Greetings All
My first post to the forum! After years in the DAW world I've decided to plunge back into RTR. I picked up a Otari MX-5050 BII in fair condition from eBay (I know) that was sold "guaranteed to work and recently checked out" that arrived with several issues.
Hello to everyone!
This is also my first post.
I was bouncing around the Internet looking for Otari info, and found this great website and forum and I just joined up.
I too just recently picked up an almost-new Otari MX5050 BIII-2 on eBay.
The unit was apparently a spare at a radio station but was unused. Upon receiving the deck, I could easily see that the machine had NOT been used, except maybe for a basic tryout.
The guides, rollers, heads...every square inch...looked factory-fresh.
It powers up fine, transport works as it should...I even played back a prerecorded tape using the additional/included 4-track playback head, and that too was fine.
Then I tried recording on fresh tape using the 2-track 1/2-track heads....and that's when I found that the Left channel is either not recording or not playing back (tonight I will do more detailed tests).
I have great sound in Source, but when I hit the Tape monitor, the Left channel goes 100% dead.
I took a quick look inside by removing one of the panels...and I see that there are plenty of connectors. So I'm wondering if it's possible that during shipping, a good THUMP might have just popped a connector or a board loose...???
Does anyone know for sure if that's possible on these machines...or are the REC/PLAY electronic soldered firmly?
Being that this machine is so pristine...I wouldn?t think that the electronics are blown/burned out...as it probably never saw even an hour of use. On my first inspection last night...it just seems like it might be a loose or broken connection...but I'm not sure yet where to look. I only glanced at the schematics last night. Luckily I also received the full Operations and Maintenance manual with the deck...also brand new...the binding on the spine wasn't even wrinkled!
If anyone is familiar with the guts of these machines?I would appreciate some tips/pointers so that I don?t waste time going down the wrong path. Of course, if I can?t find the cause?I will probably take the deck in to JRF Magnetics which is only about an hour away from me?but I would hate to spend a nice chunk of cash on repairs just to have them reseat a loose connector or something silly like that that I can do myself.
Oh...since this deck has the additional 4-track head and switch under the head block cover...is it "safe" to flip the switch from 2-track to 4-track with the machine powered up??? I did that without thinking about it and then got nervous afterwards. Same thing for Flux and EQ switches on the back...does it hurt to flip them with the deck powered on?
I?ve never used these Otari decks before?so I?m not sure.
OK...sorry for the long first post!
By the way...I'm a musician and I have a fairly well appointed project studio where I still track to tape.
While I do use a DAW for basic Cut/Paste editing...I've been a tape user for about 35 years, starting way back with the TEAC 4-tracks of the '70s.
The Otari MX5050BIII-2 was going to be used for mixdowns and basic mastering, since I?m not happy mixing back into the DAW. Right now, after I edit in the DAW, I use it as a 24-track ?playback deck? and I mix back out to analog through a console and outboard processing?but then when I record the stereo mix back into the DAW, I?m never happy with the dynamics, and I hate trying to correct it digitally.
Using tape, I can then get the higher mix levels that many people desire, while at the same time letting the tape do its natural compression instead of using any digital processing.
Bottom line?it just sounds better on tape!
Thanks
Miroslav