Hello all. I'm Tim. Lifetime DIY'er, but relatively new to the forum.
In the fall of last year, a friend tasked me with repairing a 70's vintage, odd-ball 8-track tape echo he was planning on using on an upcoming project. I had only found a few MENTIONS of it online; no luck in finding a schematic. It was an arduous task, as I was learning about tape recording tech as I worked the repair. In the end, my "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" leanings kept me from initially shotgunning the electrolytics, but that was the final fix, after signal tracing, replacing the vintage IC and a transistor or two, cleaning up a couple "mods" and fixing a few traces. Initial results can be heard here->
This lead me to want to design and build an 8-track tape echo, with a long goal of building an all tube tape echo, spring reverb, harmonic tremolo unit. I've sourced NOS Nortronics heads and the appropriate QM kits. I've got a line on some NOS transport mechs, but I'm not holding out hope for that source. I do have a source for motors, should I have to design my own transport. With all that sorted or soon to be, that leaves me with circuit design, which is why I'm here.
In the past, sourcing components was much easier. This often simplified the task of circuit design. The first hurdle for me will be figuring out the bias circuit for erase/record functions. Bias oscillators for tape machines aren't exactly easy to come-by these days.
What part of the forum should I look to direct questions about creating bias oscillator coils and associated circuits?
Thanks,
Tim
In the fall of last year, a friend tasked me with repairing a 70's vintage, odd-ball 8-track tape echo he was planning on using on an upcoming project. I had only found a few MENTIONS of it online; no luck in finding a schematic. It was an arduous task, as I was learning about tape recording tech as I worked the repair. In the end, my "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" leanings kept me from initially shotgunning the electrolytics, but that was the final fix, after signal tracing, replacing the vintage IC and a transistor or two, cleaning up a couple "mods" and fixing a few traces. Initial results can be heard here->
This lead me to want to design and build an 8-track tape echo, with a long goal of building an all tube tape echo, spring reverb, harmonic tremolo unit. I've sourced NOS Nortronics heads and the appropriate QM kits. I've got a line on some NOS transport mechs, but I'm not holding out hope for that source. I do have a source for motors, should I have to design my own transport. With all that sorted or soon to be, that leaves me with circuit design, which is why I'm here.
In the past, sourcing components was much easier. This often simplified the task of circuit design. The first hurdle for me will be figuring out the bias circuit for erase/record functions. Bias oscillators for tape machines aren't exactly easy to come-by these days.
What part of the forum should I look to direct questions about creating bias oscillator coils and associated circuits?
Thanks,
Tim
