Paul (Slugbug) here. Thanks for putting my stuff in your videos! The "BUG SOUND quad matrix" was based on the QS encoding matrices (and I monitored thru a QRX-7500 a lot of the time) but it's not really a true quad album as some of it was just regular stereo and no 4-channel master exists. I don't think you'd get good results decoding it off cassette tape due to the inherent azimuth randomness but NAC did a fine job in all other respects. Those were duplicated right before they ran out of chrome tape forever, no Dolby, I never thought it worked well at all on pre-records. Actually the master I sent them had the treble jacked up on purpose and it came out about right...
Do you mean the company you used for duplicating your albums ran out of chrome tape forever? Or do you mean the world is out of the tape forever? I'm assuming the former as the ladder does sound a bit ridiculous. I like your music, it gives me an Oingo Boingo vibe.
@@michaelc.antonino4740 The latter, actually - high bias tape hasn't been produced in at least a decade and they were using dead-stock pancakes. Very unlikely it will be made again
@pdmillar: i love it each time to find you in VWestlife's videos and vive versa. You two are pretty much my favorite folks here on UA-cam. Still need to buy at least one of your albums… >_
@@pdmillar Let's hope someone gets a hold of the old BASF chrome-tape formulas and re-creates it. South Korea seems to be producing new cassette stock as well. And there's even a south african chrome stock being sold on Amazon but it seem to be quite bad, regarding the reviews of some cassette / tape forum users. It's a bit disappointing but who knows… maybe we just have to be a little patient.
*TURN THAT ORGAN OFF NOW!* ... somehow my mom got grouchy, I'm walking over here. Reminded me of: "Would you stop playing with that radio of yours, I'm trying to get to sleep!"
Legit can't tell if that's a home recording you made long ago or if Capitol released a sampler called The Music Tape 90 that somehow got a bit of Incorrect Music on it... =P
I wish I had bought at least 5 of these (brand new from Radio Shack) back in the early 2000's when these units came out. They sound great & very easy to repair & replace belts.
Just got one from the thrift store for 5 bucks. I needed to change the fast forward belt and count belt. Fast forward was really weak, count belt was broken. Playback is a couple db lower on the right than the left. Haven't messed with the playback pots yet. The deck is giving me a slight 60hz hum from the power supply. Quieter than tape hiss but noticeable.
I just picked up the RCA SCT-520 for $20 at a thrift store. It's a dual cassette deck that seems to be the exact same as this one, just times two. It only had power though. Opened it up and all the belts were gooey. Going to order new belts and thanks to you and this video, I believe I know how to remove the single motor to get the tracks cleaned and the new belts installed.
I have this very same deck, it has sat on my desk for the last 15+ years, I use it to rip cassettes to my computer (makes it easier for cueing then trying to reach the big one on the other side of the room), it has been a fantastic machine for doing that one task its entire life...mine is dated 07 2002, I do need to put new belts in it...when I can. I also knew of an alarm company that used the cheaper versions of the black RS decks to record break ins and other after hour audio, they added a toggle for mains power and left the decks in record mode, when they needed to record, they would throw the switch. ~Jack, VEG
I am very appreciative of this video review. The RCA and its Realistic/Optimus SCT-86 ilk are commonplace at thrift stores and yard sales, and apparently their simple design renders them fairly simple to keep operational. I want to enjoy my legacy cassette tapes without having to deal with malfunctions. This isn't a top-of-the-line deck but it appears to be a few notches better in quality level than the low-performance decks being sold today by Ion, Pyle, Renkforce et al.
@@danieldaniels7571 I agree completely. I own more expensive decks but I have always owned at least one of these models since they were first sold. As I said earlier they have a very good high end and they truly are better than the cheap design of todays new models.
@@everkief8650 I own way more expensive decks too, but found an SCT-86 about 6 years ago for $5 and thought I’d give it a shot, mostly due to it’s small form factor as a component deck. It’s dramatically exceeded my expectations with a crisp high end, no audible wow/flutter, and also makes decent recordings. I don’t think there’s been anything new made in the last two decades that actually outperforms it. Even as nice as the newer Tascam decks are, they’re crippled by the fact no one makes heads with good high frequency response anymore.
@@danieldaniels7571Well stated. We seem to be in full agreement... a surprisingly good high end. I like to have a very even and wide frequency response when I record to cassette. I want the recording to have its full potential of available frequencies and after making the recording, if I don't like the EQ on playback I use a multi-band EQ to dial in my desired sound. This deck offers that wide frequency response that I'm always seeking!
The Realistic brand of the same recorder made great recordings!We used to have a local Black Sabbath tribute band that had one of these hooked up to their soundboard.I used to bring Maxell XLII blanks to the shows, and the band would let me record their performances.The recordings came out great!
I have an Optimus SCT-86 from 1995. It's currently my only fully functional cassette deck right now, and it fits nicely on my computer desk! I've found several SCT-86's at my local e-waste shop. I think I saw one SCT-510 as well, but that was a couple years ago.
just like to add my appreciation for the great content VWestlife. found this channel awhile ago and enjoy watching. whishing you all the best from the UK.
This model was sold exclusively at Radio Shack. "RS" bought RCAs branding rights and then went out of business as well, about ten years later. This model of recorder is actually very good. I own RCA, Realistic and Radios Shack branded versions of these and they are all the same except for bias selection. There was a model that was only playback as well. The model in the video, and its many predecessors, produces a broader and clearer high end than most other brand name decks, but again... this RCA was sold only at Radios Shack just a few years before they changed to a cell phone store and then went out of business. I use these decks primarily for playback as the higher frequencies sound better but I primarily record using other decks. Thanks for listening!
DashCamAndy That was a Home Recording made back in the 1970’s when it was recorded on a 1970’s Blank tape called “The Music Tape” which was made by Capitol. I don’t know why Capitol made a blank cassette tape in the first place. As you probably know, Capitol and Columbia are the two major record labels got into blank media. They put out blank cassettes, 8-track tapes and reel-to-reel tapes, and it was a critical success, but it didn’t do as much as other brands like TDK, Maxell, BASF, Sony and Memorex did at the time. Both Capitol and Columbia stopped making blank media by the end of the 1970’s and they went back to make records. I only have one cassette tape is a blank Capitol 1 tape (Not Capitol One as a bank). I used to have blank 8-track tapes that were made by Capitol with the Capitol target logo that you’ve seen on many of the Capitol albums from the 70’s, but my Capitol 1 cassette had a target logo with no hole in the center which was quite weird and it does not appeared on any of the 1970’s Capitol albums.
Pretty neat little deck, I guess if you ever needed another one to dual-cassette up it'd be easy to find the space! Glad you mentioned Bandcamp! I've amassed a little stack of cassettes and bits from artists on there.
I just picked one of these up on eBay for $25 plus shipping. Fast forward didn't work, just needed a new belt. I've adjusted and calibrated mine to record on Maxell UR tapes and it works a treat. I can confirm that the pots VWestlife suspected of being bias pots are indeed bias pots. The other two pairs of pots are as follows: the pair that are kind of far apart from each other on opposite sides of the Dolby chip are for Dolby playback level, and the pair right next to each other nearby are record/play level. For anybody looking to calibrate theirs a bit more precisely than just looking at the level meters: according to the datasheet, this Dolby chip wants 245mV RMS from a 200 nWb/m Dolby level tape, and you measure the level on pins 8 and 9, which are the pins on the end of the chip that faces the rear of the unit (one pin is left channel, the other is right). Make sure you use a multimeter capable of true RMS measurements.
I have that realistic 8 track player!!! It’s a awesome little unit.. gonna be on the hunt for one of those tape decks, would be a nice addition to my setup... merry Christmas vwest!!
Clearly Radio Shack sold these, but it is not found on any of their catalogs, only the previous models. They also stopped full catalogs since 2002. I got one of these RCA SCT-510 given to me a few weeks ago, from a repair shop that thought it was not worth their time repairing, do to its value. Today I opened it up and found that yes the main belt was stretched, and the other two were but not as important nor were they a current problem. I replaced the main one with a slightly smaller one like VWestlife here did and cleaned it up and tested it. I was very pleased with the auto shut off design. I'd seen this idea in the Sharp cassette decks made in the late 70's and early 80's. Other most low end decks and players use a plastic paw riding the tape between the erase and play heads to only stop the player in play/rec mode at the end of the tape, otherwise you will need to be there or risk breaking your tape or tape machine if you don't stop it on FF or RW at the end of the tape. However the better full auto stop also helps keep from having your tape eaten because it has a sensor on the take-up reel and if it stops it will stop the player, other cheep style will eat your tape till the machine can't eat any more. Also that cheap rider on the tape will change the head alignment, so it was a bad idea. This RCA SCT-510 is the best compact cassette deck I have ever experienced. Also on my test playing of this today, a tape I recorded back in the early 80's played wonderfully, and I didn't notice any flutter either. Amazing!
I have a technics m8, very nice little deck. One of the first with metal compatibility, lives under my mixer for recording sets :) brighter sound than my jvc kd d30 but has the typical technics hardwired cables
my grandmother had the older one the realistic and the RCA one they basically look the same. hers however had manual tape selection not like this where its automatic i believe . they both look so alike . hope you had a good Christmas
its a nice little deck i had two of them sct-86 playing into my realistic mixer board so i could make back to back songs with no interuptions not to bad sound i miss that lil machine i like the leds and rec level controls .
We actually have one of these in the on-air studio of the radio station I work at. There wasn’t enough space for a full size deck, so they shoehorned this guy in. :) The production studio has a Nakamichi, but the RCA in the on-air studio gets much more frequent use and is still going strong.
Tesla (the Czechoslovakian electronics manufacturer of the past, has nothing to do with Elon Musk's company) had a mini component system, which had a similarly sized cassette deck, the Tesla M710A. It was a basic one motor, two head deck made between 1983 and 86, with both automatic and manual record level control, DNR noise reduction, and auto stop. Unfortunately, it could only record to normal and chrome cassettes. At least it had a nice VU meter consisting of 2x6 LEDs :) (btw, the other components of the system were the Z710A amplifier, the T710A tuner and the G710A turntable)
I feel like this or the Optimus/Realistic SCT-86 might just be a decent buy for beginners to cassettes. It's compact and has enough features to make it worth while. And it helps that it seems it may just be very easy to repair. I am actually thinking on getting one of these as my very first cassette deck that isn't a boombox. Or I might just try to find a better cassette deck in good working condition from a thrift store or online site.
I was traying to find a Small cassette deck for my gaming desk, since the Technics M1 is difficult and expensive to get, this is the closest thing and I'm pretty happy found one on ebay NOS love it, is not to expensive to for me to try to repair if things go bad thanks for the video
i used to own that deck. I thought it was a Realistic brand. I know I had the Realistic tuner. I bought them both at Radio Shack and had them hooked up together. Maybe it was an RCA cassette. It was the model your showing here so I guess it was RCA. A really nice cassette deck! Yeah.. I remember it :)
I want one of these! I have the earlier Optimus 86 model, and I absolutely hate the angled top, and the buttons, which are hard to press. This one is much better looking and you can put a portable cd player on top of it, which you can't do on the one with the angled top. Thanks for this video.....wishing you a very Happy Holiday Season, and a great New Year.
Wow, I wasn't excepting to hear the Randix brand ever mentioned on youtube. I had a Randix double cassette boom box as a kid and I only knew of one other kid that had one. They were a bit on the junk side of things, but it they "worked". I was a kid I didn't care.
ooh I like that! Not long ago I went searching for one of the cheaper ones with auto level control, just to connect to the stereo I run my computer's audio through if I want to quickly record something in a pinch, but even those are outrageously expensive on eBay, not including shipping.
Yes, they all use the same basic Tanashin mechanism, but there are different levels of quality. For example, the cheapest ones have a more wimpy motor, plastic flywheel, tension trigger auto-stop which only works in play mode, and a permanent magnet erase head. This one has a higher-quality Mabuchi motor, metal flywheel, full auto stop, and AC bias electromagnet erase head.
I bought an SCP-32, the even older version in this lineage of compact players, last year. Technology-wise, it's a POS, but it was probably worth buying since I have no other working tape player.
@Jonathan: There is SCP-25 which might be nicer and better than SCP-32 in terms of looks and functions such as being silver is more standout and the buttons are solenoid controls instead of mechanical push buttons. Also it does have a power button but lacks the autoreverse cycle button.
Hey VWestlife can you help me out? I'm thinking of upgrading to a new turntable. I currently have the at-lp60. The Denon DP-300F is currently on sale for a good price and I was wondering if you think that's a good upgrade from the lp60?
I wonder if it has a powerful enough erase head magnet for Metal tapes? Most tend to leave half the audio behind on the tape, so you can hear it along with any new recordings made etc.
Upon watching this video for the umpteenth time, I finally took the plunge and found one that was a little more pricy than I wanted but it said it was all in full working order. The reason I like this one so much is that I wanted something small enough that I could bring it out every time I wanted to record something on cassette or maybe even listen to a tape or 2 without digging out one of my full-sized decks. From what VWestlife has shone, this model has a really nice sound and the feature set that I am mostly interested in. A 3-head with Bias adjustment would be nice, but I haven't found anything in that category that's within my budget. 😅
At least it uses an actual AC erase head instead of permanent erase magnet like tape stereos nowadays. Those erase magnets tend to record background noise to the tape as they erase, making recordings sound poor. Seems like a pretty decent deck.
Just FYI, the older RCA/Realistic deck you mention, the SCT-86, was also sold under the Optimus brand. This might aid anyone looking for one on eBay. As far as I can tell it is a straight rebadge.
They could have made most cassette decks this size as there is lots of empty space inside them. I would assume the only reason for not doing this is to align the cabinet size to that of other common separates.
Yes, an extreme example of that can be found in this video -- a Sony cassette deck which is almost entirely empty inside: ua-cam.com/video/4di0_m87_ZQ/v-deo.html
My SCT-510 works fine for playing, and rewinding, but the fast forward is sluggish. How should I fix this? Is the main belt going out? Or is there something else I need to work on?
I have one of these, but there is something wrong with the rewind mechanism. It will either rewind very slowly or not at all. I opened it up and all of the belts look fine to me.
New Casettes? Newest one I have is an enka single from 2011 and I thought that was the newest I'd ever see. In Japan Enka seems to be "the casette genre", 95% of the ones you see are Enka. Not so long ago in the UK I saw a Destiny's Child casette single from 2001 in a charity shop, and thought it was amazing. I almost handed over my hard-earned 50p for the novelty alone.
I believe this was spec'd to have 54 dB with Dolby, whereas the modern-day TEAC W1200 claims 58 dB if I am not mistaken, no Dolby, but I don't know what kind of tape.
Paul (Slugbug) here. Thanks for putting my stuff in your videos! The "BUG SOUND quad matrix" was based on the QS encoding matrices (and I monitored thru a QRX-7500 a lot of the time) but it's not really a true quad album as some of it was just regular stereo and no 4-channel master exists. I don't think you'd get good results decoding it off cassette tape due to the inherent azimuth randomness but NAC did a fine job in all other respects. Those were duplicated right before they ran out of chrome tape forever, no Dolby, I never thought it worked well at all on pre-records. Actually the master I sent them had the treble jacked up on purpose and it came out about right...
Do you mean the company you used for duplicating your albums ran out of chrome tape forever? Or do you mean the world is out of the tape forever? I'm assuming the former as the ladder does sound a bit ridiculous. I like your music, it gives me an Oingo Boingo vibe.
@@michaelc.antonino4740 The latter, actually - high bias tape hasn't been produced in at least a decade and they were using dead-stock pancakes. Very unlikely it will be made again
@pdmillar: i love it each time to find you in VWestlife's videos and vive versa. You two are pretty much my favorite folks here on UA-cam. Still need to buy at least one of your albums… >_
@@pdmillar Let's hope someone gets a hold of the old BASF chrome-tape formulas and re-creates it. South Korea seems to be producing new cassette stock as well. And there's even a south african chrome stock being sold on Amazon but it seem to be quite bad, regarding the reviews of some cassette / tape forum users. It's a bit disappointing but who knows… maybe we just have to be a little patient.
Like this comment if you enjoyed the performance of "Vuba Mumba" by Tommy.
Very good, solid "E" for effort
Loved it!
Sounds better than 90% of new music!
*TURN THAT ORGAN OFF NOW!*
... somehow my mom got grouchy, I'm walking over here.
Reminded me of: "Would you stop playing with that radio of yours, I'm trying to get to sleep!"
Legit can't tell if that's a home recording you made long ago or if Capitol released a sampler called The Music Tape 90 that somehow got a bit of Incorrect Music on it... =P
I wish I had bought at least 5 of these (brand new from Radio Shack) back in the early 2000's when these units came out. They sound great & very easy to repair & replace belts.
Prog post-wave, Amigacore, country, orchestral mood and casiocore all in one video. Only VWestlife.
Carl Couture Those are some nice made up genres.
@@MicroChirp country doesn't exist?
May the last days of this year be of joy and serenity to you VWestlife.
I'm glad you keep promoting Slugbug. Paul's such an oddball. No one else quite like him. :)
Very DEVOesque.
@@AussieTVMusic I've seen the occasional Oingo Boingo comparison as well.
@@RodBeauvex That's actually the first thing I thought was Oingo Boingo.
YES! I love Slugbug ❤️👌🏼
12:55 - This took me to the whole new level of nostalgia: grab a toy keyboard, hit the Rec button, rock 'n roll! My childhood in a nutshell.
Thankyou Kevin for another year of interesting videos.Wishing you all the best for the festive season.
Just got one from the thrift store for 5 bucks. I needed to change the fast forward belt and count belt. Fast forward was really weak, count belt was broken. Playback is a couple db lower on the right than the left. Haven't messed with the playback pots yet. The deck is giving me a slight 60hz hum from the power supply. Quieter than tape hiss but noticeable.
"Tommy hit me!" will never be as popular as "Charlie bit me!"... :P
I wish UA-cam could push this stuff towards the Recommendations of everyone
I just picked up the RCA SCT-520 for $20 at a thrift store. It's a dual cassette deck that seems to be the exact same as this one, just times two. It only had power though. Opened it up and all the belts were gooey. Going to order new belts and thanks to you and this video, I believe I know how to remove the single motor to get the tracks cleaned and the new belts installed.
That thing looks like a perfect deck for a hifi like techmoan just put together recently if his didn’t have a cassette deck built in already....
Agreed!
Yes but it obly had one deck so this qould be great to record a cassette with
Tales From The Lotus Podcast It probably would be good for tape dubbing
@@BBC600 right and its the right color for that hi fi he built tech moan is great
I have this very same deck, it has sat on my desk for the last 15+ years, I use it to rip cassettes to my computer (makes it easier for cueing then trying to reach the big one on the other side of the room), it has been a fantastic machine for doing that one task its entire life...mine is dated 07 2002, I do need to put new belts in it...when I can. I also knew of an alarm company that used the cheaper versions of the black RS decks to record break ins and other after hour audio, they added a toggle for mains power and left the decks in record mode, when they needed to record, they would throw the switch. ~Jack, VEG
Can you describe your cassette ripping process / gear software?
I am very appreciative of this video review. The RCA and its Realistic/Optimus SCT-86 ilk are commonplace at thrift stores and yard sales, and apparently their simple design renders them fairly simple to keep operational. I want to enjoy my legacy cassette tapes without having to deal with malfunctions. This isn't a top-of-the-line deck but it appears to be a few notches better in quality level than the low-performance decks being sold today by Ion, Pyle, Renkforce et al.
The SCT-86 sounds shockingly good for what it is. I wouldn’t hesitate to buy another one.
@@danieldaniels7571 I agree completely. I own more expensive decks but I have always owned at least one of these models since they were first sold. As I said earlier they have a very good high end and they truly are better than the cheap design of todays new models.
@@everkief8650 I own way more expensive decks too, but found an SCT-86 about 6 years ago for $5 and thought I’d give it a shot, mostly due to it’s small form factor as a component deck. It’s dramatically exceeded my expectations with a crisp high end, no audible wow/flutter, and also makes decent recordings. I don’t think there’s been anything new made in the last two decades that actually outperforms it. Even as nice as the newer Tascam decks are, they’re crippled by the fact no one makes heads with good high frequency response anymore.
@@danieldaniels7571Well stated. We seem to be in full agreement... a surprisingly good high end. I like to have a very even and wide frequency response when I record to cassette. I want the recording to have its full potential of available frequencies and after making the recording, if I don't like the EQ on playback I use a multi-band EQ to dial in my desired sound. This deck offers that wide frequency response that I'm always seeking!
That's a nice compact sized cassette deck. The design is simplistic, which make it easy to service. Happy Holidays, and happy new year VWestlife.
The Realistic brand of the same recorder made great recordings!We used to have a local Black Sabbath tribute band that had one of these hooked up to their soundboard.I used to bring Maxell XLII blanks to the shows, and the band would let me record their performances.The recordings came out great!
That vertical oriented system is definitely cool and I also would love to have one
Thank you VWestlife for the amazing content you have provided us for years now
I have an Optimus SCT-86 from 1995. It's currently my only fully functional cassette deck right now, and it fits nicely on my computer desk! I've found several SCT-86's at my local e-waste shop. I think I saw one SCT-510 as well, but that was a couple years ago.
"Somehow my mom got grouchy" 10 on the Cuteness Richter Scale :)
just like to add my appreciation for the great content VWestlife. found this channel awhile ago and enjoy watching. whishing you all the best from the UK.
This model was sold exclusively at Radio Shack. "RS" bought RCAs branding rights and then went out of business as well, about ten years later. This model of recorder is actually very good. I own RCA, Realistic and Radios Shack branded versions of these and they are all the same except for bias selection. There was a model that was only playback as well. The model in the video, and its many predecessors, produces a broader and clearer high end than most other brand name decks, but again... this RCA was sold only at Radios Shack just a few years before they changed to a cell phone store and then went out of business. I use these decks primarily for playback as the higher frequencies sound better but I primarily record using other decks. Thanks for listening!
Yes! I was waiting for a review on this since your last video.
Thanks for sharing those killer jams!
I checked right now on ebay and there is one of these models available for $150.00!? NO WAY, NO HOW!
I have an SCT-86. It actually isn't that bad, but you are 100% right about it sliding every time you pressed a button.
14:18 - LOL
DashCamAndy That was a Home Recording made back in the 1970’s when it was recorded on a 1970’s Blank tape called “The Music Tape” which was made by Capitol. I don’t know why Capitol made a blank cassette tape in the first place. As you probably know, Capitol and Columbia are the two major record labels got into blank media. They put out blank cassettes, 8-track tapes and reel-to-reel tapes, and it was a critical success, but it didn’t do as much as other brands like TDK, Maxell, BASF, Sony and Memorex did at the time. Both Capitol and Columbia stopped making blank media by the end of the 1970’s and they went back to make records. I only have one cassette tape is a blank Capitol 1 tape (Not Capitol One as a bank). I used to have blank 8-track tapes that were made by Capitol with the Capitol target logo that you’ve seen on many of the Capitol albums from the 70’s, but my Capitol 1 cassette had a target logo with no hole in the center which was quite weird and it does not appeared on any of the 1970’s Capitol albums.
I have the SCT-86 and it’s a great little cassette deck! Great video keep up the great work!!
Very eclectic mix there! I never had a HiFi, but I sure do miss my mini system. It may be time....
Pretty neat little deck, I guess if you ever needed another one to dual-cassette up it'd be easy to find the space!
Glad you mentioned Bandcamp! I've amassed a little stack of cassettes and bits from artists on there.
Great… now I really want to hear some more Slugbug! Anyway, excellent video as always!!!
I just picked one of these up on eBay for $25 plus shipping. Fast forward didn't work, just needed a new belt.
I've adjusted and calibrated mine to record on Maxell UR tapes and it works a treat.
I can confirm that the pots VWestlife suspected of being bias pots are indeed bias pots.
The other two pairs of pots are as follows: the pair that are kind of far apart from each other on opposite sides of the Dolby chip are for Dolby playback level, and the pair right next to each other nearby are record/play level.
For anybody looking to calibrate theirs a bit more precisely than just looking at the level meters: according to the datasheet, this Dolby chip wants 245mV RMS from a 200 nWb/m Dolby level tape, and you measure the level on pins 8 and 9, which are the pins on the end of the chip that faces the rear of the unit (one pin is left channel, the other is right). Make sure you use a multimeter capable of true RMS measurements.
Wow. That Mary Chaplin Carpenter song took me right back to the 90s in my grandmas house listening to the same song on her tape deck from the 70s. Wow
I have that realistic 8 track player!!! It’s a awesome little unit.. gonna be on the hunt for one of those tape decks, would be a nice addition to my setup... merry Christmas vwest!!
I have that 8-track deck too. It’s quite the sleeper. Doesn’t look impressive, but has been very reliable and sounds surprisingly good.
Clearly Radio Shack sold these, but it is not found on any of their catalogs, only the previous models. They also stopped full catalogs since 2002. I got one of these RCA SCT-510 given to me a few weeks ago, from a repair shop that thought it was not worth their time repairing, do to its value. Today I opened it up and found that yes the main belt was stretched, and the other two were but not as important nor were they a current problem. I replaced the main one with a slightly smaller one like VWestlife here did and cleaned it up and tested it. I was very pleased with the auto shut off design. I'd seen this idea in the Sharp cassette decks made in the late 70's and early 80's.
Other most low end decks and players use a plastic paw riding the tape between the erase and play heads to only stop the player in play/rec mode at the end of the tape, otherwise you will need to be there or risk breaking your tape or tape machine if you don't stop it on FF or RW at the end of the tape. However the better full auto stop also helps keep from having your tape eaten because it has a sensor on the take-up reel and if it stops it will stop the player, other cheep style will eat your tape till the machine can't eat any more. Also that cheap rider on the tape will change the head alignment, so it was a bad idea. This RCA SCT-510 is the best compact cassette deck I have ever experienced. Also on my test playing of this today, a tape I recorded back in the early 80's played wonderfully, and I didn't notice any flutter either. Amazing!
Great video! Looks a similar size to the Technics M1 co-deck that techmoan did a video on.
I have a technics m8, very nice little deck. One of the first with metal compatibility, lives under my mixer for recording sets :) brighter sound than my jvc kd d30 but has the typical technics hardwired cables
my grandmother had the older one the realistic and the RCA one they basically look the same. hers however had manual tape selection not like this where its automatic i believe . they both look so alike . hope you had a good Christmas
Whatever's on "The Music Tape" sounds like something straight out of Homestar Runner
its a nice little deck i had two of them sct-86 playing into my realistic mixer board so i could make back to back songs with no interuptions not to bad sound i miss that lil machine i like the leds and rec level controls .
She said ... "I bought these albums on cassette, what do you think of this format"?
I said ... "Awesome, but I count five, and my name's not Matt".
If you like the lighted vertical VU meters as seen at 12:25 , check out TEAC V3-RX and V5-RX , might be easier to find.
*_Merry Christmas_*
VU meters In action: ua-cam.com/video/b8NKlKJiWv4/v-deo.html
I used to do sound at schools and churches, and saw the earlier version everywhere. I never knew they updated it.
We actually have one of these in the on-air studio of the radio station I work at. There wasn’t enough space for a full size deck, so they shoehorned this guy in. :) The production studio has a Nakamichi, but the RCA in the on-air studio gets much more frequent use and is still going strong.
Merry Christmas, VWestlife!
Tesla (the Czechoslovakian electronics manufacturer of the past, has nothing to do with Elon Musk's company) had a mini component system, which had a similarly sized cassette deck, the Tesla M710A. It was a basic one motor, two head deck made between 1983 and 86, with both automatic and manual record level control, DNR noise reduction, and auto stop. Unfortunately, it could only record to normal and chrome cassettes. At least it had a nice VU meter consisting of 2x6 LEDs :) (btw, the other components of the system were the Z710A amplifier, the T710A tuner and the G710A turntable)
I feel like this or the Optimus/Realistic SCT-86 might just be a decent buy for beginners to cassettes. It's compact and has enough features to make it worth while. And it helps that it seems it may just be very easy to repair.
I am actually thinking on getting one of these as my very first cassette deck that isn't a boombox. Or I might just try to find a better cassette deck in good working condition from a thrift store or online site.
I revisited this vid. Love that little machine.
I was traying to find a Small cassette deck for my gaming desk, since the Technics M1 is difficult and expensive to get, this is the closest thing and I'm pretty happy found one on ebay NOS love it, is not to expensive to for me to try to repair if things go bad thanks for the video
i used to own that deck. I thought it was a Realistic brand. I know I had the Realistic tuner. I bought them both at Radio Shack and had them hooked up together. Maybe it was an RCA cassette. It was the model your showing here so I guess it was RCA. A really nice cassette deck! Yeah.. I remember it :)
Very neat - it's like they chopped the speakers off of a boombox
I was thinking 🤔 the very same thing.
It's also very similar to the Technics M1 that Techmoan showed in a video, except that one only plays; it doesn't record.
I want one of these! I have the earlier Optimus 86 model, and I absolutely hate the angled top, and the buttons, which are hard to press. This one is much better looking and you can put a portable cd player on top of it, which you can't do on the one with the angled top. Thanks for this video.....wishing you a very Happy Holiday Season, and a great New Year.
Great Video and have a Merry Christmas
Wow, I wasn't excepting to hear the Randix brand ever mentioned on youtube. I had a Randix double cassette boom box as a kid and I only knew of one other kid that had one. They were a bit on the junk side of things, but it they "worked". I was a kid I didn't care.
Merry Christmas!
I really need like this one now!
Thanks 💐
ooh I like that! Not long ago I went searching for one of the cheaper ones with auto level control, just to connect to the stereo I run my computer's audio through if I want to quickly record something in a pinch, but even those are outrageously expensive on eBay, not including shipping.
If big 'O Tommy is watching this right now, he would be very delighted!
That last tape you played must be from the 80's. No doubt about it, that Casio type keyboard gave it away.
Same deck mechanism in reproduction chinese boomboxes being sold today, i even found some being only playback with no recording
Yes, they all use the same basic Tanashin mechanism, but there are different levels of quality. For example, the cheapest ones have a more wimpy motor, plastic flywheel, tension trigger auto-stop which only works in play mode, and a permanent magnet erase head. This one has a higher-quality Mabuchi motor, metal flywheel, full auto stop, and AC bias electromagnet erase head.
optimus sct-86 ? i liked that little machine dependable amazing how much circutry they could put in such a small space!
I bought an SCP-32, the even older version in this lineage of compact players, last year. Technology-wise, it's a POS, but it was probably worth buying since I have no other working tape player.
@Jonathan: There is SCP-25 which might be nicer and better than SCP-32 in terms of looks and functions such as being silver is more standout and the buttons are solenoid controls instead of mechanical push buttons. Also it does have a power button but lacks the autoreverse cycle button.
That a great cassette deck . I still have about 25 cassettes I there really good.
Truck Month is a brilliant album! :)
Hey VWestlife can you help me out? I'm thinking of upgrading to a new turntable. I currently have the at-lp60. The Denon DP-300F is currently on sale for a good price and I was wondering if you think that's a good upgrade from the lp60?
Yes.
Pretty sure that music tape was made with the Baldwin Discoverer piano organ, same chipset anyway.
the direct hock sounds really good.
I wonder if it has a powerful enough erase head magnet for Metal tapes? Most tend to leave half the audio behind on the tape, so you can hear it along with any new recordings made etc.
In that case you can use a bulk tape eraser.
12:55 - You sure have a thing for Casiotone/Bontempi/Wurlitzer music!
Anyone know where to get belts for this? The tape counter seems to not work anymore on mine.
Upon watching this video for the umpteenth time, I finally took the plunge and found one that was a little more pricy than I wanted but it said it was all in full working order. The reason I like this one so much is that I wanted something small enough that I could bring it out every time I wanted to record something on cassette or maybe even listen to a tape or 2 without digging out one of my full-sized decks. From what VWestlife has shone, this model has a really nice sound and the feature set that I am mostly interested in. A 3-head with Bias adjustment would be nice, but I haven't found anything in that category that's within my budget. 😅
At least it uses an actual AC erase head instead of permanent erase magnet like tape stereos nowadays. Those erase magnets tend to record background noise to the tape as they erase, making recordings sound poor. Seems like a pretty decent deck.
Sounds real nice
I just picked up an SCT-510 for $7 earlier and what do you know, it's also made in December of 2001!
There are some even smaller decks like the Denon DRR-M31. Probably much more difficult to repair though.
I have one of those and it’s broken. Way out of my league to repair, too.
Merry Xmas and Happy New Year VWestlife and everyone seeing this comment!
Just FYI, the older RCA/Realistic deck you mention, the SCT-86, was also sold under the Optimus brand. This might aid anyone looking for one on eBay. As far as I can tell it is a straight rebadge.
I know. I mentioned it in the video.
@@vwestlife whoops, missed that somehow. Great video in any case!
Merry Christmas.
They could have made most cassette decks this size as there is lots of empty space inside them. I would assume the only reason for not doing this is to align the cabinet size to that of other common separates.
Yes, an extreme example of that can be found in this video -- a Sony cassette deck which is almost entirely empty inside: ua-cam.com/video/4di0_m87_ZQ/v-deo.html
Yes more cassette stuff !!! :-)
That silvermage track was fire
My SCT-510 works fine for playing, and rewinding, but the fast forward is sluggish. How should I fix this? Is the main belt going out? Or is there something else I need to work on?
I have one of these, but there is something wrong with the rewind mechanism. It will either rewind very slowly or not at all. I opened it up and all of the belts look fine to me.
Does that happen with all tapes or just one?
Technics made one the m1 and the M2 cassette players looked very nice.
Merry Christmas 🎄
New Casettes? Newest one I have is an enka single from 2011 and I thought that was the newest I'd ever see. In Japan Enka seems to be "the casette genre", 95% of the ones you see are Enka.
Not so long ago in the UK I saw a Destiny's Child casette single from 2001 in a charity shop, and thought it was amazing. I almost handed over my hard-earned 50p for the novelty alone.
Lol half of my tapes are 5 years old or younger
Tommy hit me🤣🏀
the RCA is basically a slightly more fancy Walkman without any batteries or headphone jack
Wrong on so many levels.
such a interesting music cassette
*an
That last tape is just the soundtrack of Hell.
Purchased one today for 2.99
I believe this was spec'd to have 54 dB with Dolby, whereas the modern-day TEAC W1200 claims 58 dB if I am not mistaken, no Dolby, but I don't know what kind of tape.
Any day I get to hear Mary Chapin Carpenter is a good day. 🥰
I'll stick with my Yamaha K-960, which I scored for a "song" at a church basement sale.😊
Thank you Fat Tony, very cool
I have one of those 8 tracks and it is like new
The Audiologic system is up on ebay but it is very expensive.
Oh dang. This looks like it would go with my 90s klh receiver. (Klh r 3000)
Realistic and Optimus! Thats going way back.
them sell for $150.00 now on ebay you can find them for $80.00 bucks also
Excellent sound from this little thng, I use midi size Grunding, its nice to...