[Barks67]

Hi all

I have just picked up an old Fostex E16 and have been gradually waking it up.
Mechanically it is all very sound though it does look like a relap needed as track one weak, especially in the treble.
The other tracks play fine in isolation.

To my question...

I have a Webber test tone tape that came with it and I am experiencing some weirdness on playback which I will try to explain here.

When all tracks (16) are playing back there is a weird "Dalek like' oscillation/distortion to the tone introduction voice overs and the tones when they play, clearly oscillating.

BUT

If I put all tracks into record mode AND have the record button pressed to record ready - then play the tape - any selected track that is dropped out of input monitor plays back absolutely fine.

More than two and the oscillation starts to come back.

I notice than in isolation the meters are all showing 0dB as they should but when ALL playback the levels fluctuate up and down either side of 0dB.

Its almost as if the line out bus from the cards cannot cope - but this does not make sense as it is passive all the way to the RCA outs.

I wondered maybe if this is a power supply issue and the boards are not getting a smooth supply?

Any help appreciated. I have the full service manual.

Barks