If you are seeking a cassette deck to use to make recordings, than it is my opinion that you should find a deck that has dbx noise reduction! The MARANTZ PMD-430 in my opinion was the best portable deck and still a great overall deck. See this link about PMD-430
http://www.audio-ideas.com/reviews/analog-sources/marantz-pmd430.html Other regular , home, cassette decks that were equipped with dbx, --Technics made a good number of them from about 1980 thru 1985. I still own and use several of them that I purchased back in 1982 and 1985. Teac made one excellent deck that had dbx that I'm familiar with and remember the exact model.
TECHNICS dbx equipped cassette decks, the few that I recall (there's plenty more):
Technics RS-M227X dbx / dolbyB / Left & Right 1/4 mic inputs/VU meters(needles)/manual select Norm-CrO2-Metal (circa'81)
RS-M228X
RS-M234X
RS-M240X circa '81 has led meters instead of VU needles
RS-B78R
RS-B48R
RS-B50 circa '84-'85 has led meters dolby b , dolby c and dbx , automatic bias selection, provision for timer
TEAC made an excellent dbx equipped deck Circa 1982 , It was TEAC V-5RX
All of those decks listed above have two 1/4 mic inputs and are Metal tape capable and have dbx and dolby b, some also have dolby c
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If you are simply looking for a useable tape deck to transfer various cassettes taped on various machines, or even generational copies from traders, etc, then I'd recommend a deck with a PITCH control (speed adjust) so that you can get that as it should be.
From the early to mid 1990's JVC produced several double decks that had dolby B, Dolby C , with HX Pro in which a PITCH CONTROL (round speed adj knob) on DECK A. The JVC TD-W709 is one such deck, (I bought one in '94). The W-709 can simultaneously record with both Deck A and Deck B at the same time. Pitch control on Deck A. Of course no twin mic inputs. There is a crappy single mic/mix knob for Deck B, basically worthless feature.
Besides the TD-W709 , other JVC models that I recall with pitch control:
JVC-W354
JVC-W707
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All of these cassette decks, with the lone exception of the Marantz PMD-430, which is still sought after, can be found on sites like ebay for $10 to $30 tops.
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Believe it or not, I still record with my B50, M227X , and M240X technics machines. The JVC only to transfer generational , 1st,2nd,3rd gen concert cassettes, acquired from about '74 to about '90.
I still use my Akai X-200D r2r deck, purchased back in 1971.
I still use my old MD machines too. I still like the old Sharp MD-MT821 even though its now 11 years old.