BUMMER. So what should I do?

C

CMEZ

New member
So I'm cruising through some recording sessions with my old Teac 80-8 and I go to overdub some geetar and the meters are rockin' and I go to play it back...nothing.

I recheck my signal flow, it's all good. When recording, the meter is jumping on the deck. On playback, it's flat. I get underneath and have a look at the heads...Aha. Bummer.

On track 7, the head is worn through, completely to the light blue plastic underneath. I'm pretty much screwed.

So the question is this: What do I do now?

I would guess that since it's worn all the way through, I can't re-lap-can I?

So should I buy NEW heads? Isn't that going to cost a BUNCH? Where might I find reconditioned heads quickly? I don't have time to wait and shop around.

Should I just get another machine? So what do I do and where do I go?

Thanks in advance.

Chris
 
Teac80-8's and TASCAM 38's often can be seen selling on Ebay for around 400 buck and the cost of new heads would probably be more then that with the labor for installing them and re-calibrating the deck to the new head or heads.

Perhaps keep you 80-8 for parts?

Good luck! :)
 
after checking around a bit,

I think I've decided to get a different 80-8-there's a guy here in KC that's got one that's in super shape, and I think I can get it for $400.

New heads and alignment are about $500-600.

Reckon I'll try and hang on to the old one for parts.

Thanks,

Chris
 
CMEZ said:
So I'm cruising through some recording sessions with my old Teac 80-8 and I go to overdub some geetar and the meters are rockin' and I go to play it back...nothing.

I recheck my signal flow, it's all good. When recording, the meter is jumping on the deck. On playback, it's flat. I get underneath and have a look at the heads...Aha. Bummer.

On track 7, the head is worn through, completely to the light blue plastic underneath. I'm pretty much screwed.

So the question is this: What do I do now?

I would guess that since it's worn all the way through, I can't re-lap-can I?

So should I buy NEW heads? Isn't that going to cost a BUNCH? Where might I find reconditioned heads quickly? I don't have time to wait and shop around.

Should I just get another machine? So what do I do and where do I go?

Thanks in advance.

Chris
Click to expand...

The cost of new heads are going to kill you. Buy another used deck and ditch the 80-8. There is almost no point in buying new heads when you can get a far better deck used for less$$$.
 
Yeah, but I agree that getting another 80-8 is the way to go if you are satisfied with the quality of that deck, because then you have spare parts... That is likely to mean you can keep using it for at elast two or three times longer before it is unrepairable, which should be many years still.
 
regebro said:
Yeah, but I agree that getting another 80-8 is the way to go if you are satisfied with the quality of that deck, because then you have spare parts... That is likely to mean you can keep using it for at elast two or three times longer before it is unrepairable, which should be many years still.
Click to expand...

That is a good point. I had one and found that the heads and most of the electronics sapped out about the same time. i used the unit for 10 years. I ditched it because the 80-8 is a really clunky deck. It is a workhorse, but still too many mechanical parts in the recording/reproducing path for me. The relays in both the deck and the dbx went south one-by-one. In the end, almost nothing worked reliably and the "spare" parts that were really needed to build another machine were of no use.
 
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