As a veteran "Tracker" from Canada, this amuses me to no end. I love seeing people get into the hobby and I'm glad to hear it already brings you some joy. I think it's the simple pleasures in life is what a lot of us are missing today. 8-tracks CAN sound good. The biggest detractors were: a) the duplication. Some is definitely better than others. b) the pre-amps. I've never seen a vintage 8-track deck with a frequency response above 12,000hz. The sad fact is.... even the most basic ferric oxide tape can handle better - I believe it was just a way to minimize "tape noise". There is a fellow in the USA that has developed a 3rd party pre-amp capable of reproducing 16,000hz with tremendous results and can retrofit his pre-amp into MOST decks. Anyway, as I'm sure you've already found out.... yes, you need to change every foam pad and splice you come across. My advice is even if the splice looks good; change it. At least then you know it's up to YOUR standards. Also, don't hesitate to get some real splicing tape and reinforce the back of the splice too! I've been doing this for YEARS myself and have yet to have one of my repaired tapes fail. All my tapes are reliable and playable. Every time I try to be lazy and not change a splice.... it bites me in the arse. Remember, it's never the player - it's ALWAYS the tape. Finally, in my experience.... Sanyo were not the best players. Virtually every Sanyo I've ever had has either amplifier issues (dead channels), motor troubles (wobbly speed) and some have just been DOA. My personal choices (in order of importance) would be: Pioneer, Motorola, Craig/Pioneer (Craig units usually used Pioneer guts) and finally Audiovox. Maybe throw in Realistic in 5th place. The players I've had the least amount of trouble with have been the Pioneers. Built like tanks, surprising good wow & flutter even though they have TINY flywheels. Motorolas are also quite robust. I love the Craig units for their looks, slide mounts and interesting options. The Audiovox's also rarely require any work. I've actually just had in an Audiovox In-Dash AM/FM with tape that has a signal seeking option. At the press of a button, it will, via motorized jiblets find the next strongest AM or FM station. Pretty unusual for a mid-70's deck! Dare I suggest finding a Quad unit so you could have QUAD in the car?? There were a few Solo Beatles' albums available in Quad! I wish you the best of luck with your new hobby and if there's anything you might need.... I am the original 8-track Guru! Feel free to reach out for anything from bad advice to tips, tricks and even tapes!
Oh the memories this brings back. I bought an 8 track player for my first car way back in 1973. Did not have it much more than 2 years. My car was broken into and the player ripped out. I collected on the insurance and never looked back. "Step on the gas and wipe that tear away". If I remember, I had 8 tracks of Yesterday and Today and 1967 to 1970. Thanks for shaking the memory circuit.
One of my Favourite Classic Cars, Rover and the Beatles two of my Favourite Things. Driving a 1968 Rover P5 or P6 with the best Album of 1968, the White Album Playing would have been Perfect.
I really like the Quadraphonic 8track tapes. They are a lot of fun. Also, I like that you can slam the tapes into the deck. Every other format must be treated gently.
Whoever recorded that tape, had a really good deck. I don’t think I’ve ever heard a home recording that clear before. That type of setup there, is not far off at all from what a lot of people used back in the day. You would usually have a car that only had an AM radio in it from the factory, so you’d have to do exactly this kind of install job, though most of the time, the speakers would be on the back dash. This was a thing, up until the early 80s for a lot of people.
What a coincidence. I bought an 8 track recorder two months ago too. I think I tried bidding on that Toshiba one you bought. Tehya re great fun and I've really enjoyed renovating it. What a REALLY love about it is that despite it's lack of top end, the bass is amazing - truly warm and analog.
@@Parlogram Ive been keeping an eye on ebay for years on and off, but its only been recent months that i found something in mint condition. I just cant believe how good they sound though. The hiss is so less prevalent than on cassette. Very underrated. I put up a cassette recording versus an 8 track one on facebook, and only one friend knew which was which.
Wow! Different, but very enjoyable. Clarkson eat your heart out! I've been buying 8 tracks recently since your last video. Picked up a With the Beatles and 67 / 70 from the local bootfair. More clutter! Keep 'em coming Andrew.
I had no idea you owned Tara Bordeaux! I've followed that channel for years and the algorithm now pushed some of your other videos in my feed... excellent stuff!
What a hoot! Beautiful car too! I remember my player chewing up several tapes and said back to cassette! But I’m really glad you did this vignette! I may look and feel old, but this made me feel better! Good job!
Wow, 8-tracks and a Rover P5. Hav'nt even started watching but the Rover sealed it. Will have to watch the vid now.( Picked up another Quad 8-track for 50p this morning).
Glad you didn't have to compromise the integrity of the car (i.e. by taking the crash rail off) in order to accomplish your goal. Nice project, it was fun to watch, especially for the spin at the end. Hope the Beatles tape is salvageable...
Andrew: this was a lot of fun! I like these “off-topic“ videos! I had 8-track tapes in the 70s, and they really sounded pretty bad, were usually not taken care of very well, and the track change interruptions were inexcusable! But this was a great little nostalgia trip!
I used to record tapes on my Akai 8 track recorder... using my BBE SONIC MAXIMIZER, and since I had a recording studio, I used 456 and 457, and 407 studio tape, recorded the tapes on at 4x, using my computer and my Fostex 8 track, which ran at 15ips. So, make a mix tape of mp3's... use the sonic maximizer... fill up four stereo tracks in pro tools, then dump at 4x onto the foster. Then wind the tape on to the cartridge spool, season liberally with graphite powder and a little silicon... close it up with the splice. And paste an interesting cover art on the cart. Everyone remarked on how amazing my tape player sounded.... I said "yeah doesn't it sound yeah doesn't it sound pretty good? It was just in the car when it was just in the car when I bought it along with all these tapes."
@@naimusic362 oh, well at the time I was doing this it was the only way to get hundreds of hours of music on my hard drive. I basically could stick them all back to back in pro tools, and record all 8 tracks at once at 2x or 4x speed... I could take a 407 pancake and crank out about 4 hours worth of 8 tracks in an hour, all automated, aside from getting them in the tape shell! Lol
I would love to eat there another place that you mentioned over in England that would be great Andrea. That was really cool what you did putting your eight track player into the car. I remember when my mom had a 1997 Mustang she had an auto reverse cassette deck it was great One of the things I love about cats that says that you were in control of the music and my favorite thing with cassettes is when you’re reminding themYou can hear the music going forwards and backwards in sort of like a chipmunk style or so. I too had the Beatles I think it was the blue album but I unfortunately got eaten up on one of the stereo is that I used to have and I haven’t even played it and there’s is my first time playing a bit of a track tape. I wonder if the whole revolution nine W. to fit on one track or did it fade in and fade out? I love all vintage recording gear and all that stuff it’s a great way before the digital age took over.
Ha! Before watching whole program the intro was great! I never liked 8-tracks but you’re putting me back “behind the wheel of my automobile giving grease a ride!” (M. McGear) I’ll be back !
I fitted one to my '70 Zodiac as it had the blanking plate still intact where it was supposed to go. The end result is it doesn't sound that great but it sure looks good!
That car is an absolute beauty! I’ve never took a look into 8 track until today, this is actually really cool! What a dream it would be to own such a nice car like that though ahaha! Top quality content though, as per usual sir!
I think like you Andrew i’m starting to appreciate the eight track tapes being a person who loves our record of technology and the sound is pretty good I’ll be at with advertisements and stuff.
Well,for now days i am old fashioned,have CD,and radio player,early had cassette player,still have one at home,300-500,cassetts does that. But cartridges maybe i had when i was very small,but i don' t remember,what i do remember allways listening to music.
Great video Andrew! A nice change from the usual vinyl discussion. ..and may I say and beautiful car you have!! That is definitely a gentlemen's car. Looking forward to your next video. Take care and I hope you and your family are doing well. Mark Anthony K Projekt Gemineye
Enjoyed this very much! Sanyo sure brings back memories. Christmas, 1975 I received my very own Sanyo stereo. Of course it featured a built in 8-track player. 😃
Thank you Andrew. I've mentioned before that I love your longer form videos. I like it when you go deep into these topics. Excellent. Your efforts are appreciated brother. Peace and Love. P.S. And oh my Andrew, you've just blew my heart away with that lovely Rover. Is that yours? And nice Wimpy advert. I liked Wimpy but a Wimpy nearly killed me once in St. Ives in Cornwall, when I almost choked on one of their lovely burgers. Ha ha. This was very early 1990's when Wimpy was still struggling along.
I never hear this 8 tracking tape,but seen the same as a cassete playing my guess.The quality also I don’t know if is good or bad.I hear in cassete tape and I found very good your reproduction is clean and low noise of motor.Uchino of Japan.Thank you.
I remember the old 8 track players, you would be half way through a song and it would have to change to another track......ohh the good old days indeed.
I heard you say fighting the car my mind . Went to pro wrestling. And I imagined a Beatles themed Pro wrestler doing that mini game with the car from street fighter .
It's odd, because I don't think I've ever heard an 8-track before, but it makes me feel oddly nostalgic. I suspect it's the lower-fidelity of the tape coupled with the warmth of sound coming from the car itself. I can almost smell the faint aroma of petrol seeping into the interior. Personally, I think the sound quality is great given the context of location. Great video which made me think of happy days in my grandparents' car although, as I say, I've never heard an 8-track before.
@@SamHarrisonMusic Yea, I have some too. Probably all music postcards sound tragic. Most interesting music postcard in my collection is Yellow Submarine/Eleanor Rigby, A Hard Day's Night (only this song), Michelle/Girl and Obladi Oblada/Birthday.
@@Parlogram Not a one, but they were all very evocative nonetheless. The ads were great too. Well done, for all your patience on this pleasantly and (if you'll allow me to say so) ever so slightly pleasantly daft project. :-)
P.S.- have now watched the video. Great stuff. I remember the P5 Coupe in dark blue- looked so cool. Almost bought The Beatles Rockstar PC game yesterday, as someone told me it has high quality audio of Beatles songs- wonder if you had heard it at all? Just being curious. Please keep up the interesting videos.
It's fair to mid-common in North American players to have a FF, however, their use is discouraged due to accelerating the tightening of the tape to the spool. What I found odd was the placement of the FF switch..at the top of the 'tone' control. I've not seen that in my many years.
Loved the video, even though it wasn’t about the Beatles. It was actually very interesting!! And wow, I LOVED the car! She’s a nice one. Keep it up! :)
8-Track tapes must be going over,the tape peace that get it change loosen by years same with that peace that holds the tape out to the tonehead...the materia just disapears with age...if the tape loosen with the ckhange bit and you play it winds up into the player and then gets many folds...notice the tape is covered with grafit on the rear side so in spins smoother in the casette...editing new tape from a reel to reel tape can work a while but in the end it stops windig and roll.
Tape rescure parts is avalible to buy in the internet...the tapebit that change and holds it together and the peace that puts it out is also there. some tape has metalparts with some fabric that puts on the tape out and it can olso be old and loose...that part on the compact casette is ften loos and away with gets the tape none playable if it is not fitted with new pats.
Cool car. Are you gonna start buying 8 tracks now? I was around when they were popular and never liked them . I bought vinyl and taped them to cassette.
