TEAC A-6010

[LuLu09]

Hello everyone and hope all of you are well,

I have a TEAC A-6010 that was working 100 % A-OK until I tried to connect it to my current recording system which basically consist of my Roland VS2480
and several pieces of outboard FX gear.

I use a Sampson "C" Control unit which is basically like an audio hub that lets me connect several pieces of audio gear ie, the Roland VS2480, an Alesis Masterlink
ML-9600 and my Mac Book Pro computer. The Sampson "C" Control also has a pair of RCA Left & Right Inputs on it which is where I connected my TEAC A-6010's Left & Right Outputs so that I could what I just recorded beautifully.

However, this where all hell broke loose ! I started smelling burnt resistor smell and a slight amount of smoke coming out the top vent on the TEAC A-6010 so I immediately show down the A-6010. I removed the back panel and the top vent where I was able to see that a wire wound resistor got pretty hot and was showing a bit of charcoal colored hazing.

I also noticed that a circuit board trace was completely burnt away on what I believe is the main circuit, it's the longest of the boards and pretty much in the center of
the chassis.

I repaired the trace beautifully, no problem and 100% continuity between the 2 contact points. No other burnt traces were found. I even removed the power transformer
to check under it for burnt traces or any other component that might have been toasted. I also checked the red square caps associated with that circuit board.
While I was at it and it took quite a while, I checked all the Green & Red caps, couldn't not find one that was bad.

I replaced the 10 ohm / 5 Watt wire wound resistor that showing signs of heat exhaustion, but according to a web thread that I read today, that just because a resistor
gets a little warm and maybe even shows smoke don't mean it's gone bad. In fact I checked it after I removed it from the A-6010 and it tested 10.4 Ohms which falls
easily within the + / - of 5% tolerance for this resistor.

The only other repair that Had to make was to a large Green wire-wound reel resistor...one of the small clamps that are wrapped around the resistor with a lug attached to it which there was a single wire soldered to, had broken. Yes I repaired the clamp nicely, no problem and I made sure that I got the clamp back in the same location as it was it.

Ready to test...NOTE: you don't need to have the amplifier section connected to the transport section in order to test the transport section itself.

I powered on the A-6010 and the pilot light stays on fine, however, with no tape mounted on the deck, I raised the right tension arm slightly and the capstan motor
started spinning, but the same 10 ohm / 5 Watt wire-wound resistor got hotter than blazes, in fact I burnt my little finger a bit touching the resistor, yikes !

So if any one can help me figure this out I would forever be grateful. No I don't live any where close to any place that I can take my A-6010 to for repair.
And I hate crying poor, but can somebody please throw me a towel

Remember, this A-6010 was operating perfectly with out a hitch before this all started.

Stay well, Charles

 

[RRuskin]

If a fuse keeps blowing, you have a problem somewhere farther back in the branch the fuse protects or in the power supply itself.

 

[LuLu09]

Thank You for getting back to me. NO, the fuse does not blow...and when I lift the right side tension arm the capstan
motor starts, but the 10 Ohm / 5 Watt wire-wound resistor starts to melt down, I mean really hot...I shut the A-6010 off immediately
and this may be why the fuse doesn't blow in that I catch it in time ?

Also note...while doing all of this I have opted to use a 1 Amp fuse instead of the required 2 Amp fuse...thinking that if a part is failing
the smaller fuse size will blow quicker thus maybe preventing further damage ?

Stay well, Charles

 

[RRuskin]

Perhaps the overheating resistor is defective. If not, it's seeing more juice than it should making the power supply and/or specific branch from it the most likely causes.

 

[LuLu09]

Thank You for helping me. I bought 2 new resistors from Digi-Key and it did the same thing. The thing that I'm the most bothered with is that until I moved the A-6010 into my home recording studio and tried to interface it with my Roland VS2480 and the Sampson "C" Controller (audio distribution hub) the deck worked flawlessly / perfect in my living room hooked up to my 70's Pioneer receiver and 3 way JBL speakers, wow what a sound.

So this is why, OK I'll admit it, I'm terribly distraught and to make make matters worse, I only paid $10.00 for the A-6010 to start with. Sure it needed a little cleaning and such, but nothing I coudn't handle right here on my kitchen table

The funny thing is, I don't really seriously need this deck. Being a musician and after reading various threads where folks were saying that using a deck like this that is basically considered a consumer deck and because it's fastest recording/playback speed is 7 1/2 IPS, you can achieve what is commonly known as a "lo-fi" kind of sound out of it which I was hopeful to try in my studio.

I hate seeing my A-6010 hit the land fill, mainly because it's horrible to keep treating our earth this way...on the other hand I really can't justify spending what little budget money I have for music gear and such to have somebody repair the deck ? Maybe I'll keep it around just to look at, it's so freak'n cool !

Stay well everyone, Charles