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Review on Byron Statics Portable Cassette Players Recorders with FM AM Radio, Walkman Tape Player, Built-In Mic, External Speakers, Manual Record, VAS Automatic Stop System, 2AA Battery or USB Power Supply, Headphone Included by Chris Peck

Revainrating 5 out of 5

Great for mods to add tape speed control

These days you have to spend hundreds or find a good deal on eBay to get the kind of quality portable cassette players that used to be commonplace. All in all, that's a lot. I bought it to work with cassettes in a recording studio. I grind cassettes and use cassette players for a variety of music making purposes. I was looking for something cheap that I could modify without worrying about breaking it and this fits right in. This is a perfectly adequate combination of a cassette player and a radio. The internal speaker doesn't sound very good, and that gives it charm. There's an audible electronic sound that only appears when you're recording from the radio, and the sound of the internal motor somehow comes into play in the background of your recording. However, it's all part of the fun. Well, if you just want to listen to a tape or take some notes or whatever, these issues probably won't bother you, half the people won't notice. I notice it because I know what I need to hear and what influences the recording of music. The most important thing for me was the ability to open up the player and add a potentiometer to control the speed of the motor. It was very easy and now I can play tapes at any speed I want. Opening the player to get inside is very easy and you don't even have to remove the cassette compartment. There are four small screws coming out from the back and the cover pops right off. You will then find a red wire that connects to the point on the board marked "MOT+", this is the red wire. From there connect the red wire to one end of your potentiometer and then connect the other wire from the pot to where you previously removed the red wire. This is a very small and quick soldering job. I used DuPont wires first to find the right connections before soldering. This is a very simple procedure and there are people who have made more complex modifications to this particular model of cassette player.

Pros
  • Nice package
Cons
  • I don't remember