Mighty MINY! Exploring the MINY six - 0 - one vintage reel to reel tape recorder

[thatmuse76]

In theory it's a great design. I am just wondering if the accountants at Miny led to some what I would consider short cuts. There are a lot of Muntz characteristics to this machine. Sure why use a resistor to control rewind when you can just turn on and off certain batteries to achieve the (sorta) same result.

[clydesight]

@thatmuse76 Thanks for your comment!

This is probably the strangest tape recorder I have ever seen! I don't know what they were thinking when they designed it, but it seems pretty clever to me. Wish it had a better amplifier though.

[stratocat9999]

I've seen a lot of Miny recorders over the years, but this is the absolute weirdest one I've ever seen! Nice find!

[clydesight]

@stratocat9999

Thanks.

Yes, MINY is weird anyway, but this one takes the cake. It is a great lesson in how to be innovative and think "outside the box". Just a bit more quality and they would have had a winner and perhaps could have become a real serious player in the TR market. It shows how a good idea can have great potential, but the follow through is just as important. In this case, they didn't follow through, so their brilliant idea came off rather frustrating. Pity.

[thereelmaster]

when i saw this vid i simply fell in love with that tape recorder, amazing!!!

[clydesight]

@thereelmaster

Thanks for your comment. Yes, this is an appealing, if relatively useless machine. Cute, almost good, just barely makes it to "okay". But, appealing none the less.

[CassetteMaster]

Also, they should have ran the rewind motor at a full 9 volts.

[clydesight]

@CassetteMaster

The motor couldn't stand 9 volts. It's really cheap. There are two little copper wires that act as motor brushes (no carbon pads, just the wires!).

So if the thing ran at 9 volts, the electrical system of the motor would fail completely in a short period of time.

Nice idea though, and I certainly thought the same thing!

[CassetteMaster]

WOW! That is a NEAT recorder!! (Now I wish I had got the one I saw on eBay a while back.) I never expected that from a RIM-DRIVE recorder, and had always been wishing they would do four tracks on a portable reel-to-reel. It is a pity that the sound quality is so bad, even at the faster speed and a DYNAMIC mike! They should have done AC bias on that, or at least a better quality DC bias. But this is still one amazing recorder in looks and features, and I hope one might pop up an estate sale...

[clydesight]

@CassetteMaster There are some portable mono 4-track machines out there. Panasonic made a few. They are completely incompatible though, because only a few of that type of machine was made.

The MINY is kind of neat, except for the amp. These rim drive machines seemed to always cheap on the amp.

RCA isn't much better. They have a shoebox cassette recorder out now that is absolutely hideous. There's no excuse for that in this day and age.

[netsurferx1]

Hmmm...VERY strange unit! The track selection method is a novel idea, & would have worked wonders if this had been a stereo unit. Too bad it was done in by a lousy amp, DC bias & rim-drive...Oh well!

[clydesight]

@netsurferx1 Yes, there are MANY possibilities for what this machine could have been. AIWA did make a rim drive stereo unit. It is highly collectible and completely useless.

[DrCassette]

Very nice and interesting tape recorder!

[clydesight]

@DrCassette

Thanks!

[Lachlant1984]

I assume these recorders were made in Japan, right? Was Miny an American company? I believe you restored a couple of pink tape recorders that looked to me as if they had been thrown off a very high bridge before being jumped on and thrown around a few times more. That handheld microphone thing is very intriguing, it's kind of cool, were these units cheap when they were new?

[clydesight]

@Lachlant1984

MINY was a Japanese company for sure! However, many American companies (RCA, GE, Westingho9use, etc.) hired Japanese companies to make some of their products with their brand and design specs for the cases.

YES, you remember correctly... I have a video called "Taper Recorder Abuse Recovery" about two pink MINY machines.

MINYs cost more than the average rim drive units, but they were still cheaper than capstan drive machines.

[dmstealth]

I still think those pink Minys (aka the Barbie Designer Funcorder) would be tough to beat in terms of quirky, interesting but sub-par tape recorders.

[clydesight]

@dmstealth

The MINY PINK machines are considered very classic, if totally useless. They are UBER collectible, and I cannot figure out -- WHY? But on E-Bay... people get into amazing bid wars over the machines. The PINK are the most popular, but they made a rare black one and a blue one I think.

[BadEditPro]

OK, you've got some strange machines up here and I've been playing with tape recorders all my life... I have never seen a weirder tape recorder in my life. Everything about this machine is counterintuitive! I have never seen a head assembly remotely like this and the power supply is totally whacked. I find it interesting that Miny would go so completely off the beaten track when designing this machine. Great find. This is one you your best videos. :) JC

[clydesight]

@BadEditPro

Thanks. Yes, this is a strange little machine, isn't it? They were SO CLOSE to having a class A unit, if only they had used a better amp and stronger motor drive system. For actual use, the recorder isn't much, but for education in creativity and thinking so far "outside the box" that you are in another Galaxy-- MINY gets the award!

And the machine has a pleasing appearance too!

[goldbergje]

Clydesight, how do you do this and make it so darn interesting? :) I've seen videos by other aficionados that are positively SLEEP-inducing! You make it lively, and fun at the same time, while being educational. I really enjoy your videos.

[clydesight]

@goldbergje

Thank you very much! I try to think what the viewer wants to see, and also come up with something to catch their interest at the beginning. I figure, if I get you curious, you'll watch -- just to find out what the heck I am was talking about at teh beginning (the "tease"). My biggest problem is making the videos short. There is SO much these machines have to tell us!

[ToastmachineIdiot]

I guess MINY was trying to be unique and innovative. The recording quality is quite poor and I never expected such a strange design. It definitely seems like aligning the heads on that machine is quite a rough job, especially since you have to do this every time you need to work on the motor.

[clydesight]

@ToastmachineIdiot I'll give them points on innovation and cleverness, but not on the inexcusable amplifier. And yes, you are right, the head arrangement and idler is very frustrating! You know, with a little more engineering, just a bit, they could have made this a class A machine!

[pooface006]

i love your videos!!

[clydesight]

@pooface006 Thanks!

[Felix2417425]

Very interesting designed heads, and complicated switching, but also a very nice machine. Regards! :-)

[clydesight]

@Felix2417425 Thanks. Yes, it is an interesting, if disappointing machine. But, frankly, it's a Miny and I've never heard one of those machines sound very good.

[CoolDudeClem]

Great video, I guessed the amp was "missing". That's quite over-engineered for a rim-drive tape recorder. It's a pity the sound quality isn't as good as the design. I like the way the head moves to select the track and the way it can play in both directions, if only they'd had taken the time and trouble to put in one more transistor and the few extra parts to make it have AC bias, it probably would have sounded half decent. It's a wonder there's any bias at all with all the distortion it has!

[clydesight]

@CoolDudeClem

Thanks! Good guess, I figured you would know, with your experience with tape recorders! I wonder about the bias as well, but everything tests right, so I can't find any bad components. So they must have just stuck in the cheapest amplifier they could design. If it had AC bias, it would have ruined their reputation for cheap amplifiers ;>)

[legOldtimer]

No capstan and speech only... but a nice video!

Thanks for uploading.

[clydesight]

@legOldtimer Thanks for the compliment on the video.

[coolbluelights]

wow that's really neat looking! too bad the sound quality is so poor

[clydesight]

@coolbluelights

Yes, it is disappointing. But I checked the caps and transistors. Apparently, that's about as good as it gets. The tape has some recordings on it, they are almost unintelligible! It's a clever idea for a machine, but flawed in the amplifier and that recording head.