Advice for attaching new headstack

[wedge]

I have a Tascam 22-2 and I bought a new headstack. Now comes the fun part: Installing it. I've never done this before. I've never opened up a reel to reel deck before. However, I am good with electronics in general, and feel as if I can pull it off.

The guy who sold me the heads said I have two options: Solder on each individual head; or, replace the whole headstack and solder the wires to the circuit board.

He said that soldering the heads is much easier, but fraught with danger if I'm not careful. Use only a 15 watt soldering iron, he said. Soldering to the board is much more time consuming, but I gather, safer...

Any suggestions re: either scenario?

[The Ghost of FM]

Soldering would seem to be the least of your worries here so long as your skills at it are good and you make use of a heat sink to deflect any heat to the windings away into the heat sink itself.

The bigger chore is aligning the heads!

Are they just the raw heads you are getting or are they mounted already to the top plate which has all those set screws holding the heads in place?

If it's just the raw heads, I would defer to a qualified shop to do the alignment as you will need an oscilloscope and calibration tapes to set it all up correctly.

It's a lot more involved then soldering 12 wires.

Cheers!

[wedge]

The heads are mounted on the top plate. So, I'm guessing that keeping them on the plate and soldering the wires to the proper spots on the board would be the way to go. I was assuming that either way, I'd get it properly aligned afterwards. Are you implying that if I keep the heads on the top plate that I may not need to align the heads?

[The Ghost of FM]

You have a better "chance" of not needing an alignment but a touch up may well still be required for at least azimuth if the top mount plate is part of the new head purchase of yours.

Because of the head mount hanging design, it is inherently prone to more frequent alignment procedures anyway, compared to higher end models which have the heads mounted directly to a base plate which enjoy far less drift potential.

Cheers!

[Uli_the_Grasso]

What does the headstack consist of? If the tape transport poles are also a part of it, you do not need to align anything. At 15 inches per second the azimut is not much of a concern anyway. Ah, you will get it done. Just temporarily cover the heads and do not use magnetic screw drivers!