How Many are for Rehashing Cassettes?

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Vaughan, Sep 28, 2017.

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  1. Reamonnt

    Reamonnt Mr.T

    Location:
    Ireland
    I buy cassettes on Bandcamp from small labels where I also get the FLAC download but I picked up an old deck and cleaned it up as I like to save the old "made in Japan" stuff from the breakers. 5 quid plus 20 delivery for an old Sony deck and a tuner. I am also picking up a Technics deck in two weeks but those dragons etc referenced above are really expensive unless I get lucky I may not as people have said get to experience the max of what tape can deliver. Me playing tapes in my attic aint harming anyone and its music put out by very indie electronica labels so I believe im funding the "real thing" not dropping 400 as I almost did but baulked at to see heritage acts like Fleetwood Mac. It disappointed the wife but shes used to it.
     
  2. Fender Relic

    Fender Relic Forum Resident

    Location:
    PennsylBama
    :agree: Maybe we need a stick/cassette thread. I have one of the last 2006 Honda CRV 5 speed sticks with CD and cassette. In fact, when I was in for oil change/service last week,my local dealer told me they sold one CRV stick in 2006...mine. I have a nice cassette stash of 10 cent yard sale pickups. Classics or rarities mostly but fun to play once in awhile.
    A few years ago I found a few sealed Beatles...RS,Help,Anthology,White Album and Sam Cooke Live at Harlem Square all brand new sealed for $0.10 a piece.:goodie:
     
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  3. JumpinJimF

    JumpinJimF Still perfecting ways of making sealing wax

    Location:
    Normal Island
    Used to record my LPs so that I had something expendable to play in the car etc. My 256GB USB stick has taken on that role.

    Pre-recorded - only if they were bargains.

    Otherwise I recall:
    Hiss
    Stretching
    Chewing
    Entanglement
    Q-tips on the play heads

    So I'm not going to be joining the "revival".
     
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  4. Travadinho

    Travadinho Forum Resident

    Location:
    Tupelo, MS
    Same here. I grew up with cassettes and I have no desire to bring them back. I'm not sure I understand the appeal......

    What's next, 8-tracks?

    I'm personally waiting for piano rolls to come back....Imagine popping that new Zappa or Beefheart roll into your player piano and relaxing for the night...
     
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  5. Chris Schoen

    Chris Schoen Rock 'n Roll !!!

    Location:
    Maryland, U.S.A.
    "Smoke 'em if you got 'em…" , otherwise don't start.
     
    James Bennett likes this.
  6. dance_hall_keeper

    dance_hall_keeper Forum Resident

    I still have all my cassettes, except the ones that were mangled by various tape-playing mechanisms, both in-house and in-car.
     
  7. DrBeatle

    DrBeatle The Rock and Roll Chemist

    Location:
    Midwest via Boston
    :biglaugh:

    Bring back wax cylinders while you're at it!
     
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  8. friendofafriend

    friendofafriend Forum Resident

    Location:
    South Jordan, UT
    The unfortunate (on one hand, fortunate on the other) is that sometimes new albums on cassette are actually mastered better than cd or download versions. There is really no good reason not to master the digital versions better, but this is the world we live in.
     
  9. Sax-son

    Sax-son Forum Resident

    Location:
    Three Rivers, CA
    I still have many of my cassettes(not all) and still do play them from time to time. I am hesitant to ditch them because it seems like that decision comes back to haunt you. They don't take up that much space so why do it? I tossed those that were just worn out and kept those that were in the best condition.
     
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  10. ajawamnet

    ajawamnet Forum Resident

    Location:
    manassas va 20109
    I worked at Opus One in pgh during the late 70's and early 80's. The one issue with most cassette decks (and VCR's for that matter) was clutch wear.

    In the cassette world this manifests itself on either the supply or takeup hub as poor tape handling. On the takeup side it would result in tapes like that shown in the above photo with the tape wrapping itself around the capstan.

    On the supply hub, a worn clutch would cause a lack of back tension. This would result in tape skew and poor wow/flutter among a host of other issues.

    The clutches were typically just spring loaded felt mechanisms. Nak used three motors and actually did active tensioning, like that in pro audio open reels.

    I still have this for testing supply and takeup clutches Note the -S and -T on the hubs to designate supply and takeup:
    [​IMG]

    Cassette Torque Meter SRK-CT Equipment Philips; Eindhoven

    And I can't tell you how many time's I've had to replace the tape in that when it'd get eaten by a malfunctioning tape deck I was servicing.
     
    Last edited: Nov 9, 2018
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  11. Waymore Lonesome

    Waymore Lonesome Forum Resident

    I found a Marantz with dbx and auto reverse but I couldn't get it to work even with the new belt, threw it out. My Akia 3 head dual capstan just refuses to work, wobble is all over the place and just won't quit. My Sony deck with the dolby s has one of the wells makes a screeching sound now, took me forever to get that deck working at the right speed, now there's something screeching like it's dry or something.
     
  12. Catfish Stevens

    Catfish Stevens Forum Resident

    Location:
    Anoka, MN
    I have over 100 cassettes of me and my friends original music demos, rehearsals and gigs recorded in the 80s and 90s, so it's very important to me to have working cassette decks to play them on. That includes 4 track material that sent me to ebay to buy two Yamaha MT120s, one with good mechanics, and one with good electronics and reassembled the good parts into a working machine for my digitization project (24bit @ 192K sample rate Flac files). I made surround mixes from the 4 track demos that were a blast to listen to! :D
     
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  13. Waymore Lonesome

    Waymore Lonesome Forum Resident

    One of the things with tapes is, that they do get old, and when you apply the dolby as you damn well should, they can come across as being too muffled. Still, I am constantly astonished at the quality of cassette audio. I have a reel to reel and the audio is at least double the quality, but the noise of the actual machine renders the cassette tape superior. I'm wondering, did all reel to reel machines have the same mechanical loudness failing?
     
  14. bob_32_116

    bob_32_116 Forum Flaneur

    Location:
    Perth Australia
    This is also the policy that I follow. As a result, the number of cassettes on my shelf is steadily dwindling. Every time I play one, there is about a 50-50 chance that I will decide I don't want to keep it anymore, and I toss it.
     
  15. Nostaljack

    Nostaljack Resident R&B enthusiast

    Location:
    Washington, DC
    My Otari 5050 is completely quiet and amazing. I had an Akai years ago that was great too. Mechanical loudness should be investigated.

    Ed
     
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  16. For the Record

    For the Record Forum Resident

    Location:
    Ontario Canada
    Cassettes and cassette players can be TOO temperamental for me to start collecting again. I do like them though. I like 8-tracks too, but I don't collect them for the same reason.

    The quality is all over the place though. Are new cassettes better quality? I remember buying a few that felt so cheaply made... and they WERE! There were just SO MANY variables in quality.
    I do recall owning some quality cassettes that did sound fantastic... At le st unt l the dr po ts star ed h ppeni g.
     
  17. spherical

    spherical Forum Resident

    Location:
    America
    well..don't know about "rehashing" whatever that means....but....i have cassettes....i use 'em.....in fact..i wanna get one in my car...cuz most of my stuff is on cassetees......formats change.....the last one i did was cds...i love/like cds.......it's only that i have all the equipment and why not do what you know what to do?kind of thing......but i know that it becomes an issue or whatever with the younger...and that's cool..........heck...i have some furnace going on right now...and before this......i always thought/had a fireplace...so............who am i but some tiny....
     
  18. Dr. Funk

    Dr. Funk Vintage Dust

    Location:
    Fort Worth TX
    You better find a pencil.........I used to have quite a few back in the day, and a Onkyo cassette deck that cost me around 300 bones. I don't miss them at all.......they were a hassle at times, and I typically stick with cd's and vinyl for my physical music. I've noticed a lot of youngers (20 somethings) coming into my go to record shops lately, and asking about cassettes. A couple of months ago, a guy brought in 3 large boxes of cassettes to sell, and the owner was very interested.....I didn't look, or stick around to see how much he offered. By the way, I've been restoring a 2002 Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS which has the original cassette/cd combo.....both work great. :righton:
     
  19. ssmith3046

    ssmith3046 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Arizona desert
    Just started buying Blue Note cassettes to feed my Dragon. Love them.
     
    Mateo Sanboval likes this.
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