This is a MCS (Modular Components System) 3331 8-track deck. MCS were lower level sound systems made by Panasonic/Technics for JCPenney in the 70s and 80s. This 8-track deck was made from 1977 to I think around 1979. I have the same 8-track deck and a couple MCS receivers (3222 and 3207).
Thanks for your insight into this machine. I have had one for years and just got a 78 Cadillac Eldorado with a factory 8 track. Time to get to work and record some music.
I own a Wollensak 8055 that has an identical feature set and also makes superb recordings. Its also an extremely handsome machine. I found it at a thrift store many years ago, and it still works fine. From what I gather online, it was released in. 1973, but I obtained it sometime in the early 80's.BTW, the correct spelling of the maker of your parent's deck is BSR/McDonald.
Thanks for showing this. I have the exact same model, from my older brother who bought it new around 1975 (maybe earlier, I'll ask him the next time I talk to him). Oddly, the left VU meter on mine flutters and is a bit wonky as well. I need to clean the whole thing up at some point, but it plays pretty well. There were two main problems with 8 tracks that I remember: 1) every now and then, you'd pull out a tangled mass of tape that had fed into the machine somehow (my brother was an expert at getting it back in, but the sound quality was even worse after touching the tape) and 2) through the years, the exact dimensions of new cassette cartridges seemed to change slightly--sometimes the newer cassettes were a little big for your machine and you'd have to put a matchbook under it to shim it up. This also raised the pitch of the recording. Nostalgic, but I'll stick to my LPs . . .
That's a cool deck. I also have a Panasonic RS-803US 8-track recorder and it's still a great deck for recording and playback 8-track tapes. It doesn't have an eject button until later models had it, but only pulled the tape out of the slot.
The sonic limitations of the 8-track came down to it's high-speed duplication process. In an effort to crank out more tapes, the speed of duplication was raised but the side effect of lowering frequency response was the result. Few 8-track players were designed to pick up frequencies over 12khz. Regardless, recording at regular speed had the effect of raising the frequency response! I've created some home-brew 8-tracks that sound amazing!
I have one of these and it had functioned well until I stopped using it. before the cassette got better for recording this was the only portable option had an 8 track on my car, portable player and did all my recordings at home with this deck. sound was not that bad as the tape speed was faster than a cassette thus a better playback, once they stopped producing blank recordable cartridges the cassette took over.
I have a Soundesign TX 0868. It has both cassette and 8 track. The 8 track plays fine but the record doesn't sound good at all and the cassette player and recorder sounds bad. Some knobs are a bit staticky too, would you know how to fix such a thing?
For the vu meter, it happens in sonys a lot, you can loose JUST A BIT the adj / retaining scree inside. For the head you can use a bit a polish and a dremel tool, low speed keeping always the head wet during the process. I polished a couple of corroded head with this method. It improved, not like new, but worked. The real time counter is a simple and clever idea. WHY all the tape deck manufacturers insisted on taking the counter from the REEL and not from the capstan ? ......
I have the same one. It won't play but everything else works. Counter not working so I assume the tape isn't turning. Question I have is how do I open it up to get to the inners like you have. ? Thanks
The noise in the audio is exactly like the machine my grandparents had long ago. What happens to the noise if you physically stop the motor while it is on? I wonder why it is random-like low end noise - I've played with lots of tape machines of various kinds (though not many 8 tracks) and this is only the second time I've heard it; also that other machine I've heard that noise from was quite similar in appearance, and made the exact same mechanical sound when changing tracks, same lever/ ratchet wheel mechanism
Ok thanks, so perhaps if only the motor is disconnected yet the amplifiers are on with out that noise I wonder if that is the sound of some kind of driver, speed controller servo or servo like thing seeking it's equilibrium. If that isn't (or is) the case I wonder if it's some sort of way of dampening the buzz that would come out of a dc motor commutator/coil discharge. I'm attempting to study vintage servos and speed controllers for my work.
I had one that had an eject feature, when you pressed the button or programmed it to eject after each track or a full play the tape would jump out of the player and fly about 6 feet across the room.
Great video and lots of good information. I am working with an 8-Track deck that is used in a 1974 Williams Action baseball pinball machine (known as a pitch and bat). I've cleaned up the tape and the deck and it works and sounds pretty good. When the tape is inserted in the machine some type of spring loaded device 'grabs and holds' the tape in place and against the capstan as it should. However, it seems to be pulling the tape 'inward' too much as the tape speed slowed down. If I pull out slightly on the tape cartridge it speeds back up to normal speed. Is this due to the tape being pulled into hard or due to the capstan axle / motor being dirty and the tension that is on it is enough to slow it down. Suggestion? I haven't pulled the capstan out yet but since you make it look easy in your video I may try that.
If it uses a belt that may need to be replaced. Remove the belt and spin the capstan. It should freely rotate. The motor itself should turn as free as any motor of the same type. If these suggestions don't help you might try asking on a pinball forum and see if anyone else has ran across the same problem.
Nice deck. However, I'd advise giving it a good cleaning. Looks like a fair bit of oil/gunk at the base of the capstan. You would not want that getting onto your tapes.
Nice deck. I would use a can of compressed air to blow out the dust and dirt. I still have a Realistic TR-801 deck, 8-track could sound very good if you had a quality recording deck and good tape, but there were too many cheap low watt stereos and poorly duplicated tapes back in the 70's that gave the format a bad name.
Plastic head support equals a cheap ass unit to cut cost, i remember a tv shop having a bag of those head supports and said toyoda japan on the bag not toyota but toyoda lol. a lot of micky mouse cheap players late 70's early 80 used that type of transport. i'll keep my pioneer h-r99.
