Ancient Teac Deck

T

Terry Wetzel

New member
Hi, Question. I started out in recording as a hobby in 1971 by purchasing an A-3340s,Teac Reel to Reel deck which, at the time was the closest thing to pro on the consumer market. Over the years, by trial and error I learned a bit about Analog recording.(I'm a musician, or was at the time). I learned from a pro in the studio that I could have the bias tweeked for +3dB in lieu of -10db which i did.Actually I didn't, a local repair shop did. The deck has been tireless over the years and I've taken extreme care of it. Now the reels won't maintain speed,(7&1/2 or 15 ips.) They make a horrible screeching sound and grind to a halt! Although I now use Digital equipment I still would like to be able to implement analog mix down and tape echo which I love the sound of and no digital delay I've heard can equal it, at least to my ear. Sorry for the long winded intro. Here is the question. Does anyone out there know how I might go about having the reel/speed problem corrected? I live in the Atlanta ,Georgia area and no one here seems to know where to look. Please answer on my private messages as I have yet to learn my way around this site. Most appreciative, Thanks.
 
Terry Wetzel said:
Hi, Question. I started out in recording as a hobby in 1971 by purchasing an A-3340s,Teac Reel to Reel deck which, at the time was the closest thing to pro on the consumer market. Over the years, by trial and error I learned a bit about Analog recording.(I'm a musician, or was at the time). I learned from a pro in the studio that I could have the bias tweeked for +3dB in lieu of -10db which i did.Actually I didn't, a local repair shop did. The deck has been tireless over the years and I've taken extreme care of it. Now the reels won't maintain speed,(7&1/2 or 15 ips.) They make a horrible screeching sound and grind to a halt! Although I now use Digital equipment I still would like to be able to implement analog mix down and tape echo which I love the sound of and no digital delay I've heard can equal it, at least to my ear. Sorry for the long winded intro. Here is the question. Does anyone out there know how I might go about having the reel/speed problem corrected? I live in the Atlanta ,Georgia area and no one here seems to know where to look. Please answer on my private messages as I have yet to learn my way around this site. Most appreciative, Thanks.
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The a3340s is a cool deck. Is the reel hub hitting the machine? Is that what the screeching noise is? If so it could be just a matter of adjusting the height.
 
As sweets mentioned, what tape are you using? There's a number of pre 1995 tape (ie: Ampex) which will do that to your machine via the tapes' binder brake down. Another thing to look for is a stretched capstan belt and if that belt hasn't been changed in a good decade or more then you need to do it. This also applies to the rubber pinch roller. I'm 99.9% certain that if you change both the belt, roller and tape that your problem will be solved. Don't forget to clean the heads good in the process. BTW, all of the parts can be bought straight from TEAC and tape from online vendors.
 
The problem sounds like "dry tape syndrom" 3340S with both reel-motors solenoid operated brakes 99 % release properly in play-mode.
Check the travelpath and try with a different tape instead :)
 
the slowdown/stop issue happened to me last summer. turned out to be caused by the old tapes i use.

because most of the tapes i have are 24 to 37+ years old, i now clean heads and tape path after every tape play/pass.

no more slowdown/stop issue.
 
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