Akai Glass Head Tape decks are Garbage watch and find out why 

Exactly. Now if, like me, you make part of your money by transferring old recordings to digital, the glass crystal head machines are not for you. But otherwise, they are great. I've been servicing audio gear since 1977 and I have worked on hundreds of open-reel machines. Never have I seen an Akai glass crystal head with a wear groove. Not even the ones I've serviced this year, some 40+ years after they were made.

I have a GX 4000D with glass and x'tal ferrite head purchased in 1975 no screeching just good quality sound. Mostly EMI tapes purchased over the years...Perhaps I should return it to Akai !!!!!!!

yes its the tape lube is dried out not the head...akias dont have bad heads 458 transistors yea ...i have two akais a 635d an a 255 ..they sound very good ,,

It's more when they were manufactured and materials than how they were cared for. 70's and 80's tapes on mylar and polyester are usually suspect and the binder used in that period just didn't hold up. Those tapes should always be baked before playback.

Indeed. I have a GX-210. Fantastic tape machine, zero sound related issues.

why use tape? ita obsolete

​@@tacofortgens3471because it s a physical format and it involves you more into the process. You don t just copy paste some files or just click play on youtube.

​@@RDM-CassetteDeckRepairslike cd, but with all the noise and lack of dynamic range

Of course the tapes are the problem, always have. It is just they stick to the super smooth glass heads easier than the more porous surface of the metal heads. Magnetic tape was never a permanent medium. These tapes I am demoing were given to me. I actually dont own any myself as I tossed the few I had 20 years ago when the problem first started. I have dozens of old brown oxide tapes that play fine.

I doubt if it is realy exclusive glass problem. While winding tape is supposed not touch any head and as was shown was impossible to wind . I suspect the metal pinchrollers were in AKAI GX at least involved I use different R2R with metal heads and when tape is bad there is problem to use . If tape is precious and I want to use it I remove sticky residuum from both sides and tape is no more sticky. In past I did baking but it wasn't permanent and full, dangerous to spools so baking I gave up. Often people play such tapes overloading them mechanicaly. Not all R2Rs had this arranged in best way - this is expensive mechanics Simple arrangements with good tapes were not troublesome . . In Ampex it results in separation of magnetic layer, mostly near to end of tape on reel. First most important thing in R2R is cleanliness and limiting pulling forces in delicate tapes How to mantain it unfortunately is less discussed and technicaly varies depending on brands.

It does not have glass heads, and glass heads do not cause this issue. This issue is caused by tapes degrading over time. If you want a good recording experience, use late BASF or Maxell tapes or new RTM tape.

@@Farmeraap Thank you. I use Nu Finish to clean and lubricate old squeaky tapes.

This is not a problem on cassette decks afaik

Wonder if this might work for shedding cassette tapes? I might try it. 🍻 -AL

In 1972 I purchased tape made by Audio Magnetic Corporation which I used a lot in 70 ties ( triple play 18um) and use also till today and is perfect. On box between other is information that it has "greater lubrication due to build in silicone and antistatic agents" Never any problem with winding or playing.

It's ironically sad that Ampex wound up struggling to make reliable tape for both audio and video despite being a company that pioneered the field of magnetic tape recording. And, yeah, it was pretty much a Japanese game at that point, especially Fuji, TDK, and Maxell ... and not necessarily in that order.

George Simpson yeah I’ve never run into this before either, the only thing I got out of this video is that if you don’t take care of your toys they don’t work well.

12voltvids did say that the problem was "crappy tapes".

The problem IS a tape problem. However, that said you can not write of the fact that the same tape, not cleaned or dried will play without issue on a standard head machine. Only the glass heads have this problem, and don't even think of playing an acetate tape on a glass head machine or you wil end up with a pile of brown dust below your tape deck. One shouldn't be playing with acetate tape anyway. One spark and it is game over.

Jeff Massey the video is specifically titled “Akai glass head tape decks are garbage” not “don’t use crappy tapes on your deck” I have a hard time believing ALL of my tapes don’t have this issue and it’s just dumb luck, but yet someone else has a shit ton of these crappy tapes and it’s also just luck.

I have NO problems with my tape decks with glass heads. I WOULD NOT play a tape with sticky tape syndrome on any of my machines ! I actually prefer Glass Heads.

It happens a lot on older Sanyo Beta machines too except for the later ones that unthread the tape during fast forward and rewind.

Yes,there is-physically.But that's not the biggest issue-it's electrical.The Akai GX heads,by their very nature,had different impedance(AC resistance)and output,especially at the higher frequencies,than even their own standard metal heads.The machine would need it's equalization and levels recalibrated to the metal heads characteristics in order to have reasonably flat response,and proper output levels in playback.It would be possible to do that,with the right test equipment and a calibration tape,to change the value of the capacitors and resistors in the EQ circuit.However,the record head would,electrically be a bit more of a challenge,especially with not only the record EQ,but the bias circuit having to be compatible with the new head-although still doable.but more difficult to equalize properly.The thing to do,is to look up the head resistance/impedance,of the head to be replaced in the GX machine,usually given in Akai's service manuals,then look up the same information in their metal head (non GX) models,until you find find the closest match electrically,and physically,if possible.

I'm not sure about applying any coating onto a head,but years ago,one might salvage an old tape,even if only to play it just enought to dub the material on it to fresh tape.Find some PURE silicon spray,and apply(mist) it to a microfiber cloth.Not too much,you only need a little film of silicone on the tape.Let the cloth dry a while,then put the tape on the machine,bypassing the guides-straight from one reel to another.Even an old 8mm movie projector would work for this,Put the machine in fast-wind mode,letting the tape pass between the siliconed cloth,pinching the cloth around the tape.Make a few passes,changing the cloth's position to a fresh spot each time. After this,do the same thing,only with a dry ,untreated microfiber cloth,to clean away any residue loosened by the silicone.Let set a day or two at room temperature,then it should be ready to play.

If you are referring to my 4000 that is not a clutch. That is the auto stop switch and it is bypassed by the power switch. When the power switch is set to off, lifting that arm turns the power on. That way when playing, rewind or ff, when the tape ends it turns off. If the power switch is on, it is bypassed.

The screech is one of the symtoms of SSS. Cheers

What the tape sticks, it will screech as it is dragged across the transport.

Back coated tapes have a dull black finish on the back.

I recommend a seller on Ebay by the name " Xiat" ....usually the best price and they are brand new.

Thanks!

@outlawrickenbacker I don't use any tape myself. Haven't for years. Won't be buying any new tape. I am getting rid of this old junk.

If you are recording, why buy NOS when you can buy fresh tape? Have a look at "recording the masters" and ATR, they produce fresh tape for reel to reel decks. No way I would want to gum up my units tape path by putting crappy old tape through it.

You showed that the sticky tape would not even rewind. How can that be blamed on the glass heads as normally the tape does not even touch the heads when rewinding?

@@aholatom It can't be blamed on the heads in fast wind,Tom.The drag is in the path the tape takes through the serpentine path of the closely located guides,and past the 3 tape-lifter pins,which are stationary.

Not tension arm. Auto shut off switch which is bypassed by the power switch. There are 2 modes. Auto and on. On auto, power is controlled by that tape lever. If it is up the unit is on, if down it is off. I actually did mention it, for the simple folk that would jump all over me for not threading it over it and cut it because I might have been considered by done to be insulting their intelligence. I guess I should have left it in, because everyone is educating me thinking I don't know how the nurses works.

@@12voltvids nurses? Here was me thinking the tensioner might be defective, thanks for explaining. I thought most tape decks had tension detectors, maybe only those that use the larger reels? Sorry I don't know everything about them, I have wanted a reel to reel since about 1976 when I used to visit hi-fi shows but could never afford one, so I speak from a position of ignorance! My dream machine used to be one of those Technics high end decks, these days, no idea, if I find the money I would have to spend many hours researching.

No. No felt.

My Akai 1721W doesn’t have a felt pad, my Concord 220 has felt pads for both record and playback.

They have no effect on fast winding modes, as there are tape lifters to prevent the tape touching the heads during these modes, mainly to prevent excessive head wear and secondly, high pitched sounds that would blow tweeters.

I didn't hear of it in case of GX cassette decks. Most tapes for cassette decks use different tape formulations without back coating. I would ask people on tapeheads forum for analog recording.

I cleaned my Beta machine the other day and found lots of pieces of tape oxide all over the mechanism. It's the very old Sony βetamax and Sony Dynamicron series of tapes that suffer from binder damage.

It mustn't apply to cassette decks as I've had a GX-32 for 30 years and never had this problem.

@@clogstoclogsproductions9944 I hope not. The Akai is my favorite deck!

@@clogstoclogsproductions9944 Cassette tape is not prone - generally- to the sticky-shed problem. That's why you don't see it with GX cassette decks.

Some times you don't have a choice. If it is the ONLY recording of something important you either play it, or you have lost the recording. That was the point. If you have a bad tape, find a recorder with conventional heads and it will play just fine. The heads will likely get dirty but they clean up easy enough. Baking helps, but is no guarantee that it will fix the problem.

@@12voltvids Those glass heads will also ruin your tapes. Customers would get pissed when I told them to get a lower priced deck and that their problems would be over. That was over 40 years ago, once a bad idea always a bad idea.

Well that depends on how long the reel of tape is and the recording speed.

Ok. I guess they're 7 inch reel tapes,,,I've seen sizes up to 10 inch reels.

With only 7" reels, but with using triple play tape (rare) instead LP (x2) and speed 1,7 "/s (4,7cm/s) instead 9,5 cm/s you may get even total 12 hours for one reel. To enjoy sopranos at 4,7 cm you need exceptional speakers - for all usual speakers 4,7 is disappointing but it is due to bad speakers, not speed. . For my speakers speed 4,7cm/s instead 9,5cm/s may be in many cases accepted in comparison to doubled time of playing. For home usage reels bigger than 7" are (in my opinion) not reasonable because at home we do not need speeds more than 9,5cm/s. With speeds 7"/s (19cm/s) (and more) we spped up wear of R2R mechanic and heads

You just don't get it do you. If you have an old tape, that has material on it that you need to archive, you have no choice but to play it. That is the point. That 30 year old tape will play better on a non glass head machine.

but the heads are not a shit but a tape and your clickbait title is misleading It's like I want wrote that Ferrari is a shitty car and explain later that is not good for offroad Using an old condom from goat intestine you can expect pregnancy or venereal diseases The same applies to old tapes

@@pm3868 if the glass heads don't play then they pretty much suck! ( in my opinion) I would take some 1000 Grit sandpaper and scuff up the glass heads so they're not so slick. You would still have the glass heads only, it would work. Because if you can not listen to your music on them, there's no sense in having it!

@@12voltvids Sticky shed or dry 30 year old tape is shit. Glass heads just amplify the shit condition of your tape. At the end of the day, your tape is shit.

Cassette mechanism is much different, and most important, smaller. Half of it is situated in the cassette itself. And in every individual cassette is a small felt that presses the tape against the head, and such construction will dampen these sort of oscillations.

Oh yes they do get worse than these samples. I have had tapes that I have had to stop every few minutes and clean the heads. Lots of 8mm and hi8 video tapes that have failed and clog heads every couple of minutes.

The ones that start out "GX"

I mean, in the end, tape as a format was abandoned for a reason. Fragility, bulkiness, and lets not forget lack of stereo separation, poor dynamic range, and larger amounts of noise. So moot point trying to argue over a dead format. Just saying, lol

@@wyokaiju992-Tape was not abandoned necessarily for all the reasons that you named.Let's address it one point at a time.1)fragility-the most fragile medium is the phonograph record.Vinyl,being necessarily a soft medium,which gives it elasticity to survive multiple plays,is easily scratched,contaminated with dirt,and the very fine Hi-frequency modulations in the grooves are easily wiped away by all but the best cartridges and tone arms.Tapes,while they can be damaged,are still much tougher,and can function under conditions, while suffering much less damage,than records can.Try taking your vinyl albums to the beach. 2)Lack of stereo separation and dynamic range..Yes,Digital is superior to tape in that regard-but it's the only medium that is.FM,which a lot of people still listen to,has the poorest frequency response,S/N,separation,and dynamic range of all mediums.Next is cassettes,which still are widely used.Where tape meets its match in most areas,is vinyl,where the two mediums average out about even in these three areas.The only reasons records cannot have more dynamic range,is that if the dynamics were not limited to around 60dB,the groove excursions would be beyond everything but the very best cartridges could track.However,some reel to reels far exceed that margin. My Akai GX747dBx has 100dB overall S/N ratio,128 at 1kHz,matching,and even exceeding a CD! It also goes out to 33kHz,exceeded only by digital. 3)Bulkiness-I will agree with you on just this one point,because its way too obvious to argue.People who like music want to take it with them.So portability and ease of use are paramount.This is where the digital can be useful-no moving parts,nothing to break or jam,or get contaminated. And it is, admittedly,rather difficult to stuff that Pioneer 1020 or the Revox B77 into your pocket.Unless you're Captain Kangaroo. Oh,one more point of disagreement.That of tape being a dead format. If you had written this statement back,let's say in the nineties, I might have agreed with you. Back then. But you wrote this just 8 months ago.Things have changed,Pal. Have you noticed more and more artists are returning to analog tape recording,and have you also noticed the prices that these vintage reel decks are now going for? The Akai GX747 silver is selling for,at minimum,it's original price of $1500.00,while my aforementioned GX-747 dBx Black,which I found in the corner of a pawn shop in the nineties,that I paid all of $200 for, is now selling for well over $4000.00! Dead format? I don't think so!

​@@charlesrichards1240tapes are garbage, where they belong

Interesting thought, but I wonder if that would degrade the fidelity of the head pickup? Seems like it would ware off quick also. Really the only time it is a problem is with old tape.

I haven't tried it myself, but I've head furniture polish works to a degree. I mean I've certainly used it on CD's to eliminate some scratches with a bit of success, but I get it, 2 different worlds. But you are right, there should be something for a "simple" polish up

They are fine with good tape.

Cassette tapes were different formulation.

@@12voltvids To call glass heads "garbage" is stupid for a smart technician like you. I have an Akai GX 280D bought overseas in 1971 while in the military. The tapes I made back then I still play and they sound the same as when I recorded them. Yes they are not back coated tape. Those came out later and I have had some squealing with after 20+ years. But the squealing comes from the tape lever guides. If you lift the tape over the metal guides it stops. I also own an Akai GX265D with much better design for tape guides. It plays the same back coated tape with no squealing. And it has those great non wearing glass heads!

@@richardwestfall7535 Glass heads were garbage and that is coming from someone that owns one. They wear a long time but they sound like shit. They always have. If you have never compared it to other heads then you don't know what i am talking about. My sendust head reel to reel absolutely destroys the sound of the glass head unit. There is a reason many avoided them. They were marketed well. The sss tape problem is just another reason to avoid them. Sound quality is the real reason they suck.

Again you are wrong. I will send you a tape recorded with my Akai with GX heads and will sound just as good as one recorded with permalloy heads. Your machine either has defective heads or not calibrated for optimal sound.

@@richardwestfall7535 opinions are like assholes. Everyone has one. Go talk to professional studio musicians and they will tell you the exact same thing. glass heads were junk. The only people that think they are better are those that overpaid for a vintage deck with them and they get upset when others tell them the truth. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.

And accept a frequency response that does never rise to specs. A cut-off before 20 kHz.

I had a few reel to reel players with metal head assembly, so I didn't lose out on high end frequency response levels. I used the metal head units for my music production and playback, but I used the glass head Akai for general/background music plus as a novelty because most visitors to my studio had never seen nor heard of glass tape heads, lol

@@erikdenhouter Yes,Erik,that's the problem with applying any kind of a coating to the head directly.It doesn't take much spacing at all,especially with the design of the glass head having a "focused field" characteristic.Which meant the magnetic field was very narrow and shallow.That's what gave the head it's great high frequency response and efficiency,which would be defeated by any kind of coating acting as a barrier to intimate contact with the tape.BTW-ever wonder why Ampex heads lasted so long,but had much poorer HF response? They were deep-gap heads,which meant there was much more material at the gap.But the deep gap made them less efficient,especially at high frequencies.and had to be equalized to compensate.One of Akai's main selling points about the GX head,was that because the material was so much harder,and impervious to wear compared to standard permalloy heads,,they could make the pole pieces much thinner at the gap,increasing efficiency at the high frequencies,and reducing the need for excessive HF equalization,and thus better noise figures as well.

​@@charlesrichards1240Indeed, I think that 22 kHz was possible on 19 cm/s ? Even the smallest disturbance like a thin coating will damage that. The the x-tal ferrite head is much more shaped like a bullet to lower surface contact and raise surface pressure. This makes it less likely that dirt sticks. For that any coating is probably gone in the first few hours of use, because a coating cannot be so hard to withstand the pressure for the few square millimetre of tape contact. But, the coating will be gone only from that contact surface, and maybe that is why the squeezing stops for longer, because as the head wears out, tiny quantities of more coating will be released onto the tape as a lubricant. The Ampex heads I have never seen, but the old metal heads were much more round, and surface contact a multiple, and frequency response lower.

Frequency response needs to be flat in an as widely possible range, so that 100 Hz is recorded and plaback just as loud as 1000 Hz or 10.000 Hz, or 19.000 Hz. From the moment you start using the head, the frequency response goes down, from (say 19.5 kHz for a cassette deck) until you start to notice that the highs are not as clear any more. The highs suffer the first from a head worn out. Yes, a lot of heads are replaced after a few years, depending on the use.

@@erikdenhouter This problem is just the reason why AKAI developed GX heads which are supposed to be very reliable . Another soliution to that "band problem" was 360X system where bias field is applied by separate head which does not wear at all. Becuse effect of limited sopranos is mainly due to recording head condition. Good recorded tape will play with almost permanent quality untill play head is BADLY wear "to bottom" . But user may aviod problems by decreasing force pushing the tape to head and that is by keeping the tape streached as low as possible, limit the angle of touch and preventing any dirt.

A friend of mine owns this machine, too, and it's gorgeous. Newer tapes sound crisp and detailed, but some older tapes have a screeching sound not found when I played them on my Sony deck. Now I have the answer.

I don't think back-coated compact cassettes ever existed but I might be wrong...

To observe: the GX machines you show are three motor types. The have a motor with fixed torque on each reel. The non-GX machine you use is a one motor type, the torque is produced trough a felt slip clutch, so could deviate from the preferred settings. Also the surface which is touched by the tape is different at both machine types. Use a stethoscope to find on which part the tape squeaks ?

I just read one of your reactions below: not aware how this particular model is set up (I haven not seen a model with central capstan yet), but tape that touches the record head (or any head) while FF of Rewind is questionable, if not stupid. I would like to see a stable close up video while rewinding without the head lid attached so we could see the mechanism at work. You show us nothing now, but I see you state this: "On the gx260 the lifter only pulls the tape off the playback heads. Tape is still in full contact with record and erase heads". If that is true, I think that that is then a big problem of this particular design with the central capstan. Again, they were not available in the Netherlands then.

@@erikdenhouter a dry one

I originally said "sh1t" but I didn't want to abuse my powers to self rate. Mild profanity can cause ad limiting. "crap" doesn't have the same impact.

@@12voltvids Compared to inserting a beep, the voice over with *crap* is a very elegant solution though 👌

The "sticky tape" problem can be traced to three things,none of which has anything much to do with the type of head material.I say MUCH,because there is an exception.Manufactureres used a binder,or "glue"to hold the oxide on the tape.Some were more successful than others in their formulas. Of course,those tape manufacturers never thought,or never intended, their tapes were going to last or be played 50+ years out.,because since tapes were common then,and played fairly often,that they would stretch,break,or suffer other physical damage,necessitating replacement,long before the binder would turn sticky or dry out.The same for the (silicone or other) lubricants added to the oxide coating.Nothing lasts forever.I have a very large collection of open reel tapes,some dating back to the late 50's-and almost every one of them still play perfectly-on both my Akai glass-head and metal head machines.The only reel problem I have had (pun intended) is with the acetate base on some of them being so fragile it snaps very easily.Earlier,I said the head material doesn't have MUCH to do with tape squeal and sticking,as I explained.But where it DOES make a difference,is when a tape is either been played SO MANY times that it is worn shiny, whereas the ultra-smooth glass head sticks to it(especially if the lubricant has dried out)-like two highly polished blocks,or pieces of sheet glass put together,will stick to each other.Or,in the case of an ordinary permalloy head,versus the hyperbolic head-the more gradual curve of the standard head,having a much larger contact area,would present MORE drag on the tape moving past it,as opposed to a hyperbolic head,with a much smaller radius,almost pointed..And ALL Akai GX heads(except the erase head,which is radiused,and usually phenolic,or bakelite) are hyperbolic,with a very sharp radius,minimizing contact area,and thus drag on the tape.Or,a third possible cause-takeup and supply tension,and/or drag being set too high,resulting in too much tension.Usually single motor decks use some sort of felt drag washer or pad on the supply side,and a felt slip clutch on the takeup side.Either of these could be faulty.Or,in the case of three-motor machines,virtually all of them have an adjustable ceramic wirewound resistor to limit takeup and holdback tension.,which may be out of adjustment,or changed tolerance,or defective..

Lots of tapes play fine. Just a batch of the so called "High grade" tape. Hi Grade beta and 8mm video tapes were also problematic. High grade tape is suposed to be smoother, and able to record higher resolution. All my rusty old tapes play just fine. Sorry, couldn't rersist... Rusty tapes... iron oxide, get it.

@@12voltvids Yeah, those are the jokes folks! Maybe that is why I had bother with cassettes as well, some used to stick to the capstan roller, others, cheaper ones didn't, they just played. The ones I found best were the cheaper one with less performance and sounded a bit dull, other better sounding one were always tangling round the capstan roller. No matter what deck I used i always had this problem, but then again, there were no glass heads involved. Is that part of the same problem, or is it they were just asking to much for cassettes to work properly, I sometimes think the film they put in the help the tape slide round inside was pert of the problem with them I never had a real to real with glass heads, then we moved house to a smaller one and the wife took every excuse to throw everything that took up room, the real to real was one off them. All my hi-fi gear went to the dump. Except I kept the Yamaha Direct drive turntable and Amplifier, but they live in a shed, no room she says. There is no radio or Hi-fi in the living room at all now! I miss music so much I use the Laptop to play everything and listen on headphones. There was almost a murder when she tried to throw out the huge loudspeakers. I bought a Dab radio and she took it through to the kitchen! Every time I take it back it goes back through! I want a stereo one anyway, something to play radio, Mp3, (and other types of file) and CDs, plus have Blue tooth with Internet radio on it as well, plus it has to be small enough to get in this tiny room. Not asking for much am I. A lot of people do not realise it is close to rust that is on tape. I have seen a lot of arguments about that. But it is not worth arguing about. Why did they make tapes that are crap?

" Tangling round the capstan" is almost always caused by the pick-up pully that does not turn, and that is often because there is friction in the cassette, or the pick-up torque is to low. Cassette decks that play horizontal have a higher chance to get it than the ones that play the cassette vertically, for the difference in friction inside the cassette.

@@erikdenhouter Yeah, but it happened on brand new decks as well, the pick up had plenty of pull on all decks. Funny though, the one with the least pull worked the best. It was a Pioneer. I think it had more to do with the plastic that was supposed to help the tape slide round, sometimes you could see the plastic moving quite a bit. I was glad to see cassettes vanish.

Ten years ago (give or take) I bought some ' TDK SA90 super rigid mechanism II ' cassettes, SA-90BEA. I always trusted TDK, but the rewind of a machine I was working on did not get it round when the pulley was fully wound. I turned up the torque, but it did not go. Every other cassette had no problem. I opened the brand new cassette, and found two plastic foils on top and under the tape reels, were the whole tape contacts with. There were grooves pressed in the surface, and these grooves stick above the surface of the foil about a millimetre, and 'suppose' to make the contact area smaller. But instead it clamped the tape roll to much between the two foils. I removed one of the foils, and the FF/Rewind flew like a rocket. For these little glitches I dislike cassettes too, it is fighting with the margins, specially if the original parts aren't around any more.

"Screeching during playback, won't rewind or ffwd". That is something else you hear, the wheels that drive the pickup pulley slips, rubber on plastic. Maybe your cassette has stuck.

I have an Akai GXM50 and i like it very much! Cheers

He actually does, glass ferrite heads are known among studio professionals to have a less than stellar sound. I would never cut an album mix to any deck using glass heads.

On the gx260 the lifter only pulls the tape off the playback heads. Tape is still in full contact with record and erase heads.

@@12voltvids Then there is likely also a problem with the lifter mechanism. I can't believe Akai designed a machine that allows the tape running against the heads in fast wind. Even with glass heads, that would accelerate wear dramatically. It may be that the lifters aren't engaging fully. As for the squealing, it's really hard to comment. We're many years down the road now and lots of things have aged. Maybe the glass heads are the problem, but there's other possibilities. I've had many a deck on the bench with squeal induced by wear in the guides or incompatibility with certain tape types. These machines are now operating in conditions 40-50 yrs down the road, not envisioned by the original designers; i.e., brittle tape with dried out lubricant. I wouldn't characterize that as a design flaw. Your comparison with the other Akai also introduces lots of other variables. One machine is auto reverse with a center capstan and 4 heads, while the other is a straight 3 head single direction unit. Very different tape path to go along with the different heads. Not disputing that the heads may play a role, but there's other issues to explore.

John Stone: " I can't believe Akai designed a machine that allows the tape running against the heads in fast wind". That is exact my concern. In the video we can't see the mechanism, although it is not difficult to remove the head cover with Akai machines. I can accept a little that the machine with the central capstan is like thatr because I never saw this design at work, but we see a second GX machine (I cannot see the model number) with the capstan on the right, and I know that design. Still the same problem, squeezing noise AND fast winding stalls. It is just not logical to design a reel to reel machine that wears its 4 heads at fast forward and rewind, and also its tape.

@@erikdenhouter there are 2 bars that lift the tape from the play heads only one on each side but the tape is in full contact with erase and record heads. As far as tape wear on fast wind the lifter will cause just as much wear as the heads. On other machines they still have 2 lift bars one left of erase and one right of play. The 260 has 6 heads. E R P capstan P R E for forward and reverse. The lift bar is right next to the 2 play heads. Tape still contacts the 2 record heads 2 erase heads and the electrical sensors for the auto reverse sensing foil that is stuck at the leader to trigger auto reverse.

@12voltvids : "E R P capstan P R E for forward and reverse." OK, that is the one with the central capstan. I am for now more interested in the other, and just cannot accept that the heads are touched by the tape on fast wind. Still it squeezes at such action. As long I don't see for myself it is difficult to argue. You could have made it easier by removing or opening all head covers, so the mechanism would reveal their working, but that is caused by spontaneous posting I guess.

Even on good tape glass heads are very hard on tape.

YEP. But sometimes discovered other sources, like the pressure pad (you take it out and is worn out and polished to perfection) and some issue on the tape cassete itself. To recover the recordings I move the "reel" to another mechanism.

@@38911bytefree I had a cassette which had bad tape and a pressure pad desintegrated. So i removed the pressure pad and played it on my dual capstan deck. It played jus fine for 10 minutes then the tape particles were on the heads and tape guides and this caused it to sqeak. I had to clean the tape path every 10 min to recover the recording.

When I saw the title, I assumed someone had been reading SiliconChip electronics magazine.

I just call it SSS.

The glass heads work great on vintage oxide tapes, and even newer tapes, but I do not, for a second believe they outperform a good conventional head. A permalloy or sendust head will blow those glass heads to bits. After all they are just a ferrite (iron) head. They will last forever, and they sound respectable, but with lots of old SSS tapes around it is best to avoid them, especially if buying an old machine unless you know that you will never have a bad tape.

I am sure they perform as well as a conventional head if brandnew. But you cannot find them any more, and the ones that go around have weared, just as a conventional head, but slower. I remember that they wear out within 2 years, if used in a 8 hours a day setting, like restaurants. They came with a lifetime guaranty on the part, not on labour cost.

TEAC and Sony here.

Good luck with their crappy brushed DC capstan motors. Teac sure picked some absolutely rubbish circuit design and horrid capstan motors for those machine.

Sticky shed is far worse on glass heads.

Most do have ferrite heads. Even the glass heads were ferrite, set in glass instead of a resin base in a metal housing.

@@12voltvids so the ferrite and ferrite were glass? They were more expensive too. I think they lasted longer. Sony pulled the tape off all the heads so they lasted longer.

@@markanderson350 No ferrite and ferrite were conventional heads. Other materials were permaloy, sendust ect. AFAIK Akai was the only company that used Glass and Xtal ferrite heads.

@@12voltvids I never liked akai, even the name is ugly. That other akai sure sounds good though. I don't like two knobs myself.

Permaloy wears fast, that's why they switched to Ferrite. But I don't know what is the difference between, say Sony Ferrite, Ferrite, and Akai XTall Ferrite other than the use of glass as filler. I know Sendust is exclusive to Nakamichi machines with the tape pad lift - they somehow managed to make their machines sound better than they should. And what is Amorphous head really made of, if someone knows the answer.

Can't control the old tape that comes in to be digitized.

@@12voltvids Dont blame the machine, blame the tape. Use a machine that can tolerant shit tape or bake it. This video is just sloppy. Glass heads are fine; they just don't tolerate shit tape.

Lots of hype over them, and you can sure get people that over spent to buy an old machine with them going if you put them down. You are correct, they sound like crap compared to other heads.

The tape is the issue but you just don't understand. First of all I don't use tape. I dumped all tape years ago. I do however offer an archive service. I have no control what type of tape a client brings me. If it is on that sss tape is won't play worth shit on my glass head decks but usually plays with no issue on my non glass head machine. Baking a clients tape is not an issue because if I fuck it up it is then my problem. Many times these tapes are bands session tapes they want on digital. I never ever use glass head machine for archive work. I use my teac 4 track for all archive work as it supports 15ips which some material is recorded at. Never have any issues on that machine.

Glass heads are not that remarkable. Performance wise they are no better then a ferrite head and there are many alloys that have much better magnetic properties than ferrite, or iron heads. If you believe that the glass heads perform better I have ocean front property in Las vegas to sell you. They were a marketing ploy, and yes they do last longer but performance is nothing special.

I still have my original Akai 1710w my dad brought home in 1969. I also have a gx260 and 4000. The 260 has glass heads. Sounds ok but the 4000, my teac and Sony decks sound better.

Problem is some people can't handle the truth and sure get bent out of shape and very defensive.

@@12voltvids I wonder if it would be worth the time or possible, if you could change that glass head out for another one? I got lots of broken machines around....LOL I wonder how different the characteristics are and what you would have to change? Have you thought about that before? Maybe different bias voltages or I wonder if the drive circuitry is different for these heads? Maybe I need to quit wondering.... LOL Now it will bother me till I know.... LOL -AL

@@bigalsmallengines just use a machine that has conventional heads. My glass head unit sits collecting dust.

@@12voltvids Yeah I do actually. Anytime I have old tapes I don't play them on the glass head machine. Thing is, a lot of my old reels are to the point of no playback on those machines. So mine are becoming dust collectors also. Pleasing to look at, but collecting dust. I actually traded two Akai glass head players for a Akai X-2000S. Quite a unique machine with a built in cassette and 8 Track player.... LOL . Cheers 🍻 -AL

And how many years do they think I have? I got my first high end reel to reel in 1969 when I was a kid. I bought the gx265 new when it first came out and had to save all my paper route and law cutting saving to but it when I was a teen. I have seen the sss problem many, many times and the worst offenders were the glass head units. I also networked with many techs in my service days and we all had more problems with glass head machines. While you are correct the 2 gx machines are 3 motor vs 1, I can do the same test if you like with my teac 4 track which is a studio quality 4 track, was used in a recording studio and has 3 motors and I can assure you the results will be the same as I have played sss tapes on it and they play just fine. So your theory of the 3 vs 1 motor is out the window. I don't just base my opinion of the glass head on my own theory. Many recording engineers also have the same theory. I know a few guys that were in the recording industry from bands such as 5 man electrical band, the haunted and trooper just to name 3 that were active in recording when those tapes were around and they will not permit any of their tapes on glass head machines for archiving even after baking and lubricating. They all said they same thing, they were hard on the tapes. Now the question is why is anyone still using tape anyway. That stuff belongs in a museum to be forgotten along with the wire and wax cylinder recorders.

@@12voltvids OK, don't get upset - I'm just tired of people who - unlike you - have recently bought a r-to-r at a thrift store and after using it for a couple of weeks they make an hour long video about it where they speak as if they have a lifes worth of experience using the thing! The same can be said about electronic organs and probably most other retro-things. And why do we use them? For me it's partly nostalgia, partly that I have several hundreds of tapes that I just can't be bothered converting to digital - except those that I want to share with others.

@@organfairy for me they are production machines as I run an archive business. You should see the number of DAT tapes I digitize for local musicians because all the recording studios have dumped their DAT decks. I do a couple of dat tapes a month and on average 100 video tapes to dvd or digital a month. It is almost a full time job that keeps me busy most evenings

I can't believe the ignorance of people. Just saying to throw away the tapes and use new ones implies that people are still using these boat anchors. Sure if you are using them to record you will use new tapes but the problem for the vast majority is recovering these old tapes that have recordings made 50+ years ago. Sure you can bake them but you still do not want to let a priceless recording that may be on that tape neat any glass head machine.

Cassette tapes generally did not have that SSS problem. Just certain formulations of open reel tape, typically the crapy back coated tape, and I think it has something to do with that back coating. It was created to give the pinch roller more grip, and dissipate static. I personally thing the problem happens when the back coating is pressed up against the magnetic layer on the spool. A chemical reaction happens, that draws in moisture from the air and makes the tape surface sticky, or perhaps the moisture migrates some compounds from the back coating onto the surface of the tape and since this back coating was likely a latex or polyester base, is created a sticky film on the tape that sticks to the very smooth surface of those glass heads.

@@12voltvids Thank you for explaining - moisture and some chemistry being the culprit.

@@pliedtka There are a lot of articles about SSS on the net.

@@12voltvids I have several reels of back coated tape and that is the reason i dont use them on my Akai.

I had a VHS tape today that stuck to the guides

@@12voltvids That's unfortunate especially when you're trying to archive something only for the medium to not hold up. So far I've been lucky not to run into any videotape related problems yet apart from some mold on a few Betas and VHS. 8mm has been good to me so far.

Glass heads cause more problems with sticky tapes. Saying just don't use that tape is not a solution. When a tape arrives to be digitized I have no control of what it was recorded on. Many tapes made 50 years ago were recorded on ampex crap tape. These tapes stick to glass heads which impede the playback and further damage the tape. These same tales play without much trouble on my conventional machines. I have 12 reel to reel recorders.

Glass heads are just ferrite heads set in glass and will perform just like any old ferrite head. There are far superior materials that heads were made out of such as perm alloy and sendust as well as others. These newer heads, be it slight softer metal have superior magnetic characteristics. Glass heads should be viewed as a long life head designed for minimal wear. For sound quality you definately want something better.

@@12voltvidsI thought as much. The GX260 (A machine I have owned since I was a teenager) Had developed many problems, micro switch had gone bad, had to replace four capacitors in the audio path, one in the power supply (the one in the PSU had leaked, the others had gone bad) and six transistors. (They had gone noisy). All the pots on the record and playback boards had become unreliable too. A new capstan belt and reconditioned pinch roller were also fitted. (although to be honest I think that the original pinch roller is probably okay, kept it as a spare) When I had finished setting the machine up I was reasonably pleased, it was the first time it had worked correctly in years and I am quite attached to it! However I think the 4000 D performs equally well in most areas (except wow and flutter) and has a better frequency response! The Revox is the best of the three but is an upmarket machine anyway so maybe not a fair comparison. I found your video to be most interesting as it confirmed what my gut feelings. When I was a teenager I was sold on the idea of glass xtal Ferrite heads, if only I had known better!

@@sebastiansekinger5070 Yup, I avoid using my gx260. I use my 4000mk2 for most stuff and my big 4 track teac.

@@12voltvids Love those Teac machines, always wanted one!

The glass head is smooth and the problem is the tape is correct however, If you have a deteriorated tape you need to get material off if you do not want to do it with a glass head machine because they are too smooth and will tear the oxide off even after baking. Friend of mine recording engineer and musician over 60 years. Would never use glass head machines for archiving work. Same with the old Sony betamax drums that got polished to a mirror line surface by very smooth high grade tapes. This in turn causes excessive tension and tape slap. Take drum apart and remove the sheen and restore it to the mat finish and reassemble. This mat finish allows a micro air gap that allows the tape to run smooth. Same with audio heads. Glass was a good idea but caused more headaches than it solved. Ask any recording engineer about this. I know several and they all have the same opinion. It was these guys that showed it to me. I used to be on the glass head bandwagon and have a 6 head gx260d akai. Used to brag about how good it was untill i was shown how bad they really are and my eyes were opened. I now use a conventional machine to play old tapes after baking of course.

I don't need to ask Sound Engineers, I am one. Again the problem as I mentioned before are the bad tapes. In big recording studios no machines have glass heads. That problem just doesn't exist. Probably your friends worked in smaller studios with Akais with glass heads. I worked with a production company in 2007 that the radio spots were still finished in Akai recorder just for smaller stations that were not digital. Never had a problem. The shedding in the metal guides is because of tape age and where had being stored for years. Not the head.

@@josemiranda1241 the guy i know worked in a good size studio and no never used glass heads. Had revox and tascam in his home studio but all multibtrack. Has since retired but had a bunch of tapes from his band recorded in the 60s he wanted to digitize which he brought to me. Knew I had an akai with glass heads and told me that his master tapes for his and other bands he recorded for were not to go anywhere near a glass head machine. These were all 7 1/2 and 15ips mostly safety copies that he was having me digitize as he got rid of all his analog gear when he retired from the recording business. When he was in the business he worked at le studio in Moran heights Quebec. Some pretty famous artists recorded there. Rush is one of their larger clients. The studio is no more. He been retired from there since the 90s. The tape is the problem, playing on glass heads just amplifies the problem 😅

​@@josemiranda1241surface of the glass is too smooth mKing thw tape stick to it, wears the tape down. Eapeciappy qith tapes witu sticly shed. They are hard on all tapes. Glass heads arent any better then regular heads performance wise.

Again someone that doesn't understand that I can't control the quality of tapes I am requested to digitize. If course we wouldn't be using these tapes today but i would never record anything on analog tape today not even for nostragla . All my music it on a computer and CD. The only reason i have tape machines is to archive tapes and I can't control what comes in. I never use glass head machines to play old tapes because the tape sticks to the heads yet plays fine on other machines. Glass heads are garbage.

@@12voltvids Not my problem you are playing crappy tapes.

@@Mike-fi5se i don't use tape. Tape sucks. What I do is operate an archive business to transfer other people's tapes to digital. I have no control on what people used 50 years ago. The tapes play fine on metal heads. Only the glass heads have problems with these old tapes. You don't need to be a rocket scientist to figure out that the problem is the heads himself causing trouble with old tapes when different brands play them fine get your head out of the sand the head design was bad. if glass heads were so good everybody would have made them but they didn't it was an akai marketing exclusive. They also don't sound that good glass heads I just far right heads there were much better heads designed using better materials that had much better frequency response and better signal to noise ratio

@@12voltvids I deal with tapes just like you do, transferring them for others. Only problem as the Ampex 456 series and some others that I already stated. Either do the job and stop complaining or just tell the customer you cannot or won't. Deal with it! We done here.

@@Mike-fi5se here's the deal I get customers that bring me tapes and the first thing they ask me is are you going to play this on a glass head deck because if you are you're not transferring my tape. I'm talking customers who are musicians who have demos and so forth that we're never released from back in the 60s, now want them transferred to digital and they know that glass head decks are shit. I don't have to explain it to them they already know that I get told do not put this tape on a glass head deck. I don't want my tape trashed. I would never use a glass head deck to play back a one only tape that I have in my possession to transfer I'm just warning others that might not know, obviously you're ignorant because everyone else knows that the glass head decks are crap and would never put an old vintage tape on one. I wouldn't trust the new tape to it either they're too smooth they cause too much damage to the tape even new tapes. Anyone who knows anything about these decks know what I'm talking about it's only the ignorant people that argue the point on glass heads. why do you think akai even stopped using them?

AMPEX was FAMOUS for that. And not bashing AMPEX ad a R2R maker, because they were excellent ... but their tapes ... no thanks.