#recdel — Public Fediverse posts

The plastic base was cracked below the record/playback head, preventing Play mode. This is true of 9/10 of the units I work on. Removed the old torsion spring, installed a spring I custom-wound, transport functions were back in action.

Also cleaned up hardened lubricant in the tape mechanism, replaced the belts and idler tire, deep-cleaned the rest of the machine, and calibrated/tested everything. #recdel

#repair #cassette #refurbished #electronics #vintage #VintageAudio #AnalogMedia

Replaced the cracked power jack that had been preventing this Tascam 414mkII from turning on.

There was no signal to the right channel via headphones/Monitor/Line Outs due to a lifted solder pad on the Master fader. Installed a jumper wire to bridge the bad connection and stereo returned.

Also: full disassembly and deep cleaning; new belts; tests of I/O, routing, recording and playback. #recdel

#repair #cassette #refurbished #electronics #vintage #VintageAudio #AnalogMedia

Channels 1 & 2 of this Tascam Porta02mkII were not playing back recorded signal, but replacing a few capacitors fixed the problem. I see this a lot; these capacitors are very commonly fried when the machine's operator accidentally powers the machine with a 12V power supply of the wrong polarity.

Also replaced the belts, contact-cleaned the potentiometers and fully tested the unit for I/O and recording. #recdel

#repair #cassette #refurbished #electronics #vintage #VintageAudio #AnalogMedia

Acquired 320+ previously-used-but-very-clean Type II cassette tapes this afternoon; a mixture of 60- and 90-minute lengths, including many grey-shelled Maxell XL IIs.

That's a little over 50 lbs (22.5 kg) of tapes!

They're being run through the 4-bay tape winder now to pack them completely before individually swiping them across the industrial bulk eraser. Next they'll be boxed in sets of 6 in preparation for sale.

Need a few? Drop me a line via the Contact link on our profile! #recdel

There's no signal passing in the right headphone channel of this Tascam 244 multitrack cassette recorder, and the left channel is distorted. Removed the Playback Amp PCB in order to recap the whole Monitor section. Now to reassemble and test. #recdel

#cassette #repair #refurbished #electronics #vintage #VintageElectronics

Reassembling & testing a few Tascam units today, post deep-cleaning.

424mkII: The capstan motor only turned if nudged by hand. Disassembled and refurbished the motor; it's now working fine.

Porta02mkII: A power adapter w/ incorrect polarity was used, cutting off playback signal to two tracks. Replacing capacitors fixed it.

414mkII: The power jack had a crack down the middle. Likely the machine was dropped. Replaced the jack; the machine now turns on as it should. #recdel

#repair #cassette

One more repair to wrap up before I return a handful of machines to Nashville on Monday.

The client described heavy wow & flutter. The pinch roller assembly had been bent during a previous technician's repair; while the capstan would still turn the tire, it wasn't spinning freely. Removed the assembly and bent it back into shape — all good now.

Replaced the idler tires, which were starting to crack.

Now disassembling to clean inside and out, following by all the usual testing. #recdel

Continuing work on this Tascam 244 today. Channels 1 and 4 pass signal fine, but the Trim knobs on channels 2 & 3 have to be turned before the channels "wake up." Ultimately determined that the tracks on the volume faders for these two must be damaged or corroded — despite disassembling, cleaning and visually inspecting them. These two faders will be replaced with new ones from our inventory. #recdel

Desoldered & reflowed broken solder joints on multiple rear jacks; power had been cutting out when the plug was wiggled.

A charred transistor prevented signal to the right channel Monitor Out jack; replaced it.

Disassembled & deep cleaned; calibrated the tape mechanism; tested I/O, routing, recording & playback.

This Tascam 424mkIII will be returned to the client in Nashville in a few weeks! #recdel

#Cassette #Repair #Refurbished #Vintage #VintageAudio #VintageElectronics #AnalogMedia

Finished all cleaning tasks for this Tascam 244. 🧼

There was cigarette(?) grime on the internal metal chassis that I cleaned off (mostly) using baby wipes. Also ultrasonic-cleaned the removable plastic parts, sponge-cleaned the faceplate and cassette door, a few passes over the PCBs with an electric duster, and took a toothbrush to the circular fader dust guards.

Now moving on to contact-cleaning all potentiometers & switches... #recdel

#cleaning #cleanedup #refurbish #refurbished #cassette

More progress on the Tascam 688 repair from Saturday.

After adding all those jumper cables, the unit was still experiencing weirdness when switching between input and playback on most tracks. Temporarily swapped in PCBs from another 688 until I isolated that the problem had to be on the Asn Cont PCB. (That's the orangish-brown one.)

#repair #cassette #recdel

While wrapping up work on a client's Tascam 688, I started to experience issues when switching tracks between Mic, Line and Tape modes. I believe it's a power issue, as I get dropouts on all tracks when I apply slight pressure to one area of the Power Supply PCB that doesn't have good support underneath it. About to remove the PCB and look for broken solder joints. #recdel

Oo, oo! Look what I can do!

I desoldered these and replaced them with new ones!

#recdel #AudioEngineer #ElectricalEngineer #Soldering #Repair #Refurbish #Restore #VintageAudioGear #VintageAudioRepair #VintageAudio