A piece of audio equipment from the past which you might find interesting is a Mitsubishi cassette deck which I thought was amazing. I don't use it any longer I switch to CDs. This deck was a duel deck so you can duplicate music from one cassette to another. Big difference between this and other duel decks is this had a drawer that could hold 7 cassettes. It was programmable so you could select 1 of 7 cassette any track and it would play it or recorded onto a blank cassette. So basically you can record onto your blank cassette song tracks from any of your seven cassettes in the drawer. It also had a function where the blank cassette and the music cassette could sync and be recorded at high speeds . Because this held a total of 8 cassettes this machine was programmable to play all 8 non stop.
I was taping '60s hits from the radio back then, with a reel-to-reel I confiscated from my parents, lol. Nobody else really wanted to use it, so it stayed in my room. Went from that to 8-tracks in my cars, then cassettes. I bought a Teac reel-to-reel sometime in the '70s from a buddy (I'm a musician). In 2006 I tossed it; I've seen them online, they can go for $500. Sometime in the mid-'80s I bought a 4-track cassette recorder/player, so I could record 4 different instruments on separate tracks. It was not cheap. I believe it is a "Ross," I still have it somewhere. Spent a LOT of time with that thing. I just found this online, this is the one I have:
Sounds like you did a lot of live recordings. I mostly did music mixes from either albums or music off the radio later from cassettes. I did a lot of mix music on reel-to-reel then on cassettes. I made hundreds of cassettes for family and friends of mix music, it was my Hobby. Now I make mix music CDs mostly for myself. I did make a recording area for my father who was an old-time crooner, he would sing to mmo records.
Yep, with the Ross I would lay down a track to a song with the background (bass, drums, etc.) from a keyboard, then play the lead on the second track with a guitar, etc. Then I would get it mixed properly, run a line out and record the whole thing on another cassette. It was tons of fun. In 2012 I got into the digital side of it, although I never got too sophisticated with it -- had to relearn everything in digital technology. Had to buy a digital microphone also. Free open-source program, works great if you can figure it out: Audacity Free Audio Software.
I receive some free Audacity software with some turntables I purchased so I could digitize my record albums. It's a slow process so if I saw one of my albums that I really liked on CD I would just purchase it, But there are a lot of my record albums that never made it to CD so I've been trying to digitize.
I have one of these: And the quadraphonic Dual turntable. And (4) JBL L100 speakers. It's not hooked up, but it works. I'm the second owner. I was with my brother when he bought the outfit in the early 70s...I still have the receipts. I still have my old Denon cassette deck and goodness knows what else. Damn small house with no room for this stuff... I used to help a friend lay down tracks in his small recording studio. I was a big Modern Recording reader. I would have loved to do that stuff for a living.
I know how it feels when you have a love for audio, I still dream I'm going to put together the perfect system. Since my earliest memories I wanted to be an audio engineer. Back in the 60s I had the privilege of helping with and listening to one of the best audio systems in the country. The sound to this day I've never heard anything like it. I've gone to audio shows other audiophile houses they don't even come close at least to my ear. I'm 77 years old and the dream inside me won't die, but I know it will never happen it's just fun to dream.
I know what you mean when you wish you had some of the equipment you had in earlier days. I had a piece of equipment my uncle gave me that resembled an external CD drive for a computer basically was a cabinet with a slot. It was designed to play 45 records, you would just slide the 45 in part way it grabbed it and played it. I cannot even remember the manufacturer but it was a fun item.
You guys got me looking at what I consider junk. Is it? They were bought new in the mid-'80s. I haven't used these in years. The right cassette door has a broken latch, otherwise all is okay.
I still have the first receiver I bought in 1972. LR-1200 (Lafayette Receiver 12 screamin' RMS amps) It's set up in my garage.
I wish I had my original amps they were from 1940's made by Scott. I've gotten rid of most of my old equipment sorry to say. I still have my teac reel-to-reel somewhere.
I no longer have any vintage audio equipment or parts. I had it all sold off by 2000. I had a love for tube audio since I was 6 and my dad bought a Scott Hi Fi amp. I started building guitar and PA amps during my teens as well as electric guitars. I built some Heathkit stereo tube amps, but my head was turned in the late 60s and early 70s when I earned my degree in audio and was licensed as a 1st class broadcast engineer. I took on a job at a large audio repair and installation company where I specialized in maintenance for commercial organs and PA's. I spent more than I should on a new McIntosh stereo system and made my own design speaker cabinets and crossover networks using Bozak speakers. It looked like this I grew tired of the big cities in a few months and returned to the mountains where I worked in small, 1KW day 250 watts night, AM radio stations as Chief Engineer. When they remodeled I was given the entire old Gates broadcast console and studio recording board that I kept up until 2000 when I sold off all electronics stuff commercial and my own make. Most of my make I disassembled because the transformers were bringing more money than the entire amp. Much of our old vintage parts and equipment was going to buyers in Asia. Here is a similar Gates console I still love thinking and talking about vintage tube audio but refrain from buying any even though I was offered some nice old systems at a fair price. I never use the 1980s all-solid-state Pioneer setup I have. I sold my old 1970s Kenwood setup several years back. All my electric guitars I sold off in the early 1990s. Recently I almost bought a 1966 Fender Duo Sonic that looked identical to the one I had 1966-69 and used in an all-girl surf band. . Luckily I came to my senses and remembered I am old and now downsizing, not collecting. My favorite was my FenderTelecaster and my 1952 Gibson Les Paul. I used the Les Paul mainly for studio work. I wish I had all those guitars, amps, and audio equipment now as I could sell and have a high pile of cash.
Bruce it's not junk, if you can dust It Off and play it do so it'll bring back nice memories. John I have a similar problem, I sold or tossed most of my vintage equipment because of lack of room to play it. I'm sorry I did.