deHavilland KE Model 222 Magnetic Tape Preamplifier

[Deleted User]

If a person stays interested in playing magnetic tapes long enough you eventually decide to consider connecting a tape transport to an independent playback electronics system. There aren't very many to consider, Manley makes one, Bottlehead has two units and the deHavilland company makes one: the Model 222. Because of the extreme versatility and reputation of the 222 I went with it. It will allow me to use both high and low impedance heads and select between American and European playback EQs.
It was delivered today and have just unpacked it and read the owner's manual.


The third photo is the Ampex 351 transport that I've got running like a top, the quietest and smoothest tape transport I've ever used fitted with high impedance playback heads.

msg

maaaaan, that's a cool setup.
Ken, what's the deal with tape? fidelity wise, I mean. I think I read once that guys would record their records to tape, and just use tape instead of turntables?

voltz

Hey Ken

Marvin has a tube preamp from deHavilland and it sounds excellent and we compared it to my Vincent Preamp and it was definitely a step above my Vincent so enjoy!

38 years ago the when I was a teenager the 3 Massey girls we were always hanging out with, their Father had a a Reel to Reel setup and it was the best audio system I think I had ever listen too, but that was a long time ago.

[Deleted User]

Well, there's sort of a mini-renaissance of prerecorded tapes becoming available. Probably The Tape Project is the most well known with a few other companies around the world. I collected a dozen of the Tape Project tapes waiting for just the right deck to play them. There's also a great deal of "master" tapes available from all kinds of sources including eBay. These can be safety copies supplied to tape duplication facilities as a backup copy or even original master tapes from people selling their studio masters.
Then I collected several dozen 2 track commercial tapes over the years, from Mercury, RCA Shaded Dog and London and lots of jazz labels. These were made during the "golden years" of prerecorded tapes, aimed at the audiophiles of that era they were very carefully done duplication of amazing performances. And then the 4 track era came in with the reduction of quality in the duplication process. But, still there are some excellent tapes from the early years of classic rock.

mhardy6647

You have the coolest tape stuff (and the sweat equity invested in 'em), Ken.