Akai GX-265D

[arjoll]

Hi - about six months ago my father was given a GX-265D four track/two channel reel to reel deck. It 'appeared' in my workshop about four weeks ago and I've now had an initial look at it.

The history I have is that it had very little use - a bit initially (this deck dates from 1976-78) but nothing much for probably 15 years at least.

The heads look good, tape path was filthy, and a slight noise in the takeup motor when running vertically - horizontally on the workbench its ok. This isn't worrying me too much at the moment.

What is a problem is that it appears to have a fault in the record amp. On a blank section of Ampex 459 putting 0 VU onto the tape I had a very distorted playback which didn't indicate on the meters at all. Switching to some Maxell XLI tape (used <10 times) I had no erasure.

Playback appears ok, although the only recordings I'm willing to use until I've confirmed that all is ok are 2 track stereo recorded on a Tascam 32; and half of those were done at 15 ips!

I've put out feelers locally for a service manual and schematic, but if anyone is familiar with this model and could give me some pointers as to what could be wrong I'd appreciate it. I suspect that there is a problem with the bias circuitry - will hook up a 'scope next time I have a chance to look at it - but could be anything.

Once repaired this deck will be responsible for archiving boxes and boxes of old tapes - some recorded on dad's Akai 4000DB, some on the Sony that he hated, one on his Ferrograph Series 3; and some others recorded by my late father-in-law on who knows what!

Thanks in advance for any help!

Andrew

[arjoll]

Originally Posted by arjoll

one on his Ferrograph Series 3

Sorry, just checked the ID on George West's Ferrograph site and it appears to be a late series 2 (has the half round meter, but also has tape guides and a tape counter).

The Ferrograph is a restoration project that scares me. Maybe in the future. The series 2 dates from before 1957....very old caps, valves, motors, solenoids, transformers....

Cya
Andrew

[beyond_therapy]

http://myweb.ecomplanet.com/HIFI2650/default.htm