Lo-fi videos of Vintage Japanese music equipment. Some tips and demos to try to help you with your old machines. Check out other demos and pics on instagram and facebook and see the Reverb shop.
Ive run into these a ton in South Korea. The RE-3 too. Never tried them though. Youre right, these seem to be for HIFI systems. For some reason, I think Yamaha had something similar (and Ive seen that too).
I have this exact photo somewhere. This is wild. I always liked the 101 more than the 201. Maybe the signal just had to pass through less? I was a dub master. There are videos on my channel of me futzing around with my 101 and filters. I dont have my tape machines anymore (too much moving around), but I still know that sound. It was my first echo and I paid 1000 yen for it (audio store suddenly closed and had to get rid of it).
I had the Elk mixer and Ive had a few of those Driving Box compressors. Had 7 tape echoes. I found one outside an Italian restaurant in a Hondori in Kurashiki, Okayama. Studio closed down and put it out to trash. Worked a peach. Thing is. I was walking past the alley where it was and I had the desire to turn the corner. It was calling to me! Your videos are taking me back, ha!
These popped up in Hard Off all the time back in the pre-Internet days (when the junk corner was truly marvelous). I found your stuff on Reverb and followed it here. I did what you do back in the early internet days. Man, Japan had sooooo many treasures for pennies. I remember $20 boxes of Guyatone pedals because no one wanted them. Fun times for sure.
thats so awesome, thanks! my 101 has an "black plastic bearing cover". can you give me an advice, how to open this, so i can change the bearing? best, felix
I've found this video extremely helpful. I too have been collecting and repairing 8-track tapes in my collection for the past 30 years or more. My first set of 8-track tapes were just five Kiss albums, that unfortunately didn't stay with me during the many moves throughout my teens. And this was pre-internet days, so 8-track tapes used to be a dime a dozen back then. Any artist you could want could turn up eventually on 8-track tape. I was fortunate since mine were hand-me-down 8-track tapes including my very first two Lloyd's home units (almost identical eerily enough). My first Lloyd's was a low end model. My second Lloyd's had an on/off switch, bass, treble, volume, tone. Originally 8-track tapes sold in thrift stores for 25 cents each. I had Jim Croce, a black cartridge of ZZ Top (album title escapes me) but it wasn't Fangdango. I also had .38 Special Rockin' Into the Night. My second collection of 8-track tapes varied from hard rock, 80's new wave, 70's disco and totaled 299 tapes. I played the heck out of these as a teen and loved the old analog sound. I didn't care how unpopular it made me, at least I had a format that wouldn't skip, for example. Then I downsized in 2010 and just recently started over. I'm just after the artists that I truly enjoy listening to. Always some helpful advice: keep your 8-track player clean. Routinely clean the tape head, capstan, and clean and dab a little bit of Hoppie's oil on the base of the flywheel. Since I currently don't have pen tube oil feeder (I'll need to get one), I use a dab on a clean q-tip for now. Always check the belt. If it's springy and pliable that's good. I recently got into a raw deal buying a cobbled together 8-track player that crapped out in less than 24 hours of getting it. My second helpful tip when looking to buy an 8-track player is to ASK questions, always. And carefully review all photos of said 8-track player. Ask to see the back. A red flag that I missed were two missing back screws on the machine and the seller probably wasn't aware that the unit had even been tinkered with. As for 8-track tapes, most are pushing 50 ++ years old so don't expect excellent sound quality. Expect problems to arise such as deteriorated pressure pads, tape splice (Maylar aluminum coated splice coming unglued), which are fairly simple repairs. The only other issue I've experienced lately is program 4 on my working Lloyd's isn't playing. There's cross talk which could indicate a tape head adjustment is needed, however, I'm not going to be that invasive. My working Lloyd's plays great otherwise although the programs don't automatically switch tracks. This could very easily be due to it being low end (not a high end model), and possibly just not ran through the rigors of testing from the factory. However, I'm still very happy with both my units even though cobbled together Lloyd's doesn't power on anymore. I realize it could have blown one of it's eight diodes or one (or all) 12 transfomers kicked the bucket. Originally, my Lloyd's units were sold at Target in 1975, price of these machines were on sale during the Christmas season for $99.99 (original retail price was $109.98) back in the day. 😊
I wish you could show pictures or do video of your own showing how to oil it. I am wanting to learn. I've recently revived a stereo my brother gave me in 1979. I am enjoying the 8 track again. It has been sitting on a shelf for a very long time. What was left of the belt was nothing but goo. I want to keep it working.
When I was searching for my first tape echo, I was seriously considering this model, or at least one very similar. I ended up going with a Dynacord Super 76, which I love featuring in my videos. That being said, I might still fall for a unit like the one in your video. Despite the shorter delay time, it’s almost certain it would bring out some new creative ideas. Limitations often enhance creativity, after all!
One of these has come up on FB marketplace near me for what seems like a very good price, and appears to actually be legit (old lady seller). I can probably *just* afford it, not that I can really justify buying it on my budget... Any tips, other than what you cover in the video, on what to test/look out for before buying one?
I’ve had mine for about 8 years and I love it. I found it because Giorgio Morodor mentioned it as part of his gear in creating the disco sound arp he became so famous for and it’s really a Japanese karaoke analog echo mixer? It’s so organic sounding it blows me away
hey! this is a long shot but i just got one of these and i'm having some issues. i'm only getting one repeat and the pitch is really inconsistent. do you have any recommendations for how to fix it? thanks!
i used to have one of these, id recommend starting of w things easy to check like a new tape or seeing if the motor belt needs to be replaced because it might be loose.
Good video. Screw fastened 8 Tracks are mostly on some older 8 Track Brands and not as common as Tab fastened which were cheaper to make. When replacing a broken splice I try not to cut off any tape near the splice and instead use the side edge of a razor to scrape off the old glue and loose tape oxide to get a durable and residual free surface for the tape to adhere to.
I just listed a nice one- 05/28/24 reverb.com/item/82460913-1983-roland-rde-1800-japanese-market-only-digital-echo-and-spring-reverb-unit-this-is-awesome
I finally found the origin of my most mysterious guitar! I have the same model but in black, all hardware and shape is exactly the same. Some holes in the headstock were covered up and a different "pierles" logo was put on at some point. It is the most gothic sounding guitar that I have ever owned. After some work it has turned out amazing, but I treat it like a fragile egg haha. I love the guitar down to the custom 3rd reich "Side dots" that somebudy has knifed in haha. Found it in Tachikawa last year, paid about 15,000.
This may be good for those tapes uniformly wound but for those that are not this would be damaging the tape and folding over the edges. Scotch 150 is really only good for brake tests now. I would suggest winding it in a paper power on both sides of the tape in a peroxide solution onto a reel that can be taken apart so you have better access. A second pass onto a fresh reel while the other soaks in mold killing solution, then you can play it on a machine to allow it to pack well. A peroxide exposure and then Denatured alcohol second clean can give you a pretty clean tape. I would save tapes that are worthy such as Scotch 207. Lower grade tapes you can put forth effort if the recordings are important but how would you know unless you played them and had already treated the tape? I don't give up on good tape easy and the Nu Finish has restored Scotch 807 tape here.
i have been looking for a video to show how to clean dirty cassette tapes ; maybe this will be cross-applicable. i just never got in the habit of putting hem back in the case
