Random losses of treble

joemeek3000

New member
Hi everyone,

I bought a reel to reel recorder Fostex E8.
When I record on track 1 I can hear some fluctuations in the treble playing it back. To be more precise, when I play back what I've recorded, I sometime lose trebles, sometimes not. It is totally random and does not occur at the exact same moment of the song.
I let you know that I already have made sure that the heads were really cleaned and demagnitized (and probably did it a hundred times to be sure about it). I don't understand what is the problem.
Does it mean I have to change the play/rec head?

Is anyone familiar with that kind of trouble and might help in this situation because I really don't understand what could be going on.


Thanks
 
Well...it could be an alignment issue or uneven wear in the tape path...so the tape is drifting/lifting, which could cause that HF to drift.
If you are very sure about a clean path...and you did the demag correctly (don't keep doing it over and over)...and you know the tape is good quality and not shedding (which could also cause issues)...then I would do alignment and calibration, and see if it fixes things. After that, you're in straight troubleshooting mode, and I'm not sure how much can be tweaked and fixed with an E8 these days.

If you don't have a manual...

https://www.fostexinternational.com/public/fostex_download.php?f=e8-e16_owners_manual.pdf
 
Years ago when I had to have my head lapped I was told 'they're not of a particularly robust head hardness'.
 
Edge tracks are always slightly problematic - especially on these narrow gauge machines. That's why it is recommended that you never record anything critical to the edge tracks. A few thoughts...

Does the issue get better or worse at the end of the tape? Could it be a tape tension issue? Are the heads worn evenly across their face? If not they'll need adjusting and re-lapping (or replacing if too worn). Are you using Ampex/Quantegy tape? If so it could be starting to go sticky.

The other issue with the heads on these is that, if the tape has been slit so that it is slightly wider than the tapes normally used on the machine, the edge of the tape will ride up out of the worn part of the head so the edge tracks will no longer make as good contact with the head as they should. Some machines have a groove at the top and bottom of the head to prevent this but Fostex heads don't. I've had this with certain reels of Ampex tape in the past.
 
Back
Top