The bobbin tape recorder is a means of replicating forbidden records in the USSR

In the Soviet Union, the bobbin tape recorder was not just a device that allows you to record music or voice programs on tape. This behind the "iron curtain" you could go to the store and buy any record that you like. And we still in the fifties and sixties the emergence of a new disk in the city, sometimes a millionth, became an event, and to his lucky owner a queue of friends-friends was built, asking to be rewritten! So the reel tape recorders became a means of mass reproduction of music, including the bardic song, which in our country was not published on the records. This tradition continued in the seventies and the eighties. It existed until the cassette recording equipment became firmly in use, which finally reached the quality of sound that the owners of the reels were accustomed to.

The bobbin tape recorder is a rather big and heavy instrument, but it provides a wide choice of the desired quality. The main drawback of this type of equipment was that the audio library occupied a large volume, so it was difficult to store a decent collection at home. The best quality was achieved when recording at the nineteenth speed, but there were only three, the ninth and the fourth. The latter was later accepted as the standard in cassette equipment.

The quality criterion in the sixties was how much the bobbin tape recorder corresponded to certain standards that were asked by the world's leading manufacturers - Philips and Grundig. The ability to record on four tracks, the number of motors and heads, stereo were the topics of discussion among music lovers who could talk about it for hours. The presence of a through channel was especially appreciated. He allowed to listen to the signal just recorded and thus gave an opportunity to judge its quality. Soviet equipment of that time, it should be given her due, roughly corresponded to the best world models, although it lagged behind in terms of exterior design. An excellent example of a three-motor four-track recorder of that time with excellent frequency characteristics is the MAG-59.

In the seventies appeared "Jupiter Stereo" (models 201, 202 and 203) and "Mayak-205", which was the most massive bobbin tape recorder in the USSR. The price with very good characteristics was affordable, and the device is reliable and maintainable. At the same time, foreign models have also changed. The place of the Germans and the Dutch was occupied by the Japanese, their equipment by that time became no worse, but at the same time it was cheaper than the European one. In our country, however, it cost fabulous money. The Akai or Sony reel tape recorder was affordable only for academics and underground millionaires. 3000 - 5000 thousand rubles - this amount could be seen on the price tags in the commission. It was the price of a pretty decent car.

Of course, the overwhelming majority of Soviet music lovers and even professional musicians recording their own magneto albums have chosen their own domestic equipment.

Nowadays a tape recorder is more like a museum piece. However, if it was produced by a serious firm and retained its working qualities, it can still be bought today for a four-figure amount in foreign currency.