I've always wanted a proper tape delay for use with the guitar. The digital units are fine but the ones I can afford are not even close to competing with an actual tape delay.
Basically, what I'm thinking is taking two of those hand-held tape recorders and installing them in a box with a tape going in a loop. The signal goes into the first unit that records it to the tape. The second would have multiple tape heads placed right after the writing head, distance between the reading heads being equal to the distance between the writing head and the first reading head.
There would obviously be a variable feedback going from the second tape recorder output to the input of the first one. The "extra" read heads would probably need off switches for feedback trickery. A variable speed shouldn't be too hard to achieve with a floppy drive motor. I've tried a few and there's more than enough torque in them.
Now, the actual question. Would it be possible to use a tape head from one of those car cassette adapters as a reading head? After some twenty minutes of reading about tape and how it works, I've come to the conclusion that it should work. I've ordered a few $1 units from eBay. Maybe they'll actually work.
I've got a few schematics for tape head amplifiers here. Slightly more complicated than what I'm used to but I'll give them a shot when I have time.
Any ideas?
Basically, what I'm thinking is taking two of those hand-held tape recorders and installing them in a box with a tape going in a loop. The signal goes into the first unit that records it to the tape. The second would have multiple tape heads placed right after the writing head, distance between the reading heads being equal to the distance between the writing head and the first reading head.
There would obviously be a variable feedback going from the second tape recorder output to the input of the first one. The "extra" read heads would probably need off switches for feedback trickery. A variable speed shouldn't be too hard to achieve with a floppy drive motor. I've tried a few and there's more than enough torque in them.
Now, the actual question. Would it be possible to use a tape head from one of those car cassette adapters as a reading head? After some twenty minutes of reading about tape and how it works, I've come to the conclusion that it should work. I've ordered a few $1 units from eBay. Maybe they'll actually work.
I've got a few schematics for tape head amplifiers here. Slightly more complicated than what I'm used to but I'll give them a shot when I have time.
Any ideas?