That certainly sounds like a relay issue.
I have the same problem with one of the cards.
I've tried to clean the relay contacts, but that didn't help.
While in playback, the "norm" mode sounds fine though.
It seems both heads are being fed thru the amplifiers in record mode when the relays are stuck.
One thing I haven't tried yet, is to unplug the monitor head.
You only need the monitor head for calibrating, so after that I guess you could simply unplug it (the orange one) and get rid off the 50's style echo.
Some users even completely remove the monitor head to use it as a spare in case the sync/rec/norm head is worn out.
But in that case recalibrating will be a pain in the ...
I know this is quite of a work-around, but as long as you don't replace the relays/cards, this will do fine.
Good Luck!
Here's a frequency response plot from all channels in monitor mode, with the blue(ish) line being the defective channel.
There are phase issues while calibrating, but it's still doable...
