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Messages - Fabio

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1
Tape Tech / Maxell UD 35-90
« on: April 07, 2010, 06:38:14 PM »
Dear Forum Members,

Do you know if tapes Maxell UD 35-90 are subject to the "sticky syndrome"?

Is there any tape matching such Maxell tapes, to date?

Thank you.

Regards,

Fabio


2
Gentlemen,

Thank you very much for your great support.

I understand that anyway I will have the chance to enjoy my old tapes, which made me immediately feel better!

I have tried to find a Service Manual belonging to a Teac X-2000R sold in the European market, but without success so far; this would be the only way to confirmed the response received from TEAC confirmed.

On the other hand, an input came from Big Dave, a nice gentleman from UK which also sells Reel to Reel spare parts on Ebay. He says that as my collection of old tapes has been recorded at 9.5 cm/s, NAB EQ shall be the equalization used by the machine, regardless if belonging to the USA or European market. I am told that at that slow speed, the EQ can just be NAB...

I will keep looking for the European version of the manual.

Thank you.

Best Regards,

Fabio

3
Raw Tape / Re: Tape Comparison Chart
« on: April 07, 2010, 03:35:19 AM »
Hello,

What about Maxell UD 35-90 Tapes, which were very popular (at least in Italy) in the late 80s and early 90s?

Does anybody know which tape is matching their characteristics and replacing them?

Thank you.

Best Regards,

Fabio

4
Dear Forum members

Thanks to a suggestion received from Ironbut, I have written to TEAC asking what the EQ of my machine would be and if there is a difference between X2000-R machines purchased in USA or in Europe.

The response is a real surprise to me! Now I understand the second X2000-R I have recently purchased (and I am still struggling to repair, as the heads assembly is with JRF) has been calibrated to NAB, and in fact my entire collection of old tapes (more than 40) has been recorded with a X2000-R purchased in Europe, calibrated IEC as per TEAC feedback, and I do not own that machine anymore.

The question is now: how this will effect the playback of my old tapes? and there is anything I can do to switch to IEC Equalization?

My heads assembly is ready and still with JRF, and if there is any action to be taken on the heads (I don't think so, however I prefer to ask to you guys) I am still in time for asking John to take kind action.

I hope the only solution won't be to playback the tapes with the ReVoX B77 MKII I have. I am sure tapes recorded with a Teac autoreverse machine will play better when listened with the same machine has recorded them.

Please let me know if there is anything I can do to handle this discouraging fact that I may have purchased a machine with a different (wrong for my apes) equalization, and that there is nobody around here in my city that can easily work on it...and successfully!

Thank you!

Best Regards,

Fabio

5
Hello Giorgio,

It is nice to hear from you.

When in Italy (I am USA resident but I am working in the Middle East right now) I live in Sicily; what about you?

Are you in this field or a passionate of reel2reel machines? :-)

Thank you

Regards,

Fabio

6
Hi,

I would like to understand if the machine I bought is compatible with the Tape Project

I am a little bit confused, and don't know if it does make any difference where the Teac X2000-R (with DBX) has been bought, I mean European, USA market, etc..

Are they always NAB EQ?

I cannot verify with the original user manual which came with the machine, as I am in another country for work reasons.

Thank you!! 

Best Regards

Fabio

7
Hello Gentlemen,

Quick Update:

- Heads Assembly has been removed; it is connected through connectors and needed only minor parts demounting.
- I have sent the heads assembly to JRF and will discuss with them the way to go, even if the cost difference between relap and new head is only 25 USD and I may decide to install new heads anyway.
- Unfortunately I have no tech resources in my city, so (sadly) I can just mount the assembly back, without having somebody doing a final fine tuning! I hope audio results won't be disappointing or tapes get damaged.

Regarding the use of this machine: I will use this X-2000R to listen old tapes recorded with another X-2000R I used to own in my private radio station in the late '80s.
I have one ReVoX B77 MKII being maintained right now in Germany. With this one I will listen the tapes recorded with another ReVoX B77 MKII while my first private radio station was open (late '70s). Still crossing fingers and waiting for it to be back.

I bought a fruit/vegetables dehydrator, and when back in Italy next time I will try to spend some time to recover my old (sticky?) tapes! I learnt how to recover old tapes thanks again to this Forum and his great members, which are assisting me brilliantly!

Thank you!

Regards,

Fabio
 

8
Hello!

I am sure there are no professionals able to do works on my RTR in my city and this is my big concern and disappointment; as you said, it is really hard to find them!

So, with reference the heads' adjustment, I should accept the idea to keep the heads as they come from JRF or try to find an azimuth tape (could you tell me more about this azimuth tape brand/name so I can try to buy it online, please?) and try the minor adjustments by myself, hoping not to make the situation worse than better than when heads come from JRF.

I have released the heads assembly which is now just attached to the X-2000R by the heads cables.

Now I am wondering (and hoping) that it won't be difficult to reach the connector (I hope there is one) to unplug it and pull the heads assembly away from the deck.

I am not sure I have to reach this connector from the back or from the front, removing the front panel?

Thank you!

Regards.

Fabio

9
Thank you gentlemen,

I think the only option left is to send the heads assembly to JRF, which I think will make, after the work is completed, a perfect heads alignment (it should be the whole azimuth, tangency, azimuth etc.).

- - Could you please confirm the above can in fact be done by JRF while having with them the heads assembly only?

Last doubt is... relapping or change heads? In fact I see that the price proposed by JRF for new heads is the lower I have found out there: around 75 USD each one they stated (relapping is 50 USD each one). I hope there is no mistake.

So, if they can keep this convenient price for the new heads, is it still worth to recondition them (if condition of my heads allows it), or change heads is the best solution? 

Thank you for your time; it is good to find kind and passionate people sharing your interests!

Best Regards,

Fabio

10
Hi,

Thank you for your suggestions and kind words,

I had further tried to clean the heads that now look much-much better than before, but I am afraid some corrosion signs are remaining on the metallic part of a couple of heads. Passing a finger I can not really or barely feel these "damaged" parts; if I gently pass a nail I can feel them.

I am taking in consideration to look for JRF  Magnetics assistance if I can not fix the problem by myself. I have contacted them and asked if it is possible to send them the entire head assembly hosting the 6 heads, as one of the problems that I will face removing the heads one by one is to find locally a good professional for a proper reinstallation & alignment (not really available here!) once the heads are back.

John (from JRF) kindly made himself available, saying that I can send the complete head assembly, and they will remove the heads, re-install them and optically align the complete head assembly. After this he would send the entire "block" ready for reinstallation.

Should this happen, this is I think the only solution for works to be done on the heads, because as said in my city I can not find a professional able to make such works properly or without making experiments on my Teac X-2000R

BEFORE going for the above solution, I will for sure try the solution you have just proposed (the tape cleaning solution).
If results won't be satisfactory, what do you think about sending the entire heads assembly to JRF?
Also, and very important, do you think that demounting the entire Heads Assembly is something that can be actually be done on a Teac X-2000R?  Could you kindly provide some guidance on this operation so that I can do it? I have 16 years background on mobile units? assistance, so I am not really a beginner and used precision tools in the past.
 

Thank you for assisting me; I really appreciate it.

Regards,

Fabio

11
Hello!

Thank you for caring; you can not understand the level of disappointment when you buy such a machine all in perfect conditions EXCEPT the most important part, like the heads!!!

I have taken 2 more pictures with the daylight, hoping they are clearer. In fact it is hard to take some picture without the metallic part is not creating some light reflection.

The heads that look more in trouble are the 2 on the left and I will buy naphta to try the cleaning you have suggested.

You are mentioning a special tape "expendable tape"; I think it is like the special tapes once were used to clean deck cassette heads? Do you have any idea on where to find this special tape, if it can be found under different names and if there is anything I can manually use to make the same work of this expendable tape?

Thank you!

Regards,

Fabio

PICTURES:




12
Dear forum members,

I have another case for your kind attention.

As said in another thread in this board, I have just bought one Teac X-2000R that, the seller says, has spent all its life in a box, in a storage facility.

In fact this looks possible seeing the original box, wrapping and documentation, the case which is more than mint, just perfect and inside the machine there is no trace of dust and I believe not because somebody has cleaned it.

Unfortunately, there is the other side of the coin, represented by the heads that I have just analyzed; in fact after all the above, heads conditions have disappointed me.

I am trying to attach two (not perfect) pictures I did take few minutes ago after cleaning them using alcohol ethylic 95% (some sources stated that it can be used and does not damage heads). After cleaning, it looks like they can not be further cleaned and oxide or deposits are still there. Picture is showing the two heads on the left, the ones looking in worse status.


I would like to know from you if I have to worry for the conditions of heads or if there is a different treatment that can bring them to their initial perfect shape.

Thank you.

Best Regards,

Fabio

Picture 1:

Picture 2:

14
Hello Tim,

Thank you for your reply!

I will check now if the FFWD has different behaviour depending the tape I load, even though all the tapes I have (and I love!) are old,  recorded when my private radio station was still alive in the '80s!

Tim, is there any way to recover defective Sticky tapes? As said I am really attached to them!

Thank you again!

Best Regards,

Fabio

15
Dear Forum members,

I Trust you are doing great!

I hope you can give some guidance on the above issue.

I have changed the main belt following Big Dave guidelines and using a belt he provided (from Ebay UK).

This X-2000R has been kept in the box for the last 20 years and has no signs of usage at all!

I have put some gun/3-in-1 oil only in the specified places and cleaned the mechanical parts with Alcohol 95% and changed the belt.

Now the deck goes in Play perfectly, but if I try to push Fast Forward or Fast Rewind, the reels move very slowly and with very big difficulty.

Do I have to make any maintenance in the main two motors or in other parts? Can I have some guidance & help to have this great machine again 100% operational?

Thank you very much, I appreciate your assistance!

Best Regards,

Fabio


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