Messages

1

Reel to Reel Tape Machines / Re: Newbie 2 tracker w/ recently acquired Otari MX-5050

« on: October 12, 2010, 08:29:56 PM »

First I want to thank everyone who takes the time to post detailed info on dealing with the R2R decks.  The information here has assisted me in very quickly getting my "new to me" Otari functioning.  For every issue that I have, so far, discovered I found a resolution searching the posts here.

The bad cap was pretty obvious. I grabbed a cap from the local electronic supply house.  I have better caps coming and will replace the power and capstan drive large caps.  I had all the "round up the usual suspects" problems.  Cleaning and re-seating connectors, cleaning pots, cleaning the pitch pot, cleaning and lubing the capstan and edit pivot  points.  And now glorious music flowing, at least through my cheapy headphones.  I ordered some XLR plugs to build XLR to RCA interconnects, but they are yet to arrive.

Let the journey begin. 


Cheers,
Geary

2

Reel to Reel Tape Machines / Re: Newbie 2 tracker w/ recently acquired Otari MX-5050

« on: October 11, 2010, 12:30:46 PM »

Thanks Scott,
I spent  time on the sticky posts and will spend more. Very helpful. Thank you for your contributions.  I am pretty good with tube electronics, less so with solid state, but can read a schematic and wield a soldering iron.  I have built a DIY phono stage, restored several vintage amps, integrated amps and modded my "modern" amps and preamps. All of these projects were tube based. 

My mechanical abilities are more in the "brute force" than finesse category.  I'll look at the cost of the tension measuring tools. It may make more sense for me to have a tech handle that part.

I am really impressed with the build quality on the Otari.  I can definitely see the difference from my Teac A4300.  Plodding on...

Cheers,
Geary

3

Reel to Reel Tape Machines / Newbie 2 tracker w/ recently acquired Otari MX-5050

« on: October 10, 2010, 09:35:10 PM »

I am new to the forum.  More importantly, I am new to prerecorded 2 track tapes.  I bought about 350 reel to reel tapes at an estate sale. Mostly classical with a few jazz, folk, opera and musicals.  In my buying frenzy, I did not notice that about 130 were 2-track! Most of the 2-tracks are late 50's RCA, Columbia and Mercury.  That's the good news!

The bad news is my Teac A4300 is a 4-track machine.  I recently brought my Teac back to life.  The heads are like new and functions to spec. But it, obviously, won?t play the 2 track tapes.  Additionally, I have a lot to learn about handling these classic tapes. I have been spoiled by the convenience of 4-track auto-reverse, but really excited about the better fidelity of the 2 tracks.

So, based on recommendations on the Tape Asylum, (Thanks Doc!),I picked up an Otari MX-5050 BIIHD. If I am interpreting the SN info correctly, it was built in 1981. It is in rack mount configuration, as it was in a radio station. Cosmetically it is pretty nice.  It is complete with all of the hubs. Heads show very little wear. So it appears to have been professionally used and maintained. It is not without issues, though.

The capstan slowed substantially after a few minutes of play. The lead 1000uf cap on the main board had leaked. Other than that cap, all the other caps appear to not have leaked. I de-gunked the cue pivot  and lever, which were stuck and now moves properly.

I am putting together my cap order. I plan to replace all of the main board 1000uf caps and the capstan drive board larger caps. What other function and reliability caps should I do?

I want to get everything running to spec before tweaking the I/O amp boards for sound. I will likely do a tubed outboard head amp.

Cheers,
Geary