Just made a first recording with my “new” deck. It’s a Technics RS-BX707.
The recordings sound fantastic, onto an old SA-90 my mother sent me last week. I’m surprised how good, actually. Dolby C and a good strong recording level seem to have done the trick.
I read on a forum that the BX series aren’t as good as earlier models, but this one seems just fine so far, and comes with a one year warranty. I’m also fully aware of the quality of info on forums. or at least the obsession with frankly irrelevant minutiae.
This forum is the exception, of course
The machine has three heads, and direct drive. 3 heads is neat, because you can monitor the just-recorded track. That opens up the possibility of using it as a tape delay, or as a send effect.
I would have preferred something that looked a bit more retro. This is typical 1980s/90s Technics style, with blue-green LEDs etc, which hits all my nostalgia buttons, but is a bit ugly in the room.
Still. Quite happy so far.