Tape Trail

Posted by DRam (A) on November 23, 2015 at 09:31:04

A few weeks ago my son texted me asking if I'd like a Nakamichi cassette deck. He'd found a BX-1 in a thrift store for $10 - which made me wonder about it - but I said "Yes" so he bought it. Last week I picked it up when we stopped by Minneapolis on our way to Delaware.

The BX-1 is apparently the bottom of the line, a two-head model with no
reverse play, but Dolby B, recording and playback on EX, SX, and ZX tapes (whatever those are) and a choice of 70 or 110 u/sec equalization.

It turned out to be nearly cosmetically perfect, with just a couple minor scratches. The controls all work, the LED level indicators and FWD/REV/Pause as well as fast forward and fast frewind all function. It has a headphone jack, but no way control the volume for headphones.

We didn't listen to it at my son's (too many other fun things to do' but I have listened to it through my son-in-law's receiver and must say it sounds quite nice. When we make it back to Montana in mid-December I'll see how it sounds through my equipment and try recording with it.

Goes to show you shouldn't look a gift deck in the tape head.