Genius at work! Diligent, great quality design and execution of supporting electronics, truly a job well done! Your management and elimination of hum, inevitable in tube electronics of this type, is nothing short of amazing!!!
@imfree707 Thank you so much for an amazing comment! This was truly a first when I built it. I'd never done anything like this before, and I was basically recreating what I'd done in experiments and test setups. It still amazes me that the "slap it together" method can work wonders! Now all I need to do is try recording my 60-line picture signals with this machine and I have myself a video tape recorder!!!
Genius at work! Diligent, great quality design and execution of supporting electronics, truly a job well done! Your management and elimination of hum, inevitable in tube electronics of this type, is nothing short of amazing!!!
how much VAC do you get out from a playback cassette head playing a song? is it comparable with that of a vinyl stylus?
i'm trying to do some modifications to a walkman and make it to a tape echo. gathering information at the moment to find out how the heads work. have no idea what kind of voltages are required to feed the record head with etc..
it's just the motor mechanism that I will take from the walkman.
apart from that, i start off with just a playback and a recording head.
@ericohman It depends on what type of vinyl stylus. A ceramic cartridge puts out a line-level signal while a magnetic one is much lower, in the milli-volts. The cassette head is closer in voltage to a magnetic cartridge and needs substantial voltage amplification. The head needs more current when recording, along with a bias voltage, preferably AC bias for better quality. Notice in the schematic that recording signal is taken from the power output stage. Good luck with your project!
@ericohman Unfortunately, the deck came out of a cheap boom box and doesn't have very good quality. Building the actual cassette mechanics is impossible unless you have the right tools and knowledge. It's best to use one from a scrap unit.
@tim0090 Obviously I DO know because I built this machine, but I don't know about solid-state based tape recorders if that's what you mean. The same concepts apply to both tube and solid-state recorders.
nice job! every way you look at it,by the way have you thoght of making your own reel to reel tape recorder? if you have made one please post it. great work!
@thereelmaster Thank you! Indeed I have often thought of doing a reel-to-reel. I just started working on a Concord 994. It's a hybrid type with tubes and transistors from about '65. The difficulty of making a diy one is finding a good transport that I could then mount to the aluminum chassis (and a tape recorder I can scrap). Also, power transformers, output transformers, and bias oscillator coils could be hard to find. I hope to pull it off someday.
@thereelmaster Thanks, but I think the shipping costs would be HUGE! That's always the problem when I buy on eBay too: small prices, but really expensive shipping because the recorders are so heavy.
What an amazing peice of work! and the demonstration was done perfectly. I probably would have spoken in the video. I wonder if there were any tube type cassette recorders back when cassettes were new, Ive seen the early philips ones.
@CoolDudeClem Thank you very much! I make a point of not talking in my videos for two reasons: that's the way I've always done it, and I have a hard time speaking to a camera. If I wrote what to say, it would help, but it would sound unnatural and people would leave hate comments.
This is the only tube, standard-cassette recorder I know of in the world. If someone else has one, I hope they post a video response :)
Of all the stuff you have built this is my favorite. I would have never thought about building a tube cassette recorder, much less with a MAGIC EYE, what a neat idea. Very nice demo too. Works great! What frequency did you set the AC bias oscillator?
@AllAmericanFiveRadio This is one of my favorites too, aside from the 23" TV. I built the cassette recorder before I had a frequency counter, so I actually have no idea what the bias frequency is. I should check that...I don't even know what it's supposed to be! Do you have any idea? I might get cleaner sound if I adjust it, but it would take a long time recording and playing back over and over.
Don’t know what the frequency is, I’ll look at some diagrams of a few recorders. Because of the tape media, that would determine the optimum frequency. That is the neatest homebrew cassette recorder.
Χειροποίητο κασετόφωνο που χρισημοποιεί λυχνίες αντί για τραντζίστορς. Κάποιος έκανε το πρώτο κασετόφωνο με λυχνίες (πράμα που δεν υπήρξε ποτέ).
xrdakis 1 month ago
Genius at work! Diligent, great quality design and execution of supporting electronics, truly a job well done! Your management and elimination of hum, inevitable in tube electronics of this type, is nothing short of amazing!!!
imfree707 1 year ago
@imfree707 Thank you so much for an amazing comment! This was truly a first when I built it. I'd never done anything like this before, and I was basically recreating what I'd done in experiments and test setups. It still amazes me that the "slap it together" method can work wonders! Now all I need to do is try recording my 60-line picture signals with this machine and I have myself a video tape recorder!!!
CameramanLink 1 year ago
Genius at work! Diligent, great quality design and execution of supporting electronics, truly a job well done! Your management and elimination of hum, inevitable in tube electronics of this type, is nothing short of amazing!!!
imfree707 1 year ago
Comment removed
imfree707 1 year ago
Amazing!
how much VAC do you get out from a playback cassette head playing a song? is it comparable with that of a vinyl stylus?
i'm trying to do some modifications to a walkman and make it to a tape echo. gathering information at the moment to find out how the heads work. have no idea what kind of voltages are required to feed the record head with etc..
it's just the motor mechanism that I will take from the walkman.
apart from that, i start off with just a playback and a recording head.
ericohman 1 year ago
@ericohman It depends on what type of vinyl stylus. A ceramic cartridge puts out a line-level signal while a magnetic one is much lower, in the milli-volts. The cassette head is closer in voltage to a magnetic cartridge and needs substantial voltage amplification. The head needs more current when recording, along with a bias voltage, preferably AC bias for better quality. Notice in the schematic that recording signal is taken from the power output stage. Good luck with your project!
CameramanLink 1 year ago
@CameramanLink Thank you. Did you buy a kit to build the cassette deck or did you use some deck you had at home?
ericohman 1 year ago
@ericohman Unfortunately, the deck came out of a cheap boom box and doesn't have very good quality. Building the actual cassette mechanics is impossible unless you have the right tools and knowledge. It's best to use one from a scrap unit.
CameramanLink 1 year ago
The paradox of this is genius.
tomfoyfx 1 year ago
The paradox of this is genius!
tomfoyfx 1 year ago
Genius!
tomfoyfx 1 year ago
you wouldn't know how the recording electronics works on a tape? im trying to make a really simple tape recorder :) thanks
tim0090 1 year ago
@tim0090 Obviously I DO know because I built this machine, but I don't know about solid-state based tape recorders if that's what you mean. The same concepts apply to both tube and solid-state recorders.
CameramanLink 1 year ago
nice job! every way you look at it,by the way have you thoght of making your own reel to reel tape recorder? if you have made one please post it. great work!
thereelmaster 1 year ago
@thereelmaster Thank you! Indeed I have often thought of doing a reel-to-reel. I just started working on a Concord 994. It's a hybrid type with tubes and transistors from about '65. The difficulty of making a diy one is finding a good transport that I could then mount to the aluminum chassis (and a tape recorder I can scrap). Also, power transformers, output transformers, and bias oscillator coils could be hard to find. I hope to pull it off someday.
CameramanLink 1 year ago
@CameramanLink well if i had a posible way to get them to you id sell (for a low price) some scraped out reel to reels that my grandpa gave me.
thereelmaster 1 year ago
@thereelmaster Thanks, but I think the shipping costs would be HUGE! That's always the problem when I buy on eBay too: small prices, but really expensive shipping because the recorders are so heavy.
CameramanLink 1 year ago
What an amazing peice of work! and the demonstration was done perfectly. I probably would have spoken in the video. I wonder if there were any tube type cassette recorders back when cassettes were new, Ive seen the early philips ones.
CoolDudeClem 1 year ago
@CoolDudeClem Thank you very much! I make a point of not talking in my videos for two reasons: that's the way I've always done it, and I have a hard time speaking to a camera. If I wrote what to say, it would help, but it would sound unnatural and people would leave hate comments.
This is the only tube, standard-cassette recorder I know of in the world. If someone else has one, I hope they post a video response :)
Thanks for commenting!
CameramanLink 1 year ago
Very very nice job and camera editing!
CassetteMaster 1 year ago
@CassetteMaster Thank you! This special project deserved a second filming in high quality.
CameramanLink 1 year ago
Of all the stuff you have built this is my favorite. I would have never thought about building a tube cassette recorder, much less with a MAGIC EYE, what a neat idea. Very nice demo too. Works great! What frequency did you set the AC bias oscillator?
AllAmericanFiveRadio 1 year ago
@AllAmericanFiveRadio This is one of my favorites too, aside from the 23" TV. I built the cassette recorder before I had a frequency counter, so I actually have no idea what the bias frequency is. I should check that...I don't even know what it's supposed to be! Do you have any idea? I might get cleaner sound if I adjust it, but it would take a long time recording and playing back over and over.
CameramanLink 1 year ago
Don’t know what the frequency is, I’ll look at some diagrams of a few recorders. Because of the tape media, that would determine the optimum frequency. That is the neatest homebrew cassette recorder.
AllAmericanFiveRadio 1 year ago