I bought a new quad reel deck and did not know it was my holy grail deck until I got it home!

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TVB

400 Club - QQ All-Star
Joined
Jul 21, 2008
Messages
464
Location
Rocky Mountains
As a confessed quadraholic, I've been watching a couple of teac quad reel decks in a pawn shop for about a year but they wanted too much money for either of them, so I passed. One of them was a 7 1/2 inch machine and the other was a behemoth 10 1/2 inch machine. Just the other day I went into the pawn shop because everything was half price (going out of business). They only had the behemoth machine left. I had wanted the smaller unit but since my 4 akai quad reel decks had all quit working, I went ahead and looked at the heads on the big machine. They looked clean and shiny and so did the entire tape path. All of the transport controls worked and there was movement in all 4 meters when I played a tape so I offered a low ball figure and the owner accepted. I got it home and hooked it up and it not only sounded great in all 4 channels, it was the most beautiful machine I've ever seen. The front of the unit is amazing with it's simplicity. I want a simple deck because the more you get on these things the more there is to go wrong. Don't want no dual capstain, output level controls, 3/34 speed, bi directional play yadda yadda yadda on a quad deck But I might make use of the 15 1/2 ips speed for those $300 prerecorded tapes being made! This deck has the minimum of controls needed to do what I want it to do, which is rewind my play back my 100 plus quad reel tapes of recordings lovingly transferred from Q'8's and CD-4's. I also have a nice collection of original pre- recorded Q'4's. Only 4 record pots to clean and a huge capstain coupled with fast rewind. And the motors and power transformer are HUGE!. If you haven't guessed, its a Teac 40-4. I immediately pulled the dbx module off from under the unit because Il'l never use it and the deck looks great without it it inmo. With my 10 1/2 black teac original take up reel set against the chrome front of the deck, the look is amazing. I just ordered some deoxit because even though the record light comes on the unit doesn't erase or record. I suspect it needs cleaning as there was a similar post in regards to a 40-4 with the same issue. I really don't care that much if I cant get it to record because I already have most everything I want on tape. I am concerned about lubrication of the motors and can find no oiling tubes anywhere on the machine. There is also a slight squeak coming from somewhere which I haven't nailed down (only in playback). Without a tape playing, all functions are quiet and fast with no noise. My question is regarding the record function. Are there recording contacts somewhere that need to be cleaned or will cleaning the record button contacts possibly do the job. Any ideas about finding the slight squeak? The only person I would trust with working on this deck is skywave, but Chicago is just too far away. Thanks
 
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Go to Harbor Freight and buy one of their mechanics stethoscopes. Squeaks usually can be killt with a drop of oerl. Congrats!
https://www.harborfreight.com/mechanics-stethoscope-63691.html
Sometimes tape itself will squeak. Make sure the tape path is very clean. Buildup of oxide particles on guides can make the tape act like a violin bow. You can prove that buy touching the BACK of the tape while it is squeaking. If it were a giant cartridge there would be a felt pad so you can simulate that or just use your finger.
 
As a confessed quadraholic, I've been watching a couple of teac quad reel decks in a pawn shop for about a year but they wanted too much money for either of them, so I passed. One of them was a 7 1/2 inch machine and the other was a behemoth 10 1/2 inch machine. Just the other day I went into the pawn shop because everything was half price (going out of business). They only had the behemoth machine left. I had wanted the smaller unit but since my 4 akai quad reel decks had all quit working, I went ahead and looked at the heads on the big machine. They looked clean and shiny and so did the entire tape path. All of the transport controls worked and there was movement in all 4 meters when I played a tape so I offered a low ball figure and the owner accepted. I got it home and hooked it up and it not only sounded great in all 4 channels, it was the most beautiful machine I've ever seen. The front of the unit is amazing with it's simplicity. I want a simple deck because the more you get on these things the more there is to go wrong. Don't want no dual capstain, output level controls, 3/34 speed, bi directional play yadda yadda yadda on a quad deck But I might make use of the 15 1/2 ips speed for those $300 prerecorded tapes being made! This deck has the minimum of controls needed to do what I want it to do, which is rewind my play back my 100 plus quad reel tapes of recordings lovingly transferred from Q'8's and CD-4's. I also have a nice collection of original pre- recorded Q'4's. Only 4 record pots to clean and a huge capstain coupled with fast rewind. And the motors and power transformer are HUGE!. If you haven't guessed, its a Teac 40-4. I immediately pulled the dbx module off from under the unit because Il'l never use it and the deck looks great without it it inmo. With my 10 1/2 black teac original take up reel set against the chrome front of the deck, the look is amazing. I just ordered some deoxit because even though the record light comes on the unit doesn't erase or record. I suspect it needs cleaning as there was a similar post in regards to a 40-4 with the same issue. I really don't care that much if I cant get it to record because I already have most everything I want on tape. I am concerned about lubrication of the motors and can find no oiling tubes anywhere on the machine. There is also a slight squeak coming from somewhere which I haven't nailed down (only in playback). Without a tape playing, all functions are quiet and fast with no noise. My question is regarding the record function. Are there recording contacts somewhere that need to be cleaned or will cleaning the record button contacts possibly do the job. Any ideas about finding the slight squeak? The only person I would trust with working on this deck is skywave, but Chicago is just too far away. Thanks
Congrats! Great unit. Hope you get it working adequately.
 
Congratulations on your fine and the fine price.
 
Well, I finally got my can of deoxit (which I had to mail order) and carefully applied it to the transport controls, rca jacks and rec pots. Wonder of wonders, the deck is recording now w/o problems. I spent all day yesterday putting my latest cd-4s on tape, including a near mint copy of sabbaths "paranoid" and carpenters "now and then". Today I'll do all those cd-4's I got from Baggy. Every time I buy a DV quad, it frees up a reel tape for another cd-4 or Q8. Also got the squeaking stopped and was able to connect a smaller flexible plastic hose to my vacuum and got the loose dust out of it. I'd like to put some armour-all on a rag and clean the inside of the deck, but am afraid to mess with it since it's working so well. Since I will only use it to rewind and play back quad recordings, I'm hoping it will last a long time. I tried to post a picture but had problems.
 
Well, I finally got my can of deoxit (which I had to mail order) and carefully applied it to the transport controls, rca jacks and rec pots. Wonder of wonders, the deck is recording now w/o problems. I spent all day yesterday putting my latest cd-4s on tape, including a near mint copy of sabbaths "paranoid" and carpenters "now and then". Today I'll do all those cd-4's I got from Baggy. Every time I buy a DV quad, it frees up a reel tape for another cd-4 or Q8. Also got the squeaking stopped and was able to connect a smaller flexible plastic hose to my vacuum and got the loose dust out of it. I'd like to put some armour-all on a rag and clean the inside of the deck, but am afraid to mess with it since it's working so well. Since I will only use it to rewind and play back quad recordings, I'm hoping it will last a long time. I tried to post a picture but had problems.
Good for you; I’m jealous. I assume you have a considerable number of tapes to record to; blank tapes are not so easy to find these days, as well you know.
 
Well, I finally got my can of deoxit (which I had to mail order) and carefully applied it to the transport controls, rca jacks and rec pots. Wonder of wonders, the deck is recording now w/o problems. I spent all day yesterday putting my latest cd-4s on tape, including a near mint copy of sabbaths "paranoid" and carpenters "now and then". Today I'll do all those cd-4's I got from Baggy. Every time I buy a DV quad, it frees up a reel tape for another cd-4 or Q8. Also got the squeaking stopped and was able to connect a smaller flexible plastic hose to my vacuum and got the loose dust out of it. I'd like to put some armour-all on a rag and clean the inside of the deck, but am afraid to mess with it since it's working so well. Since I will only use it to rewind and play back quad recordings, I'm hoping it will last a long time. I tried to post a picture but had problems.
The enemies to longevity you have are deterioration of rubber parts, head wear, tape disintegration, and electrolytic capacitor degradation.
 
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