Tascam MS16 users....ever wondered how much life left in your heads?

[altruistica]

It seems to me, that if one is trying to plan for long term use of a tape recorder (say a five year plan) then some things become a priority. For instance, without access to a good tape supply, then the plan falls at the first hurdle. Next, must be quality heads. All the other things (mechanics and electronics) I'm sure with some ingenuity can be sorted out (albeit with a lot of time and knowledge). The first two though (tape and heads) seem like necessities.

I missed this auction in the States for a new MS16 head but have uploaded the photo to Flickr for anyone buying a 2nd hand machine, so they can compare a new head with whatever they find.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/33383402@N06/12465625035/

Al

 

[fgonza2]

hey, i missed the auction too. The head sold for $370 or something like that which is maybe still a good price for a new head like that.

 

[ron-e-g]

It was listed for $500 yep..... just the one head!

 

[sweetbeats]

Two things...

First of all, and no offense meant, but there is no way a picture of a new head can be utilized to compare to a worn head for any kind of assessment of wear/condition on the old head. A relapped head, if done right, will have the same profile and may look exactly (for all intents and purposes) like the new head. "My heads look awesome!" you might think as a result, when in fact they have less than 25% life remaining. Just sayin. Wear on lifters remain a great clue to a machine's mileage in my opinion, notwithstanding some machines may have had their lifters replaced or sleeved. YMMV.

The other thing to consider is this...how long do you think heads last and how much mileage per day/week are you putting on your machines? We all want to future-proof our machines, but I think, in general, we're all just a little too freaked out about heads wearing out faster than they really do. A friend of mine operates a busy well-known/respected analog to digital transfer business. He has machines that are running hours and hours per day most days of the week. He had a reality check when he sent a headblock in to JRF for relap. The block was off a machine that had been running 8 hours a day most days of the week for years. Block came back relapped with a head report showing 75% remaining. Something to think about. He said to me with my recreational use of my tape machines my heads should last a lifetime. Anyway, my 2p from somebody using their machines *constantly*. Most of us are not in that kind of business or running our machines near that hard.

 

[Beck]

I saw that auction when it was still going as well and made me wish I had the machine for it. Ended at $355 plus a fair shipping of only $5.00. They cost twice that in 1987. That was the deal of the decade! Well, if it works. The part numbers for the MS-16 and 85-16 record heads are different from each other and the base is different. So hopefully the buyer has an 85-16 or that part has become a replacement for the MS-16, or easily retrofitted. The one mistake the seller made was not listing the part number in the title or description. The more tech savvy of us search part numbers. It should have sold for much more. Great for the buyer though!

One thing a photo of a new head can do is show you how the original head should look. It can be hard to tell because while some heads are rounded like this one, others come to more of a point and appear flatter at the tip when brand new, leading some to believe they have more wear than they do.

This head is still available new from Tascam and I think is closer to three times this ending bid.

 

[altruistica]

Thanks for the info guys. Glad my posting got some discussion going.

The problem I have you see, is that I'm a novice to this game. I only had a little experience in the 80's with a Tascam 38, which was in a pre-production studio I worked in. The 38 was attached to two, 4 channel DBX units that made the recorder really suck....at the time I knew nothing of setup etc. so P/X'd at the first opportunity for a new Fostex R8 and a sampler. Then in the 90's I went ADAT (my own money not work's) and then hard disk. It's only now that I'm trying tape and as a beginner it does seem at times overwhelming......from SSS to worn obsolete heads. I also think there are lots of people out there with their own view on everything which makes filtering through stuff very difficult (I'm not referring to anyone here BTW).

For instance, I'm sure I read that the MS-16 (of which I now own two machines) are meant to have 'butter-soft' heads, which I take to mean wear out quickly (more so presumably if the machine is not tensioned correctly). Is this opinion correct? I've no idea as I've not been involved with R to R for 30 years to have that kind of knowledge. Surely if a head is about to 'open' up though, then the amount of 'curve' left on the head will be minimal and by comparing it to a new head a novice might have some idea of whether the head could stand being re-lapped. Just the thoughts of a reel to reel novice.....

Al

 

[mdainsd]

I think people tend to worry too much over the issue of "head life" in their analog machines. There are variables at work here, tape speed, formulation of the tape, machine set-up, amount of maintenance applied to the machine, etc.
I think it is sound advice to secure a spare set of heads or headstack for any machine you have. But dont go crazy, just keep up a slow methodical search. Sooner or later there they are at a price that doesnt break the bank. I hunted down and found at least a couple of NOS headstacks for each machine I own. They will outlast me by many years, LOL.
I cant speak too much to head life on consumer or "pro-sumer" decks, but a pro machine set up and maintained properly can run a set of heads for somewhere around 5000 hours (give or take). That is eight hours a day, five days a week for two and a half years. I dont think many in the home recording industry work their analog decks anywhere near that much.

 

[A Reel Person]

True enough,...

I am very opinionated!

Like you, I saw this MS-16 head up for auction, but I didn't have the bank to even consider it.

OTOH, I have a NOS 38 R/P head and NOS 388 R/P head just sitting in a box for a rainy day, as well as several NOS 4-Tr/4-Ch cassette Portastudio heads.

 

[A Reel Person]

Seconding another notion, posted above,...

Proper setup and tensioning of the recorder is key to proper operation and minimizing head wear. This would also be a factor in 'otherwise-known-as' Sticky Shed Syndrome.

F/I, well over 10 years ago I had the opportunity to adjust the tension on my 38. I can't remember exactly why I went in that deep, but I believe I was addressing a slow transport or other tape handling issue. What I found was that the tape tensions had drifted all out of whack, and were unusually high. The tape was being torturously pulled tightly and ground over the heads. I attributed that to component drift that most components get, (as we discuss R/P calibration quite a lot here). Same issue, but with the transport section. So, I got some spring scales and calibrated tensions, and not only did that help with tape handling efficiency, but it minimized the "shed" problem I'd been seeing.

However, reel tension is adjustable on the Tascam 38, but it is not adjustable on the 34 or 32. The 32/34 manuals state that if the tension is out of spec, replace such-and-such component on the control board. (Yeah, right!) The 388 is a servo driven beast, so it is adjustable, but getting your spring scales to read correctly in that recessed transport cavity would be problematic. (However, the 388 manual does recommend using a tentelometer, which probably no one has). I don't believe Fostex(es) are tension-adjustable, as they are cheaply made and cut many corners in design. Other machines would vary on a case by case basis. I have not had an opportunity to check into the MS-16 or MSR-24, but I believe they should have tension adjustments. (The MS-16 being more "pro" oriented, and what I gather as the MSR-24 being more "servo" driven, by assumption).

I have no first hand experience, but I believe more "pro" machines (Otari, MCI, etc.) would have reel tension adjustments available.

Yes, improperly tensioned recorders will accelerate head wear. Thank you.

YMMV

 

[Beck]

I have certainly seen plenty of spent heads in my lifetime, but true it does take a long time. Pretty much the longer you've been recording the more likely you are to prepare for the eventuality of a worn out head or two. In fact I just bought a brand new Rec/Play head for my Tascam TSR-8 a couple days ago from Tascam, but it took 20 years for me to need it. And I can still probably have my current one relapped for a bit more life. No open gaps yet and sounds great. I just want to get heads now while they're still available, even though they seem to be more available like they've had enough demand to begin making them again. The price of the TSR-8/38/48 head is much less now than it was last year.