Messages

2476

Reel to Reel Tape Machines / Re: Technics RS-1520 on e-bay...

« on: February 21, 2007, 08:22:24 PM »

Man, ugly story Bruce! I hope your claim works out OK. Unfortunately, they never pay you for the frustration and disappointment involved! I bought my rs1500 from a guy that worked for HBO doing sound for some of their specials and he sold me a roadcase that was custom made for it. It fits my machine like a glove, in fact it's difficult to lift it straight out because of the suction caused by the foam. I've learned to tilt it before trying to remove it. If any of you guys are going to be shipping your machines very often, buy one! I think you could damage the deck with a very sharp spear through it. But that's about it. It has steel corners and edges, 3 handles and the 2 latches can have locks put through them. My shipper used those lead sealed wire seals like customs uses to show the contents haven't been tampered with. I almost never use it so if any of you guys want to borrow it, your welcome to. Just PM me. Just remember, it's for a 1500 so I think the 1520 is bigger right? I don't know about the 1800 or 1700 series but I'm sure the 1506 will fit.

2477

Prerecorded Tapes / Re: Level problems with pre-records??

« on: February 21, 2007, 07:15:09 PM »

I listen to a lot of prerecorded tapes. I was buying them hand over fist for a while and only had time to listen to each one once to check them and see how much I enjoyed the performance. I noticed one day the left channel was consistently lower in level. I went back to some of the the tapes that I didn't notice this problem on but it was there also. It turned out that, although I'd been cleaning the heads about every 6-7 tapes, I hadn't been careful to clean the entire head. The RS1500 has head shields and the angle that you have to use to get at the heads lends itself to not getting to the edges of the head. It wasn't like there was a huge amount of build up there but enough to reduce the level on that one channel. The difference was instantly noticeable.

2478

Prerecorded Tapes / Re: B-C tape heavily distorted on side 2, levels appear normal...?

« on: February 21, 2007, 06:40:34 PM »

Hey Danny, check the appearance of  the inside edge of the the tape ( the outside edge if playing side 2 ). I've never had a BC tape with this problem but I had a Columbia/Ampex that must have been wound poorly and stored that way. The outside edge wrinkled and one channel distorted badly. I couldn't tell this had happened because it was currently wound correctly. But when I stopped the tape and pull out some slack to examine it the wrinkling showed up. I think that damage to one channel of any stereo tape is pretty common since so many things that are bad for tape (water/fluid damage, heat/direct sunlight, magnetic flux) have another track isolating the other channel from damage. I've had great luck with BC tapes but I think that most folks that collected them knew how to take care of them. But, a lot can happen in 25-30 years. I've also had great luck with tape sellers and they've taken returns on all the bad tapes I've had problems with.

2479

Service Resources / Re: Pinch Roller refurbishing

« on: February 19, 2007, 08:12:46 PM »

Hey Charles, what's a good brand for a spring gauge? I have a couple of cheap plastic ones I got from Edmund Scientific. They're just a bit better than guessing. It sure would be nice to have one that holds the max reading for braking/ motor torque etc.. I don't really want to spend a fortune but, inaccurate measurement tools are useless.

2480

Tape Tech / Re: noisy mechanicals on fast wind on technics 1500 decks

« on: February 18, 2007, 11:30:19 PM »

That problem you had at CES gave me a pretty good visual. " HOW MUCH ARE THEY?"" WHAT?" "HOW MUCH ARE THE TAPES?" " I CAN'T HEAR,..HEY COME BACK! I'M READY TO DEMO THIS MORTON SUBBOTNICK TAPE! As far as the belts, there was a guy on Ebay that had them for $15 bucks I think but that seems kinda steep. I've always gotten belt kits (like for the f44 the 3 belts were $10 I think) from Vintage Electronics. I bet repair guys get them for just about nothing.

2481

Reel to Reel Tape Machines / Re: Can a Technics RS-1500 be used in horizontal position?

« on: February 18, 2007, 11:13:17 PM »

Hmm,.. my 1500 is getting re-biased right now. The guy that's working on it said he'd worked on them quite a few times before. The very first thing he did in examining my deck was check the tensioners. Maybe because the bellows assemblies are rare and impossible to replace though. I'll ask him when I pick it up in a week or so. I've been sitting here and trying to think if the difference in height could have something to do with those spacers? Right off hand, I can't but,.. that is the first thing in line from the reel.
I have no doubt that Doc and Co. will be, if they aren't already, the worlds authorities on these decks.

2482

Reel to Reel Tape Machines / Re: Maintenance Questions?

« on: February 18, 2007, 01:36:08 AM »

I have a Han-D-Mag demagnetizer from R.B. Annis that I got from US recording media. I must sound like a rep for them by now, I'm always suggesting them( I swear i'm not). They used to have a kit that include the Han-D-Mag and a magnetometer/clip-on probe and some sensor strips for practicing on. It was less than $150 total. I don't see any details on the kit anywhere so you may have to buy the pieces a la carte but you can ask at us recording or RB Annis has the Deluxe Jeweled Pocket Magnetometer model 25 5-0 5 gauss range for $81. rbannis.com
BTW mrclassicman didn't you used to play for the Supersonics?

2483

Reel to Reel Tape Machines / Re: Technics RS-1520 on e-bay...

« on: February 16, 2007, 09:23:16 PM »

Hey doc, any idea on a release schedule for the head amp ( like the one used @ CES). Last thing I heard, you were thinking of X-ing the Blackgates.

2484

Prerecorded Tapes / Re: Barclay-Crocker tape catalog?

« on: February 16, 2007, 09:03:36 PM »

Jimmy Smith with Kenny Burrell? Paul's gonna want to hear that one!

It's called " Organ Grinder Swing" on Verve. My tape isn't in very good condition but, I don't have it on vinyl or cd/sacd and the Ampex Employee Tape Library thing is pretty cool. It's engineered by Van Gelder ,recorded @ Englewood Cliffs June 14-15 1965. Just those three,.. organ, guitar, and drums.

2485

Prerecorded Tapes / Re: Barclay-Crocker tape catalog?

« on: February 15, 2007, 11:30:22 PM »

Thanks guys. I got a copy of catalog #7 Dec.'81 and have a copy of that last listing on it's way also. Your moniker reminded me that when I first moved to Silicon Valley, Scully  was one of the first companies I applied for a job. I used to love driving by the big Ampex sign on the way to San Fran. too. I have a few used tapes from the Ampex employee tape library. Hmm,.. I just looked at one( Jimmy Smith w/Kenny Burrell and Grady Tate) and it actually has a library card in it. 10 names. Last check out 12/27/71. In the bottom of the box is a mimiographed ( remember those awful things, green paper and blue printing) sheet on tape use. #8 states" All tapes will be inspected upon return, and you will be held responsible for erased, damaged, or dubbed tapes. Charges not to exceed employee net price may be levied." Sounds like Ampex bought their employees?

2486

Suggestion Box / Re: R. Strauss L.A. Phil.

« on: February 12, 2007, 07:19:50 PM »

I hate, and I mean HATE, warped metal reels! I just love the way that they look though. US recording media has plastic, three hole, 10.5" empty reels from RMGI. They're about $10 bucks each. I used to have a black plastic three hole (matte finish) that was pretty nice but I sold it with my A77 years ago. Hmm, I wonder if I could get a plastics shop to cut some round pieces that could screw into the hubs for a metal reel? Maybe we could get the Tape Project logo silkscreened onto it! Hey Doc,.. come to think of it, how about some tee shirts with the logo for subscribers? Caps? Condoms?!
Oops, forgot which forum I'm in. I second the Decca releases!

2487

Reel to Reel Tape Machines / Re: Otari III

« on: February 11, 2007, 12:10:24 PM »

The Mk lll is a 2 track only model. It doesn't have the 4 head configuration of the previous models which can playback 1/4 track tapes also. On the other hand, if 2 track is all you want, they are more recent and could be in better shape. When I was considering buying an Otari, there were enough of them out there for me to wait till there were ones in my general area so I could actually look at them. I went out and looked at 3 of them and they were all in pretty bad condition (at least in bad enough shape that I didn't feel like they were worth biding enough to assure I would get it).

2488

Tape Tech / Re: Spec's for RS1500 heads (so far)

« on: February 09, 2007, 08:47:47 PM »

The higher the inductance, the higher the output. I believe (?) that the DCR is more of an impedance matching thing. I emailed JFR about a week ago and tried to get John to post a proper explanation here but nothing so far. Hopefully Doc can chime in here. I'm really doing my best to understand the hows and whys with these things. Right now, I'm looking into what is involved in the interface between the heads and electronics.http://home.comcast.net/~mrltapes/ Jay McKnight has some really good info on his web site about reel2reel.

2489

General Discussion / Re: Colour-coding leaders...

« on: February 09, 2007, 08:11:58 PM »

i think the only difference in leader color is clear. Clear is for machines with optical sensors for end of tape. Oh yeah, the silver is reflective for auto reverse. As far as I know, the rest if personal taste.

2490

Reel to Reel Tape Machines / Re: Technics RS-1520 on e-bay...

« on: February 06, 2007, 07:08:53 PM »

Wow, that one looks like it was ridden hard and put away wet! Maybe a radio station or studio by the looks of the scratches around the splicing block. The really sad thing ( aside from the copy stating it's in great condition) is that it's probably in worse condition than the pic's reveal!