Quadraphonic Amateur Recording/Dubbing Studio In A Box: The Akai 1800-SS Reel To Reel/8-Track deck

With one of the most unique/unusual RTR deck feature lists out there and one in my main audio system (temporarily removed for maintenance) how could I not do a video on the Akai 1800-SS?
This is a video that makes me wonder if I should start writing scripts in advance instead of in my head as I go. One thing annoying about tape is that the vernacular use of "Track" for the different things "song", "singular monophonic recording channel on a tape", and "program" (Program being a bundle of channels on an 8-Track that hold a stereo or quad song). I tried to properly avoid using track for all 3 meanings to avoid confusion but failed in a couple of places...Hopefully context shines through the haze of that error.
Last week was a scramble to prepare for a Swapmeet where I hardly bought or sold anything, and a mess of other things to deal with. Some how in all that I managed to fix 2 stubborn RTR decks....That's a video for another week, but in the meantime this will be a small taste of that. My spare Akai 280 is going to be available.

[@JWimpy]

I love those old reel-to-reel machines. I have been looking for a decent one for years. There were very few ever sold in Arkansas so that makes them extremely rare here. I bought three of them through eBay and every one of them was junk. So I won't be doing that again.

[@tomcarlson3913]

Ouch. About the only thing worse than buying a junk device advertised as good off eBay. Is buying a cheap untested device, having it arrive in little more than a plastic bag and having to MacGuyver it back together from the obvious shipping damage it received... That was basically the story of my first LD player.

[@dietrichdietrich7763]

this was so cool thanks

[@marktubeie07]

Now THAT is the machine I should have purchased - I have the baby brother version 1730-SS. I could have done so much more with your model, especially the transfer of Quad 8-tracks to tape using your method/work around. I have so many that aren't available anywhere else & need to be preserved. Great vid!

[@ricknelsonm]

Interesting, thank you Tom, you are Brilliant!