My newest addition to the family

Roberts 770x also known as the Akai M8 reel to reel. Running my drums through these vintage preamps is heavenly. After you let them warm up the low end of the drums boost beautifuly and adds one of a kind natural compression. Likely going to run the 60 mainly through since the gain on the 60's are low as is, but almost everything is gonna get some time with her.

Beautiful aquisition Ark! I've seen people unfortunately chop the top off these and use them as guitar pre-amps. Please don't do that or I'll cry!

May I ask how much you forked out for ziss?

original price was 120, dude shows up and the right pre amp needs work, so he dropped to 80. I said no, he said he would fix it, about 4 months later he never got back to me so I sent him an email and the gave it to me for 40

I can see why the chop the tops off, the preamps are where its at, if the reels don't work then its useless in most cases, this works though so I'm gonna utilize once I figure it all out

nice snag!
let me be the first to tell you some very important things to keep in mind:
1) if at all possible, use only new tape - or 'new' old tape.

if you use old, dirty tape, it will leave a residue on every part of the machine it touches, which will then transfer to every tape you have, and will eventually kill your machines.

2) if you do use old tape (it's ok), CLEAN the heads and the capstans and the rubber, every part that the tape touches, very often!

again, this is very serious. my friends have called it 'tape aids', cause your machine will get it from nasty tape, and spread it to every other tape it touches, which then spread it to more machines, etc etc.

finally just an opinion, i would think the newer digital stuff would sound best through it since the older stuff (60 etc) already have some nice sound coloring going on. but just experiment.

thanks for the advice, much appreciated. I just don't like how the 60 pushes at such low db's when turned all the way up

do what ya gotta do homey! i think itll be great.

does it have any noise reduction?

no, the amps of the tone adjust though

my reel to reel lacks noise reduction too.

its a pretty huge difference. you can buy external boxes that do it, but it's not like just an effect...you have to 'add' the noise reduction to the tape via the unit, then playback the tape again, via the unit to remove it.

recording at the fastest speed possible is also a good way to increase fidelity.

but honestly for me i am looking at noise reduction now because the difference ive heard in machines with and without is incredible - with it on you get all the benefits of tape and none of the noise - really amazing sound. without it, you get cool sound but the noise level is killing me.

ArKyve-31 wrote:thanks for the advice, much appreciated. I just don't like how the 60 pushes at such low db's when turned all the way up

I have heard people say that, but on my mkii it doesn't do that.. I never have to have the volume dial at higher than 3 o'clock when running out the main outputs to the motu... (that usually sets me at around -3db in cuemix) however that is too loud if the headphones are plugged in... I need to turn it down to like 9 o'clock or lower possibly..

a preamp is the perfect thing though, I should do that with one of my tape machines.. I would have to pull them out and give them a good cleaning though... or maybe nevermind that.

That is a dope price you got there Ark! Congrats!

I'd look into finding good "new" tape and then get the machine serviced properly and dialed in to the tape you'll use (not really a DIY job in my opinion, but maybe you could do it with lots of research and if you're very handy with such things). Depending on the age of those machines, even if everything seems to be working, there's lots of parts that need replacing and the machines have to be fine tuned. Tape is high maintenance, and only if maintained well, it'll sound as good as it should!

I'm about to get mine (revox b77 mkII 2-track) serviced and fine tuned next month, dropping it off next monday.

Are you running your drums simply through the machine without actually recording them? I thought about this as well, but was wondering if it would actually do something... i always was under the impression you'd actually have to record to tape and play it back to get that tape sound...

Anyway, really dope man, congrats again!

^ yes, but I think he is using the thing for the preamps... not to get the tape sound in the example mentioned above.. he obviously will record stuff to the tape too I am guessing..


you can make some cool left/right slap back delay effects using those old tape machines.

jibber wrote:
Are you running your drums simply through the machine without actually recording them? I thought about this as well, but was wondering if it would actually do something... i always was under the impression you'd actually have to record to tape and play it back to get that tape sound...

Just like debauch said, I'm using just the preamps at the moment, but once I get the parts and the proper tape I intend on recording to it for different effects, I'm just not to the point at the moment, just got it delivered and I've been sick as hell all week so couldn't really toy with it to much.

Good things take time... no hurry!

I'm not even sure if i could do the same thing on my revox, i think not... gotta get into the manual tho and find out about it sooner or later. First goal is really to get it serviced tho, i think you've heard the one beat i recorded to tape on my youtube page (thanks a lot for the feedback by the way), right now it's a good example of how an unserviced machine with old tape will sound...

I think there's quite a few people with machines like yours on gearslutz. If you dig around a little i'm sure there's some experienced guys on there who could give you lots of great info.

Good luck! And keep us updated (i love these machines and to read about them)!

Reel to reel... now there's my next black hole for money

I just recently got one of these to add to my small stash of cassette decks..



And had this done to it...

Normal service for the mechanics.

All mech switches cleaned

All control switches on the front panel are replaced by new Alps switches.

JFET buffer installed to reduce the PB noise.

Recording amplifier modified to provide 10 dB more headroom - enough to record on top quality metal tape.

The original (worn) MX permalloy head is replaced by NOS Canon S&S (laminated sendust) long life sandwich head.

All required playback and recording adjustments done.

4066 monitor switch IC replaced with the ANT4066A chip

Headphone amp is modified for better sound.

All pots are cleaned and greased using DeoxIt FaderLube.

The frequency response now is 10Hz to 23kHz (-3dB) or to 25 kHz (-6dB) at -20dB DIN level with metal tape (Type IV), 10Hz to 20 kHz (-3dB) at -20 dB DIN with Type I and Type II.

In music you have two things:

1) The cheap slut that'll give you a quick orgasm each time
2) The lady, who takes her teeth out to give you that perfect blowjob

Your new addition is number 2) ... wise choice! I've been looking at these since I started the question about sampling via tape.