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Saved a Sharp tape deck from the trash. Opinions?

John in MA

John in MA

Respect the gamba tuba
Saved an interesting Sharp tape deck. Opinions?

Found this a couple weeks ago. I have yet to clean the years of filth off of it, but it looks good. Very high-tech in a '70s way. Looks like it's programmable in some way. I've never seen one like it.

Anyone? I'm curious as to the reputation of Sharp equipment, or any info for operating this one in particular. It's heavy and solid.

sharp.jpg
 
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Normally when I hear "Sharp" I think...put it back in the trash - out of it's misery. But your deck actually looks kind of cool. Love the funky "high-tech" font.
 
I second what willyrover said. Sharp has always had inferior products IMHO but that one looks kind of cool.
 
That deck is fairly famous... it was, as it says, the first "computer controlled" deck, sold under the Sharp and Optonica (high-end Sharp) brands. If it works, it shouldn't be junk.
 
hey, there's one on ebay right now for 110 bin, and there are some other models being sold in ebay stores for over $100. So clean her up and check her out, may just need a belt.
 
Agree with the above posters. Sharp in general isn't worth much... but that particular deck should be worth saving. Enjoy it!
 
Thanks. It seems to work mechanically, although I haven't tested it with a tape yet. How exactly does all that progammable business work?
 
i like the industrial looking meters on that sharp deck :D worth a clean up and a new belt at the very least just based on looks alone.. :thmbsp:
 
I saw one of those Sharps for about fifteen bucks at the SA store-could tell it needed belts, but the meters worked and the display lit up. Actually decided to go back and check it again two days later and it was gone. Bought a high-end Realistic silver one with the same belt problem to console myself. Still haven't fixed it.
That's almost worth building a 'silver system' around!
Dan
 
I'm thinking about getting a nice silver-face amp of some sort. Then I could have the amp, my TX-9500-II, the Sharp, an '80s Teac casette deck, and my Teac 1500 RtoR. Or put the Marantz 2600 into use, speaking of silver faces.
 
The programability was I think based around a LCD clock. you could tell it to turn on at 0800 and play or something to that effect. I think it may have had a switched power outlet on the back so it could wake up your hard power button receiver too. Plus the program had to do with the APMS ,so you could tell it to play the 6th track (assuming the tracks had 3 second pauses in between). Specs don't look bad, 25-21000 on a metal tape. That big silver face with no analog meters looks somewhere between retro and BPC. or BSC?
 
I have a couple of these with different badging. They are pretty cool and don't sound terribly bad. But the computer controlled functions seem to crap out as I assume a chip fails.
 
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