The New 4 Track

  • Thread starter Thread starter SteveM
  • Start date Start date
Otto, maybe I wasn't clear. That's what I was saying and why I want the eq daughter board p/n to see if it is a 15/30 card.

I'm trying to find out if somebody just crammed that sleeve on there and said "SWEET! I've got a 30ips deck!" or if they did it right and converted the machine for high speed operation.
 
sweetbeats said:
No, not on the repro card but on the little plug-in eq board. Pull that little board out, the one with the trimmers on it, and look for the part number. There should be a hand-written two-digit number following the printed 7-digit part number. That revision number will tell us what eq curve and speed your 440 is setup for.
Click to expand...

The numbers seem to be all over the place.

For the record cards they are all 4050434-01

The bias amp cards I have 2 that are 4050455-05 and 2 that are - 01

On the reproduce cards I have 1 4050435-06, 2 that are -01 and 1 that is -03.

Must be why I noticed different components on the cards. Not alot, mainly just resistors.
 
ofajen said:
Whoa! I'd go slow on that. Assuming that it is converting the speed to 15/30 ips, there should also be adjustments that were made to the repro and record electronics that provide proper EQ at those speeds. If you change the capstan, you need the components to change all that circuitry back, i.e. the daughter cards. Also, you will need to readjust the pinch roller pressure/setting. The path of least resistance would be to first try it out on the slow setting as is and see how it does before you make a change that forces you to make a bunch of other changes you might not need to do. And besides, maybe you'd have a use for 30 ips?

Cheers,

Otto
Click to expand...

Good idea. I'll try it on slow. Mainly I'd want to run it at 15ips. But I know some of these came as only 31/4 and 71/2 so if that's the case I wouldn't want to go back to 71/2. Sonically the three working "set up" tracks sound great. It's just the mechanical issue of hearing it while it rewinds and ffs. The sleeve pushes it closer to the heads. Maybe could live with it.
 
The sleeve DOES make it 30ips. I just tried my MRL on it. On slow speed it plays back normal.
 
Still waiting to find out what the part number is on the repro EQ daughter board...:confused:
 
sweetbeats said:
Still waiting to find out what the part number is on the repro EQ daughter board...:confused:
Click to expand...

I was going to ask you sweetbeats were you were looking this info up. Thanks.

Things have changed. Playing back the MRL I noticed a little shredding at the take up arm again (not good) so I pushed down the arm a little and that seems to have stopped the shredding AND the rubbing on the take up flange. So, I have some corks coming but still good to have them. :) Don't ask me why I didn't try that before. :D No real reel wobble either Cory, BTW.

Record and Playback in slow speed (15ips) sounds good. Maybe leaving the sleeve on will be alright. OH! And it's not as bad now in RW and FF since I moved the lifters. It's just enough to hear it so it might be a good thing for cueing.

Same issue though with the fourth channel. It's passing signal great but play back is all distorted. I discovered that it's not any of the cards though by swapping them all to another channel. So I need to make some more deductions.

Last bad problem. Track two is not playing back in simul sync. I thought it might be dirty pots but it's still not playing in simul sync.
 
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I got channel 4 recording now. :) But it's not fully erasing the old recording. Sooo, hoping it just needs to be biased.

Also, I've only got an IEC1 cal tape. I need to either order a NAB mrl tape or figure out the math to use the one I have.
 
Take out a reproduce card and remove the plugin eq daughter board. The 7-digit part number (printed) with the two-digit revision number (hand-written) is on each daughter board.
 
sweetbeats said:
Take out a reproduce card and remove the plugin eq daughter board. The 7-digit part number (printed) with the two-digit revision number (hand-written) is on each daughter board.
Click to expand...

Now, I get what you're saying. Sorry about that Cory. I'll check that out.

I swapped out the bias card with an extra I had in the box and that solved the erase problem. So now I have channel four tracking and erasing. I just have a little static (noise), that may be just more dirt. I believe I got rid of it before.

I'll check those numbers though.
 
sweetbeats said:
Take out a reproduce card and remove the plugin eq daughter board. The 7-digit part number (printed) with the two-digit revision number (hand-written) is on each daughter board.
Click to expand...

This one doesn't actually have a revision number hand written. It's printed on there with the others. It's 4500110-01.

Cory, do know anything about the "dummy plugs" they mention in the manual? Are they needed when calibrating?
 
Steve

You are lucky to have that sleeve on the capstan, since the only other way to achieve 15/30ips operation is to go to the servo capstan. If you want to revert to 7.5/15ips then rather buy a regular capstan off of ebay for $25 or so.

The record plug-in EQ card is the wrong one for 15/30ips operation, so the person doing the conversion didn't bother with the audio side of things... You need a -07 or -08 card. I have loads if you want to send a private message.

You'll need the -02 repro EQ card too.

For a complete list of all the card variants go to my web site, www.thinbrownline.com on the resources page.

A few years ago I went through the manuals for the AG-440x and MM-1x00 series and documented all the cards for each machine (there is a lot of overlap, and all the cards are somewhat interchangeable).

Regards


David
 
Steve

MRL's web site has the conversion rules for using a test tape to align to a different standard.

Regards


David
 
Thanks David for dropping in on this thread! I'm going to check out the site. You'll be hearing from me. :cool:

I've decided I'm going to try to keep the capstan the way it is.
 
I got this all straightened out now. Turns out the 4th channel problem was just a disconnected wire in the cable. !! And Thinbrownline has sent me all the correct cards and eqs for 15/30 operation. :)
 
Just wanted to post that I fixed the one channel that had a problem with symul sync. So I am PSYCHED and wanted to announce it! :D Now everything is working 100%.

Channel 2 was not playing back in simulsync. All it was was I believe, was a cover plate in the electronics that was put on backwards by someone, which was hitting the simulsync pot inside causing it to short. :cool:
 
And you got a console for it right? Time for some updated pics!
 
Still looks the same as before. :)

Here's the pic from the "show us your decks" thread.
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