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I got my first R2R!

andrewto

andrewto

Active Member
I was out craigslisting today for music gear, and while I was picking up some cymbals, I noticed the guy had a Sony reel-to-reel deck; he told me that one didn't work but he had another one that had a wooden case... I offered him an extra $5 for it, and he gave it to me! It's a TEAC A-4010s, which from the little research I've done is a pretty common deck. The wooden case is in great shape (looks better in real life than my cell phone pic), and the sticker on the back says it was serviced back in 1972 :thmbsp:.

I know next to nothing about reel-to-reel decks... I've just read a few threads here about it, and it looks like it might be ok depending on what shape the parts are in. It has a detachable power cord. The RCAs are a little gummy, but I've seen worse. I haven't powered it up yet as I don't really know where to start... I'll have to go through the maintenance sticky.

I took a picture of one of the heads; not sure if you can tell what shape it's in. I'm still not sure what to look for in terms of condition--would more pictures help and of what parts?

Where was this deck in the product line? Is it a worthwhile thing to own? I gotta go get some reels now...

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From the pics you show. It looks to be in great shape. Cleaning and lubing the innards, replacing the pinch roller and belts. I know you will be impressed. I have one that I re-did and it is wonderful. Enjoy.
 
Good grab, should give you a great introduction into the GREAT world of RTR. Enjoy, but look out, once you are in, you are not coming out.:yes:
 
Yes. Once Reel to Reels grab you, they won't let go, even when you KNOW that CD sounds better. :D
 
Make sure you do a full cleaning of the whole tape path. Reel to Reels are picky when it comes to dirt. you lose a lot of hi frequencies if the heads are dirty. Nice looking deck. You may never go back to cassette after you have used this for a while. great find.
 
I repaired one of those recently. It had a bad belt hidden behind the front face, and the felt brake pads had come loose. A belt and some glue for the brake felts fixed that.
Then the old oil and loosen of stiff linkages, etc.

The front plate comes off with the outer screws, and a few hidden under the reel tables. Pretty simple, actually. The capstan belt is replaced from the front on this deck.

The deck ended up sounding VERY nice when it was done. It can make great recordings with the right tape.
 
Thanks everyone! I've never seen any reels at thrift stores, so I guess I'll have to look in other places lol... I'm also thinking it might be cool to bounce recordings that I do on the computer to tape and back--give it a little analog character :yes:

Tinman said:
I repaired one of those recently. It had a bad belt hidden behind the front face, and the felt brake pads had come loose. A belt and some glue for the brake felts fixed that.
Then the old oil and loosen of stiff linkages, etc.

The front plate comes off with the outer screws, and a few hidden under the reel tables. Pretty simple, actually. The capstan belt is replaced from the front on this deck.

The deck ended up sounding VERY nice when it was done. It can make great recordings with the right tape.
Click to expand...

I'm sure there are a million different kinds of tape that I'll have to read up on... which do you like? Are there any good tapes being made now?
 
OK, so I finally got around to taking the face off. After figuring out that I needed to hold the auto shut-off lever since there was no tape loaded, I got it to start up. The transport seems to work fine, the brake pads work, and the belt looks ok. What would indicate that the belt needs to be replaced? Less tension?

I see 4 caps from the front and they don't look like they're leaking.

The pinch roller feels a little smooth, so I may get some of that rubber treating stuff to use on it...

If I can't find 95 or 99% isopropyl alcohol, I'll probably just use 70% to clean the heads.

I was looking through the service manual and I saw the bias adjustment procedure. I've read that tape is now 3-4 formulations ahead of this deck--should I adjust the bias, or just use old tapes? This is an area where I really don't know what I'm talking about... some enlightenment would be appreciated.

Finally, do the 2 mic inputs operate at line level, mic level, or something less? I'll probably try recording music from my computer... I suppose I'll find out anyway, but it wouldn't hurt to know.

Am I missing anything as far as getting it in good working order? I don't know a whole lot about R2R other than what I've read in the past week...

edit: forgot about de-magnetizing the heads. Is there a cheap way to go about this? I don't want to spend a lot on a de-magnetizer only to find out the heads need replacement or something...
 
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Use the RCA inputs to record from the computer. I got a $15 demagnetizer from Ebay. Switch cleaner may be needed on your switches. Scotch 150 was the reference tape(check the service manual), and is readily available on Ebay. Any brown oxide tape(literally) should give good results.
 
Jonny Ramone said:
Use the RCA inputs to record from the computer. I got a $15 demagnetizer from Ebay. Switch cleaner may be needed on your switches. Scotch 150 was the reference tape(check the service manual), and is readily available on Ebay. Any brown oxide tape(literally) should give good results.
Click to expand...

Better tape will give better performance. You can use Scotch 207 or Maxell UD 35-90 but you will have to bias the machine for it.
 
If you want a reel or 2 to get going, pm your addy, I'll ship you off a couple. No charge, gotta look after each other.
 
Jonny Ramone said:
Use the RCA inputs to record from the computer. I got a $15 demagnetizer from Ebay. Switch cleaner may be needed on your switches. Scotch 150 was the reference tape(check the service manual), and is readily available on Ebay. Any brown oxide tape(literally) should give good results.
Click to expand...

Are you talking about something like this? The service manual says to use a 2-pole type... not really sure what that means.

dr*audio said:
Better tape will give better performance. You can use Scotch 207 or Maxell UD 35-90 but you will have to bias the machine for it.
Click to expand...

I read how to adjust the bias in the service manual--could I use a test tone from my computer instead of an oscillator?

krisjay said:
If you want a reel or 2 to get going, pm your addy, I'll ship you off a couple. No charge, gotta look after each other.
Click to expand...
Thanks! I'll send you a pm.
 
andrewto said:
Are you talking about something like this? The service manual says to use a 2-pole type... not really sure what that means.



I read how to adjust the bias in the service manual--could I use a test tone from my computer instead of an oscillator?


Thanks! I'll send you a pm.
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Yes to both. Some demagnetizers have 2 prongs on them. You can use either type.
 
Thanks! If I use a test tone from my computer, how do I make sure it's at the right level? I assume an oscillator would only output at one level, although I've never used one, so I don't really know...
 
andrewto said:
Thanks! If I use a test tone from my computer, how do I make sure it's at the right level? I assume an oscillator would only output at one level, although I've never used one, so I don't really know...
Click to expand...

You will use the volume control on your computer to set the level. Turn the input control on the 4010 to full up and set the monitor to Source. Adjust the volume on the computer for 0dB on the meters. Then use the input control on the 4010 to set the appropriate level. You should have a DMM with flat frequency response out to 20KHz to monitor the output of the 4010. Otherwise it will be difficult to get an accurate reading with the 4010 meters, because the 1KHz and 10KHz tones to set the bias need to be at -20dB and the 4010 meters will barely move down there.
 
OK I cleaned the heads and tape path and then demagnetized the heads. I went to record from my computer (not worrying about the bias yet, just wanted to see if it worked), and I could hear fine monitoring the source through headphones, although there was a lot of hiss (not sure if that's normal or not). The VU meters weren't doing anything, however.

I started recording anyway with the levels at half, moving to full every once in awhile, and it didn't record (consequently I didn't hear anything while monitoring the tape during recording). Any ideas of things to check? I have some tapes coming in the mail (from generous AKers--thanks!) but I don't have anything pre-recorded to test now.

Thanks for all your help with getting this thing going--hopefully this is just one last step!
 
You may have the connections reversed. The output of your sound card should go into the input or record jacks on the back.
Also, did you adjust the record level control on the front, to bring the level up?
 
The connections were ok; I could hear the music through the headphone out of the tape deck. Adjusting the record level affected the level coming through the headphones, but even turned all the way up the needles didn't move...
 
And you turned the input level control, NOT the microphone control, right?
And the monitor switch was set to "Source?"
 
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