I just can't abandon...

T

Terry Wetzel

New member
my old friend Teac 3340-s. I've moved on to digital recording but, there it sets in my studio looking sad and unused. It served me well for a number of years and kick started my love for recording. I've posted questions on this forum about the problem that resulted in retiring it but just cleaning the transport as directed has not solved the problem, which I think was construed here as " Sticky tape syndrome". I've read several teac posts where reel drive belts are missing. I've opened her up several times to inspect the mechanics,(which I really don't know what I'm looking at). Anyway, I see no belts! If the 3340-s has any, where are they? thanks for any help
 
Hello!

When I had my 3340S, I really liked the sound of it and would be great if you could get it going again.

This model has 2 belts, one for the main capstan and one for the counter. The main belt should be visible linking the main center motor to the large flywheel that is connected to the capstan. I can't recall if it's visible from the back of the machine. It's possible the belt may have deteriorated and is not longer in one piece. Does the capstan spin when the deck is on and tape loaded?

At this point, the machine is roughly 35 yrs old, so it would be in need of an overhaul, depending on how good you are with electronics and mechanics, you could likely do it, but if you are not, bring it to someone familiar with these decks, it can be overwhelming to work on these.

:)
 
With your machines back open facing you, the counter belt will be on the right hand side about half way up all the way towards the front stainless steel panel, it runs up and down. I'm pretty sure you can run the unit without the counter. The main belt, as masterc pointed out runs from the grey flywheel just left of center, into the large motor housing that sits smack in the middle of the unit., once again the belt is right at the front of the unit, and somewhat of a bugger to reach. If you aren't confident disassembling and putting it back together, let someone else do it. My machines belt looks, and runs fine, however rubber is very sensative to its environment.
 
I also love the sound of those decks. I used Quantegy 407 tape (1 mil, +3 MOL) with it, and it really smoothed out the transients and had pleasant distortion/overload qualities to it, as opposed to a +6 formulation.

Good luck with it - I'd love to see you get it back up and running!
 
I just recently got into analog recording a couple months ago. I can defiantly say that I wont go back to digital for a long time. I love the sound of my A3340s
 
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