Recent content by sweetbeats

1. If I had to make a guess, I’d bet you need to replace U102 on the Monitor A PCB. This is a 4000 series quad bilateral switching IC, a 4066. Anytime I’ve encountered weird signal flow issues like yours over the past 10 years or so in this era of Tascam gear, I look first to see if there is a...

Closer inspection reveals the zenith was slightly off too…I didn’t see it at first, but when I looked at the wear pattern depth under magnification I can see it. It’s slight. But it’s there and complicates the prognosis for this head. I think were the wear depth the same but the zenith and wrap...

Here is an example of a worse-off head…see pics below. Notice the fairly wide wear area…higher miles. Worse yet you can see the wrap angle was way off…in other words the wear area is not centered on the head. Bad. It needs relapped. There’s no way to know if it has already been relapped and...

Would you share the make and model please?

Lack of proper cleaning/maintenance doesn’t usually lead to “irreparable damage”, it just leads to poor performance. The exception is if somebody improperly maintains mechanical alignment of the tape path causing maladjustment of one or more components and unwanted/incorrect wear patterns on the...

Actually that looks like lower than average mileage to me. If the lifters were cleaned they’d look better. It needs a new pinch roller. And clearly the current owner doesn’t know how to keep it clean…the aforementioned lifters and good golly the capstan shaft. Wow. But the heads look okay to me...

256 or 250? I’m not familiar with 256. If you’re talking about 250 that’s amazing…that was some of the first stuff to go.

I’m working through some of this right now…getting my Tascam 58 dialed in mechanically and electronically. I have a mix of Ampex-branded 456, Quantegy-branded 456, and a reel of Ampex-branded 499. The tape has all been sitting for a long time, like 8 or 9 years. Always in a climate controlled...

That’s been common practice in machines for decades…it’s called shuttling…like when the machine is screaming in FFWD you directly hit REW and when it comes close to a stop *then* you hit STOP…common practice. You’re over-thinking it…no offense. Nothing that owner is doing is harmful or untoward...

This is fantastic. Thank you! Yeah keep us posted. Congratulations. Very cool machine.

I’m aware of the website, but don’t recall finding any technical documentation…just the sales brochure and owner’s manual. Can you post a link to what you are referring if there’s more (service instructions, schematics, layouts, parts lists, etc.)?

The AGFA/BASF/EMTEC lineage is good. Do keep us posted. The Mini-8 is a rare and very cool machine. I’ll have to refresh my memory as to whether or not I have any tech docs on it. I think not.

Pics of the Mini-8 please. Very cool. Test tape…very much not just for repair shops. If you own a tape machine it should be maintained. And a test tape is a fundamental maintenance tool. So it has to be included in the budget. Be mindful of minute differences in tape width between...

Any used tape should be approached with caution. Maxell did not make tape beyond 1/4” as far as I know. It’s not just tape “dryness” (flaky shed” to be concerned over but more so sticky shed. Ampex/Quantegy 499 has fared better over the years but is not at all impervious to sticky shed...

Okay. If I have them, and I believe I do, I’ll desolder the faders and jack PCBs. Look for a PM later on with follow up.