Tascam 122 MK III Azimuth Adjustment

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Westwood187

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Whats Up !!
I am Digitizing a large amount of cassettes on my Tascam 122MKIII with my RME HDSP 9632 sound card. Looking to know which screw it is that needs adjusting for the Playback Azimuth there is three in total, and which way to turn? lol. Hopefully someone has one and has done before. the door just pops off which is a relief for easy access. the deck will only be used for playback purposes not recoding on so I take it the bias is irrelevant for enhancing playback?

I just got the deck yesterday pretty minty besides the inside of the cassette well which looks far worse when the flash hits it. Can someone scan there eyes over it and see if all looks ok or if anything might need replacing?

It needs to be demagnetized and cleaned I know which leads me to my next question, can someone point me in the right direction (eBay preferably) for some solution and a good wand demagger? not sure on what to buy, and some tips would be great on the cleaning end, heres a photo

dscn2202vx1.jpg

Cheers Fellows.
 
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With all due respect, why do you feel you need to adjust azimuth? Unless you are lead to believe that the heads were misaligned, don't touch anything unless you know what you're doing. You also need a special alignment tape plus a few other things to do it right. Unless you know what you're doing, don't touch it. Your biggest issue should be the rubber pinch roller. It looks glossy and a bit hardened. It will increase wow and flutter and may cause speed problems. Get some rubber cleaner and do a once over. For heads use 90% or better isopropyl alcohol and lint free cotton swabs. In fact, you can get everything here, if you want the convenience:
http://www.splicit.com/maintenance.html

They also got a demagger at splicit and it's sufficient for cassette decks. MAKE SURE YOU KNOW HOW TO DEMAG OR YOU CAN MAKE THINGS WORSE.

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Thanks for stopping by, I want to adjust the azimuth so I can get the best playback on Commercial tapes. No I am not 100% certain on what im doing thats why im here to learn and ask questions and annoy you guys lol
I intend to generate some white noise in Cool Edit and record that onto a good cassette and use that as a get-me-back-to-where-I-was-reference?
What else do I need to know? ive searched online for the right screw to adjust and can only find the 122mkII which is different, maybe you can give some pointers .

I noticed only when I took the photo that the rubber wheel does look rather crusty, thanks for spotting it. I will get all the supplies shortly and give it the once over, unfortunately I cant use that site as they don't ship to Europe, Ill source on eBay now I know what I need Thanks a million.

just another question on cleaning the Silver heads do I just run the cleaner over the top surface of the rec and repo heads or all over the undersides aswell?

and what about the erase head, leave that as is?
 
You will NOT be able to adjust azimuth correctly without a specially recorded TEST TAPE usually with a specific test tone, like 10KHZ. You need a tape like that, to reliably check / fix azimuth**. Read more about it here (only info only as they don't seem to have these tapes anymore*):
https://0175b54.netsolstores.com/azimuthtesttape.htm

*cassettes for azimuth adjustment on occasion appear on eBay and may be available elsewhere but I'm not sure.
**you need to get the service manual for your deck to know which screw does what - I can't help you with that.

As far as I know, splicit does ship to Europe. Doesn't hurt to ask them to confirm.

You only need to clean the areas where the tape contacts, which means the erase and record / playback head - just the surface / top.

Again, I see that you're pretty new to analogue tape recording and thus you should be very, very careful with all the above and especially with demagnetizing. It is much better not to play with azimuth and demagnetizing unless you know precisely what you're doing and why you're doing it. Otherwise you will create rather than solve problems.

With regard to azimuth, again, I'd personally recommend not to touch it unless you know for sure the previous owner screwed with it, rendering it misaligned or unless the heads have been changed. I've never seen a TEAC / TASCAM cassette / open reel recorder go out of head alignment, unless it was screwed over by the previous owner. Once set at the factory, there really is no need to worry about azimuth unless the heads are replaced.

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cjacek said:
I've never seen a TEAC / TASCAM cassette / open reel recorder go out of head alignment, unless it was screwed over by the previous owner. Once set at the factory, there really is no need to worry about azimuth unless the heads are replaced.
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Did you have a home computer in the early-mid 1980s?

When I was a kid, I had a ZX Spectrum, which I believe was branded as 'Timex' in the US. Since a disk drive cost more than the computer itself, the normal medium for software was cassette tape. It used an FSK protocol - basically if you've ever used an SMPTE box, you'll know what it sounds like.
Anyway, it didn't cause many problems at first, since the save/load mechanism in the ROM was pretty robust. The fun began when games companies began to write their own customized save/load protocols, to reduce the amount of time it took to load the game and also to make it difficult to copy them tape-to-tape. Obviously, packing more data into the same space increased the frequency of the FSK tone and tolerances became a lot tighter.

A major problem was that different duplicating houses seemed to have slightly different ideas about what the correct azimuth setting should be, relative to the cheap portable cassette decks people tended to use, and worse, relative to other duplicating houses. Some games simply would not load unless you adjusted the azimuth setting on the cassette head. It was fairly simple - basically a matter of sticking a small screwdriver down a hole and adjusting it until the tone was most shrill. Nonetheless, it was a pain and was frequently necessary. Heck, at the time there was good money to be made from selling software that checked the input and displayed a visual alignment guide!

Now maybe the games industry in the UK went for the cheapest duplicators that could still do the job. I don't know, but if I really wanted to get the highest quality transfer from a tape that wasn't recorded on that machine, I personally, would be strongly tempted to adjust it per tape.
 
That's a totally fair point jp but I'd rather the original poster know what he's doing and get the proper tools before fooling with adjustment. It's a recipe in disaster otherwise. There's nothing wrong with checking azimuth but I just wanted to reiterate that the OP not fool with the azimuth unless he had a specific reason to and then only when he knew exactly what he was doing and had the proper tools. Still, I am of the belief that azimuth doesn't need adjustment unless there is really good reason such as obvious mis-alignment by the previous owner or a change of heads. Sure, I'm all for checking but not purposely aligning each time a different cassette is played. I'd rather have it setup / checked with a test reference tape and set to that than a 'per tape' scenario, even if it might be slightly off. But that's just my own comfort level and, as always, my 2 cents....;)

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Agree with jp. If you're serious, per tape is the only way to fly.

Only snag is on a machine with a wear groove in the head. The tape tends to only track according to that wear groove azimuth and if you need to adjust more than a little away from that, you risk poor tape to head contact. In my experience with the 122's, the record head wears much more quickly than the play head so you may get away with adjusting, but OTOH your main snag may be the fouling of the tape in the record head wear groove even tho' it's not being used.

When only transferring old recordings, azimuth is a "moveable feast". Correct azimuth is correct azimuth for this tape or that tape. You can safely leave the azimuth alignment tape in its box, until you want to reset azimuth to standard after the job, or if you like make your test record of the old setting.

Some improvement in noise can be had in an otherwise mono program by summing L + R and adjusting azimuth very carefully by ear. Crowd applause is an ideal source, but even on a good machine, it still tends to wander around a bit. It's a trade off between the reduced tape hiss and the increased azimuth drift.
In any case, temporarily summing to mono is usually a more precise way to adjust azimuth, even on a stereo program. It's just more precise.

Cassettes can be tricky when trying to retrieve maximum fidelity from them for a good transfer. It's a discussion in itself. Just depends on how far you want to go.

For the 122MkIII:

DONT adjust the two right hand screws which show red paint in the photo. Adjust the other remaining screw on the bottom left of the head base. The other smaller screw above it is azimuth for the record head only which is actually a separate head sandwiched close to the play head. Normally you would adjust that only to get the record head to agree with the play head but in your case, no need to touch it.

Hope this helps. Tim
 
Hey Thanks for stopping in jpmorris & Tim, I was reading one of your old posts on here in relation to head azimuth adjustment and it inspired me to try it out for myself to see if It can make a big difference on my Commercial Tapes before I digitize them, These are rare & expensive tapes that ive accumulated over the years from a now deceased artist and they contain exclusive instrumentals & alternative tracks that cant be found on CD.
I want to get the perfect A/D transfer possible and it seems adjusting the azimuth is the way to do it, I agree with cjacek that being uneducated can lead to a messed up deck, However this deck is only going to be used for playback while digitizing and setting it back to standard isnt an issue for me as ill never want to listen to a cassette on it unless its being digitized.
I am happy with the playback and the few transfers ive done just to get a feel for it, My only niggle is The output/volume dial for the cassette deck when turned up to 10 seems to make the recording too loud even though the line in is adjusted not to go above 0db, just wondering does the output volume from the deck matter or is it solely the line in volume? id hate to digitize everything and then realize I could have gotten better results :rolleyes:
I just ordered the service manual for this deck so I get a better understanding of its inner workings. and will continue to read up as much as I can, thanks for pointing me in the right direction for which screw does what, much obliged.
 
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Westwood187 said:
My only niggle is The output/volume dial for the cassette deck when turned up to 10 seems to make the recording too loud even though the line in is adjusted not to go above 0db, just wondering does the output volume from the deck matter or is it solely the line in volume? id hate to digitize everything and then realize I could have gotten better results :rolleyes:
I just ordered the service manual for this deck so I get a better understanding of its inner workings. and will continue to read up as much as I can, thanks for pointing me in the right direction for which screw does what, much obliged.
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"Too loud" sounds like you might be clipping. It might be best to leave your line in at max and use the Tascam's output volume dial as your level adjust. This is often the best way to match the two pieces of gear to each other.

Dont try and peak at 0db digitally either. Leave a healthy margin under that, maybe 5 or 10db. The cassette's own tape noise should normally be your quality limitation, not the soundcard, so no point in cranking the record levels to the max. It just risks clipping.

Tim
 
Maybe this has already been mentioned but that capstan shaft needs a good clean. Those two dark rings need to be cleaned off or it may damage or skew tapes.
I think that model's DD capstan motor powered down whenever there was no cassette inserted. I made up a cutaway cassette which switched on the motor but left access to clean the capstan and pinch roller.

You could do the same by cutting out the raised portion of an old cassette (both sides) and rethread the tape so it goes directly from hub to hub. A short length tape like a C30 is best as the smaller diameter doesnt protrude too much.
At take up reel speed you only get a couple of minutes before the tape runs out and you have to turn it over, but it's a whole lot easier than trying to hold the sensor switch on with one hand and do the cleaning with the other. At least that's my experience.

Cheers Tim
 
Thats excellent advice Tim, I am very grateful. I just received the demagnetizer yesterday and also got the alcohol today, im going to give it a good clean tomorrow and get it pristine and then demag her fully :)
Adjusting the output has yielded better results and these rips sounds amazing even without the cleanup, very pleased but want to adjust the azimuth to see if they can be enhanced furthermore. You mentioned the best part of a cassette would be crowd applause etc, which I don't have on my tapes unfortunately, would the hiss Between tracks be a good indication if it was subdued somewhat that I would be nearing the correct level?
also just to make sure I turn it anti-clockwise correct? and what would/did you use to turn it, is their a preferable screwdriver used for this process or anything to hand :o
Many thanks
 
Westwood187 said:
Thats excellent advice Tim, I am very grateful. I just received the demagnetizer yesterday and also got the alcohol today, im going to give it a good clean tomorrow and get it pristine and then demag her fully :)
Adjusting the output has yielded better results and these rips sounds amazing even without the cleanup, very pleased but want to adjust the azimuth to see if they can be enhanced furthermore. You mentioned the best part of a cassette would be crowd applause etc, which I don't have on my tapes unfortunately, would the hiss Between tracks be a good indication if it was subdued somewhat that I would be nearing the correct level?
also just to make sure I turn it anti-clockwise correct? and what would/did you use to turn it, is their a preferable screwdriver used for this process or anything to hand :o
Many thanks
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Would the hiss between tracks be suitable for adjusting azimuth? It depends. The general tape hiss probably isnt. OTOH if there is some preamp hiss that was recorded above the tape hiss, it can be useful. But you will only find out by trying it.

The direction to turn the azimuth screw is the direction that aligns it to that tape! It could be either way. Just be careful not to turn it too far, like multiple turns. Especially when monoed, the effect should be very pronounced within a fraction of a turn. We're talking sometimes very small amounts to fine tune it.
It's helpful to make a small felt tipped pen mark on the edge of the screw and a corresponding point on the head base so you have a reference point to go back to. Saves time having to get the azimuth tape out each time.

For a screwdriver, from memory that head has a dual purpose screw head that will accept both a flat blade and a phillips head. A suitable phillips head is much better as it doesnt slip out so easily. If you dont have them buy a good set of small plillips head drivers and pick the one that fits the most snugly. Just to be safe, demagnetize the screwdriver blade before using it on a head.

Just remember too that the azimuth screw is tiny and wasnt designed to be user adjusted every time the owner played a tape. Be gentle with it.

Cheers Tim
 
Hey thanks Tim , You've helped me so much in this thread and it will be a great reference for the next generations of nOObs to come after.
With regard to the adjustment on a certain part of the tape, I forgot to mention that I dont have an Amp, all listening will be done via my moniitors direct from my soundcard, would this have a different effect on spotting correct alignment|?
I noticed this Alignment Test Tape on ebay, whats your thoughts on this?
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=150216868410&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=005

I like the idea of marking it with a felt pen to get back to reference point but just to make sure maybe i should purchase one of those tapes?

I got my service manual yesterday aswell which is very detailed in its description of what azimuth screw does what, and have learned alot from that.
I cleaned everything today and demagged and it seems to have made a noticeable improvement, very pleased. I used Windex (similar window cleaner on the pinch roller) as I couldn't find rubber cleaner, Maybe theres something else you could recommend? I picked up a Eyeglasses repair kit which has a great plastic screwdriver that fits pretty snug, Only problem is it seems to have been glued at manufacture, is there anything you'd recommend will loosen this? I heard acetone is good and should avoid plastic as it will burn.
many thanks
 
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Westwood187 said:
You mentioned the best part of a cassette would be crowd applause etc, which I don't have on my tapes unfortunately, would the hiss Between tracks be a good indication if it was subdued somewhat that I would be nearing the correct level?
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I don't think tape hiss would be a good indicator as it would most likely be the hiss from the noise floor of the cassette medium, rather than a recorded artefact from the source. As Tim mentioned, if it was preamp hiss which was recorded along with the tape's music, it may be useful, but I have a feeling what you're hearing is just noise floor.

Maybe something like cymbal splash and snare portions would work well? The problem, though, is getting a passage of decent length containing these kind of sounds. What sort of music is it that you're transferring?
 
Hey thanks for stoppin by Ritzy, the cassette are early 90s hiphop that mainly contain looped samples from the 60-70s. As I said I dont have an amp so maybe cymbal splash and snare portions is what i'll need to listen for (whatever they are) googles quickly lol.
that alignment tape on ebay would be a good purchase? or is there a certain brand or will any do?
thanks
 
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