Can a tape deck ruin one channel of a tape?

[C Hugo]

I have a bunch of tapes that i would like to re-use (Tape over),these tapes were origanally recorded on a JVC 3 head cassette deck that i no longer own.When i try to record onto these tapes with my new Sony 3 head ES deck the right channel records at less than half the input signal as the left channel.This only happens with tapes that were recorded on the JVC before,all other tapes record fine.Could the JVC have damaged the portion of the tapes that carrys the right channel?These are all high quality tapes,TDK SA-X and Maxell XLII-S.Thanks for any help..

[LooneyTunez]

If the head alignment was off by a lot on the old deck, the tape guide on the head could have been putting a wrinkle on the edge of one side of the tape causing some damage to the tape. The newer deck with proper alignment is probably recording on this wrinkle causing the problem you're experiencing.

Educated guess...