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Originally Posted by Myles B. Astor
There are a couple of different paths you can take with the Technics. One decision you'll have to make is whether you want to use the deck for record and PB or just PB. If just PB, sooner or later, the stock Technics electronics will get in the way of the sound of the deck.
I bought my Technics 1500 from Jeff Jacobs and then sent it to Dan Schmalle at the Tape Project where he customized the tape path, got rid of the captive AC cord, hard wired it from the heads thus bypassing the stock electronics and a few other things. Then for a while ran the heads straight out to a BH Tube Repro (with V-caps). Then I switched to the King/Cello tape preamp (based on the Cello phono section with Mundorf--and awaiting Dueland--caps) that was quieter, greater resolution and much better extended highs and lows. Finally, I swapped tape heads and put in Pro Nortronics heads that was also a sizable improvement particularly in the low end linearity, ambience retrieval and overall noise floor. Gone was that "fuzzy" bass characteristic of many Japanese heads. We measured the upper octave response to over 22K when aligning the heads at +1.5/-1 dB.
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Myles...Thanks for a heads up with your customization. I've already started dialogue with Jeff who says I can apparently have anything I want. He has a 1520 for me to do a ground up rebuild & customization. It seems he outsources some of the work depending on the brief. I would be wanting both PB & record plus the additional head mounted on his custom headblock for direct external repro as an option should I go for this down the track. Recording will be equally important for my application too. Will ask about what sort of heads he is using on his rec/PB performance option. Would like to use a Furutech IEC with EMI filter plus Furutech XLR/RCA plugs. As for the finish, naturally a "blue meter look & feel" & hope he can accommodate the material fabrications.
I'm actually quite excited to have come across Jeff who has been doing some awesome work by giving the Technics a 2nd life.
I did find another 1520 in Germany & also asked the German about the possibility of sourcing a Studer A810. Relatively easy to get a A810 in Europe but hard to find a good one that hasn't had a hard life...