ScuzzBlog: Diaries April 2026
Entry 24th April 2026: Post 1: ITT RECORDER - ITT SL 54 automatic.
ITT RECORDER - ITT SL 54 automatic.
Today we travel back 52 years to what was then the second cassette
recorder that I owned. Sadly my original recorder was taken apart
by my dad after I left home, but today I am sorta reunited with
replacement of the very wonderful ITT SL 54.
I do have a later version of this unit but the one here is the very
model that I would have recorded all my guitar sessions back in the
period 1974 to 1978. From 1978 I would have used the SONY reel-to-
reel tape recorder with a proper microphone.
Much to the annoyance of my family and neighbours I would simply
press record, bang away at the Yamaha acoustic and scream into the
built in microphone. The sound quality wasn't bad. I would put my
name on each cassette and label DO NOT DESTROY. Amazingly I still
have all my tapes I created and that label has been honoured as I
didn't destroy them. Sadly the music is crap, but hey.
It is difficult to perceive today a world where the only device
you could record on was cassette and or tape recorder. If you wanted
moving images then you probably needed an 8mm camera. I was very
happy with the ITT which was also portable so I played it in the
car before I had a cassette player installed.
The ITT was a little larger than what became the more traditional
shoebox recorder. Remembering that this machine was nearly a full
decade before my ZX81 computer.
Anyhoo.. Not quite sure what happened to the remnants of my original.
My dad is no longer with us so I can't ask. Suffice to say , though,
I have a suitable replacement to remember those recordings, and tapes
of the hours I spent strumming away at my guitar.
To have and to hold. It's what collecting is all about. Happy days !!
ITT RECORDER - ITT SL 54 automatic.
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