teac 1250 and Factory recorded tapes?

[Don.Walker]

Not sure what I just CL'ed.

Most of the tapes are loose in the boxes so the tape is un wound. Is this a problem? Are these prerecorded tapes good to play?

So maybe good not so good I have no idea. The 1250 is dirty. The heads need cleaning and such. I have not taken it out of the box yet.

I found a demagnizer and a ampex 702 mic.

It is fun to see what is in the boxes.

 

[Jonny Ramone]

The tapes are cooler than the machine. Especially the "Monk" one.

 

[70salesguy]

Boxed treasure!

Looks like some good stuff there!

I bought a Teac A2300SX via CL last summer and it came with about 25 tapes. It has been fun listening to them!

 

[Don.Walker]

Almost finshed going though all the boxes - cds, records, tapes, cassets. Seems like a good score.

edit : decided that was not very nice.

I am playing Nancy Wilson on my 2300 and it sounds good.

 

[AAA3330]

The 1250 is a good deck. I see you have several pre-recorded tapes mixed in there. They seem to have some demand and usually sell for a pretty penny.:thmbsp:

They should be ok to play. Just watch for that "stick shed syndrome". Most of the time, it will show up as the tape squealling as it passes over the heads. With minor cases, you can sometimes just clean the heads and go on. Other times, you will need to throw out the tape. Some people have had luck at baking the tapes. Then they can usually get them to play once in order to transfer them to other media.

 

[Don.Walker]

I popped the back off of 1250 and vacumed the dust. Lubed the motors and ran the machine. Runs pretty quite. Next I will clean the heads and see how it plays.

It does not appear to be as good of machine as my 2300, but very much alike.

Thanks AAA3330 for the tip that the pre-recorded tapes may be good to ebay, if I am not interested.

I assume that the ampex tapes are trash tapes.

 

[Renzor213]

First thing I'd do, is check tape head azimuth alignment. When I was into casette's, had a Mobile Fedelity Geotape alignment tool. Was a standard casette tape with pink noise recorded 180 degress out of phase between stereo track's. Playback with your pre-amp in mono mode and adjust azimuth until silent. Worked pretty good. Now that your deck is good, you'll probably find a lot of the factory tapes are out of alignment, as they were probably made on 50X high speed duplicators.

 

[audiojones]

I assume that the ampex tapes are trash tapes.

No, don't trash those Ampex tapes - they're the good ones. The ones that shed are the newer 457 "Grand Master" series tapes in the silver and blue box. The old 641 and other series from that era is fine.

 

[Don.Walker]

thanks for the tip on the Ampex. I am a novice.

Here are some of the tapes:

 

[AAA3330]

Yes, like audiojones said, don't throw them out. For the most part, Ampex and Scotch are excellent tapes. Some of the best IMHO. Your tapes may all be fine. It's just good to be aware of the "sticky shed syndrome". It would be good idea to stay close by the first few times you play any tape of this age. The only tapes that I threw out because of it were some Radio Shack Concertapes. I left one unattended and the tape stuck to the heads and guides on my Teac and the capstan wore a groove in my pinch roller.:tears: Once in a while I'll get that screeching of the tape across the heads, so I know that I have some tapes with minor issues. I usually just clean the heads and guides and go on.

 

[Mark W.]

I have 3 apple boxes full double depth with misc prerecorded tapes. Yours look to be a bit more interesting. But then for what I paid for mine The 6 Johnny Cash tapes more then covered the investment.

I have an A-1230 and A-1250 the 1230 is the non autoreverse version In my case the 1250 is a working future parts unit. It's been rode a bit hard in it's life. but did work well enough when I first got it. Haven't played with it since.

 

[70salesguy]

RTR madness, feeding the beasts!

I love listening to the old pre-recorded RTR tapes when working in my office.

I've been listening to a batch of them that I bought from Johncan a couple of weeks ago. I'm not sure if the one that is on right now came from him or somewhere else. It is Dancing on a Cloud by The Three Suns. Check them out on Wikipedia :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Three_Suns

I kind of enjoy this stuff, it's the type of stuff that my Dad might have been listening to when I was a little kid. I listen to these "old tapes" while working in my office. I have a Pioneer RC-760 unit that has a "mute" and a "volume" function, so if the phone rings, I can mute it or turn it down some.

The next title up for play is Three Hour Salute to Big Bands by the Francis Bay Big Band.

Good music is good music, even if it is 40-50 years old! Or as with Classical and Opera, much older!

 

[Don.Walker]

I am remodeling and hardwood floors cost a bunch even if I do it, so I decided to ebay stuff and see what happens. There will be more gear/tapes show up on CL.

Well its interesting. So far there is very little hits and no bids on the RTR stuff(that includes the pre recorded tapes above). The cassette tapes I listed are being watched more than I would have thought. A hand plane is the most interesting to ebayers.

I think audio as we know it is slow and maybe dead, which is in the short run good for us. So we can score some deals. But Not sure if there will be any new classical music in the future. What will it be like in 10 years?

 

[70salesguy]

I think you have the intersection of several factors here.

1. Fewer and fewer folks are interested in Classical, Opera and Popular Music of the 50's and 60's, prior to Rock and Roll.

2. Just how many people even have a working RTR machine now?

3. The current economic climate means less money for "luxuries".

Of course, the real action on an eBay auction is in the last 30 seconds!

Let's face it, most of us AKers are an anomaly. We seek out that which many are "tossing out" or selling at the Yard Sale.

To a lot of people, they're just "old tapes" that no one would want! :sigh:

Good if you're buying, not so good if you're selling.

It'll pick up as the auction nears to a close.

 

[70salesguy]

I am remodeling and hardwood floors cost a bunch even if I do it, so I decided to ebay stuff and see what happens.

By the way, Rush says "check Lumber Liquidators" for good prices!

 

[Nathan in MI]

There's some of the stuff you're selling that I'd love to get my hands on; unfortunately I just went on a ~$60 Gilbert and Sullivan reel to reel spending spree on eBay. Oops.

 

[FAB1]

What did you pay for it all?

You have some good classical titles in that pile, but being 4 track and not 2 track they wont bring the top dollar like the older half-track inline head tapes... couple of those "tape boxes" are 45 rpm records so watch out you dont sell them as tapes.

Half-track, Dolby and Quad reels are in demand - Hard rock reels sell for pretty good prices too. Easy listening and Pop will sell but for less. You should make some kind of profit unless you paid a lot.

 

[Don.Walker]

Well I paid too much but not crazy. I could not offer less... The woman selling it did not have a job. She said that she was moving but did not know where. I hope she does ok.

I have gotten a few nice LPs form the boxes and the Teac 1250 seems like it will be good. I will also end up with some good tapes. But I do not think that I will really turn a PROFIT. It has been fun.

 

[jleon92f]

Well I paid too much but not crazy. I could not offer less... The woman selling it did not have a job. She said that she was moving but did not know where. I hope she does ok.

I have gotten a few nice LPs form the boxes and the Teac 1250 seems like it will be good. I will also end up with some good tapes. But I do not think that I will really turn a PROFIT. It has been fun.

GOOD Karma! Pay it foward...

Great Deck and tapes. I have (4) A-1500's , they sound great! And I have the A-2300R also.

Thanks,
John.

 

[Don.Walker]

Here is how things are progressing:

Toy airplane has 37 watchers and 139 hits

Monk, Ellington pre recorded tapes 4 wathers and 20 hits

No bids on any pre recorded tapes

The cassette tapes are of great interest 15 watchers and 67 hits

No one wants Scotch 215 tape

A rusty hand wood working plane from 1915 has 15 watchers, 47 hits and no bids

The A-2300SR is up to $51 (and so early)

So yes you never know until the fat lady sings, but its fun to see whats getting looks. I about tossed the airplane. I bet my mom got the plane on sale back in 1966!