Triple-Deck Take-Two
I planned to take a couple of days off early this week - but it rained, so I used the opportunity to stay in and return to complete the repair on the triple deck boombox.
Comments (41)
Thanks for that. It's so satisfying to successfully bring about such a repair. I actually feel quite chuffed vicariously. Well done.
You know what? I think I love that machine and hope you could incorporate it to your outro. There is just something special with the red color and three tapes spinning side by side. Kind of soothing and engaging at the same time.
Yes its destined for the outro. That section could do with a revamp, I’m aiming to replace some of the other clips at the same time, I just need to find the time to do it.
Have you played 3 times dope in there yet? Seems fitting
Not yet, but I’ll make a point to do that.
That new Sony camera looks wonderful, good pleasant colours and nice blurring of the background.
Yes its nice for those to-camera bits with its new lens. The close-up POV bits are still better with the RX10iii, it can focus a lot closer.
Chuffed that you got this deck working, there's something almost iconic about it.
You’re right - it’s the most *1985* thing I can think of.
Great video Mat. Good to see such an oddball cassette radio working as it should. Even though as you say it is a basic machine. It does have a quality about it
Yes it’s hard to be harsh on it - if anyone was disappointed in it, it’d be their own overestimation of its capabilities to blame.
Loved that vid! These early videos make this Patreon thing worth it for me. Excellent video as always Mat!
Great job repairing that! Thanks for posting.
Thanks to all you Patrons who helped Matt sort this out! This is a great community.
Congrat Mat, good job! It's always so pleasing to get things running well at the end!
Very useful video with many repair tricks and tips for your fellow amateur technicians - thank you. I can imagine a low-budget 1980s deejay using the sequential cueing feature on that deck to program dance floor music, with the deck line output fed to a proper amp and speakers.
Nice one. Wouldn't dubbing from a fast running deck 1 to the (relatively) slower running deck 3 effectively pitch shift the 3KHz reference tone? Fast source to slow record would shift the frequency... up... So when you re test that recording the recorded tone is higher, fooling the wow flutter device. It's expecting 3 KHz and getting... 3.a-bit. High speed dubbing is probably worse (higher speed disparity)... Making the speed result appear better... I think...
The W&F meter listens for a 3KHz signal. If it hears a tone of exactly 3KHz it reports the speed as perfect. However a lower pitch tells it that it’s running slow and a higher pitch tells it its running fast. It can’t be fooled, it just reports on how far away from 3KHz the signal is.
Well done, Mat! It's time to take a 1980's correspondence course on "VCR Repair".
Perhaps I should send off for this book https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=giEDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA47
Very satisfying video. Cute little machine too. I have a fairly high end JVC (well, high end for JVC) cassette deck that I bought for my dad back in the 70’s. Dad’s gone, but I kept the deck. It uses one of those split washers to attach the cassette reel and the washer came off years ago. I know they’re common but had no idea where to get one, or even what to call it. Now I’ll have to dig it out and see if I can repair it.
I didn’t know what to call them either until a couple of weeks ago. A few people mixed them up with circlips in the comments of the first video, so we’re not alone.
Thanks to your beautiful REPAIR job, I can finally sleep now, knowing that the three decks can spin at the same time. Even though not in the same manner, I thought they would, but to my satisfaction. ;-) Your ultra-widescreen displaying an extended boombox is an eyecatcher.
You, sir, are pitch-perfect on these vids. Keep up the excellent work.
It’s funny you used that phrase because I had big problems with the audio on this one. One day when I’ve finally got this dialled in exactly how I want - I’ll explain what’s been going on behind the scenes. I do appreciate the positivity - and I know you weren’t referring to the audio - but this just jogged my mind.
Great to see that you kept at it! You'll find those split washers often in tape decks, so having some spares is handy when one flies away.
Great job Mat! Love the honest performance and solid build quality of 80s Japanese electronics. Something really comforting about it.
That's how home repair works--you start off wanting to upgrade one little thing and then you figure that if you're going to do X, you may as well do Y too. At this point the next step up looks feasible and it snowballs from there. Hmmm... Snowballs...
Wonderfully satisfying repair video. Also, I wonder if you're considering putting air conditioning in your house now? It must get pretty warm up in your studio space with the unusually high summer temperatures over there. What would it be like if you only had incandescent lighting?
I’ve got a portable air conditioner that I can use when I’m not using a microphone. It’d be nice to have proper quiet air con - but then again I’d prefer a whole new house.
Thanks Mat for the video and to all the people who helped him to repair the machine . I love it when I see people repairing things and learning something at the same time. I enjoy your style very much. Best wishes.
Matt has tapped into the (small) friendly / helpful community on YouTube.
Nice result with community support Mat. This would have gone down well at school back in the day for copies and relay play.
Yes you’d manage to get quite a few Spectrum games copied during lunch. Of course, no one would do such a thing, but in theory at least...
In the past I’ve ‘fixed’ things, but with this one it feels like I’ve actually ‘repaired’ it. I was quite proud of myself, which isn’t a feeling I encounter often.
I would use the word, 'restored'. As in, returned to its original function.
Excellent work, great video. Hope those belts don't melt back into goo in the UK heat. Stay cool!
I think they should be ok ;-) - it’ll probably outlast me now.
That was as satisfying to watch as you found it to make.! And by the way, well done for using the adjective "glowing" at the beginning; you're a scholar, Sir! :-)
One of your most therapeutic videos to date - glad you found time to get it together! 😇
Well done you!