Just got a TEAC A-6010 and I have questions

[Ol' Breadbones]

Hello all!

I've been recording for about 9 years now, first on an old Roland VS-880 a friend gave me and then with FL Studio. Just recently I decided to search craigslist for reel-to-reel recorders. I found somebody selling a fixer upper A-6010 for $30 that has turned out to be... not a fixer upper. They said it would only operate in fast forward/fast rewind, but not play. I thought it wouldn't be too hard to fix, or I could just take it to a repair shop and get it working for cheaper than a good condition A-6010 anyway. After fiddling with it and reading on some forums though, I've found there isn't actually anything wrong with the motors. It was just the tape reels and some issue that develops out of "sticky shed." So the motors are fine, everything seems in working order, but I won't know for sure until I can get some new tape/reels and fire the thing up!

which brings me to my first question:

What kind of tape would be best for this machine? I've seen some people talking about how certain kinds of tape do better with certain decks. All I know about this one is it can hold up to a 7" reel of 1/4" tape. I've been pointed in the direction of USRecordingMedia as a source, and it seems like they have mainly 10.5" options.

Is there anybody living in the SF bay area that knows of a non-online source for tape?

What general tips can people who have experience with this machine offer? It's my first tape recorder, so any general tips about tape recording would be appreciated, too. I've downloaded a .pdf of the manual and gone through most of it, but won't really be able to get a good sense of the machine until I've got tape for it.

And is there any way to find out what year this machine was made? I have searched online but I can't even find the time frame that the A-6010 was produced in other than an old ad for it from 1968.

Thanks for any help

 

[jpmorris]

It's probably belt drive on the capstan, and the belt will almost certainly need to be replaced. Used with new tape, that is often enough to get it going.

If this machine is pre-1976 it is probably expecting some kind of low-output tape such as Quantegy 406, and I'm not sure there is an equivalent currently in production. Try RMGI LPR-35, that seems to be the closest match.

I'm not sure what your plans are for this machine, but unless I'm much mistaken it was built for the consumer market, so it's quarter-track stereo with a maximum speed of 7.5 ips. You might be able to use it for mastering, but it's not going to give as good results as a half-track stereo deck running at 15ips or more.
You will not be able to multitrack with this machine, unfortunately. While it says 4-track, it is actually stereo - what this means is that you can flip the tapes over and record on the back like a cassette.
A studio-grade machine records stereo over the entire width of the tape (and flipping the reels over makes it play backwards).

Either way, good luck!

 

[LDS]

I've seen the pinch roller mechanism get gummed up on these causing the symptom you initially described. They're not a bad machine, definitely consumer grade. If memory serves me right, we used to be able to calibrate to about 20-16K response on 456 back in the day @7.5 ips with good, fresh heads.

 

[Ol' Breadbones]

Hey, thanks for the replies! I will order some RMGI LPR-35 for sure

I was able to borrow a tape reel from a stereo shop in town and the 6010 is working fine! The only issue with it now is that the left side VU meter lamp is burned out.

I am aware that this machine isn't ideal for quality recording, but that's actually part of the reason I wanted it. I'm not going to be using it exclusively for entire tracks, but rather to record certain synth and guitar parts, purposely oversaturating it and messing with the speed a bit so that it messes the sound up. If you're familiar with Boards of Canada, they do this a lot and it gives some of their songs the effect of sounding like a soundtrack playing from a crummy old VHS tape.

That being said, I would also like to get a proper deck that I can record some full compositions on in the future. Gonna learn my way around this one first though.

 

[jpmorris]

Hey, thanks for the replies! I will order some RMGI LPR-35 for sure
I was able to borrow a tape reel from a stereo shop in town and the 6010 is working fine! The only issue with it now is that the left side VU meter lamp is burned out.

Excellent. I was going to say that you'd probably need to recalibrate the machine for LPR35, but if you're going for a lo-fi sound anyway, that matters a lot less.

That being said, I would also like to get a proper deck that I can record some full compositions on in the future. Gonna learn my way around this one first though.

Sounds like a plan. Hope it goes well!