Post by Citroen on Aug 9, 2022 11:25:10 GMT 12
Unlike all of my vinyl which I kept, I ditched a lot of my cassettes when the cassette deck in my car finally died and I had no other decks available apart form a crappy $30 portable radio cassette. But I found a box at the back of the cupboard with lots of my recorded compilations and tape dubs. And a big thanks to Colin for supplying the machine to play them on.
|
Post by colinf on Aug 9, 2022 19:45:16 GMT 12
…so you decided to play them on a classic Nakamichi!
AMR-iFi R&D
|
Post by Citroen on Aug 9, 2022 20:41:53 GMT 12
Yep!
So many memories. Hovering over the deck, waiting to hit the record button as the radio played...
Also found a prerecorded copy of Love Over Gold, Talk Talk's Laughing Stock and House of Love.
|
Post by RdM on Aug 9, 2022 21:21:09 GMT 12
Hovering over the deck, waiting to hit the record button as the radio played...
There's a funny BfM broadcasting standards skit/announcement by Jeremy Wells that I keep wanting to capture... likely easiest by tape. I still have cassette tape recordings of earlier shows from them, live via hifi tuner, on chrome at least, likely unobtainable now years and decades ago.
|
Post by colinf on Aug 10, 2022 5:33:28 GMT 12
So many memories. Hovering over the deck, waiting to hit the record button as the radio played... Guilty! I’ve been trying to find anyone with a recording from ABC Classic FM (Australia) radio of Miles Davis’ 1988 Melbourne concert, which I attended. I have part 1 on cassette, missing part 2. It”s captured as a CD on On The Crest Of The Airwaves, but has that awful squelchy compression typical of early digital radio. My cassette copy (on TDK D tape with Dolby B) direct from FM kills that CD for sound quality.
AMR-iFi R&D
|
Post by michaelw on Aug 10, 2022 12:58:00 GMT 12
Well done Monsieur C ! I've got several tapes of Concert FM stuff that sounds rather good - live NZ recordings of Wynton Marsalis, Jan Gabarek, Philip Glass - from the glory days of the Wellington Arts Festival.
PS with a deck like the ZX7 you're not limited to recording with only the best tapes.
It will work magic on everyday stuff like TDK D, TDK SA etc.
|
Post by Citroen on Aug 10, 2022 15:14:25 GMT 12
"Everyday stuff"!? These were my good tapes! I used TDK D, SA or SA-X only on the more cherished items. Otherwise it was TEAC or Sony. Some Maxell UDII.
|
Post by Citroen on Aug 10, 2022 15:16:20 GMT 12
Found a couple of unopened TDK SA-100's and D-90s
|
Post by Citroen on Aug 10, 2022 15:28:22 GMT 12
And these. I assume it wouldn't be good to use the twop head cleaner ones after all this time but the TDK demagnetiser should be ok?
|
Post by michaelw on Aug 10, 2022 16:42:15 GMT 12
Ditch the head cleaning tapes, keep the TDK. Buy your self a big pack of cotton buds and some IPA + rubber safe cleaner. The ZX7 door comes off easily for access to the heads. Reminds me, time I gave my one a clean
|
Post by Citroen on Aug 10, 2022 16:51:22 GMT 12
I have near pure IPA.
What's rubber safe cleaner? Link?
|
Post by michaelw on Aug 10, 2022 17:13:58 GMT 12
Diluted IPA ? Straight IPA might dry out the rubber pinch rollers. I have a Teac branded 2 bottle cleaning kit - one for heads, one for rubber. And still have the original Nakamichi cleaning kit (with cleaning fluid !) that came with the deck
|
Post by Citroen on Aug 10, 2022 17:18:14 GMT 12
Straight IPA ok on heads then?
Diluted, with water for rollers?
|
Post by michaelw on Aug 10, 2022 18:18:27 GMT 12
My tech friend said straight IPA shouldn't be a problem as it's quite mild compared to some cleaning agents, just don't flood the area to be cleaned, a few drops to moisten a cotton bud is plenty.
|
Post by RdM on Aug 10, 2022 19:48:33 GMT 12
And these. I assume it wouldn't be good to use the twop head cleaner ones after all this time but the TDK demagnetiser should be ok?
I seem to remember VHS versions of the cleaning tapes, perhaps those similar; - you put some isopropanol into some specific holes, wetting the tape. Might be ok for general maintenance after the heads had been really cleaned, if they needed it. But if they really are caked, dirty, also the rollers, then a manual clean needs must.
I still have a couple of electronic cassette deck head demagnetisers, the first bought decades ago, when I became aware of the effects of a slightly magnetised tape stroking a permeable head. I'd even take it to friends places when visiting, in the days before CDs when tapes were the portable thing, do them a free favour, also for friends car cassette desks. And to safeguard my tapes! ;=})
Despite the instructions, I like to hear the signal - a decaying in amplitude sine wave - at very low volume just to be sure it is working. It's over in a moment. WOoo.. But depending on construction, sliding contacts etc. you may want or need to unscrew and clean. Probably too need a battery replacement. Measure it. Don't lose the battery cover! Here are my two, front and back.
But back to cleaning heads. Manually, Latin for cleaning by hand ;=})
6 mths ago I spent some time cleaning the heads of a Denon a friend wanted me to sell on behalf, along with tuner, amplifier.
A couple of photos;- oxide shedding deposits, it looks like, and the rollers I haven't tackled yet either, although I recall different cleaners are necessary for rubbers. Caution advised.
Start:
Process: (a quick look on the kitchen bench.)
Some improvement on the heads, almost there, wants finishing, and then next the rubber rollers ...
Good that the cassette mount cover can slide up and off so that you can inspect the interior. There you go ;-)
~
|
Post by michaelw on Aug 11, 2022 14:04:34 GMT 12
|
Post by RdM on Aug 11, 2022 19:40:04 GMT 12
I also used a last smear of metal polish in a jar, even at the end trying Brasso, just for the metal surrounds, washing off with isopropanol.
Had some tabs open on that research but on that PC Firefox is frozen, freezes, I can't bookmark 8000 tabs. I might be able to get to some.
Anyway, you could search on cassette deck heads and rollers cleaning.
|
Post by Citroen on Aug 17, 2022 15:00:48 GMT 12
Since when did pre-recorded tapes start using bloody plastic screws!?
Had a tape lead in break off and the soft plastic screws don't unscrew. But they do disintegrate. And even then the cassette housing won't come apart for me to open it up.
Dear me...
|
Post by Citroen on Aug 17, 2022 15:15:30 GMT 12
This sounds so good. So much better than I thought it would... RY COODER - Paris, Texas. Made In Germany.
|
Post by michaelw on Aug 17, 2022 15:31:27 GMT 12
Never seen one with plastic screws
The few pre-recordeds I have are all welded.
These things are handy for broken tapes
PS - Be careful with your C100s - thinner tapes mean they are not as robust as a C90 or C60
|
Post by Citroen on Aug 17, 2022 15:48:10 GMT 12
Never seen one with plastic screws either!
Might as well be made of gel.
Quick look at my pre-recorded cassettes and about half are fully sealed/welded, the rest with screws.
|
Post by RdM on Aug 17, 2022 18:22:53 GMT 12
This sounds so good. So much better than I thought it would... RY COODER - Paris, Texas. Made In Germany. I have the same in flac.
But there were several covers:
I'd thought that maybe I had an LP with the map torn photos railway track cover but now maybe not.
|
Post by michaelw on Aug 17, 2022 19:01:56 GMT 12
Got it on LP, film is good too !
|
Post by RdM on Aug 17, 2022 19:30:04 GMT 12
Got it on LP, film is good too ! Yeah I thought of mentioning the film too, but decided that folk with the soundtrack might already have seen it.
Next up for me would be Diva which I do have an LP soundtrack of. A new at the time girlfriend introduced me to that film, took me to the new at the time movie in her car, out in the suburbs, Avondale maybe. Old cinema.
It wasn't a Citroen though! ;=}))
|
Post by RdM on Aug 17, 2022 20:33:05 GMT 12
But back to cassette tapes, apologies for the LP & etc. distractions ...
This commercially released chrome tape sounded pretty good. I still have this cassette tape.
Madly perhaps we played this as background music to an experimentally naked model, but with with chosen restraints, and decorative flowers, in an artists life drawing class in a large space. And videotaped it as well, over 2 hours. The model a totally willing participant. In retrospect, I wonder what the participating artists made of it, or whether they might have preferred silence. But nobody objected.
|
Post by RdM on Aug 17, 2022 20:51:41 GMT 12
(That was about 30 years ago!) I'm trying now to track down the model and send her the videotape. But would she want to see it?
It actually looked pretty amazing, and I think perhaps she would.
|
Post by michaelw on Aug 17, 2022 21:14:17 GMT 12
I've got a couple of Decca pre-recordeds on Chrome tape, eg. A few from magazines, promos etc. And my last regular pre-recordeds
|
Post by Citroen on Aug 17, 2022 22:08:43 GMT 12
Paris, Texas is a brilliant film. Found these on Chrome, all with 120usec bias, rather than 70.
|
Post by michaelw on Aug 18, 2022 0:30:34 GMT 12
Chrome at 120 to squeeze out a bit more HF and for compatibility in non-hifi cassette players.
|
Post by Citroen on Aug 18, 2022 15:35:14 GMT 12
Ah, that makes perfect sense.
|