I had one of these in the early 1980's. I used to make music via bouncing from this machine to a cassette. That's how they used to stack tracks. Remember the Beatles "Sgt. Pepper's" and "Magical Mystery Tour" were bounced and stacked between a pair of four track machines. I also used it for echo effects and wicked echo sounds. You do this when you activate the Sound On Sound button and crank the volume.
classic, i found the echo effects by accident. Not knowing how to use the machine, I was recording my bandmates piano with a room mic and the sounds started to loop and roll over creating a really nice avalanche of piano tones. At first i thought it was a huge mistake but i let it roll because the sound it made was incredible. I played it back time and time again. I really should learn more about how the Sound On Sound button be implemented as an effect instead of a mistake.
Got mine for $7 fully working and in good trim with akai black anodised take up reel. For years I only used it as a sort of preamp before realising its value as part of the sound system.
10 Euros? In England we say "you lucky bugger". Well done Andrew, I've been after one of these at reasonable cost for ages. A bit jealous :-) Merry Christmas and New Year Ian, Birmingham, UK
Does seem to be in quite good order. Plays instantly, stops instantly, as far as I can judge it was just never serviced (well), I suspect the heads being dirty / need a good demag, and the left channel is back in business, clean the switches and that's about it.
clean all the internal switches,relube the points that need to be relubed,relube the motorshaft,clean the pinchroller or buy a replacement,clean the tapeguide shafts,clean the belt and surfaces it runs on,demagnetize the heads and surrounding metal that touches the tape.
Nice Akai Reel To Reel. Reel To Reels add beauty and a cool look to any Hi FI System, but I think I prefer CD Player Decks because I can Skip, forward, Program play and Random play a CD but I've always wanted a nice Reel To Reel Deck just for the Looks. Beautiful Akai Reel To Reel Deck.
Nice looking deck. And in 10 Euros its fantastic. Did you check the recording head? Maybe the heads are dirty thats why you are having a bad sound recording. I know you and i am sure you must have cleaned everything but still sometimes we just forget the most obvious things.
Yes really great video, was wondering where I can sell theses I inherited one just like this with also a lot of music . Help will be appreciated thank you
get a teac a-7100 pr 7300 at 156 ips go to a tech and save and just listen in modern integrated like yamaha, good combination! and record using an awesome dac!
Id use the 7 and 1/2 ips it will sound much better. And also i fix the 4000ds models and sell them so this gx4000d cant be complicated too. However you would need a calibration tape to set the vu meters properly p
How much do these generally cost second hand? I was thinking about buying one for 250 euros.. I know 10 is a fluke but it's still making me think 250 isn't worth it.
Hi, I always enjoy you tube reviews of HiFi components. Hey how else are you going to learn about them. This Akai 4000D seems like a nice unit. I've read reviews and they're pretty favorable, to a point. I have a Teac X-3 purchased on 8-27-1982 for $329 and it still works fine, that's 34 years. Some things I don't care for on the Akai. Wow/flutter is 0.15% (7 1/2 ips), signal/noise ratio is 50db, THD is 2% and frequency response is 30hz-22khz (very good). Not bad specs but ok. It has only one motor, which means BELTS to drive the reels and only one tension bar (not good for long term performance). The switches are mechanical which could lead to future problems. The fact you need to remove an adapter to change speeds is a reel (pun intended) pain in the ass. the pause control also seems to be a PIA. The Teac X-3 offers wow/flutter 0.06% (7 1/2 ips), signal/noise of 49db's (about equal to the Akai), THD of 1.5% and THREE motors ( 1 drive and two reel). Also has two tension bars for better tape control, and push button controls for functions (much smoother than mechanical switches). So unless you're getting a GREAT deal on the Akai I'd pass on it. These figures are from the HiFi Engine web site. please feel free to check out the facts. Akai makes some good components and this unit isn't really bad, just that there's better stuff out there for your money. Hope I didn't piss off to many Akai fans. I have an Akai GXF31 cassette deck and it's fantastic.
I'd love to have reels like that, metal shiny how do you search for tape reels like that? I'm going to buy a GX 4400D too. I saw there are some nice reels at www.thomann.de but can't see if they are this shiny
