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Message started by Falconer on 05/25/16 at 14:44:36

Title: Purchase 1st R2R deck
Post by Falconer on 05/25/16 at 14:44:36

Well, I've gone and done it. Yep, I bought my FIRST R2R deck. It's a Otari MX-5050bii 2 deck. Got it off ebay. The case is in very good shape, the sides have a couple of dings but nothing major. The heads looked like someone had stored the deck with a tape still loaded and when the tape was removed it left some tape residue on the heads. The channel 2 output does not produce any sound, will need to get that taken care of. Any tips on how to start tracking that down would be appreciated.
I said this is my first deck because I have the same model deck coming from Southern Reel to Reel when it gets through it's refurbishing process. I bought this deck off ebay thinking about having a spare parts supply. I plan on modifying the heads to direct wire to rca outputs, shouldn't be to hard (hopefully).
Will post pictures of the deck soon.

Title: Re: Purchase 1st R2R deck
Post by Steve Deckert on 05/26/16 at 04:54:52

Congratulations on your new Reel to Reel decks!  Nice idea on the parts deck, especially if you can get it fully operational! I did the same thing with my large otari's and have a complete set of replacement cards for them.  Even though the floor models MTR10/MTR12 have better transports, head blocks, and heads I find the sonic difference between the MX-5050 and those to be less than one would expect.  And having both wired with RCA jacks off the heads, when using a ZP3 playback amplifier the difference between the two becomes even less.

A company called Lasermedia makes a rubber pinch roller cleaner and a head cleaner.  Get a can of each, and a few hundred double tipped 6 inch wooden QTips so you can clean you tape path.  The unit probably works fine, the oxide is just keeping the tape from contacting the head so you get no sound.




Title: Re: Purchase 1st R2R deck
Post by Steve Deckert on 05/26/16 at 05:01:36

Also get a tape head demagnetizer. ONLY get the "HAN-D-MAG" from the RB Annis company, Greencastle USA as anything else can damage your machine.

I purchased a gauss meter that shows residual magnetic fields on metal parts such as heads and pinch rollers.  I only have to demagnetize my machines after every 20 tapes it seems.  I don't know what the norm is for that, but if magnetism builds up on the heads your high frequency response will begin to roll off.



Title: Re: Purchase 1st R2R deck
Post by Steve Deckert on 05/26/16 at 05:13:39

Also, once you get the two cans of cleaner and Q-Tips, you will want to inspect your tape path and heads after every tape. Especially if you are listening to back coated tapes that tend to be used in studios for higher bias levels aka more dynamic range.

I clean my tape path after almost every tape I play for the first time unless it's new tape. Keeping the tape path surgically clean even if it means stopping the tape mid way through and cleaning, you will need a lifetime to wear out most heads.  The ritual leaves a certain amount of black or brown stain on the white Q-tip telling you how much crap just wore off the tape while you played it, which in turn updates you of the status of your tape and it's projected life.

When I shop for a tape deck on ebay, or anywhere else, I look at the tape lifters that raise the tape away from the heads during the re-wind process. The notch carved in the round tape lift rods will give you a real good idea of how much use it's had.


Title: Re: Purchase 1st R2R deck
Post by Falconer on 05/26/16 at 20:40:24

Thanks for all the info Mr. D. I'll get a shopping list made and order some things.

Title: Re: Purchase 1st R2R deck
Post by ecx123 on 07/17/16 at 19:17:54

Looking to purchase my 1st R2R deck soon. Options available are:
Crown SX824
Tandberg TD20A
Otari MTR10 and MTR12
Ampex 351
Decision decision! Any advice or input would be appreciated.

Title: Re: Purchase 1st R2R deck
Post by Falconer on 07/20/16 at 19:56:48

I would go with either the MTR-10 or 12. I like the 12 just a little better than the 10. I have both models, in fact I have two 12's and one 10. A lot of the parts are interchangeable between the two. The 12 will take 12" reels and the 10 will take up to the 10.5" reels. I also have two MX-5050 BII-2 from Otari. These seem to have been work horses for a lot of radio stations.

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