Akai gx-4000d -what a waste!

[stereorob2.0]

OK, about a year ago i scored a gx-4000d from a buddy of mine cause it looked pretty, i needed another deck like a hole in my head at the time but i couldnt say no. at the time my akai gx-255 was running ok so i put it in the rig but never really used it much. in the last few weeks ive had all kinds of crappy problems with my gx-255 witch has ben the main staple in my rig for the last 5 years and ive played to death, i keep doing what i have to do to keep it on life support but its just a band-aid and a few weeks later, it freaks out again and is pretty much at the end of its life cycle and is slap wore out, since then ive been delving deeper into my other decks that i eather barley used at all or just used as a secondary backup or just playback, i played with my teac 4300 a bit more, and it plays beautifully but wont record, i messed with my revox a77 but it likes to smoke for no reason sometimes so i dont really trust it, i played with other ones i have but never use, like the akai x-1800sd and rheem/roberts/akai 770x identity crisis deck, and none of those were fit to stand up to play king of my rig eather. i also played with my sony tc-558 but it needs breaks. moving on threw the crapstack, my older stuff, like my crown 702 but its only halftrack mono and my tandberg 64x but it needs a belt and god knows what else. then to the bottom of the barrel stuff, witch are all belt drive decks, like the realistic 999 witch is a unexcusible embaressment pathetic excuse for a deck, and my sony tc560d, 464, and 255, all work but are just kinda cheezy flat laying decks that arnt very much fun, next up the akai gx-4000d, now i tend to love 3 motor direct drive decks cause i can be a impatiant little bastard and like fast winding times, for the most part i scorn belt drive decks cause they are slow with just about everything and pretty much just suck in general. *grin*

now, the akai 4000d, is such one of those belt decks, but what a damn waste! it oozes of quality, everything is metal and very solid, its astheticly pleasing to look at with its shiny chrome and brushed aluminum, and its made so well, that the controls feel like they could last forever! it has glass heads that never wear out, pretty uv meters behind a beveled glass panel that are softly illuminated, and can play the normal two speeds, during playback it sounds absolutly delightful and records perfectly!

BUT.....

1. um, where is the speed control? *grin* there is a eq button for 3.75 and 7.50. now for the speed control button, well, -there isnt one! the deck is naturally set up for 3.75, why in gods name, i have no idea! the only way to change speeds is to lift the plastic cover off the heads where you will find a small metal sleeve adaptor to place on the capstan shaft to make it play at 7.50, if you loose the little metal sleeve, you are totally screwed! thats basiclly like making a tv set with NO controls and only being able to use it with a remote.*bigthumbdown*

2. where is reverse play? the machine is only one direction. even my lowly sony tc-560d can play in reverse! you would think a deck this pretty, and this overbuilt, would have a reverse playback switch, and it dosent. -SHAME on you akai for building such a beautiful, but retartedly stupid machine!!! *bigthumbdown*

3. belt drive only, no 3 motor stuff here, FFwds at a snails pace and RWD is painfully slow. what a damn shame!

for these reasons, the 4000d will never be my main deck, and is regulated to the digital sound transfer deck for the computer when i digitize my reels, and forever be a underdog in my stable. its like the retarted kid thats only good at one thing, and totally worthless in every other aspect of human sociaty!
this is such a delightfully sounding well made deck, but its lacking so many important things that any respectible deck can and will do. now i know alot of people have these decks and say good things about them, so im shure im gunna get flamed pretty bad for talking so bad about it, but i just had to add my two cents.

the gx-4000d, what the hell were they thinking???