Clean and Demagnetize Your Heads!... On Your Cassette Deck
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- čas přidán 4. 07. 2024
- The most important maintenance for cassette decks is cleaning and demagnetizing the record and playback tape heads. I discuss different types of head cleaners and my personal preference. I also discuss different devices that can be used for demagnetizing the heads, including the option to build your own demagnetizer. Have you ever heard what a demagnetizer sounds like? I risk damaging an old Sharp RT-31 in order to demonstrate what a demag unit does when placed near an engaged playback head!
Thank you to James skippinhopper for his generous contribution of a beautiful Technics RS-M7 Cassette Deck.
Equipment used in this demonstration include:
Technics RS-M7 Cassette Deck
Sharp RT-31 Cassette Deck
Nakamichi BX-100 Cassette Deck
Nakamichi MR-1 Cassette Deck
SV808 Demagnetizer
amzn.to/2WllhXz
Zetek Digital Foam Tip Cleaning Swabs
amzn.to/31O2vJD
Family Wellness 91% Isopropyl Rubbing Alcohol
Rattle Magnets
amzn.to/32UcD4X
Wooly Willy magnetic toy
amzn.to/31TiohS
Cassette Deck Confessionals, Part 1 is HERE:
• Cassette Decks! Tape r...
0:00 Intro / Open
0:16 Technics M-7
0:52 Dirty Heads
1:19 Head Cleaning Methods
2:32 Head Demagnetize
4:56 What a Demag wand sounds like
5:54 Close
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#ThriftyAV #CassetteDeck #TechnicsM7 - Věda a technologie
Thank you for your clarity....one of the best videos to explain the process...
Thanks for your information, I appreciated your support.
Thanks so much for the info! Fabulous video brother!
Thanks for those excellent and thrifty tips! Now to get cleaning....
Thank you very much! I'm slowly studying analogue audio systems, and this video provided me more information that I could've hoped for!
Thanks brother! I have a Technics M6 and M11 from that model a year. I've had them since I was 13 years old, still have both boxes and they look showroom. The M11 is my workhorse, it's the one I use for all transfers to a Philps CD Recorder. As you probably know, there are some titles you own that are just not available on any other medium. Thanks for this wonderful video, I really enjoyed seeing all the vintage equipment! You are so precise and informative.
Thank you! It’s very important that I keep my gear clean and working in near perfect condition as I’m often transferring 1st generation master demo recordings from 60’s-70’s hit makers. My studio uses both Protools capabilities, and analog for mastering and recording.
Thanks for your video, it was a great help for me.
Thank you for your advice
Great tips and advices.
Very good and informative info of just how to do the job Thanks
Thank you
I plan on recording with my Sharp QT-89
It also has support for those fancy cassettes and Dolby NR
Saved it from trash
Thanks Thrifty AV -- I just de magged my Nakamichi 600 2 head cassette player and it sounds great. Both VU meters are poppin' where as before my left meter was struggling. Once I am in a position, I'll gladly make a contribution.
Super awesome video... thanks!!
... enjoy this video very much indeed 👏🏼
Thanks for informing about not touching the heads or making jerky movements, that wasn't in the directions of the demagnatizer I bought.
Really Thanks Sir For this Wonderful Video...Really its very helpful for me :)
I'm glad you enjoyed it. I will be doing another cassette deck care and maintenance video soon, so stay tuned to #ThriftyAV!
Thank you.
Good video. Have an old car, with tape player. Plays muffled low sound. Radio works fine. Thought about getting one of those cleaning tapes. Obviously can't get in there to clean
Thanks buddy !
Very very good
Excellent
This is good to know and understand. I like to clean my vintage Lasonic trc-931 boombox it definitely needs this done music. it sounds like it's singing in water ...💧
Here is 1 for you :Vector Research VCX-650 bought on CL for decent price, worked perfect then lost 1/2 sound on 1 channel. So just got in mail a official "Memorex" demagnetize wand. Thanks for showing how you can test it with another magnet or iron.
The procedure of demagnetizing the tape path is as follows:
Make sure no magnetic sensitive tape material or i.e. electronics, like CRT screens, speakers, other tape decks etc., are near by.
Make also sure the tape deck is OFF power and that there's access to the full tape path.
Make sure that the tip of the defluxer is covered with rubber/plastic or similar material.
Take the wand type defluxer and power it up at a distance of 1,5-2 meter from the tape path.
Approach slowly the defluxer towards the tape path and when getting there, make sure not to actually touch anything in the tape path with the defluxer.
Move the defluxer slowly from left to right over all metal parts in the tape path as slowly as possible in small circling movements.
When the defluxer has passed all metal parts in the tape path, without touching any of them, you just as slowly as before, move the defluxer away from the deck to the position 1,5-2 meters away where you original turned on the power of the defluxer.
Let the defluxer touch a potential magnetic material at that position just before you turn the defluxer off.
This procedure is NOT possible to follow with the cassette shell demagnetizer type.
The cassette shell type demagnetizer is way less powerfull, will only have the demagnetizing field above the central tape head and it will even touch it.
It will only be able to operate with the deck OFF power if the deck is one of the "Piano Key" decks.
I advise NOT to use cassette shell type demagnetizers at all.
If the defluxer gets extended hot, you need to end the procedure in the described secure way.
thank you for this.. my crt is right next to my deck and that completely slipped my mind
I have my tape deck sitting between my speakers, and on top of my receiver and cd stereo player. Would I not want to demag since it could damage this other equipment?
@@mikek3818 I am afraid to make demagnetization as very stong fileds may eventualy induce too strong currents/voltages in heads. In case of cassette decks heads windings are very delicate.
In my practice I usualy use transformer solder gun (fast and convinent) for servicing but never observed magnetization of head. But I care not to use tip very near to front of head. We need to remember that fields from recording amplifier are way stronger, are shut up/down sharply but they do not leave residuum.
thank you
thank u!
I heard of light saber sourcery!
I have 2 tape decks in my stereo cabinet both stacked on top of eachtother. Do i need to pull one of them out to demag or will the other deck be fine?
Say can ya look into any magnetometers that can be used for tape heads? I think that they might help take the guess work out of how frequently you need to demag the heads
The company annis even used to sell some along side their Hand-D-Mag
Hey:) my Nak BX-125e does qiet loud noises when playing a cassette. if i run it without a cassette in is completely quiet. do you know what it could be? it seems like the sound of the cassette moving (sort of clinking rythm sound) but i think its louder than it should be. i bought it a week ago and it annoys me quiet a bit.
thank you if you know anything:)
Do you use any detergent (such as Dawn) for the rollers?
Can you use a degaussing gun designed for crts to demagnetized tape heads? Would it be too powerful?
I have the same M7 tape deck and I have very low output on the left channel. Would head cleaning fix this or is there another cause for that?
Can these be used for reel to reel tape decks?
Thank you for the great information and video, I use 100% Isopropyl to clean my cassette head, are there any disadvantages of using it as compared to using 91% Isopropyl rubbing alcohol?
100% is the best option for the heads, and I would use it if I had it, but I would avoid getting any on the pinch roller, as it can cause it to dry out and crack.
@@ThriftyAV Thank you, Sir, very much appreciated
Denatured alcohol is fantastic as well and recommended by A LOT of cassette manufacturers... to my knowledge it IS NOT harmful to rubber either like IPA
@@darinb.3273 That's great news, i rarely clean the rubbers when cleaning the cassette heads with alcohol, i will try to get some of the denatured alcohol at my Pharmacy. Thank you so much for this information. i have a Nakamichi cassettte deck 1, 3- heads ,one of the best decks from Nak.
That'd considered laboratory grade Isopropyl, best of the best. And regarding cleaning pinch rollers with 91% or 100%, if the rollers are just lightly dirty and one or two passes gets them clean it won't harm them. 91% and up evaporates in seconds, hardly long enough to dry out rubber. You would need to soak them overnight to do any harm. Don't sweat it for regular light maintenance. Heck, even a heavy cleaning, like when you get a new used deck that's really dirty, is fine just the once. Just make sure to clean it once a month or so so they never need more than a light once over and never will there be any problems.
How do I know when it’s time to demagnetize? I’m having an issue with my deck and I can’t figure out what it is
Hi I have a jvc dual tape deck and the right side seems to play tapes at a very low muffled sound I've cleaned it with alcohol and swabs with no luck is this a case for demagnetization?
Many things can cause high frequency loss on a tape signal including a dirty head, a mis-aligned head, a worn out head, incorrect tape formulation setting, incorrect use of noise reduction circuitry, circuitry problems in the unit (bad capacitors, etc), and magnetism on the head. You have tried cleaning, so a demag makes sense as the next thing to try; but considering all the possible sources of this problem, a demag may or may not fix your issue.
My friend tells me head's demagnetize themselves . If the deck is not used for Year's . As mine was in storage for many . Is that true ? Should I still wipe the magnetic field clean ?
I would like to know where I get my DAT, reel to reel and cassette player demagnetize?
I have one in excellent condition, $30, where are you situated? I'm in Victoria Australia, I can send you photos
My regards. What is the difference between TDK HD-01 and TDK HD-30? Prices are different)
Question: Some of my tapes when played on a dual cassette deck, you know the one's used for dubbing, where one of the two compartments only is used for playback, but doesn't have an erase head, but the other compartment has both playback and recording features? Well, some of my tapes sound warbled on all of my machines if I play them from any cassette compartment missing an erase head, but they will work on the other compartments that all three parts, pinch roller, playback head, and erase head? IS there something about tape decks that can also record maybe being able to guide the tape along better to prevent the warbly sound? Can't figure out why some, certain tapes all sound good in Deck B's of dual cassette decks, but sound warbled on Deck A's of all of my dual cassette decks.
I think it is good observation- earse head better leads and stretches tape around play head. Erase head makes one more support for tape. Thing which is almost never mantioned is condition of filt pads in cassettes. - The also may catch dirt from tape and build up on side ar after many years are not soft any more making one channel readout worse. Tapes stored many years in bad condition catch dew from air and fungus. They need to be cleaned as well.
I wish somebody would make it clearer how to confirm that at the moment magnetizing of head exists and that after demagnetizing it is less
How effective are the demagnetizing cassettes? It’s been decades since I’ve actually used a plug-in demagnetizer, and I’m leery about using one near something like my TiVo, which is stacked right on top of my tape deck.
Wand type works best, but I can understand your concern with proximity to the TiVo or other magnetically sensitive electronics.
The Koss cassette one I have does almost nothing if the head gets very magnetized, for example from touching it with magnetized tools. A wand type did improve this head's treble much more than the cassette one, but that cassette demagnetizer is about 30 years old. I also used the wand type on my smartphone after slapping a neodymium magnet onto it to see if the compass gets back to normal without recalibrating. It didn't. And I tried to erase a tape with the wand demagnetizer on purpose. Didn't erase, but made it actually louder and noisy. Also tried demagnetizing a few screwdrivers. Some did demag, some didn't.
Can I just use my vinyl cleaning liquid for this? Just bought an old cassette deck that I plan on using ...
Alcohol is used for cleaning cassette deck heads. Vinyl cleaning solutions are usually water based. I would not suggest this for tape heads.
How would I demagnatize my trucks tape player?
I’ve heard some people reccomend a demagnetizer called the "Han-D-Mag".
It’s a similar device to the one you and others use exept a bit bigger, squarer, and at minimum x10 the price! (Going around $100)
Do you know if the Han-D-Mag has any preformance benifits over the demagnetizer you use in the video, and do you think that the price is at all worth it?
The cheap one that I used in this video works fine. The Han-D-Mag looks like it might have a heat sink on it, so it may last longer before it starts to overheat, but I haven't used a demag unit for very long anyway.
I got a Pioneer SC 5500II needing some work.
I'd happily pay shipping for a free repair (for a video).
do you think that magnatized tape heads might cause small ticks when playback the cassette? i have this problem sometimes.... thanks for the great video!
I would associate "tick" sounds with a dirty head or oxide shed on the tape itself.
@@ThriftyAV thanks for your answer mate! i cleaned the heads several times though... i've noticed it depends of the cassettes. Even on new cassettes it happens. So it could comes from the tape itself, mabye exposed to humidity or oxided... thanks anyway!
@@funkocoriko Do you have access to another cassette player you could try? I won't completely rule out a head magnetization issue, or it could be an issue with bad capacitors in the cassette deck, especially if it is old.
@@ThriftyAV I made a few tests this morning. i use a Tascam 424 mk2 and seems that the problem of "ticking" noises comes with the type2 cassettes only. I have no problem with the type1 cassettes. that's weird! The 424 mk2 manual says Type2 are better for the machine.
btw i've tried with many cassettes, and also on another cassette player which plays both types of cassettes whithout differences.
I own a 424 mk1 (that no longer powers up). The bias and time constant of replay EQ are preset for Type II tapes on this unit, so you will have poor treble response when recording and playing back Type I. From what you described, it sounds like the noise is associated with the playback head of your unit, not the record head. I'm not sure if dbx can be turned on and off on the MKII, but if it can, you might try that out. You can also try the different tape speed settings. Also, does it occur when you record silence as well as music? NOT a blank, but a tape with silence and a bias signal recorded onto it. You could also try recording various test tones or a frequency sweep to see if there are trouble spots in the frequency spectrum.
Compared to the resale value of a 424 unit, a demag wand is cheap, so certainly worth trying out. However, these old machines have a lot of capacitors in them, so if this is the problem, the fix will involve replacing caps on the circuit board.
my cassette deks are eating my tapes , what would be causing this?
Several things can cause this problem. The most common is the capstan spinning, but the takeup reel not spinning. This is usually a belt problem.
If I have played tapes many times on a deck that has never been demagnetized, have I damaged the cassette tape/?
IF your tape head is significantly magnetized, this can erase signal from your tapes. High frequency signals will suffer the most. That being said, having a lot of play hours on a head does not necessarily mean that the head is over magnetized. On 2-head units that are used for recording, the bias signal applied to the head during recording acts to demagnetize the head in a similar manner as a degausser. On 3-head units and 2-head units that are only used for playback, heads can build up magnetism over time. This is why every owners manual for tape based recorders and players has instructions to degauss on some recommended timetable.
In order to check to see if your head is magnetized requires a magnetometer (gauss meter), a tool most folks do not own. Degaussing is a precautionary measure that can provide peace of mind that you are not damaging your tapes.
@@ThriftyAV This is such important information.
I will not play my valuable tapes anymore till I demagnetize the recorder tape deck heads. Now I realize I have done a lot of damage.I had been wondering if it was my hearing or my imagination.
Thank you so much for your very considerate and informative reply.
5:30 sound of Star Wars lightsaber!
You made me curious... and I found a video of how the sound designer actually did it! czcams.com/video/tZj1mYLC7h0/video.html
Want to feature a spec 1 and 2?
So, if I understand correctly, a car cassette player, with playback head only, doesn't require demagnetizing.
@@ThriftyAV Thanks!
I've heard that if a unit is regularly recorded on the Bias acts as a demagger as well... no practical proof either way LOL
Can I use 70% instead of 91%
70% will still work but doesn't clean quite as well and takes longer to evaporate due to the 30% water content. 70% is less damaging to pinch rollers, so that's a plus.
That nice SHARP "budget deck" is vintage too :/
True, but it already has some issues with a noisy motor (not the belt) and I picked it up at a yard sale for $2. Also, even though the electronics are not designed to handle the signal level that the demag puts out, I was pretty sure the Sharp would survive this experiment.
How often should you demagnetize?
The instructions on some demag units say to use it after 8-10 hours of recording. That being said, I've read posts from cassette users who have gone years with no demag and no noticeable loss of quality. My rule of thumb is that if a head has high frequency loss that isn't fixed by cleaning or alignment, then it's time for a demag.
I DID VINYL LPS AND CASSETTE TAPES IN THE 69S,70S,AND 80S UNTIL THE ADVENT OF CD. IT NEVER GOT BETTER THAN THE CD. BESIDES BEING THE LAST COLLECTIBLE ON HANDS FORMAT,IT REQUIRES MINIMAL CARE COMPARED TO VINYL AND TAPE. BESIDES THE ADVANTAGES OF NO NEEDLE TO RECORD WEAR OR TAPE HEAD TO TAPE WEAR AND THE GRADUAL DEGRADATION AND WEAR FACTORS OF EACH FORMAT, WITH CDS THERES BASICALLY JUST PROPER HANDLING AND OCCASIONAL LASER CLEANING. THATS IT. WATCHING THESE VINYL AND TAPE MAINTENANCE VIDEOS ITS A REMINDER I MADE THE RIGHT CHOICE IN MOVING ON TO CD. AND WHATS REPLACED CDS? NOTHING OTHER THAN THIS STREAMING AND DOWNLOADING WHICH IS OF NO INTEREST TO SERIOUS HANDS ON COLLECTORS. I SEE NO IMPROVEMENT ON CD OVER THE LAST 35 YEARS IN EITHER SOUND NOR MAINTENANCE,NEVER MIND PORTABILITY AND MUCH SMALLER STORAGE SPACE NEEDS.
How to clean a tape path:
Use 99% isopropylalcohol on q-tips.
Evaporation time of 99% isopropylalcohol is so fast that no harm, whatsoever, is done to any rubber.
Been doing so since the 60s without any damage in private and in studios as a master recordist on analog tape decks.
Clean all heads, capstans, tape guides and pinch rollers.
Just as shown in this picture:
Using other chemicals than 99% Isopropylalcohol may damage the rubber and may desolve the glue on the heads.
Use of abbrassives will for sure damage capstans, heads and rubber.
Rubbing Alcohol is a common nickname for Isopropylalcohol & Ethanol.
Do not use Ethanol for cleaning the tape path.
Also make sure it is 99% isopropylalcohol you use.
Any less percentage will most probably contain oil products, phthalats and salicylate acid.
Do not use that on the tape path.
People claiming that 99% isopropylalcohol damage the rubber pinch rollers are mistaken.
They are usually told this by people using i.e. 70% IPA or water and soap (or soup), which are damaging to the pinch rollers rubbers.
For people worried about cleaning rubber pinch rollers with 99% isopropylalcohol, here's a rubber chemical resistance chart to clarify that this is not an issue at all:
mykin.com/rubber-chemical-resistance-chart-3
I have seen Butyl, Hypalon and Viton as material choise for pinch rollers.
It is mostly more modern decks using Viton for pinch rollers.
What happens if the demagnetizer touch the tape head
If the demagnetizer does not have a protective plastic tip, it can scratch the tape head, as you would be rubbing metal against metal.
ThriftyAV but does it affect the tape head if I touches it
@@Pizzamanrule It will not permanently magnetize the head if you pull it away slowly. Having the unit on while you are doing the demag can potentially overload the electronic circuits. If the unit is off, touching the head with a demag should not cause permanent damage.
ThriftyAV okay thank you
Poor Sharp deck 😢
I am returning this exact demagnetizer because it doesn't work at all. I challenge anyone to pass the tip of it on a screwdriver that attracts paperclips, won't change whatsoever the attraction between them.
I agree with you. I don't think any of these heads are made of hard iron and instead soft iron is used. Since soft iron does not get permanently magnetised, there is no need for demagnetizing
Did you just... demagnetize solid magnet eraze head?...
Now I do recall having Kenwood audio rack (bot in UAE for $1800 with BOSE Acoustimass 5 s II) and using it almost for 4 years -NEVER EVER CLEANED OR DEMAG !!!!
The play and record were imaculate.
Dont c too much point in it
Would this fix low frequency buzzing when playing pre-recorded tapes?
Its just irritating enough to notice at the start of a tape but fades away once the music comea in and its not normal hiss its always there during the leader tape too.
Thats probably due to interference. Not dirty heads.
@@CannondaleCAAD thanks figured as much.
Ive swapped for a smaller tape deck that takes up much less space anyway.