TEAC A-1200 VU Questions ++

[JB8]

Hello!

Picked up my first A-1200 and have few questions on functionality.

• Should the VU's be working when using a line input signal from my phone or is that far too little power to get them moving? When I first powered the unit up the VU's were pegged, even with no signal coming in, just straight up like they were being hit with an overload of signal. After cleaning the three main pots it eventually settled down and the needles dropped down to a normal position. When I power up the unit the needles momentarily jump up to near zero, then ease back down. They seem to work fine when a tape is playing but I don't think they're matched in response.
• Is the "Monitor Out" 1/4" jack suitable for using headphones? I'm assuming it is, but in looking at the schematic it appeared it was a hi z output but I have to turn the input up nearly all the way to get a decently loud signal in headphones and as mentioned, even when at this input level the VU's are not very responsive. The schematic also confirms the output is designed for headphones so perhaps there's something that still needs attention. While monitoring Source, when I stick the headphone jack in, just the tip, I get nice clean signal on the left channel only, but then when I push it all the way in, I get good sound on left/right, but there also a significant "shhhhhhhhh" sound on the left channel only. If I have the phones jack all the way in and switch the source to tape I get more of a background noise of a 60 cycle hum and a bacon sizzle sound on the right channel.
• If I don't have a test tape is there an alternative way to calibrate playback levels, VU reactions, etc?
• Lastly, are there any PS caps that always deserve replacement due to age?
• Any notoriously bad transistors to look out for? When on Tape mode for monitor source I'm hearing the tickle of what, on a receiver, usually indicates a noisy transistor, so any advice here would be great.

Thus far I've replaced the belts and lubed/serviced the capstan armature and the unit is performing nicely from a mechanical standpoint, now I just need the fine tune things and get it cleaned up a bit more.

Thanks in advance for your help here, much appreciated!

 

[JB8]

Update: I've been poking around some, reading about germanium transistors, testing caps, etc. Lots to learn around troubleshooting tape machines like this, but really it comes down to testing components and replacing them based on a budget. I'm going to dive in and see if I can figure this out on my own and I'll post updates if there are any significant improvements to announce.

Onward!