The Dragon Killer Microcassette Deck

What if I told you there was a tape deck, more specifically, a microcassette tape deck, that was close to the Nakamichi Dragon? Some of you might say "what?" "There's no fricken way", or "maybe there's something out there I've never seen before"......Well, there is and there isn't, most of the above answers apply but there is a microcassette deck that is a beast, not for it's sonics but everything else it does.

I've recently been introduced to the JBR Technology Microcassette Unit, a full size stereo microcassette deck. Mister X loves to do internet research and I'm finding very little information on this unit. Basically it was (or still is) made for the archive and forensic industries. The unit was designed to read almost every inch of a tape regardless if it was erased or somebody wanted to know what was on it but standard methods weren't enough to extract the information..

Here's a link to the stat page for the unit, this company also builds forensic units for other audio units as well but I was super interested in the microcassette since we're seeing huge interest in these cool little units. This is not my unit but from an ebay listing.
http://www.jbrtech.com/prod_ptu.html


It's actually kind of nice with it's off the shelf switches and rotary knobs but if you could see the insides, it looks like a Tektronic Scope, or even some desktop computers. There's several "cards" with discrete circuits and a few with IC's but they are all removeable. I get the feeling they're hand assembled but quality was the main concern. It is heavy, all-metal construction and an huge power supply, some of my boards are marked 1997 but they look like they are from 1977.

They retailed for over $6000.00 USD and there's a few sites that still have them for sale new at close to $2000.00 USD but there's very little information otherwise that I've been able to find. Has anybody else come across this rare but interesting model?

 

I've never seen anything like that. So it's a deck for forensic uses, to read self answering machines tapes and all that? Very curious...

 

It's really facinating, most of it looks like it could be a prototype with removable cards, amp, controls, power, etc. Most parts are labeled "Made in Japan" and some of the cards look like they're dated 1997. The internal audio wires are all shielded and I think it was set up to be stand-alone so you could monitor the tapes without getting noise from added equipment. There's several outputs on it but no RCA jacks, all are headphone style female connections.

There's two heads, the idea is the first head can read virgin tape and noise, not usually heard with the normal head, can now be heard to determine if the tape was erased or there was no information on it at all. It's direct drive with a tape drag meter to let you know if there's tape friction and the tape speed is adjustable with the rotary dial.

It looks like it was set up to have great sonics so hopefully it makes a good stereo player as well.

 

Does anybody know what the best recording microcassette deck or player is? I would think the decks but this is my first foray mine doesn't record.

I talked with the designer and it's pretty interesting, these are mostly hand assembled and originally manufactured by 3M in Japan. The speed is variable using military grade technology used for rockets. Using glass timing wheels they can dial in the tape speed with very low wow and flutter and highly accurate tape speed. He said this feature cost them over $1000.00 20-30 years ago. Later models do not have the three digit LED you can see in the photo above since the technology was abandoned by the military and parts are no longer available and too costly to produce. My early model has a built in power supply, later models have an external power supply since they found a small amount of interference.

 

The JVC MQ-5K has the look of a portable stereo microcassette recorder but I haven't taped with any of my little guys yet. One of the issues with the portables is some don't have a mic input, so you need something to record the tape on, the above player is a prime example of a component deck without record.

The JVC MQ-5K has the external mic that looks professional, they even throw in two windscreens. It might be the heaviest MC portable but some of the Fisher/Sanyo's are close.

https://www.ebay.ie/itm/302759234838?ViewItem=&item=302759234838

 

Hello speedy 2.0, look up some of the other microcassette threads there's a lot more information. Stereo Microcassettes were set up to play Metal Tapes but the tapes are almost unobtainium and go for big money. There's some coming out of Russia but I think he's buying mono shells and loading metal tape and printing labels but I don't know for sure, he seems to have a large quantity. At one time stereo microcassette had 30% of the Japanese Portable Cassette Player Market, so there was some serious thought put into it. Most of the units are all metal construction and high build quality. There also seems to be a high number of kangaroo boxes, units that mate into a boombox, mostly made by Fisher/Sanyo.