Bumpboxx is fully embracing nostalgia with its latest boombox, the BB-777, which is modeled very closely on the legendary Sharp GF-777. A real deal GF-777 will set you back over $2,000 for one in working order. Plus, that vintage unit lacks modern amenities like Bluetooth or a rechargeable battery. Heck, it doesn’t even have a CD player.
The BB-777 takes the core of the GF, right down to the dual-cassette decks, control layout, and speaker specs printed above the subwoofers. It’s undeniably a gorgeous piece of gear with its vintage silver finish and extensive physical controls. But then it adds a replaceable battery pack, Bluetooth, and an LCD screen. One unfortunate loss is the analog VU meters, something that We Are Rewind managed to include on its Blaster boombox.
There are six speakers: Two Super Woofers with dedicated gain control, two coaxial speakers, and two horn tweeters. They’re pushing out a total of 270W, so volume shouldn’t be a concern. Unless, of course, you’re worried about it being too loud. The speakers are ported too, to help with bass response.
In addition to the dual cassette decks, the BB-777 has a slot-loading CD player, an AM / FM / shortwave radio, USB audio playback (MP3 / WMA / WAV / FLAC / ACC), an aux input (with an included RCA adapter), plus Bluetooth. It can even record directly to a USB drive from the tape decks, CD, or radio for digitizing and archiving. Basically, the only thing it can’t do is stream audio directly over Wi-Fi.
There are also two microphone inputs on the front in case you want to get real old school and use the BB-777 to host a rap battle in the park or MC a break dancing competition. There are also two built-in mics for reasons that I’m not entirely sure of. But it might come in handy if you just want to quickly record your kid saying something funny on cassette.
There is a handle for lugging it around, but you’ll probably want to make use of the shoulder strap if you’re going more than a few yards, as the BB-777 weighs in at a chunky 28-pounds. Instead of going straight to market, Bumpboxx is taking the BB-777 to Kickstarter first. A pledge of $649 will secure you one when they start shipping, supposedly in June. After that, they’ll cost $1,049 at retail.