I should do a demo with the line out piped directly into the computer and then you will definitely hear the difference as it is quite dramatic. The high frequencies roll off above 6KHz @ 1 7/8, 11 KHz on 3 3/4 and 7 1/2 goes up to close to 20K
Thanks so much for this detailed vid. I learned a lot. I’d love to see a Sony to-500 electrical side! I just cleaned up the mechanism on mine and it seems good. The idler tires are looking rough, but the contact surface seems to be OK. The “ bass booster” doesn’t seem to do anything on a aux input play through, but maybe that’s normal? Now I just need to get a test tape !
I notice that you use 3in1 oil to lubricate. As a sewing machine tech, years ago, I got training from Bernina of Switzerland. When it came to lubricants, the lead trainer told us (as dealers) that if they ever detected the use of 3in1 of WD-40 in a machine we sent to them, they would void the warranty. This is because, they said, it leaves a gooey residue in the bearing areas after the distillates have evaporated. I don't have any experience with it other than those warnings and the fact that I hate the smell!
When you cleaned the wafer switch it reminded me of all of the hassles of the tuners in TVs in the early days.I remember being on service calls cleaning a tuner in a customers home and them saying to me it was bad to turn the tuner that fast.I would have to explain that It had to be done to clean all the contacts thoroughly.
I can see why you have a collection, they just work so well, worth keeping :-D. Perhaps some of your lesser units can be sold off, so you keep the creme of the crop. The reason i commented about the brakes is i've seen so many fail, so i would always check them just in case.
Right, and I did check them, but as you saw it was just a mismatch in the reel size which is why I mentioned it. The take up reel should be the same size as the supply.
I agree with you on that as some of the older capacitors have lower resistance, by changing them all you will affect certain circuit characteristics by a huge amount. I only change them when needed. On certain Pionneer reel to reel deck the smaller ones do need to be changes. On Techinic's deck all purple one as I refer to them purple death need to be changed. Even then will use low ESR when available. Usually Akai's and Sony's reel to reel decks have no issues with capacitors going bad as used thicker seals and oil based. They were higher quailty then what's available today even and tested better then new ones even. Akai and Pioneer's deck usually have transistors fail if anything and due to silver plating they used on lead's, the 2sc2240 transistors they used in Akai deck's and in Pioneer the 6 2sc1344 transistor fail. I replace them with Fairchild KSC1845FTA. They are lower noise and sound great in these machines.
The Tech Genie Amateurs generally will go in and replace all the capacitors mainly because they don't know how a capacitor works or how to troubleshoot it. Just today (no there won't be a video because I didn't film it) I repaired a Hammond B3000 organ. I changed 1 part. A 1uf 35v tantalum capacitor in the -24 volt supply. It probably would have been a good one to film but I fixed it on site. The owner was thrilled to be able to play it again. First thing he played when it fired up. "Smoke on the water"
12voltvids Yep it usually one part that goes bad and just a few minutes to trace it down is how most repairs go. I had a guy sent in a RT 909 where he fully recapped it as neither reel motor was working. So in his Infinite Wisdom he assumed somehow must be bad capacitors? So he ended up spending over $80 buck on eBay for capacitors? Which can be bought for $35 bucks at mouser electronics and he replaced them all himself. So took it after he screw it up and gave up. All the issue was one bad micro switch that goes to the tension roller assembly when high resistance. That fix the issue. Then second issue found capstan motor won't run, turn out to be a bad zenor diode. Plus hour, or so cleaning up his solder joints. Then again had people bring me their close to $1000 smart phone in a bag after they attempted to replace the screen themself. One case they broke the connector inwards trying to force the connector from screen in. they where lucky found the connector and replaced it. but cost them the screen and $100 bucks to repair damage to logic board. So nothing surprises me anymore.
Do you have a video servicing a Sony TC 580? Mine had a tape split at the spice, which jammed it up inside a bit then it stopped playing. Still does rewind and fast forward but the pinch roller doesn't switch sides anymore on playback. Thinking maybe a selenoid may have stopped working. But weird a tape splitting would cause this. Any video you did would be great. Can't find one you did for the TC 580. Thanks!
Hi there you really do good work on electronics I have a Sony TC 730 that I had some people in Ohio work on and got everything fixed on it except for one thing when you have it and forward it cuts out both channels at the same time and it also does it whenever records too I've tried to figure it out myself and I pretty much gave up at this point if you could give me any kind of advice or guidance on it I'd greatly appreciate it really enjoy watching your videos thanks
Good work. I would like to share my experiences regarding spool tape recorders: 1. Recording speeches and lectures are prefeably at Slow speed, music at fast speed. 2. Some times tape got twisted and people without realizing play it, it will sound weired & alien because coating side (which is not shiny) doesn't run across the playback head causing playing back in reverse and without actually reading the recording on the ferris side. Lots of regards
We used to play with tapes as a kid that way. Flip the tape over and play the back side, and it would play the reverse side backwards. I will probably do a demo to show why tape recorded on a half track needs to be bulk erased before being used on a 1/4 track. Even though I explained it here, with the guard tracks ect, actually demonstrating the effect will I am sure show peole what happens. Since I have that Grundig 1/2 track unit this will be an east task. Might even do that one today.
I know from fixing older reel decks like this that there is a switch to lower the high level on the tape at the slower speed of 1 7/8 ips at the tope by the take up reel the switch is located as you know and the tone is changed by that switch
hi could you tell me where the wires goto on the start run capasitor on this model as when i opened mine there was a long green wire going no were many thanks
I have an old idler mono machine. It took a lot of heavy use and served me well for years. Recently it started making a bumping sound. At first I thought it was because the idler wheel had a flat spot. Upon a close inspection the idler was fine, but the capstan flywhell has a bad case of metal rot and swelled and cracked in one spot due to internal oxidation. It will fail soon and there are no replacement parts. What kind of rotten alloy did they use for flywheels back then? It appears to be zamac but I may be wrong.
Metal fatigue was a common problem on some of the vintage recorders. I am lucky as I have now 7 recorders, 6 in working condition and the final Sony will be overhauled soon. I may not keep all of them though as I get requests constantly to sell one or 2 so I may do that.
Thanks for answering the Deoxit question. I just received the Deoxit 100 and 5% and used the d100 on a q-tip to clean a contact and it amazed me how well it workes. Awesome vid. I had a favorite uncle growing up and he worked on alot of audio and owned alot of reel to reel equipment. They couldn't have kids so they adopted a baby girl, My aunt passed away like 5 years after that and then he passed away when his daughter was about 19. She immediately sold the home and threw out like 20 reel to reel like you have been restoring that worked, 5 oscilloscopes, 3 spectrum scopes, a few CB and ham test equipment, tone and frequency generators for CB, Ham, TV, FM and AM. Put it all in a dumpster. Sold the payed off house and moved to the west coast of Florida with her boyfriend. Did all this within 5 days of his death and didn't tell anyone till after she moved..
That is a down right sin,throwing high class equipment like that in the dumpster.I hope someone rescued all of that equipment,and they are still in use today.Some people just react before looking for help.Vintage audio rule.I am always looking for vintage test equipment.
The MG Super contact cleaner still has the Tetrafluorethane and still works as good as the old stuff I just bought some more recently but like you stated it's a much smaller can now and like the Deoxit costs about $25 for the same size small can. But you do have to find the MG Super contact cleaner it has the gold stripe not yellow or orange. Maybe it's only offered in the US?
hi yes all tracks are a right pain there's a akai 1800ss it's got a full track E HEAD when it's turned on in quad recording 100% will kill all the tape i used the unit to kill all the tracks on 8 track tapes when i take the loop tape out and move tape into the carts 8 tracks wear out on the pinch roller is
Right. If they get hot they will go bad, but in low power coupling and bypass circuits they will last for decades. It wasn't untill the switch mode power supply that we saw them start to fail in numbers.
Lucky yours was a obviously easy fix...my sony TC366 shows recording on the VU meters on both channels , but when I switch from source to monitor to hear it while it is recording , the left side is dead, I figure a cap or something opened , because it literally happened overnight ....dont know where to look the record board or the playback board... It will playback previously recorded tapes just fine , so looking at the record side ..have to dig out my o-scope I guess...
Check for the record signal present to the head. The RF levels should be about the same. If one side is low or missing, I would suspect the record drive transistor. If the side that is not recording is higher (voltage that is) then the coil in the head itself may have gone open. If you disconnect the record head you can measure the resistance of the 2 coils. They should be close in measurements. If one is much higher or much lower it could indicate a short or open on the head winding. As it is a 3 head deck playback is unaffected.
Aha a self-induced problem. Luckily it was only a 1 wire issue. If I need to work on something I will always take pictures of the connections and wires. Takes a minute but can save you loads of time and frustration in the end.
Luc Peeters I knew the problem when I finished part 1 but decided to make it 2 parts because it generates more revenue that a really long 90 minute video. Pictures are good video is better! Why do you think I film all my repairs. As a reference so I can remember how it came apart as many if these things I have never seen before or if I have it was a long time ago. Remember I retired from the repair business in 2003
I now have a 4 speed reel to reel. Has 15/16 ips as well as the other ones. Had a guy offer me 250 for it which i would have accepted but he wanted a PayPal invoice and I don't issue those as I got burned before by a dishonest buyer that claimed something didn't work and used the invoice to get a refund and burn me. He didn't trust me to ship after he paid and i didn't trust him not to file a chargeback after the fact so it still sits in the box.
That one is called "Smile" and the artist is Candice Burns. It is a royalty free track by Triple Scoop Music. It came bundled with one of the editing programs I bought and never used because well I use premiere and it is hard to teach an old dog new tricks.
