The RCA Victor CP-1 (Cartridge Player-1) of 1959 was the first stand alone magnetic tape recorder using pre-recorded or blank cartridges and preceded the infamous Philips compact cassette player by 4 years. At its launch the RCA Sound Tape Cartridge was heralded as a major leap forward in recording technology and reputedly took over 4 years for the RCA team to develop. For all intensive purposes the accolade was well founded as the player provided good quality recording with the added benefits of quick change overs, auto-reverse, longer recording times and a lower cost per cartridge than regular reels. Infact as a transition item the tape cartridges were designed so you could open them up and pop your reel of tape into it. There had been a few other machines slightly before the CP-1 which incorporated a cassette of tape, but most were integrated into other bespoke uses such as a car stereo or shop announcement machine.
Despite their efforts RCA were very slow to get their machine to market and by not releasing enough pre-recorded tapes for sale quickly enough, the idea failed to gain popular support in the market. By the early 1960s the RCA tape cartridge was effectively dead in the water.
There are a few good resources on the internet all about these fascinating and rare tape machines such as here , and a link to an original publicity video for the cartridge can be viewed by clicking here (please note the cartridge player begins at 8 minutes but the other machines are just as fun to watch also!).
While RCA would ultimately bring out several models of their cartridge recorder including stereo, console and educational models, the CP-1 was their first so is naturally the most historic. Because the idea was somewhat of a commercial failure, these early machines were never made in large numbers and very few seem to survive today. This has the serial number 3374.
This example is offered in very good complete condition throughout and only the original table microphone seems to be missing . Cosmetically it is in original untouched shape with just some light wear to the outside and the remnants of old corrosion on the metal fixtures. Mechanically it has been expertly brought back to life by Jerry Walker. The first episode for his repair series on this machine can be viewed below with further episodes viewable directly on Jerry’s You-Tube channel. Please note as this is a US machine it runs at 110v and 60Htz, so if you’d like to use it in the UK (or other countries) you’ll need suitable converters or else it may sound 20% slower than it should. It comes with two booklets and two cartridges and as well as a mix of 1960s music recorded onto both cartridges, one side interestingly has a recorded John Lennon tribute radio programme from 1980.
The price excludes international shipping so please ask for a quote.
