Sony TC-399 problems!

Z

zezami

New member
I just bought a Sony TC-399 reel deck. My plan is to use it mainly for playback of old reel tapes but also to do some recording through it. However i have some problems,

1. There's only sound on the left channel, the right channel meter is dead and there's no sound coming out of the right channel either, tried both the headphone output and the one at the back.

2. The 7 1/2" Mode seems messed up, i've tried playing an original 7 1/2" recording but it plays at a speed somewhere between 3 3/4" and 7 1/2", closer to 3 3/4" though. Also it seems to go up and down in speed.

Before I open it up I thought it would be a good idea to get some advice since I've never dealt with a reel deck before ;)

/Johan
 
The dead right channel might be something as simple as a dirty switch.

The variance in speed might be one of a couple of things: dirty pinch roller and capstan, dirty transport path, or (more than likely) worn idler wheels. I've got a TC-230 and the idler wheels are worn in it. I haven't had the time to pull them out and have them refurbed. I would start with a good cleaning of the tape path and heads.;)
 
jjones1700 said:
The dead right channel might be something as simple as a dirty switch.

The variance in speed might be one of a couple of things: dirty pinch roller and capstan, dirty transport path, or (more than likely) worn idler wheels. I've got a TC-230 and the idler wheels are worn in it. I haven't had the time to pull them out and have them refurbed. I would start with a good cleaning of the tape path and heads.;)
Click to expand...

Thanks!

I actually got it to play at 7 1/2" speed now, or atleast very very close to that. Don't know how i managed to do so, was just fiddling around with the speed and play knobs. The speed knob seems to have some mechanical problem, doesnt "feel" the same way every time you switch it over to another speed. Then after about 10 minutes it seemed to slow down in speed a little again.

I'm going to open it up and see if i can find the problem with the right channel!

What would you recommend i use for cleaning the tape heads and the other parts?
 
lol.. think i've figured out why the right channel isnt working. i opened up the back. also before i did so i noticed that the cabinet was a little messed up in the bottom rear corner. and as i open up the back of the player i notice that also the circuit board in the bottom right rear corner is missing a 1x1" piece in the corner!! i found the missing piece inside the player but im not sure if i'll be able to get it back in place or atleast get the 2 missing components back in place.. guess ill have to try to remove the whole circuit board to get the components back in place.. yikes
 
Put up some pictures if you can.

It actually may not be that tough to repair that PC board...that's why I want to see some pics of it...to see how and where it is broken.

Depending on where it broke and how many solder traces got disturbed by the break it can be as simple as using some epoxy to glue the part back in and then make some little bridges out of wire and solder that in to bridge the break for the traces that got effected. If it is simple it would take me very little time to fix it if you aren't comfortable with soldering iron...PM me. If you ARE handy with a soldering iron this could be a simple DIY repair.

I second the thoughts on the idler wheels. I have a TC-630 and the idler tires are hardened...poor grip and it won't hold speed at 7.5ips...it does okay at 3 3/4ips but the wow is terrible. Someday...
 
Yeah, many of those Sony models utilize a single motor and a multitude of pulleys and idlers, all of which are rubber based. For a machine of this age, it must be all replaced, including the pinch roller. It can turn into an expensive and a rather complex fix, from what I've seen. Just so much there to work on. Not the best decks to get, IMHO.
 
I've got the TC-230 and I took it apart a while back and noticed the idler wheels were hard. I wouldn't mind having Terry refurb them and keeping this thing around for the 1-7/8 ips setting. I know, some of you are wondering what in the heck I would use that slow of a setting on. Something to play with. After all, if I've got it, why not use it?:D Once I can get some money set aside for the idler pulleys, I might as well send him a few sets of pinch rollers for my other RT-909s.:eek: Better start working some O/T at work.:p

I hope that board isn't a huge ordeal for you man. Keep us posted on it.
 
sorry for not posting pics already but a friend of mine who's good at soldering iron had a look at it and he said that he will be able to fix it!

however, the idler wheel is worn out so if i want to get it to play at 7.5ips i will probably need to replace it
 
Very cool!

Good job. Good friend!

Yeah, that main idler in my TC-630 is hard as a rock...no reconditioner is going to help it. Terry Witt of Terry's Rubber Rollers can re-rubber it for you. Another thought is to check with a local electronics parts shop, not Radio Shack but a specialty store. I was in my favorite local one recently and noticed an entire isle of VCR belts...don't think there was anything that would replace one of those U-section idler tires, but I'm going to be looking the next time I'm in there.
 
From one deck to another - when I tested my tc-399 deck I only had one channel. I tried to play an original led zeppelin reel that I have and although I didnt quite get the desired speed (7 1/2 ips) and only sound on one channel, the sound was clear. I didnt hear any leakage or bleed from the other side. However, i got my self a Revox A77 the other day, everything seems to work okay except for quite heavy bleeding from the other channel of reverse side of the tape. Like this: If I have the revox at channel 1, I hear the supposed track playing, but in the background i can hear Channel 2 playing backwards. And the same way around. If im at channel 2, it plays in reverse and in the background I can hear channel 1.

I've read that old tapes tend to bleed, but is this really the case here? Since im quite sure there wasnt any excessive bleeding when i played it through my tc-399. I can't check that again right now though since the 399 is dissambled for the moment ;)

I've looked through the Revox A77 service manual and the only thing i've found that might be relevant is Crosstalk, there's a crosstalk compensation trigger under the hood. Im not sure though if this might do the trick.
 
As tapes age they will have the tendency to bleed from tape layer to tape layer causing a faint pre or post echo depending on how the tape was stored. Point is I'm not familiar with there being an issue of bleed from track to track in storage...that issue occurs at the time of recording.

Is the Revox a half-track by any chance?
 
sweetbeats said:
As tapes age they will have the tendency to bleed from tape layer to tape layer causing a faint pre or post echo depending on how the tape was stored. Point is I'm not familiar with there being an issue of bleed from track to track in storage...that issue occurs at the time of recording.

Is the Revox a half-track by any chance?
Click to expand...

Not sure what you mean by half-track. How can i check that?
 
zezami said:
Not sure what you mean by half-track. How can i check that?
Click to expand...

1/2 track means, (example) lets say you have a 1 inch tape and 1 inch tape head. Half of the head would be used for left channel and the other half would be used for the right side. 1 way. No auto reverse. I hope my poor explanation is understandable. I'm sure Sweets can give you a better explanation.
 
i talked to the guy i bought it from and apparently its a half-track/2-track model so that explains why my 4-track reels won't play!
 
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