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Help With An Advent 201

L

leemelone

Active Member
I recently picked up an Advent 201 cassette deck and was very impressed with the sound and quality of the recordings it makes. Last night it started having play back issues. The highs are very muddy and there's clearly an alignment issue going on. If you lightly press down on the tape, the highs come back. It does this on every tape I play on it. I'm trying to figure out if this caused by a bad pinch roller, capstan or possibly the spindle bearing are worn out. :dunno:
 
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Not an Advent owner-but what you describe may be a pinch roller-so cleaning\replacement would solve that.
Less likely to be a spindle bearing or misaligned capstan shaft. You can get some idea of the shaft\pinch roller alignment by raising the headblock and taking note of how parallel the roller is to the capstan shaft.

Another thought-the improvement resulting from you pressing on tape suggests a lack of back tension, as back tension is needed to keep the tape properly against the head.

Of course, before you go checking all these things-it's always best to start with a thorough cleaning of the heads and tape path.
 
Thanks for you reply. The very first thing I did was thoroughly clean the heads, pinch roller and capstan. No change. I just took the top cover off and the belt that runs the counter has stretched and fallen off. I just ordered a replacement. This belt runs from the counter to left rewind spindle. Could this be causing the lack of back tension you mentioned?
 
I would start with a new pinch roller and a new head.

I don't have a source for those, so you will have to look.
 
By your description, indeed, counter belt may be providing back tension, so yes, that is an inexpensive thing to try.

While you wait, you could try a rubber band, if you have something that would fit and have moderate tension. This is not a solution, but could give you some hope that the new belt will solve the issue.
 
I actually thought about trying a rubber band while I had it apart. Unfortunately it's a 6 inch belt and rubber bands are either too short or too long to work. :thumbsdown:
 
UPDATE: I got my replacement belt and it fixed the issue. On the 201, the belt that runs the counter does indeed help align the tape over the head. :music:
 
Thanks for the update!

Always good to hear that another piece of analogue audio history has new life in the digital age :thumbsup:
 
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