Dokorder

Frankly, I have nothing nice to say about Dokorder. The parent company was Sharp, and they came out with a number of decks over about a 15 year period, designed for both the consumer and pro markets. In the mid 1970s, they pulled full page ads, competing with Teac/Tascam, touting more features thanΒ  the equivalent Teac model.Β  While there are a bunch of units still running, with the original owners claiming that they have never been serviced, and are working fine, most Dokorders are a nightmare to work on.

Poor design and parts quality. When working, the Dokorders have the same good specifications and frequency response as any other deck for the most part. The big problem is that the overall parts quality, specifically the potentiometers and the switches were at a lower grade than other reel to reel manufacturers, and even the transport quality is less than other manufacturers of the time. As a result, the deck can have multiple problems, a lot of them intermittent, and a deck can come back to a repair shop several times for additional problems, especially if the deck is coming out of storage after a bunch of years of being dormant.

The top of the line Dokorder 1140, with a high KPD (knobs per dollar) count, in all its plastic.

As nowhere near as many Dokorders were sold as other brands such as Akai or Teac, Dokorder-specific parts are hard, if not impossible to find, and we try really hard not to get involved in servicing Dokorders (the same holds true for many other techs out there. Buy and use at your own risk.