Old Technology

spark240

Yeah...I used a recently acquired early Alesis ADAT and the sound quality was instantly great ....I miss that warm tape sound.

richardhomer

In a sense, there’s nothing ‘old’ about a Linn LP12 - the design has constantly evolved since it was introduced in 1973.

My late ‘80s Lingo version is currently in its box, under the stairs - the highest spec new version is about the same price as a family hatchback....

thermionic

That warm tape sound... of zeros and ones!

TTony

Jimbro66 said:

 and the speakers tucked into corners behind plant pots  

No, no, NO!!!

boogieman

Jimbro66 said:

boogieman said:

Jimbro66 said:

I'm still using, more occasionally now, a Nakamichi cassette player and Linn Basik turntable. Both bought in 1986 and still working perfectly. The Marantz CD player, while great for 1986, was replaced a few years ago with a far superior sounding modern unit. Such are the advances in digital technology.

I’ve got a Basik too. Gave it a mini overhaul this year with a new belt and some new oil in the bearing well and it sounds and performs perfectly again. I bought mine in 1989.  

Hey @boogieman I can't remember the last time I saw another Basik. We should start a very small Owners' Club

Where did you get the new belt? It may pay me to get a spare while they are still available.

Yeah I don’t think they were that popular, too expensive for the budget brigade but too cheap for the Linn connoisseurs. It’s a nice deck though. You had any problem with the lid hinges on yours? I had to repair mine a while back, apparently they’re a known weak spot. 

I got the belt on eBay, it was only 4 or 5 quid. Not an OEM part but it works just fine. 

Phil_aka_Pip

My dad had a Linn Basik. Nice machine, left it to my mum, she was discussing who to leave it to and I said If sis doesn't want it I'll give it a good home. His also had a problem with lid hinges. Plus the Off/45/33 switch was a bit sticky.

Jimbro66

boogieman said:

Yeah I don’t think they were that popular, too expensive for the budget brigade but too cheap for the Linn connoisseurs. It’s a nice deck though. You had any problem with the lid hinges on yours? I had to repair mine a while back, apparently they’re a known weak spot. 

I got the belt on eBay, it was only 4 or 5 quid. Not an OEM part but it works just fine. 

Thanks for the tip. No, I've not had any problems with the Basik's lid hinges but for the last six years the deck has been inside a glass-fronted cabinet with insufficient headroom to completely raise the lid so I removed the lid and put it back in the original Linn box, which I still have.

camoflamingo

Jimbro66 said:

This has just made me realise that you never see yards of unravelled cassette tape all along the sides of motorways any more. Good news for the litter pickers.

Then it was all the scratched Prodigy/Coldplay/Arctic Monkey CD's. Don't suppose those litter bugs will be throwing their iPhones out the car window.

Jimbro66

Phil_aka_Pip said:

My dad had a Linn Basik. Nice machine, left it to my mum, she was discussing who to leave it to and I said If sis doesn't want it I'll give it a good home. His also had a problem with lid hinges. Plus the Off/45/33 switch was a bit sticky.

That's strange. Mine only has an on/off switch. To change speed the turntable has to be lifted off and the belt repositioned on the spindle. Quite a disincentive to playing 45s

Phil_aka_Pip

Jimbro66 said:

Phil_aka_Pip said:

My dad had a Linn Basik. Nice machine, left it to my mum, she was discussing who to leave it to and I said If sis doesn't want it I'll give it a good home. His also had a problem with lid hinges. Plus the Off/45/33 switch was a bit sticky.

That's strange. Mine only has an on/off switch. To change speed the turntable has to be lifted off and the belt repositioned on the spindle. Quite a disincentive to playing 45s

You're lucky. My LP12 doesn't do 45s. tbh I don't think my dad had any 45s so it wasn't a big issue for him.

Jimbro66

Phil_aka_Pip said:

Jimbro66 said:

Phil_aka_Pip said:

My dad had a Linn Basik. Nice machine, left it to my mum, she was discussing who to leave it to and I said If sis doesn't want it I'll give it a good home. His also had a problem with lid hinges. Plus the Off/45/33 switch was a bit sticky.

That's strange. Mine only has an on/off switch. To change speed the turntable has to be lifted off and the belt repositioned on the spindle. Quite a disincentive to playing 45s

You're lucky. My LP12 doesn't do 45s. tbh I don't think my dad had any 45s so it wasn't a big issue for him.

The 45s I have are well beaten up from many a beer-stained party so I'd never let them anywhere near the Linn's cartridge. No, the only way to play 45s is on a Dansette

shrinkwrap

@TTony - £1750 ouch. Then again mine only had the cheap arm. Third hand or more and sold for £180 ..oh well.

Nitefly

the_jaffa said:

My LP12, which I bought used in 94 and is still in daily use, is actually older than my wife. I'm about to change the tonearm and stylus and service it for a bit of a pep up

@the_jaffa so much for your wife, what will you do with the LP12?

Nitefly

Jimbro66 said:

This has just made me realise that you never see yards of unravelled cassette tape all along the sides of motorways any more. Good news for the litter pickers.

The last time I saw yards of cassette tape, it was coming out of my cat's bum - stupid critter decided to eat some for its tea...

boogieman

Jimbro66 said:

Phil_aka_Pip said:

My dad had a Linn Basik. Nice machine, left it to my mum, she was discussing who to leave it to and I said If sis doesn't want it I'll give it a good home. His also had a problem with lid hinges. Plus the Off/45/33 switch was a bit sticky.

That's strange. Mine only has an on/off switch. To change speed the turntable has to be lifted off and the belt repositioned on the spindle. Quite a disincentive to playing 45s

Same as mine. Phil might have a different/revised model or maybe it’s an upmarket LP12? The 45rpm solution isn’t very good whatever: on mine if you put the aluminium platter back on, it pushes the belt off the 45 step of the pulley, so the only way to play singles is to leave the platter part off completely. 

The hinges are basically made of nasty plastic and the springs eventually break through the hinge housing. It’s an easy enough fix though, just needs a couple of holes drilled and a thin pin fitted to hold the spring back in place. 

axisus

I loved my old Tascam 488 for recording. Such fun with all the knobs and sliders.

Still have it in the loft actually.

scrumhalf

axisus said:

I loved my old Tascam 488 for recording. Such fun with all the knobs and sliders.

Still have it in the loft actually.

I've got one in the loft as well.

You don't live in my flat, do you?

impmann

richardhomer said:

In a sense, there’s nothing ‘old’ about a Linn LP12 - the design has constantly evolved since it was introduced in 1973.

My late ‘80s Lingo version is currently in its box, under the stairs - the highest spec new version is about the same price as a family hatchback....

Hmmm... well, the origins of the LP12 are a *LOT* older than that. Its a Thorens design that Linn adapted that dates back to the mid 1960s - the Thorens TD150. Linn used to make upgrade/replacement parts for the TD150, to the point that when launched you could interchange parts between the LP12 and the earlier design. Linn did some slightly questionable patent 'fiddling' to claim the suspended sub chassis design, because Thorens had moved onto the (inferior) system used on the TD160 - and now are *very* protective of it... ironic.

My turntable is older! I have a wonderful old Lenco L59 from 1964. I gave up with belts, high end fiddliness and all that jazz a while back and went old school. I've not regretted it. :-)

Phil_aka_Pip

4-track cassette machine - yeah!

I had two Fostex X-30s (The Fostices), and got quite good at making recordings in this manner:

Fostex A: Stereo drums on channels 1&2, rhythm guitar on channel 4, electric bass on channel 3.
Bounce stereo mix to Fostex B channels 1&2, taking o/p from channel 4 into some FX and back into the mix at the front of Fostex A panned to a different position to make it seem a lot bigger.
Add keys to Fostex B channel 3, and lead guitar to channel 4.
Mix to Fostex A, using FX on channel 4 panned to a different position as per first bounce. The result was often quite pleasing.

JAYJO

Nitefly said:

Jimbro66 said:

This has just made me realise that you never see yards of unravelled cassette tape all along the sides of motorways any more. Good news for the litter pickers.

The last time I saw yards of cassette tape, it was coming out of my cat's bum - stupid critter decided to eat some for its tea...

key hole surgery!