AKAI GX-636D Calibration, Alignment and Sound Test Part 2
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- Опубликовано: 9 сен 2024
- Akai GX-636D calibration.
Full calibration including head alignment, bias correction.
Spool alignment.
Sound check at the end.
Note: The GX-636D and GX-635D are excatly the same for calibration.
See also the GX-636D service and repair video Part1
At the risk of over-staying my welcome I've come back because there is a great story behind the Studer A810 I think a man of your talent might really enjoy:
Sometime in 2008 I went looking for a R2R deck. I found out later that Filmco Canada had recently bought Studer's entire inventory when Studer moved out of North America. So here's this A810 for sale on Ebay from Filmco for $4200. We talked on the phone and I'm pretty sure I offended him when I asked if Studer made an auto-reversinbg deck! This was the beginning of my learning about R2Rs! He asked me if a few scratches was important. I told him I would prefer the scratchless one. Somehow I just got super lucky by unknowingly purchasing a 100% tricked out deck from a highly reputable company! More on that in a minute.
The deck was shipped from Ontario via Forward Air Freight on it own pallet to Seattle. It went from Seattle to Portland, OR on a Forward Air 18-wheeler, still on its own pallet. I know this because I drove to Portland to pick it up. (As an ex-trucker of 40 years I can say except for extreme duty trucks all of the rigs are air-ride now, but at that time FA was pretty much the only company doing it).
So I get the deck home and not a scratch on it anywhere. The manual is almost an inch thick in a loose leaf binder binder with both sides of the page used for printing. FURTHERMORE, The deck I was shipped has the 4-speed capstan, the red button thingy, which is the Studer tape scissors (for those who may have always wondered what that red thing is) and a mounted Studer splicing block. It also came with an installed Studer Vari-Speed control. The range of markings to determine what speed you are at goes from 0-1000 and each mark is further sub-divisable by 10! This allows extremely precise control of tape speed that is re-callable. It has the great-looking bright red LED display instead of the ugly LCD one. I almost forgot- The deck has Butterfly heads as well! In other words it seems like I was given the totally tricked out edition! WT*?! I was also given a gold-colored set of NAB adapters and a brand new box of RMG LPR35 tape on 10"reel which they had recorded for me on God only knows what. A820? This is the only deck I have where you can play or fast wind a tape to the end and then go back to the start and the counter reading has not changed by even 1 second. It is impossible to stretch a tape with this deck. I know because I've tried. Doesn't work.
A810 is the easiest deck I have to work on, but even so, at one point I was shoving in one of the electronics cards (the entire deck is modular ) and cracked the basis board. I called Filmco and what do you think they said? (This is a large, very expensive board). They said no problem, we'll send you another one. (They didn't charge me one cent for doing this). And all this from a guy whose first question was do you have a reversing deck.
As an aside, did you know the Studer calibration controls are 100% digital? Every paramter is entered into the unit using a digital hexa-decimal system consisting of 256 steps being equal to the full rotation of a conventional potentiometer, while play/rec functions are 100%analog, of course. At the time there were no digital recorders. The machine was designed so that calibration settings could be recorded onto a tape and saved that way, making it easy for the engineers to save and recall the settings for any tape or session.
According to the hour meter (which Filmco zeroed) I have put 800+ hours on the machine and there are no visible indications of head wear, so the heads oughta be good for another 1500 hrs or more before they need to be re-lapped. It's the same way with the capstan shaft, which just BARELY has a little shine on it where the tape runs. So its good for many more hours as well! The A810 design takes capstan friction into account.
What are the chances of ever coming across a sale like that again?
Cheers and best wishes to you! -J
P.S. The A810 still works, but I know there are some caps that need changing. The capstan will lose its PLL lock causing the tape to wow as it momentarily slows down. I forgot where you are or maybe you didn't say. I noticed you may play guitar. How would you like to trade some services for a 2016 Breedlove Pursuit 100% Koa guitar? It's 100% solid Koa wood on top, back and sides, with rosewood neck and not 1 single scratch on it. Seriously. You would be stunned. I have taken care of it keeping the humidity at 40-50 percent, always shooting for 45, which is the humidity of the Breedlove factory. At this price the instrument is not made here. It's made in China to exacting Breedlove specs such as the graded solid wood top, being slightly thicker on one side than the other. This guitar could not be in better condition than if you had just purchased it. In addition to being an extremely rare wood (you have to go to Hawaii and buy a tree from a landowner) the Koa has an amazing tone. It's very similar to Mahogany in that it's warm and rich, but it's on another level entirely. Very pleasing sound which rapidly matured after I bought it new from the dealer. You can email me at jrhanek@gmail.com if you are so inclined. I can send you a pics of guitar and the deck, if you like. Almost forgot- the guitar's body style is known as a parlour style. Very popular. Peace!
Awesome tip regarding the dot on the NAB hubs, thanx!! I would never have known that, if not for this vid.
It is really a wonderful reference for anyone doing alignment on any R2R, of which I have 6 that I play with.
The 636 amazes me because it's so quiet at normal listening levels (and without noise reduction)!
Akai GX-636 x 2, Teac X-1000R, X-2000R, A-3440, Studer A810 (works perfectly & not a scratch anywhere on it).
The A810 is 10 times the deck that any of the others are. Fast wind is so quick it's almost scary.
It actually has 4 wind speeds and a ton of other cool features.
The only deck not working at 100% is one of the 636's, so am using it for parts.
Hi John. A great collection. The Studer are serious money. Spin on. Nick
Super vid/tutorial , well done Nick ..... thanks !!!!
I also enjoyed it. You clarify and make it sound so easy to understand.
I still need to sort out my Technics and I also have a Sony TC399 that need a sort out.
I just don't know where to get the bits when It comes to vintage equipment.
Hi Jeremy. Thanks for the feedback. The bits for old equipment is always a problem. Try and find a broken one on ebay etc.
I found a working one and it was not properly packed. I managed to come to a deal but the rubber idler wheels are gone.
The things sold for spare or repair are usually shot in the same way.@@nickadams5411
When adjusting the playback level, i think you should turn the volume all the way up. In the video, it was just around 10 O'clock position (8.55 min), if you made the potentiometer to 0-dB at this point then it became too loud at normal volume.
Great info as well as tape deck.... Cheers!
excellent work.
Some people do record at 3 3/4 ips i do on my teac A-6300 with maxell 35-90 and on my deck it sound great no difference between tape and source.
Hi
That is excellent.
Thanks for the info.
nick
Dear Nick Adams.
Hi Nick, i am a little confussed. when you adjusted the VU meters they were at +5? in the manual did it not say RESULT 0 VU indication??? ( by the way, great videos Nick, thanks for sharing)
Hi Nick, Great work Sir!!! Would you please share with me if you like how to align the spools as my tape is being rolled in the front of the reel. I want to be in the middle as it supposes to be. How to adjust that exactly? Mine is GX 630D. Thank you so much! BR, George
Very good guidance,I have just done one of my Akai GX-635D and it makes a big difference to have it all calibrated properly.To be honest I don''t really know why it needs adjustment to start with as it should be set as per charts from the factory...may to do with age,wear and tear? Thank you for your tutorial video,I could't have done it without it!
having a 635d back on line after 12 years guess what i have to do.....no record both channels....i know this is 7 years old this 636 needs them replaced too the sick 458s
Hi Nick. Can you help me to find recording bias adjusters on the board for Akai gx-747. When I record in one direction the recording has a lack of high frequencies and I'd like to adjust it a bit. Thanks!
I have the same problem with my AKAI 636. two days ago. I recorded 2 tapes, it is fine qualify voice and sound. input sound is the same output sound. But today. I do record again but the sound output is too small. I do it again and again in 2 ways but It is not changed. Can you advise me? Can I adjust it as you did in this Video? Thank you very much.
Why are you using level, not phase, to set azimuth
What apps are you using for your signal generators ?????? I would love to download the ones shown in your video !!!!!! Dan :-)
Hi Dan
The one I like the most is by ScorpioZZZ's lab "SGenerator"
I also use "Tone Explorer"
Nick Adams thank you
Can anyone guide me to service my GX 636 DB. My right volume is not working
Hello Nick.
How noticeable is crosstalk on these players when calibrated properly?
my GX-635D has is quite annoying sometime when playing a quiet piece of music while in the other direction there is a fast paced bassy track.
To calibrate the heads like you I would need a refference tape first as well, which is unfortunatelly very hard to find.
Hi Cato. First, you must have a new tape (or a bulk erased tape). Make a high level stereo recording in one direction. Then play it back and make sure playback heads are aligned for best playback. Then turn over and playback and see if you can hear anything. There should be no crosstalk. If there is then adjust. Make a recording on a blank tape in the other direction and repeat the procedure. All the best Nick
@@nickadams5411 Thanks for the info. I will try this. I do not want to mess up the calibration, so I will mark the current position on the screws so I can return it to if things get worse instead of better. I hope that will be enough.
This isnt correct , your meters should have been reading 0db on the first step not +5 and therefore you meters were out to begin with putting the rest of the calibration way out ?
Hi Nick, thank you for this video,it is a great help.I have an Akai GX-635D which has a problem with the direction pc board TH-2043 , the fwd green led does not light up ! so it will not work, any ideas ? Thanks ...:-)
Hi Nick, i am a little confussed. when you adjusted the VU meters they were at +5? in the manual did it not say RESULT 0 VU indication???
Hi Jimi
I agree that finding the correct 0VU setting is difficult without a true calibrated tape.
So some experimenting with the settings to get best result.
Rock on Jimi
My pitch control stopped working ,any advice ? All I did is use some contact cleaner as you advised on the contacts inside,lubed the spring of the bar that moves inside as you go from play to reverse. After that it stopped working...strange.
Hi Mike
Check that all plugs are pressed home, or pull them off and on a few times to clean the contacts.
Also make sure no wire has come off or broken, although that is unlikely.
Operate the controls several times to get them clean, and spray more contact cleaner.. Did you spray the actual pitch potentiometer as well?
When I had the covers off,yes and it worked perfectly before...that contact cleaner must have done something. I used that cleaner to clean the lens on a cd recorder and after the clen I had to put the machine in the rubbish. The lens was not reading anymore...what can I say...
Hi Mike
There are alot of different contact cleaners around, and most if not all leave a lubricating grease or film behind.
Thats probably what happened to your lens.
I have not known them to cause worse connection in pots or switches, after operating them several times during the flush.
hi i look in to it where i got my one from bob
Brilliant walk through Nick, are you contactable somehow ?? Tim
Hi
Contact me:
nick@demonproducts.co.uk
Hi. What is this...tablet with special software or oscilloscope?
Hi. They are all apps on the ipad. SGenerator, (SGenerator Lite), Audioscan etc.
Hi Nick when you use the iPad , how high do you set the volume of the iPad
Hi paul
the app over rides the manual volume control.
However the 0Vu does not always seem correct, so you have to do some experimenting to get it right.
Hi Nick, Do you look at the sites lie audiocarma or tape heads??
Hi Patrick. I have not, but maybe I should, but do not have the time. Thanks for the suggestion. All the best. Nick
@@nickadams5411 Hi Nick, how offend should one calibrate their R2R??
Hi Patrick. If you record seriously, then only if you change tape Make or formulation. Otherwise just once is good enough to enjoy the music.
Do you have to demagnetize the heads?
Hi Robert
The materials used in the heads and tape paths do not retain any magnetic field that can affect the recorded tape.
In my opinion and after tests there is no advantage in using a de magnetiser on these type of players.
AKAI GX-747 Calibration, alignment is the same?
Yes, you can follow the same procedure.
Thank you so much
What is the app used?
Hi. It is by ScorpionZZZ'sLab called the SGenerator Lite
@@nickadams5411 How do you connect the app/ipad to the machine?
hi someone in the eu selling the line up new tape 30.00 pounds uk ace basf tape with 1khz
Hi Bob
where can I get it?
hi nick i ebayer in germany is selling them they are ace used name pievox germany got a aot of new reel to reel gear i had 12 inch new boxes for my pancakes.
as we know germany use big size reels you can still get 14 inch old stock reels and boxes if you are very very lucky bob