I want to share my fascination with reel-to-reel machines with you. Over the years I've gathered twenty of them — each with its own merits, its own quirks, and its own sound. This is where I write about them.
I'm not reviewing gear or ranking anything — I simply enjoy these machines, and I like talking about them. Each write-up covers three things.
The things each machine does beautifully — the engineering, the build, the little details that made me fall for it in the first place.
Why I love them →The odd switches, funny habits, and brave design choices that give every deck its own personality.
What makes them odd →Recordings taken straight off the decks, so you can hear what tape really sounds like — no phone speakers involved.
Have a listen →All twenty of them, each waiting patiently for its own proper write-up. I'll get to every one in time.
The gateway machine — GX glass heads that simply refuse to wear.
Read the write-up The isolated-loop legend. The deck people cross a room to look at.
Read the write-up The Swiss benchmark the rest of the industry measured itself against.
Read the write-up Broadcast-grade workhorse — on strict playback-only duty here.
Read the write-up German over-engineering in the best possible way.
Read the write-up Cross-field bias — Norway's clever route to cleaner highs.
Read the write-up Auto-reverse: both directions, no reel-flipping required.
Read the write-up Ten-and-a-half-inch reels and full-size ambition.
Read the write-up Three-motor, AC-servo, closed-loop — Akai's mid-range that graduated to serious engineering.
Read the write-up The one before GX — crossfield heads from 1968, and where the whole lineage started.
Read the write-up The honest workhorse — plain Permalloy heads, still running decades later.
Read the write-up Careful electronics over flashy marketing — the deck I trust to work cold.
Read the write-up Japan-only, FG-servo, closed-loop dual-capstan — Sony's quiet answer to the GX-650D.
Read the write-up The one that flips over — a reversible cabinet and the most charming deck I own.
Read the write-up The last one, and the least documented — Kenwood before Kenwood was Kenwood.
Read the write-upThe first machine in the collection to get its full write-up — why Technics' strange, wonderful tape path still stops people mid-sentence, what to know before you buy one, and how it actually sounds.
I write these at my own pace, as the mood strikes. If you'd like a little note when the next machine gets its write-up, leave your email — that's truly all it will ever be used for.