From: liz@poppyrecords.invalid.invalid
Cursitor Doom wrote:
> On Wed, 10 Dec 2025 21:38:18 -0500, ehsjr wrote:
>
> >On 12/10/2025 6:14 PM, Cursitor Doom wrote:
> >> On Wed, 10 Dec 2025 21:58:21 +0000, liz@poppyrecords.invalid.invalid
> >> (Liz Tuddenham) wrote:
> >>
> >>> Cursitor Doom wrote:
> >>>
> >>> [...]
> >>>> He said, "Give the heads a good clean,
> >>>> then." I said, "They don't look dirty." He said, "Give 'em a good
> >>>> clean anyway and see if that fixes it." So I did (not having any faith
> >>>> it would help in the least, however). Nevertheless, full recording was
> >>>> instantly restored!
> >>>
> >>> I asked if you had cleaned the heads right at the beginning of this
> >>> thread. The tineiest of gaps between the head and the tape can have
> >>> quite drastic effects on reproduction and even worse ones on recording.
> >>
> >> I'm not seeing it for some reason. Can you give me the message ID?
> >
> >On Wed, 26 Nov 2025 09:55:24 +0000, liz@poppyrecords.invalid.invalid
> >(Liz Tuddenham) wrote:
> >
> > > Cursitor Doom wrote:
> > >
> > >> I've been trying to trace an issue with a Uher tape deck in respect of
> > >> extremely low audio gain during recording. I was delighted when I
> > >> spotted a resistor in the AGC section with a tiny blow-hole half way
> > >> down its body. I was able to confirm this when I removed it for
> > >> examination under a stereoscope. There was even a bulge under the hole
> > >> where some pressure had clearly built-up immediately prior to the
> > >> blow.'Easy fix!' I thought; 5 minutes and it's done. However, I was
> > >> baffled when it tested spot-on its 1200 intended ohms! WTF?? Something
> > >> must have pulled excess current through that component and the obvious
> > >> culprit was the BJT it was the series resistor for. However, once
> > >> again, it tested fine! I just never have encountered an outcome like
> > >> that before. Anyone had similar?
> > >
> > > Have you cleaned the tape heads?
> >
> >Yes, but not for that reason as the fault just suddenly manifested out
> >of nowhere.
>
>
> Much oblig'd. Clearly what happened here is that in the pile of old
> tapes I was working through, there was a section of tape that was
> shedding oxide (very common with old tapes) which undid all the prior
> cleaning effort. I did mention subsequently that when I tried the
> suggestion from the Ferrograph guy I was expecting no positive outcome
> as the heads *appeared* perfectly clean to me. Just goes to show how a
> tiny bit of invisible foulage can throw a real spanner in the works
> for the unwary. Lesson learned!
About 6 months ago I was asked by a local dancing school if I still had
the master tape of a show where I had done the sound 20 years ago.
After spending an evening sorting through piles of tapes stored in a
disused lavatory (Yes, really!) we found it. I laced it up on one of my
Ferrographs (Logic 7) and the sound quality immediately deteriorated to
rubbish.
We played the tape for long enough to identify that it was the correct
one, then I had to spend the following evening cleaning up the required
5-minute segment. I wound the of tape backwards and forwards through a
fold of soft cloth, picking up loads of debris at each pass.
Eventually i was able to play it, stopping and cleaning the heads and
the guides several times. If you don't clean the guides as well as all
the heads, including the erase head, even a clean tape can drag
particles into the recording and playback heads. Finally I edited the
good bits together, burnt them onto a CDR and sent them to the dancing
school.
--
~ Liz Tuddenham ~
(Remove the ".invalid"s and add ".co.uk" to reply)
www.poppyrecords.co.uk
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