From: cd@notformail.com   
      
   On Mon, 12 Jan 2026 19:53:54 +0000, N_Cook  wrote:   
      
   >On 10/01/2026 16:35, Cursitor Doom wrote:   
   >> Hi all,   
   >>   
   >>   I've identified an issue with my Uher tape recorder and I'd like your   
   >> opinion. There's a problem with the audio amplifier chain. I've   
   >> eliminated all other possible causes like dirty heads or faulty tape   
   >> etc etc. So when I'm listening to playback, the quality is frequently   
   >> varying from 'pretty good' to 'really quite crappy' and I'll expand on   
   >> what I mean by that. There's a distortion which comes and goes   
   >> intermittently. You know how vinyl records start off life being really   
   >> great sounding, but that gets progressively worse the more times   
   >> they're played? Now imagine if you will a vinyl record which has been   
   >> played repeatedly with a worn stylus until the recording is very   
   >> noticeably impaired; scratchy and gritty sounding and you will have a   
   >> good sense of the kind of distortion we're talking about here. What,   
   >> in your considered opinion, is the most likely cause of this problem   
   >> and how would you go about identifying the culprit? Distorted output's   
   >> a lot trickier than a break in the signal path to track down!   
   >>   
   >> Cheers,   
   >>   
   >> CD   
   >>   
   >   
   >Thoroughly clean the pinchwheel. It could be accumalating microscopic   
   >bits of ferrite embedded in the rubber. Chech one of the tapes on   
   >another machine as if that is the case you will be corrupting all your   
   >tapes each time you play them as the ferrite is in a sense recording or   
   >deleting microscopically on each passage   
      
   Yes, that's a valid point. I don't think it's an issue in my case as   
   I'm only using high quality tape which is not depositing anything   
   visible on the pinch roller/capstan head. I suppose there's an outside   
   chance something invisible to the naked eye could cause problems, so   
   I'll give 'em another clean up just to be on the safe side.   
   I had some Ampex tape and that was vile for sticky shed syndrome; the   
   oxide layer came off in big old gummy shards. Fortunately, I'd been   
   forewarned about Ampex tape, so unwound the reel by hand (ended up   
   with sticky brown hands for my trouble!)   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)