Dear Forum team,
May I please ask for some assistance in trying to bring my 2 Ferrographs up to spec? Before I carry on I must mention that both machines have been fully recapped and valves have been checked for their conductivity.
They both run well however there are areas where they can improve and need some help please.
Ferrograph Series 3A/N issue:
1.Noisy erasure and thinny sound quality during recording. The machine fully erases a tape however there's a residue of background noise, above the expected hiss and this results in quite poor S/N ratio during recording. I have only tried to tweak the bias pot on the oscillator board but improvements were only slight. Turning the pot fully clockwise improved matters slightly but recordings still sound on the thin and bright side. I have not touched any of the eq pots or the adjustable coil.
2. Signal meter sticking: The meter tends to stick around the mark 2-4 area of the meter. I have taken it apart due to the fact that the glass was pushed in so i put that right and checked for the meter movement that it is free and seemed all very smooth, however in action it keep sticking which is quite annoying when trying to make a recording. Any ideas please? Thanks
Ferrograph Series 4 issue:
1.Poor winding power especially starting the machine close to the end of a reel. Comparing with the S3 I have the results are inferior. I have oiled the motors and they seem to run freely however they don't seem to have much pulling power perhaps. Could it be voltage related? I have not done any measurements yet
2. Erasure of prerecorded material is not fully erased and some traces of previous recordings remain. I have cleaned the heads thoroughly however the problem remains. Are there any adjustments in connection to the erase circuit? I do have a scope that I can use to test however I need some guidance as to what I am looking for to find this fault if that helps.
Thanks so much in advance.
