The Charity shop Akai 4000ds mk2 reel to reel
Like most people these days, I am aware of charity shops, or 'thrift stores' for those of you across the pond. And being a tight git of a yorkshireman, I cant resist a root around in the bins of stuff. One mans crap is another mans treasure and all that. Amongst the shelves of mills and boon books, and dead mans shoes, I stumbled upon an Akai 4000ds mkii rtr machine in a local charity shop.
Less than a week after I sold my Sony Tc377 to partially fund the new milling machine. Which I now have. It's great.
After vacillitating for 10 minutes I bought it, then as my parents house was closest to where I was and I'd have to carry the bloody thing from the shop, I deposited it there.
This is what I got.
Less than a week after I sold my Sony Tc377 to partially fund the new milling machine. Which I now have. It's great.
After vacillitating for 10 minutes I bought it, then as my parents house was closest to where I was and I'd have to carry the bloody thing from the shop, I deposited it there.
This is what I got.
I then sent the wife a picture of it, fully expecting a right bollocking, and went back out to do the shopping I was actually supposed to be doing when I went out. That done, I then went back to collect it.
Before I took it home, we plugged it into my dads system for a laugh, to see if it worked.
And were greeted by a godawful noise which sounded terminal...... not a good start.
After my dad had done a supermanesque dive across the room for the volume control which had my mum in tears laughing at him, there was however, a little chirp of music when the switches were frantically pressed this way and that in random order to try to coax some life out of it, so there was a modicum of hope.
It was a bit cosmetically challenged, but given the awful pink noise racket it made, that was the least of the worries.
Fast forward a couple of hours, I pulled the fascia off it to have a look inside.
At this
Before I took it home, we plugged it into my dads system for a laugh, to see if it worked.
And were greeted by a godawful noise which sounded terminal...... not a good start.
After my dad had done a supermanesque dive across the room for the volume control which had my mum in tears laughing at him, there was however, a little chirp of music when the switches were frantically pressed this way and that in random order to try to coax some life out of it, so there was a modicum of hope.
It was a bit cosmetically challenged, but given the awful pink noise racket it made, that was the least of the worries.
Fast forward a couple of hours, I pulled the fascia off it to have a look inside.
At this
Its a bit less complicated than the 377, but similar in design. Sort of half way between the Sony TC280 and the 377.
Interestingly, all the rubber parts were in rather good nick, not all hardened like the equivalent Sony parts. The charity shop lady said it had been her grandads, and had been in the living room as long as she could remember so this may have been due to it being in a centrally heated environment for most of its life rather than a loft since 1985.
I wanted to get at all the pots and switches first, and get them all cleaned out with Servisol. Ten minute job, followed by much switch clicking to work the cleaner around them. I couldn't get at the pots from the front, but that could come later as the pots are on the record side, at this point I just wanted to see if I could get it to make some noises that weren't likely to scare small children.....
I then screwed it back together and tested it. Lo and behold, it played no problem. It came with 3 unknown tapes, so I tried the first tape which was full of soul, Marvin Gaye, Otis Redding, plenty of good stuff. Second one was full of Tina Turner.......... Not wanting to be subjected to any more 80's Tina, I didn't play the third one. There is no accounting for taste.....
I left it alone for a couple of days, and being at a loose end while waiting for parts for a customer build, came back to it to get at the pots.
The whole mech comes out of the cabinet via 6 bolts, 4 in the back hidden by the feet and 2 in the base. The last one wouldn't come out without being castigated and threatened with the grinder, but I got there with it eventually.
Turns out that for some reason the mech chassis had rusted around where the bolts went through, but peculiarly, not anywhere else or on the inside of the same areas...
Interestingly, all the rubber parts were in rather good nick, not all hardened like the equivalent Sony parts. The charity shop lady said it had been her grandads, and had been in the living room as long as she could remember so this may have been due to it being in a centrally heated environment for most of its life rather than a loft since 1985.
I wanted to get at all the pots and switches first, and get them all cleaned out with Servisol. Ten minute job, followed by much switch clicking to work the cleaner around them. I couldn't get at the pots from the front, but that could come later as the pots are on the record side, at this point I just wanted to see if I could get it to make some noises that weren't likely to scare small children.....
I then screwed it back together and tested it. Lo and behold, it played no problem. It came with 3 unknown tapes, so I tried the first tape which was full of soul, Marvin Gaye, Otis Redding, plenty of good stuff. Second one was full of Tina Turner.......... Not wanting to be subjected to any more 80's Tina, I didn't play the third one. There is no accounting for taste.....
I left it alone for a couple of days, and being at a loose end while waiting for parts for a customer build, came back to it to get at the pots.
The whole mech comes out of the cabinet via 6 bolts, 4 in the back hidden by the feet and 2 in the base. The last one wouldn't come out without being castigated and threatened with the grinder, but I got there with it eventually.
Turns out that for some reason the mech chassis had rusted around where the bolts went through, but peculiarly, not anywhere else or on the inside of the same areas...
So, access was gained to the rec level pots, (nobles of all things :shock: ) and I could check for bulging caps and inspect the belts.
Handily, there were no dodgy caps in sight, and the belts are fine if a little loose. I'll get some replacements shortly.
Once I'd cleaned out the pots with Servisol and nailed it back together, happy with my lot, I tried to record something.
Oh dear.
There were dropouts all over the place, the levels were up and down like a yoyo despite the VU meter needles responding as they should, and It came out as a garbled mess......
Bugger........
So I cleaned the heads with my last bit of isopropyl and tried again. Not quite as bad, but it got as bad if not worse pretty quickly.
I then downloaded the service manual to see what that said, and had a read.
Coming back to it half an hour later, I noticed that on the paper weekly planner that the the machine was stood on, there was a load of nasty looking flakey dust, right underneath the heads, and that it was reluctant to rewind the tape.
Lucky it was stood on top of my A3 weekly planner which is white paper, otherwise I wouldn't have noticed anything.
The tape itself was the problem, it was shedding so badly that there was a new tide mark on the freshly cleaned heads, and a load of dropped oxide after recording a two and a half minute song. It was also stuck up to the eyeballs, which is why it was reluctant to rewind. This was the third tape which I hadn't tried.
So I threaded the soul tape, played it through to the end of the recorded stuff and tried again With desperate hope in my heart, along with a healthy amount of pessimism..
The old bugger recorded no problem .
So, it's fully functional.
High on life at that point, I then decided to respray all the bIts that were flakey and nasty with some etch primer then satin black which has tidied it up no end.
Handily, there were no dodgy caps in sight, and the belts are fine if a little loose. I'll get some replacements shortly.
Once I'd cleaned out the pots with Servisol and nailed it back together, happy with my lot, I tried to record something.
Oh dear.
There were dropouts all over the place, the levels were up and down like a yoyo despite the VU meter needles responding as they should, and It came out as a garbled mess......
Bugger........
So I cleaned the heads with my last bit of isopropyl and tried again. Not quite as bad, but it got as bad if not worse pretty quickly.
I then downloaded the service manual to see what that said, and had a read.
Coming back to it half an hour later, I noticed that on the paper weekly planner that the the machine was stood on, there was a load of nasty looking flakey dust, right underneath the heads, and that it was reluctant to rewind the tape.
Lucky it was stood on top of my A3 weekly planner which is white paper, otherwise I wouldn't have noticed anything.
The tape itself was the problem, it was shedding so badly that there was a new tide mark on the freshly cleaned heads, and a load of dropped oxide after recording a two and a half minute song. It was also stuck up to the eyeballs, which is why it was reluctant to rewind. This was the third tape which I hadn't tried.
So I threaded the soul tape, played it through to the end of the recorded stuff and tried again With desperate hope in my heart, along with a healthy amount of pessimism..
The old bugger recorded no problem .
So, it's fully functional.
High on life at that point, I then decided to respray all the bIts that were flakey and nasty with some etch primer then satin black which has tidied it up no end.
Next jobs are to turn a new aluminium cover for the pinch roller as it has gone walkies, and I'm not paying out a fortune for another one, and to sort out the two chunks out of the right hand side of the cabinet.
And to get some more belts, and some more isopropyl to clean the tape path properly. Then when the belts come I'll fit them and then give the moving parts a good clean, and treat the rubber parts with rubber renue
And to get some more belts, and some more isopropyl to clean the tape path properly. Then when the belts come I'll fit them and then give the moving parts a good clean, and treat the rubber parts with rubber renue
I never expected to have another reel to reel machine so soon after I sold the Sony machine. I really dropped on with this machine. When I did my due diligence when I was planning to buy one in the first place, it was a coin flip as to wether to get the a Sony or one of these machines. I plumped for the Sony at the time as it had the ferrite and ferrite heads, and it was sold as working.
These Sony and Akai machines represent a sensible introductory machine if someone is looking at getting an R2R, there are plenty about in various states of decay, and plenty of spares. For anyone looking for a taste of tape they represent pretty good value if you don't pay through the nose. Some of these machines will be advertised at silly money, but for between 150 and 250 quid, dollars, euros, whatever your currency is, you should be able to secure a serviceable working unit that looks abit shonky, but is fundamentally sound. If you can't do any remedial work on one yourself its worth going a bit higher for a minter to get the best introduction to reel to reel possible. If one of these does it for you, then spend more on a better unit later.
The Sony was right in the middle of this range, and given the work I'd done to it, went for more when I sold it to a lovely guy who bought mine specifically because he wanted a fully checked out machine that he could plug and play.
This Akai machine was a fair bit cheaper than the above figures, but it was bought untested and in abit of a state cosmetically. It had all the potential to be a money pit or an interesting doorstop.
If you are willing to put the time in to troubleshoot an untested machine, and have some mechanical and electrical aptitude, be aware that they can be more trouble than they are worth, and that MAINS VOLTAGES ARE BLOODY DANGEROUS.
Use that thing on top of your neck and be sensible.
Strangely enough, I didn't get a right bollocking off the wife for buying it, but I did have to fork out for a 1st press vinyl copy of R.E.M Automatic for the people that she was eyeing up.
I'll take that deal....
Onwards!
These Sony and Akai machines represent a sensible introductory machine if someone is looking at getting an R2R, there are plenty about in various states of decay, and plenty of spares. For anyone looking for a taste of tape they represent pretty good value if you don't pay through the nose. Some of these machines will be advertised at silly money, but for between 150 and 250 quid, dollars, euros, whatever your currency is, you should be able to secure a serviceable working unit that looks abit shonky, but is fundamentally sound. If you can't do any remedial work on one yourself its worth going a bit higher for a minter to get the best introduction to reel to reel possible. If one of these does it for you, then spend more on a better unit later.
The Sony was right in the middle of this range, and given the work I'd done to it, went for more when I sold it to a lovely guy who bought mine specifically because he wanted a fully checked out machine that he could plug and play.
This Akai machine was a fair bit cheaper than the above figures, but it was bought untested and in abit of a state cosmetically. It had all the potential to be a money pit or an interesting doorstop.
If you are willing to put the time in to troubleshoot an untested machine, and have some mechanical and electrical aptitude, be aware that they can be more trouble than they are worth, and that MAINS VOLTAGES ARE BLOODY DANGEROUS.
Use that thing on top of your neck and be sensible.
Strangely enough, I didn't get a right bollocking off the wife for buying it, but I did have to fork out for a 1st press vinyl copy of R.E.M Automatic for the people that she was eyeing up.
I'll take that deal....
Onwards!