Reel to Reel How To?

[chopper]

Hi

Thanks. I'll look at YT. I have never in my life used a reel to reel and have no idea what goes where in terms of the tape. It has sides?

I assume the tape goes on the left and feeds through to the other side?

[RAMd®d]

There are no XLR jacks on that machine.

Yes, left to right.

Put the machine in play and the take reel will spin without any tape; you'll just have to lift the the tape end arm on the right.

If the belts haven't disintegrated by now, they'll certainly have taken a set and affect wow/flutter.

Or, they could have been replaced already.

I think all the I/O stuff is on the left side?

[artie67]

chopper,
I think that model has three motors and not belts. I have a GX220D that is older and has three motors. I would pop the back off and gently vac out the cobwebs and try not to touch any wiring.
You can usually find the info on your machine on the web.
As for software, old Toast versions 6-9 with spin doctor are simple and work well.
Take a que tips and rubbing alcohol and clean all the "pathway" that the tape will go. Including the heads. The head cover will lift off, look for screws.
Add some headphones and play a tape.
Note: the counter will have a rubber belt and will not work. It's not really need with modern software.
Keep us posted on the results.

[JoeM]

How old is the tape? You may need to bake it first to prevent large amounts of shedding and oxide caking up on your heads, capstan, pinch roller and guides. The tape should have been stored tails out. If it hasn't and you find you can play it you may find it has print through. If you don't bake it and decide you want to gamble and try to play it, see if it has a slow rewind or packing speed. If so, first put the tape on the right take up reel, thread properly ( flip it over from what it is now) and rewind very slowly. If you see a lot of oxide on guides, heads and rollers stop. If it sticks or snaps stop (obviously) clean all parts that contact the tape with 99% isopropyl alcohol except the rubber on the capstan and pinch roller which should be cleaned with a proper rubber cleaner. ( you can use alcohol in a pinch but it will ruin the rubber if done continually).

There's plenty of info on the web that you can google for what I mentioned. Good luck!

[deckeda]

chopper wrote:
Hi

Thanks. I'll look at YT. I have never in my life used a reel to reel and have no idea what goes where in terms of the tape. It has sides?

I assume the tape goes on the left and feeds through to the other side?

Yes and yes.

The tape was surely loaded onto its reel correctly ... there's a shiny side (facing down) and the oxidized side (facing up toward the heads). If from that photo you just flip the reel such that the supply reel (left) has the tape "under" the reel when fed through ... eh just watch YouTube!

[deckeda]

I have a 7 1/2ips stereo machine and a 3 3/4ips / 7 1/2ips mono machine here if you get desperate for the transfer.

[August West]

JoeM is the reel deal.

[Joey Cupcakes]

Forget the headphone jack advice (no disrespect intended but it's just wrong, it may "work" but not the best quality this machine is.)

There will be RCA line outputs on the back of this machine. Either adapt those to your computer's mic/line 1/8" input jack (a standard iPod-to-home stereo receiver will do fine) and adjust the input volume on your computer's sound control panel, or-

Send the outputs to 2 channels of that mixer in the picture (be sure to adjust the pan pots full left and right) and send THAT output into your computer (this will get you a finer degree of control over the input level)

and record in whatever audio program you've got on your computer.

[tenders]

deckeda wrote:
I have a 7 1/2ips stereo machine and a 3 3/4ips / 7 1/2ips mono machine here if you get desperate for the transfer.

I have a stereo machine too, did this a couple of years ago, happy to do again (Westchester, NY).

[WHiiP]

Audacity is a free Audio program, if you need one.