Wow, that is a great review! I love the meters. So annoying that most manufacturers went to crappy 5 or 6 segment meters in the later years. Man I hate that. You got a really good deal.
Not to hog on your post but I'd just like to say I just tried playback one more time. It now sounds exactly right. Beth's vocals (She sings like an angel!) are right on! No wow and flutter. It must have been that the crud on the take up spindle shaft was causing resistance. So, I'm confident in using this old beast to create my MP3s. Thanks again for sharing about your SCT-31! A great old offering from Radio Shack! BTW, it was a good chuck of change for me back in those days at the age of 20!
So, I tried again after another 15 minutes of running in play mode with no tape in the unit. It now sounds pretty darn close to the normal speed. I will refrain from adjusting the pot for now. I am however not getting the fast forward or the rewind funtion. Looks like I'm going to need to remove the plate that adorns the take up spindles again and see what else I can do back behind there. I had removed it before to clean the pulley for the tape counter belt which is on the take up reel. I had also cleaned the other parts that are involved in the fast winding. Looks like it needs a little more. At least it sounds just about right speed wise.
Ok, so the old tape counter belt had melted onto the spindle parts. I cleaned that up as best I could without removing the clip that holds the spindle onto the shaft. It now winds in both directions at a reasonable speed. So, it's just about back to fully good condition. The output level control is scratchy but functionable. I think 3 hours is enough time to spend on this for now. I hope to use it to create MP3s of some tapes I have from the past. These tapes are not available otherwise. The local band that had them made (on Chrome) never availed them in other formats.
Wow, that is a great review! I love the meters. So annoying that most manufacturers went to crappy 5 or 6 segment meters in the later years. Man I hate that. You got a really good deal.
Not to hog on your post but I'd just like to say I just tried playback one more time. It now sounds exactly right. Beth's vocals (She sings like an angel!) are right on! No wow and flutter. It must have been that the crud on the take up spindle shaft was causing resistance. So, I'm confident in using this old beast to create my MP3s. Thanks again for sharing about your SCT-31! A great old offering from Radio Shack! BTW, it was a good chuck of change for me back in those days at the age of 20!
So, I tried again after another 15 minutes of running in play mode with no tape in the unit. It now sounds pretty darn close to the normal speed. I will refrain from adjusting the pot for now. I am however not getting the fast forward or the rewind funtion. Looks like I'm going to need to remove the plate that adorns the take up spindles again and see what else I can do back behind there. I had removed it before to clean the pulley for the tape counter belt which is on the take up reel. I had also cleaned the other parts that are involved in the fast winding. Looks like it needs a little more. At least it sounds just about right speed wise.
Ok, so the old tape counter belt had melted onto the spindle parts. I cleaned that up as best I could without removing the clip that holds the spindle onto the shaft. It now winds in both directions at a reasonable speed. So, it's just about back to fully good condition. The output level control is scratchy but functionable. I think 3 hours is enough time to spend on this for now. I hope to use it to create MP3s of some tapes I have from the past. These tapes are not available otherwise. The local band that had them made (on Chrome) never availed them in other formats.
Are you going to make a part 2 for this deck?
thank you my dear