Messages

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Reel to Reel Tape Machines / Re: MCI JH 110 1/4" 2-track

« on: September 14, 2010, 12:09:24 PM »

Hi Steve, it crossed my mind after looking at the stellavox adapter.  I looked at the nagra just now to see what sort of tension system there was, I noticed that the feed reel tension is constant for playback and record (from what I can tell there seems to be constant resistance on the spindle either at rest or play).  There is back spin tension on the take up reel on rewind (the feed reel tension feels like it is a brake?).  Without thinking about it much it seems like it might be possible to do something similar to the stellavox units.  I like this nagra iv-l because the overall cost is not very high (for mono) considering the overall quality of the unit so it is a fun project to play around with.  I am excited to do some recording, the person that sold me the jh-110a has a small studio and is also a musician so I might take it over there and have him help me make an acoustic guitar recording to see what the potential is for audio quality.

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Reel to Reel Tape Machines / Re: MCI JH 110 1/4" 2-track

« on: September 13, 2010, 11:51:55 PM »

I ended up getting Terry to rebuild the nagra pinch roller ($40 including shipping ended up being an incredible deal, super nice work).  I had talked to someone in service at trew audio and the nagra part was $200 (you have to buy the entire pinch roller assembly).  I just intalled it and connected a microphone and recorded my first album, I will be calling it "testing 1,2,3,4, with variations".  Have been working on one of the mci machines, I have the 1/4" mono headblock so will probably set up one of the mci's for mono. 

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Reel to Reel Tape Machines / Re: MCI JH 110 1/4" 2-track

« on: August 24, 2010, 09:09:00 PM »

Charles, I am going to have to get a 1/4 track head on one of the mci's, so much fun ahead! 

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Reel to Reel Tape Machines / Re: MCI JH 110 1/4" 2-track

« on: August 24, 2010, 06:57:40 PM »

Thanks for the tip Steve, I will see what I can find.  Was looking at the large reel adapter on ebay right now ($6000 asking price, holy cow!). 

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Reel to Reel Tape Machines / Re: MCI JH 110 1/4" 2-track

« on: August 24, 2010, 04:38:55 PM »

Thanks Steve, I have goo gone and will give it a try. I emailed Terry's Rubber Rollers to get a quote on fixing the pinch roller.  The rubber seal looks like it will just mostly lift off and from what I can see it looks like the surface underneath has the same finish as the rest of the machine with a rounded edge.

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Reel to Reel Tape Machines / Re: MCI JH 110 1/4" 2-track

« on: August 24, 2010, 04:06:48 PM »

Thanks Charles! It's neat to have so many parts and machines, just have to decide where to start (I will probably start by converting a 1" to 1/4" and see what happens).  Picked up the nagra iv-L today for $275 off of craigslist.  It is functional (I brought the batteries).  Pinch roller needs replacement but was able to test it at various speeds and got audio out of the speaker.  The rubber seal for the top cover is disentegrating at the corners so will probably remove it and hopefully can find a solvent to take off the residue without taking off the finish.  The nice thing is that it came with the AC power supply, the ni-cad charger adapter, an external microphone preamplifier, and some cables. 

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Reel to Reel Tape Machines / Re: MCI JH 110 1/4" 2-track

« on: August 24, 2010, 09:18:09 AM »

It's nice because these are all the later larger transports with the extra roller on left.  I really resisted buying these because of the space and the difficulty transporting and getting into the house (will have to take off doors to get them out of the back room, just need that extra bit of clearance to get them in!).  Now that they are in my house I'm much more excited about, knowing I can probably have a few good working machines for some time.  Going to be looking at a nagra iv-L (1/4" full track) in a few hours for a good price I think ($300), not something I need but I don't need any of this, I just want it!

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Reel to Reel Tape Machines / Re: MCI JH 110 1/4" 2-track

« on: August 24, 2010, 12:21:54 AM »

After my last post I had moved the deck into my listening space, with the onset of hotter weather have taken a traditional break from my system to do landscaping and other various summer activities (in the summer I tend to not be as interested in my listening room), always feel a hiatus can help with overall perspective on the hobby.

Actually had spent the time understanding the machine and troubleshooting a few issues.  Over the weekend I bought 4 more jh-110 machines, I think I have enough parts to have 3 total 1/4" 1/2 track and maybe a mono or maybe a 1/2" 1/2 track (need the heads for that).  I had responded to an ad on cl several weeks ago and finally got ahold of the poster and then several more weeks of nothing (I was thinking he didn't want to sell these), anyway, finally got them all into my house for a very decent price (about what I paid for my original machine).   Various issues I am sure but they are all the later b or c model transports and all in either bridge mci cabs or sony variable profile cabinets. 

I spent sunday clearing out my two extra bedrooms (one for the machines and the other for the tape that piled up, the orignal boxes of tape I got with the mci and 6 boxes of 7" 1/4" reels from a radio station). Hope to condense into one room for machine evaluation and tape sorting/listening.   Happy to have these machines to play around with, these machines are physically very easy to work on, it makes me feel like a kid with a bunch of building blocks

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Reel to Reel Tape Machines / Re: Tape Machine Maintenance

« on: July 10, 2010, 07:21:04 PM »

I adjusted the tension and idle last night.  After these few basic adjustments the whole feel of the tape handling seemed improved (still need to fine tune it but it made a big difference in how the transport handled tape).   I have to do all of the maintenance adjustments described in the manual (and will have to get the associated test equipment).  The molex connectors are a pain in terms of reliable connections, I will take your advice Paul and use a contact perservative on the connectors.

I like how cheap the parts can be had for online (relative to other brands).  The deck does take a lot more room but I like how accessible everything is (I don't have to take anything apart to access things in general).  I have the extra transport parts, there is the extra backplate for the transport which I want to have painted some cool color (the button/control area however will still be the wonderful original beige color). 

It is a lot of fun, I was worried that the maintenance aspect of owning a studio deck would be getting in over my head but it opens up a new appreciation and understaning of tape in general. 

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Reel to Reel Tape Machines / Re: Tape Machine Maintenance

« on: July 09, 2010, 07:23:24 AM »

Thanks for the suggestions Steve, I will check out the other sites, I have the MCI JH set up and working pretty well (one channel does not do a full erase but the problem follows the head cable so should be a connection issue).  I was able to get the service manual and an extra set of heads in pretty decent condition (mounted in a headblock so was able to swap them in and check them).  The machine is mounted in a rolling broadcast cabinet (radio station type where the machine is almost vertical).  I guess the idea of maintenance didn't seem like a necessity until I got the mci.  I am trying to stock up on more parts. 

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Reel to Reel Tape Machines / Re: Tape Machine Maintenance

« on: July 08, 2010, 08:45:22 PM »

Hi Jay, to only luck into a Studer.  As I was writing my above post I realized a lot is probably machine dependent.

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Reel to Reel Tape Machines / Re: Tape Machine Maintenance

« on: July 08, 2010, 03:11:03 AM »

I would like to have as quiet a transport as possible, roller bearings, motor noise, reel table noise etc, fixed guide/part surface noise, basically the moving parts of the transport system.  I don't wan't to make mistakes like contaminating the tape path with a chemical leaking from something or cleaning and not properly lubing afterwords, I just need guidance in this area.

I want the transport system to be very gentle with tape.  How a transport starts and brakes and under what tension, how smoothly the tape path operates (I have little experience with this, trying to think through how to make a machine handle one of kind tape for example, it would be great to have that confidence in a machine to handle rare tape).

I want to keep the transport clean, it seems like cleaning can introduce debris into mechanical parts.  After investing so much effort in a machine would hate to be going backwards by sloppy or clumsy cleaning habits.

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Reel to Reel Tape Machines / Re: MCI JH 110 1/4" 2-track

« on: July 02, 2010, 06:21:14 PM »

Steve, if you could see my kitchen your comment about the bacon fat would make you telepathic. I have it connected to my system with some long cables.  Will have to do some major rearranging to make room, I might move my media collections to another room.  I feel more excited and satisfied than I thought I would, my first studio machine and it sounds great. 

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Reel to Reel Tape Machines / Re: MCI JH 110 1/4" 2-track

« on: July 02, 2010, 05:02:12 PM »

Couldn't resist, it's in my kitchen playing right now (have to rearrange the living room to accomodate).  Have to say it sounds excellent, I had recorded an LP on my tascam br-20, playing it back right now and first impression is that it is better on the mci but not a real comparison.  It came with about 4 boxes of 7" reels (there are several with a single song on them recorded at 15ips, but they are big names like hendrix etc, not sure what those are yet).  He also threw in a dozen or more 10.5" metal reels with tape (and a technics turntable in the original box, teac an-80 dolby nr and the other stuff mentioned).  Gosh am I happy right now!

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Reel to Reel Tape Machines / Re: MCI JH 110 1/4" 2-track

« on: July 01, 2010, 07:56:08 PM »

Thanks for the comments and perspective Steve, have to admit a sort of rabid madness regarding tape machines, maybe should spend the $450 on having my head lapped!