Cleaning etc.

  • Thread starter Thread starter F_cksia
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F_cksia

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Hey
I bought this old but good-working Tascam 244 Portastudio and the manual said for about 100 times that I have to clean it very well, every day and demagnetize it and whatever. Is it really that important? and can I use just toiletpaper or something, i don't feel like to do too much effort for it, but i really want to keep my recordings as best as possible. For all tascam-users; how do you clean your machine/ tips? :D
thanks
fucksia
 
Oh my....

"I want the best recording possible, but can I clean my unit with toilet paper..."

Hmmm... where do start? :eek: Yikes!

Bruce
 
okay i agree that didn't sound very logical, it was just sarcasm.
Anyway you didn't answer anything. Could you please write something usefull down? Thanks.
 
Both cleaning and demag is required... cleaning is advisable about every 50 hours or so... demagnetzing is not as problematic, once a month should be more than enough....

No you can't use toilet paper -- get yourself some premoistened cleaning pads (from a studio supplier) and some swabs... use only 90% (or better) isopropyl alcohol... rubbing alcohol is NOT good enough... it contains too much water which will damage the head ('cos it won't evaporate quickly enough, and also 'cos it will leave a residue...)

You need to carefully clean all surfaces of the tape path, including all pinch rollers, and heads... by the way, you shouldn't use alcohol on the pinch rollers - there is a special rubber cleaner for that - alcohol will dry out the roller and cause cracking..........

Bruce
 
Ok thanx
and could you please also explain a bit about demagnetizing or something, I haven't got a clue what that's about.
 
The process of passing the metal tape particles over the heads during record/play induces a small amount of magnetism to the heads, affecting the heads' ability to reproduce high-frequency signals. A demagnetizer is a device that removes any residual head magnetism.

There is a manual device that work for reel-to-reel and other analog recorders, but for convenience, and since you are cassette-based, the cassette-oriented units will work just fine - they're about $30-$40 dollars at any audio store... these ones require the least effort to use...

Bruce
 
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