bought a reel to reel...........

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Geoff.R.G
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Re: bought a reel to reel...........

Unread post by Geoff.R.G »

Very different from my Teac which is a three motor machine, the reel tables each having an electronically controlled motor. There are just two belts, one for the capstans and one for the counter. The biggest problem with replacing the belt was a Philips head screw that didn't want to turn until I got the correct angle on it. The disassembly was very simple except for the C washer that departed at great speed who knows where. Fortunately I have spares of such things.

Well done for fixing it now you need to buy some tape and put it to work.
I have bought tape from https://www.tapecity.co.uk/ but you can also get it from https://www.thomann.de/gb/recording_tape.html

Vinyl-ant
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Re: bought a reel to reel...........

Unread post by Vinyl-ant »

oooh,
This thing sounds nice.
The tape is a mix of stuff, just played an acoustic version of its too late baby by carly simon, followed by a classical waltz of some description.
Christ knows what its playing now...


Im not getting the hiss which i was expecting, i havent degaussed the heads, just cleaned them with ipa.

Its now playing a wierd instrumental easy listening version of pretty things by david bowie :shock: :lol:

Someone had odd musical taste. Is it one of phils tapes? :D

Even given the strangeness, it sounds lovely. Not sure i want to record over it because its so far away from my usual stuff......

Its worse than the jbe dd for not being able to stop watching it...

Chuffed with that

It wasnt too bad to take apart and work out, i only lost a single E clip which shot off one of the idlers. Handily, a replacement was in my lenco spares box.

And its speed stability seems spot on too

Im going to get some original sony reels for it and see if i can find a dust cover, next thing is to buy some tapes and record something, ive no idea if the record function works until i test it

I want another one to faff with.

Oh dear.....
Analogue: oracle delphi sme 309, jbe series 3 cx unipivot dv20x2l, roksan xerxes tabriz vm750, jvc ql-y5f rigb at440, jvc ql-y3f vm750, lenco 75, technics sl150

Phono stages: cole lcr, benedict audio hothead

Digital: cyrus cd7, wiim mini x2, topping e30, jds labs el dac 2+

Amplification: nelson pass b1, nelson pass f5

Speakers: 15" fane aperiodic wardrobes

Cans: myryad z40, hifiman sundara + deva, fostex t50rp, sennheiser momentum on ear +over ear, b&w p5 and p7

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Re: bought a reel to reel...........

Unread post by antonio66 »

"I want another one to faff with."

Get yourself to the doctors Ant, I'm sure he'll have a tablet for that complaint :lol:

NSNO2021
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Re: bought a reel to reel...........

Unread post by NSNO2021 »

I sense a pending name change to "Magnetic Ant" 😉
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Geoff.R.G
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Re: bought a reel to reel...........

Unread post by Geoff.R.G »

Vinyl-ant wrote: Fri Jan 29, 2021 10:51 pm Im going to get some original sony reels for it and see if i can find a dust cover, next thing is to buy some tapes and record something, I've no idea if the record function works until i test it

I want another one to faff with.

Oh dear.....
Tape City have 1/4" tape on 7" reels at £24 for 1,200 feet (45 minutes at 7.5 IPS).
Empty Sony 7" reels are around £10 on eBay for plastic, I couldn't find any metal ones.

If you want another machine there are plenty about.

Vinyl-ant
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Re: bought a reel to reel...........

Unread post by Vinyl-ant »

Yep i saw the smoked plastic sony reels between 10 and 20 quid for the take up reel, i also found a dust cover for about 25 quid but its abit battered so ill leave that particular one.

The interesting thing is that i paid 200 quid, and there are several of the same machines on ebay at the moment that are almost double or over that figure.....

Ive had a look at the tape city site and their prices are reasonable, im unsure about using thomann at the moment, if orders are shipped from germany i dont want to be hit with an vat and import bill.

Sodding brexit. A complete bloody farce

I also spotted another sony machine that looks interesting.......
Analogue: oracle delphi sme 309, jbe series 3 cx unipivot dv20x2l, roksan xerxes tabriz vm750, jvc ql-y5f rigb at440, jvc ql-y3f vm750, lenco 75, technics sl150

Phono stages: cole lcr, benedict audio hothead

Digital: cyrus cd7, wiim mini x2, topping e30, jds labs el dac 2+

Amplification: nelson pass b1, nelson pass f5

Speakers: 15" fane aperiodic wardrobes

Cans: myryad z40, hifiman sundara + deva, fostex t50rp, sennheiser momentum on ear +over ear, b&w p5 and p7

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Latteman
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Re: bought a reel to reel...........

Unread post by Latteman »

Well jealous- also an itch I’ve wanted to scratch.
Just had a look on eBay at the many different types and price range.
I always ask myself if I would use it- 🤔

Could this be a new arm to BTE designs? 👍🏼
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Geoff.R.G
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Re: bought a reel to reel...........

Unread post by Geoff.R.G »

I got my first reel to reel machine, an Akai 4000D in 1972 my second followed 10 years later. I am pleased to hear that others are discovering the joys of magnetic tape, even if I no longer use it for serious recording. 32 Tracks direct into a computer works for me.

Vinyl-ant
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Re: bought a reel to reel...........

Unread post by Vinyl-ant »

Nah nowt to do with bte designs, just for my own amusement.
I suppose i could buy in spares/repair machines and recommission them every now and then if i felt like it
Analogue: oracle delphi sme 309, jbe series 3 cx unipivot dv20x2l, roksan xerxes tabriz vm750, jvc ql-y5f rigb at440, jvc ql-y3f vm750, lenco 75, technics sl150

Phono stages: cole lcr, benedict audio hothead

Digital: cyrus cd7, wiim mini x2, topping e30, jds labs el dac 2+

Amplification: nelson pass b1, nelson pass f5

Speakers: 15" fane aperiodic wardrobes

Cans: myryad z40, hifiman sundara + deva, fostex t50rp, sennheiser momentum on ear +over ear, b&w p5 and p7

Vinyl-ant
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Re: bought a reel to reel...........

Unread post by Vinyl-ant »

Well the restoration on this machine is now complete.

Last job was to get some servisol and go through all the pots and switches, as there were dropouts every now and then from the monitor switches (it was still recording but the sound through the speakers dropped out until the monitor switches were flicked a couple of times). The level control pots were also hit and miss, the adjustment wasn't really there. All good now they have been cleaned with servisol super 10.

ImageSony tc377 restoration complete by anthony cresswell, on Flickr

Here it is without its face, you can see the new belt set I put in earlier when I stripped and cleaned it all shortly after I got it.

ImageSony tc377 restoration complete by anthony cresswell, on Flickr

And left to right, the motor, idler underneath, and the flywheel whose shaft doubles as the capstan.
The tape path was filthy with oxide again from the ancient tapes i have, but it came straight off this time with ipa.

ImageSony tc377 restoration complete by anthony cresswell, on Flickr

and the fast forward and rewind idlers. These two, the main idler and the pinch roller were treated with rubber renue which has done a really nice job on them, theres abit of shed from the idlers on the drive surfaces. I'll keep an eye on that periodically.
I also managed to get hold of an original accessory Sony RM-7 aluminium take up reel in with a load of tapes i bought, these "telephone dial" take up reels are fairly difficult to get hold of and pretty expensive, so when i saw it half hidden in the photos the seller of the tapes had put on I bought them. A lucky find, and cost me less than half of what one of the reels on its own would have cost with the 6 tapes it was hiding in with. The other reel on it is the original take up reel they came with, a plastic R-7 reel that is the same as the PR-150 tape that Sony sold.

ImageSony tc377 restoration complete by anthony cresswell, on Flickr

While it was apart also went over the fascia and the cabinet, removed some old stickers that were on the side of it, and cleaned everything up with some ipa and cleaning stuff. I didn't do that properly before as I wanted to make sure it worked properly first.

I had to take the mech completely out of the cabinet to get at the pots, and pondered putting it back in the other way round so it lays down flat instead of standing up. Decided not to as it looks better stood up.

Then monitored whatever it was that the missus was playing to see if the servisol had sorted the pots out, which it has. It now responds to fine level adjustment. Which is kind of important.

The price of these machines seems to have gone crazy recently, a serviced one that had had the same done to it as I did to this one (belts, cleanup, servisol) went for just short of 600 quid with no tapes or reels :shock:

Glad I bought it when I did.....

happy with that :mrgreen:
These users thanked the author Vinyl-ant for the post:
savvypaul (Sat Feb 27, 2021 5:16 pm)
Analogue: oracle delphi sme 309, jbe series 3 cx unipivot dv20x2l, roksan xerxes tabriz vm750, jvc ql-y5f rigb at440, jvc ql-y3f vm750, lenco 75, technics sl150

Phono stages: cole lcr, benedict audio hothead

Digital: cyrus cd7, wiim mini x2, topping e30, jds labs el dac 2+

Amplification: nelson pass b1, nelson pass f5

Speakers: 15" fane aperiodic wardrobes

Cans: myryad z40, hifiman sundara + deva, fostex t50rp, sennheiser momentum on ear +over ear, b&w p5 and p7

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