FLLR DR1 + DR4G0N - Misadventures in Tape Transfers

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One thing this blog site hasn't really covered are the units I use for tape transfers.  Well, here they are. 

The top unit is my "daily driver", a Nakamichi DR-1.  

The bottom one is one of those legendary Nakamichi Dragons.  Unfortunately, this particular Dragon is feeling a bit ill with what I presume is a worn idler tire....meaning playback will grind to a halt, as the unit seizes up.  Rewinding/FF'ing is supposed to heat up the tire, and cause it to grip the transport better...but for me, it's not effective.

Here's what this sounds like, tested through the Dragon on a silly tape I wouldn't otherwise bother with.  The first couple of tracks start out ok, but ends up warbling and stalling, not allow playback to resume.

(Discogs)


FLLR DR4GON - A Slice Of (a broken) Nickelodeon

(there's a "tracksplit" subdirectory if you want a copy of it done with the DR-1)




That DR-1 isn't perfect either, as a 1986-era pre-recorded Type 1 tape that I was going to upgrade it from 16 bit to 24/32 bit started giving it fits.  You can hear what this effectively sounds like here...a bunch of squealing as the high frequencies badly distort.  Other tapes sound perfectly fine, so it's something with this particular one.

FLLR DR-1 - NME 021 - Pogo à go go

Luckily for this particular endeavor, I had an older transfer lyring around, done with the Dragon before it got old and tired.

As for getting the Dragon fixed, my friend tomzero has a Nakamichi 682ZX that definitely has an idler tire issue which he's gonna have replaced, so I'll see how that goes and see what they can do for me.  Otherwise, it's an ESL Labs rebuild, which will be *pricey*.

More pics...


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