Akai GX630D electrolytic LL (low loss?....low leakage?) capacitors

[62vauxhall]

I volunteered to investigate the chance of restoring playback to one channel of an acquaintance's Akai GX630D open reel deck. Mechanically it seems to be in complete working order but it is not pristeen and is filthy inside.

I assumed the playback problem was caused by one or more 2SC458 transistors (there are 16 in total). So far I have only replaced those on the playback board and signal is now present on both channels. But there does seem to be distortion.

Might be the ancient 3" reel of tape I used for testing purposes - recording and playback. Or perhaps old capacitors?

With access to the board, I noted values of the electrolytic capacitors that are present and I have replacements on hand. Four of the originals are yellow jacketed designated LL which I presume is either Low Loss or Low Leakage. I have no replacements desgnated as such, just general purpose capacitors.

Considering the age of the yellow LL capacitors present on the board, cannot a modern general purpose cap like Rubycon perform sufficiently well enough to replace an LL capacitor made 40 years ago?

 

[HPMguy]

Get a low leakage type, they have different characteristics. I've seen standard caps used in those sort of spots, but they are often coupling caps and low leakage is usually a good idea. Nichicon UKL work fine.

Chances are your standard caps are better than what's in there, but only because the ones installed are ancient and likely going bad. Bad coupling caps can give you plenty of poor sonics.

 

[62vauxhall]

Thanks. I’ll use what I’ve got. My objective is to achieve passable working condition.