Gee... that was dumb!

O

ofajen

Daddy-O Daddy-O Baby
This was hilarious...

I moved the Otari 8-track and lowered the pedestal it sits on. I had to pull the take up reel off of its hub to fit the machine into its new home. I put the reel back on. Then I plugged the machine back in. When I started it up, it wouldn't wind properly... it wouldn't stop once I started either fast wind mode. I could only stop it by turning the machine off. :confused:

I'm cursing, and I have that sinking feeling that I've got some major malfunction of the transport control card... :mad:

Eventually it dawns on me that the counter was also running backwards.... of course, when I put the reel back on, the tape got threaded the wrong way around the tach roller and the transport was totally confused. Thank goodness I don't do idiotic stuff like this every day! :o

Cheers,

Otto
 
Haha as soon as I read the words "I have that sinking feeling" I definitely felt "that sinking feeling" you get when you know you really messed up and I was so glad to hear it all worked out!

-Barrett
 
A sinking feeling is when you go to check the voltage across some terminals in a deck and accidentally move the probes and short across two other terminals, thus blowing out a capstan motor controller board.:eek: That happened to me last year on one of my Pioneer RT-909 decks.:o
 
Another "Sinking Feeling" Is when you inadvertently make a feedback loop in your new 122MKII and ruin the heads, electronics and ears!
VP:(
 
Victory Pete said:
Another "Sinking Feeling" Is when you inadvertently make a feedback loop in your new 122MKII and ruin the heads, electronics and ears!
VP:(
Click to expand...

I did that with my 122b, but fortunately enough I flipped the switch in a hurry and it's kept working ever since. Gotta remember to mute the proper channels while recording or make sure I monitor from tape!:o:p
 
jjones1700 said:
I did that with my 122b, but fortunately enough I flipped the switch in a hurry and it's kept working ever since. Gotta remember to mute the proper channels while recording or make sure I monitor from tape!:o:p
Click to expand...

That was in the mid 90's. It was so new I returned it to the music store and traded it in for a DA-30MKII which I still use for certain projects. I have since found 2 mint 122MKII's on e-bay. I aslo found a NIB 103 on e-bay. I am all set when it comes to cassette decks. I have had feedback loops occur with my multitracks but they were never terminal. You have to watch out for running a signal back into the machine.
VP;)
 
A "sinking feeling" is when you have to post a pic of a string winder and ask what it is because you are to dumb to know. That was me about 3 months back or so. We all do it. Happy New Year
 
Victory Pete said:
That was in the mid 90's. It was so new I returned it to the music store and traded it in for a DA-30MKII which I still use for certain projects. I have since found 2 mint 122MKII's on e-bay. I aslo found a NIB 103 on e-bay. I am all set when it comes to cassette decks. I have had feedback loops occur with my multitracks but they were never terminal. You have to watch out for running a signal back into the machine.
VP;)
Click to expand...

Eventually I'll get the gamut of decks by Tascam, and the elusive Nak MR-1.
 
I pulled out my multitrack a few days back to do a basic alignment.
Now...I had some Gaffers tape on top of the frame for some reason, so I just pushed and stuck it to the back of the frame, and proceeded with the alignment.

Every time I started the MRL alignment tape...the machine was slow on the wind-up....????
I cleaned the heads, looking for sticky shed...nothing.

Still I would get this initial slow start, and then the reels would spin up to speed.


I did this for about a half hour.


Finally I find out that stupid piece of Gaffers had let go from the back of the frame and was now up against the edge of the take-up reel turntable...and was sticking to it enough to cause the initial drag...and then the power of the motors would win out, and the reels would spin up.


DUH! DUD! DUH! :mad:

The damn take-up reel was hiding/covering the tape…so I never saw it until I finally removed the reel to see if there was some mechanical issue! :D
 
Victory Pete said:
I have heard about the Nakamichi decks, I have never even seen one. They are suppose to sound almost as good as larger reel to reel machines.
VP
Click to expand...

I used to own one of these: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=160390322157 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DOr02-jEPs back in the early '80's. I had a total Eumig home system (Cassette, power amp, preamp, tuner) and it made for a beautiful installation. The company I worked for was one of the first US dealers for the brand so I got it on a dealer accomodation plan. The problem is that it eventually died and NO ONE had a clue as to how to work on the thing. It had an opto bias circuit that set the bias by the brightness of an enclosed light bulb. Use the wrong bulb and it wouldn't work properly. Each machine was provided from the factory with a frequency response curve, and it did rival many reel to reel machines of the day.
 
I got the sinking feeling today when I plugged my Brand New Ribbon microphone into a preamp with the phantom power on. By some miracle the ribbon didnt blow
 
Bguzaldo said:
I got the sinking feeling today when I plugged my Brand New Ribbon microphone into a preamp with the phantom power on. By some miracle the ribbon didnt blow
Click to expand...

There is a sticky thread with a video on TapeOp, at the top of the gear Talk section, where the guy from ShinyBox demos the impact of phantom on one of his ribbons. Bottom line is that if things are all working and connected properly, you have a substantial chance that your ribbon mike will not be ruined or even damaged. Please note, I am still firmly of the "never, ever do this!" camp, but I thought you might be interested to know that it will not always be fatal.

Cheers,

Otto
 
Here’s a another DUH! moment….

I thought I fried one of my guitar amps the other day when I forgot that I had disconnected the cabinet from the amp the day before....and then I turned on the amp and left it on for almost 2 hours!!!!
When I plugged in my guitar and turned up the Volume knob a pinch and strummed, I quickly realized something wasn't right and so I rolled back the Volume and quickly turned off the amp.

I then stared at the disconnected speaker cable in HORROR! :eek:
This was a BRAND NEW AMP. :(
I only had it for a few weeks.
I was scared to plug the speaker back in and try it out, as I was sure I fried the tranny.

But...to my surprise...I did NO damage to it. WHEW!!! :p

Had I really dug in with the strumming and had I turned up the Volume real high...I could have killed it, but luckily my brain engaged quickly enough to tell me to STOP!!! :D

Oh...if you ever do that...DO NOT PLUG THE CAB IN WHILE THE AMP IS STILL ON out of some kneejerk reaction. If you do that...then you WILL fry the tranny!
As long as there hasn't been any (or too much) input signal pushed toward the power section...you're probably OK. Just quickly turn off the amp and THEN plug in your cab.
(This is mainly for tube amps.)
 
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