I didn't get to live anywhere else in Iowa, but a couple of times I visited a friend who was attending UNI at Cedar Falls in the mid-1980s, and that was quite a bit nicer. Picked up an Ampex 600, an Ampex 601 (full track mono 7 1/2 ips 7" reel-to-reel tube decks), and a Gates SA-39B compressor/limiter (all tube!) for $15, cash and LUG(!) from their college radio station that was tossing the stuff in an upgrade. Can't complain there!!
And at the same place and time there was a Presto 1-C cutting head mounted on a huge Presto pivoted arm, for one of their recorders (probably the Model Y) that looks to date to the late 1930s. 500 ohms and still works, though the remainder of the machine and electronics was nowhere to be found. Just $1!