teac 3440s head alligning?

[mickblah]

Hi all
Im just setting up a Teac3440s for digitizing some old stereo tapes - Ive cleaned and hoovered the machine and my junk tapes play at a great level but the important tapes seem very low level which I guess could be the alignment of the playback head if the tape is actually recorded well at all ? - Ive tried the screws above the heads with a half turn this way and that way but am not sure which screw is which. Anyone have a link to a simple pic and descriptions of the screws - I found manuals for the a3440 on ebay but as hard copy cdrom and am not sure it will be exactly as the 3440s anyway.

thanks in advance



mic k

 

[sweetbeats]

BAD IDEA to just start turning screws. Get the manual first. If some tapes are playing back fine but others are not it is likely a difference in the levels the tapes were recorded at. Unless you have the right equipment to monitor the adjustments you are making with the head adjustment screws you can make negative changes that are difficult to rectify.

 

[evm1024]

Any chance that there are tones recorded on the tape before the music?

With tones recorded it wold be easy(er) to aligh the heads to the tape and set levels provided you know the level they were recorded at.

Note to selves: THis is why we record test tones....

Regards

Hi all
Im just setting up a Teac3440s for digitizing some old stereo tapes - Ive cleaned and hoovered the machine and my junk tapes play at a great level but the important tapes seem very low level which I guess could be the alignment of the playback head if the tape is actually recorded well at all ? - Ive tried the screws above the heads with a half turn this way and that way but am not sure which screw is which. Anyone have a link to a simple pic and descriptions of the screws - I found manuals for the a3440 on ebay but as hard copy cdrom and am not sure it will be exactly as the 3440s anyway.

thanks in advance



mic k

 

[mickblah]

Thanks for the diagram - I have only turned screws back and forwards so far

Could you decipher what the definitions are at the bottom for each type of screw as the jpeg is unclear

thanks again

 

[evm1024]

Sorry about that. Automatic resizing at work.... Lt's see what this one looks like.

Have you aligned a deck before? Getting your heads Az adjustment the same as those which printed the signal on the tape would be a first step. Then setting the reference level and EQ to match.

Do you plan on using this deck for recording? Might be time to get a MRL and service manual if so.

I do like the 3440 and might someday get another.

Regards, Ethan

 

[mickblah]

Thjats the one thanks very much ethan - I think I guessed right but its reassuring to see. tapes I have been given have no tone at all so I am just having to do the best I can before twisting back after ive done the tapes. I know not to just randomnly twist
I do have some old tapes with tone on and can generate tone when i come to set up the record and erase heads

I do have the 3440s and have only seen full manuals online for the 3440 but maybe they were very similar except for layout of the meters - yes i will need some manuals to make the machine recordable.

It s a bit of culture shock after years of working with protools

I did have a mad panic when trying recording and finding my junk tapes wouldnt erase - but all the tapes I have are stereo not 4 track and i guess erasing stereo tapes may be impossible on a 4 track - time to find a bulk eraser to give me some tapes to start with

thanks again for the pic

mick

 

[mickblah]

Ive just ordered my manuals - found a uk ebayer with all the 3340s manuals.

I have got a refreshingly decent sound coming off the tapes now though maybe a little lacking in high end sparkle though I know the reels are dupes.
Does this machine have the hidden eq screws inside or sre they just for setting up the eq curve for recording?

best

mick

 

[evm1024]

Ive just ordered my manuals - found a uk ebayer with all the 3340s manuals.

I have got a refreshingly decent sound coming off the tapes now though maybe a little lacking in high end sparkle though I know the reels are dupes.
Does this machine have the hidden eq screws inside or sre they just for setting up the eq curve for recording?

best

mick

Hi Mick,

You will need an MRL tape to do a proper calibration and those manuals that you ordered. You are in the UK? Welcome to the list by the way.

I'm assuming that you have not calibrated a deck in some time and are a bit rusty on doing it. The azimuth adjustment is a very fine adjustment and tweaking it the trying to get it back just does not work very well. But given the age of the deck we can assume that the record head was not in alignment to start with. And that you did not adjust the record/sync head.

The thing to do would be to get the MRL and Manuals then go through the full alignment procedure. If needed we can help with any questions you might have.

This puts your deck to its best and allows you to exchange tapes with other decks (that are alighned properly) with little fuss.

Once the deck is aligned to standards you can adjust the playback head azimuth to match what was printed on the (old) tape. This works better if they printed a test tone set on the tape. When az matches you get the best results.

When you are done with that tape you can put a scratch tape on the deck and record a tone and then adjust the playback head to be parallel. Thus alighing it again to industry standards. I'm assuming that you are not adjusting levels, just azimuth.

As you know doing a calibration is not too hard but it needs to be done in proper sequence and properly for best and repeatble results.

Here is the location of the internal adjustments. Your manual is your friend.

Regards, Ethan

PS You will need a hardware or software oscilloscope to do the Azimuth adjustment

 

[jviss]

Source for manuals

Ive just ordered my manuals - found a uk ebayer with all the 3340s manuals.

I have got a refreshingly decent sound coming off the tapes now though maybe a little lacking in high end sparkle though I know the reels are dupes.
Does this machine have the hidden eq screws inside or sre they just for setting up the eq curve for recording?

best

mick

Shame it wasn't mentioned when you started this thread, but for anyone reading now: all of the 3440 manuals are available on HiFiEngine.com for free download. I got user, service, parts, and schematic.