Well, this morning at 7:30 - I hadn't realised there was a 7:30 in the morning too - the doorbell sounded and I opened the front door to find the local parcel agent standing on my step clutching a box. This box was so big that it could have held half a dozen of these boxes and unwrapping the machine was like opening up a Russian doll, so many layers of card with large bubble wrap in between and loads of foam around the box in the centre of the 3D maze.
Needless to say, it had survived the journey from Brighton to Edinburgh in a big truck and from the depot there out along the coast to here in the back of the parcel agent's people carrier. Being that well packed he could have tied it to his towball and dragged it along the road but I'd guess he didn't.
It works perfectly! I had a quick delve inside to check the basics - no pool of wax under the mains TX, belts smelling like rubber and no signs of degradation so presumably changed at some recent time, switches all positive and working without any crackles or white noise, insulation testing the TX suggested that the thing wouldn't burst into flames and the electrolytics in the audio board all appeared to be recently fitted, premium brand domestic ones. So far, so good!
So then I grabbed the nearest tape to hand which was Big Country's "The Crossing", and pressed play. To say that this unusual device sounds good is something of an understatement. It sounds good but it's also capable of playing incredibly loudly. That'll be the push-pull, Germanium audio stage then which, unlike many Ge A/F boards, doesn't make any audible background noise when the volume is low but does play flat out with no detectable distortion or cabinet noises.
Radio is equally good, as good as many of my far more costly UK and European built multiband radios in fact, with VHF (in FM) sounding particularly good and both am bands (Medium and Long, this is a UK market set) sounding better than the VHF does on some lesser devices.
The bizarre rhythm section works perfectly too, its various effects and its tempo adjustments all doing exactly what they should.
I tried to capture its sound with a quick video recording but couldn't do it justice with the HOX camera so might try later to fiddle with the settings and see whether I can come up with something.
Meanwhile, have some photos:
The photos can be embiggened for a closer look, they tell a pretty accurate story of its condition - one very minor area of rubbed paint to the left of the cassette buttons is all that's really letting it down apart from a little dust in some corners but there's no damage, no broken screwposts, no cracks anywhere, no scratches whatsoever and even the pinch roller turned out looking like new along with the heads and the insides of the beast.
Looks and sounds like this is a case of my instinct to buy being good. I did have some minor concerns around the seller's sub-100% feedback score but he came through for me with this radio/cassette/rhythm section/rudimentary mixing desk/ornament type thing.
If you get a chance to buy one of these - do it!
) and I'm otherwise occupied with refurbing a member's M70 on the rare occasions that I'm at home but then I saw something weird, weird's good, right?
