when you were a kid, just better.

It can be fun for a drum buss. Print your drum buss, then fly it back into a DAW. Use it like you would a parallel compressed drum buss. Sometimes the weird phasing from the lack of sync can be a cool spacial thing instead of reverb. Sometimes it's just crap...

The models that have vari-speed and three heads make a handy tape delay. Feed a short delay from a box or an Echoplex into one and set the cassette deck up for a long delay for multi-tap stupidity...

sad iron · Post by **sad iron** » Sat May 26, 2007 8:41 pm

you mean like wheni put the handheld up to the radio to get Kasey's top 40? Cool.

djimbe · Post by **djimbe** » Sat May 26, 2007 8:46 pm

sad iron wrote:you mean like wheni put the handheld up to the radio to get Kasey's top 40? Cool.

No, more like when you made a little stand for the mic and positioned in between the speakers of your family's console unit. Maybe with a bit more control.

But...yeah...

sad iron · Post by **sad iron** » Sat May 26, 2007 8:53 pm

djimbe wrote:
sad iron wrote:you mean like wheni put the handheld up to the radio to get Kasey's top 40? Cool.
No, more like when you made a little stand for the mic and positioned in between the speakers of your family's console unit. Maybe with a bit more control.

But...yeah...

wow, i think that's the record i always wanted to make...

kittonian · Post by **kittonian** » Thu May 31, 2007 7:55 am

There's not much call for it these days but I have a Tascam 302 dual deck with a specially wired Mogami Quad snake (RCA->DSUB) that runs into our patchbay just in case anyone wants a cassette and/or a transfer is needed. The thing is rock solid and sounds great. Never had an issue.

mikeyc · Post by **mikeyc** » Thu May 31, 2007 8:38 am

sad iron wrote:you mean like wheni put the handheld up to the radio to get Kasey's top 40? Cool.

I thought I was the only one!

Actually, I held my Fisher Price recorder up to the TV speaker to get Hungry Like the Wolf off of Night Tracks. Awesome. Then there was the time I brought a boom box to the drive-in and recorded 45 minutes of Army of Darkness. I need to find that tape...

I'm Painting Again · Post by **I'm Painting Again** » Thu May 31, 2007 2:10 pm

a nakamichi dragon in good shape is really hi-fi..comparable to a 24bit DAW

20 HZ~22,000 Hz ? 3 dB

that would be one to look for..

sad iron · Post by **sad iron** » Thu May 31, 2007 2:28 pm

I was looking at the Dragons and they were pricier than I wanted to go. I ended up winning this: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 0120210777

Doesn't have the SPDIF Steve was talking about, but I got it for $80. Goes for $500 new. So, as long as it's in good shape I can probably resell it if I don't want to hang onto after I'm done with this project.

I'm Painting Again · Post by **I'm Painting Again** » Thu May 31, 2007 5:57 pm

if Steve said it was good I think you will be happy..he has good taste..

happy cassetting!

getreel · Post by **getreel** » Fri Jun 01, 2007 4:30 pm

I second Denon. Even their lower prised decks alway sounded really good. I'll have to look and see what model mine is.

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Studio-quality cassette decks?

Studio-quality cassette decks?

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