Just wanted to introduce myself.

Yes @dweller , there were decks that recorded at 30ips. Before my time.

Ryan, it's so cool you are in touch with Brian Wilson.
And very cool that you're working with pro gear. My favorite deck was the Ampex 440, a real workhorse. Definitely need to have an engineer on staff to keep those up and running.

There are threads about tape stock and which is the best new production brand... SO expensive.

@lowrider57 FYI, I have an Ampex 300 3 track, I COMPLETELY forgot that one, and it's my biggest deck! Big as a refrigerator! 3 350 tube preamps! Yes, the 440 is a nice deck. :)

Ryan, do you have a studio setup with a console? Can you tell us what associated gear you are using?

Welcome Ryan,
I'm with ya, and my fav, teac....the A6010, which i first bought home from a far far eastern vacation courtesy of Uncle Sam,
But my all time fav is the Revox a77 Mark 3 dolby B (again 10" reels)
                                      Enjoy..........the mantaman

I've had a Teac X-10R since about 1982.  With it, I use a dbx 224 to remove tape hiss and dbx 3bx range expander. 

Back in the day, I'd spend hours and sometimes days mixing a 10" reel, or simply recording some of my favorite albums.  I don't have the patience or desire to do that anymore, but I still like listening to those old reels.