Reel to Reel tapes - and what to put on them?

[madmike]

I am a self confessed reel to reel buff. Always had one, sometimes two, Sony, Tandberg, Ferrograph, Revox and Teac over 40 odd years and more. I recently decided to jack it all in and sold my Teac reel to reel (to a fishie I think it was) and then finally burnt my bridges by selling all my remaining tapes.
Did that stop my itch....no it did'nt.
Now I 'm back with a lovely Teac 3300sx acquired in April which does all I wanted from a reel to reel, two low speeds and 1/4 track format. I tried to get a B77 for this but the prices were way out of my league.
Now I'm acquiring tapes again as and when I can snaffle at a decent price.

My question to the other reel to reel buffs here is what do you tend to record onto a reel for playback?

Some types of music just look better coming off a 10.5 inch reel going round and round, ie krautrock and Joy Division.

 

[MotelBlues]

In my dalliance with reel-to-reel (there’s a Teac X300 and about 40 pre-recorded tapes in the attic) it occurred to me that all that’s required is one tape and a three-head deck and then everything you listen to can be off reel-to-reel (until the tape wears through, of course…).

 

[madmike]

I guess some tapes acquire a certain historical interest, especially if you had a reel to reel in the seventies and a good FM tuner...

 

[ToTo Man]

In my dalliance with reel-to-reel (there’s a Teac X300 and about 40 pre-recorded tapes in the attic) it occurred to me that all that’s required is one tape and a three-head deck and then everything you listen to can be off reel-to-reel (until the tape wears through, of course…).

I'm glad this approach didn't catch on or else the second hand market in R2R machines would be dominated with decks that have completely worn out heads!

 

[RJohan]

I have a Revox G36 in the vault. Used roughly every ten year when I get hold of a recorded tape with this or that on it. The only meaningful use I can think of with a RtoR is playing old pre recorded tapes.

 

[Linnovice]

I have three R2R machines in my listening room and they are used pretty much every day. I use them to record/playback live concerts, mainly on R3 but also on other stations and/or tv. With good machines and tape these concerts are timeless and unique. They are not available on vinyl or cd and when replayed give a great sense of being in the audience. For that alone they are well worth the effort in cleaning and calibrating.

 

[madmike]

I used to record a lot off air, but mainly on cassette. The problem is with editing the talk at the beginning and the end. With tape you have the gap where the talk used to be. That's why I graduated to minidisc because you can remove the bits you don't want and its as if they were never there.
Bit of trivia....In the seventies I recorded a Jon Peel programme and he played a track called Loose Goose by a band called Dust (if memory serves) it was a heavy rock track and at the end Peel said "...touches of tumble-over there..." That comment is immortalised on the Be Bop Deluxe record "Modern Music" between two of the tracks, not sure exactly where.

 

[Frizzy]

I keep seeing nice pics of high end shows where invariably there’s a Uber expensive refurbished reel to reel, what’s the appeal. I bought a inexpensive one in eighties but due to lack of material to play and fault is was sold unheard.
I’ve heard master tapes made by friends when in studio, main trait I remember was a sense of calm excellence.