Uher Royal De Luxe clipping

[äggmedskägg]

I'm testing out an Uher Royal De Luxe 10000 I bought last year to see if I can use as a master tape recorder for my mixes.

And I have to say that it was very promising, it really improved the sound of the mix like 🤩👌😘. However, I was not able to push the levels as high as I was used to from other tape machines without distinct clipping that did not sound like it came from the tape, and the playback level was very, very low, resulting unusableble levels of noise, which isn't something I noticed when I played back tapes before.

I suspect it needs servicing. But before I find somebody to service it, I would like confirmation that a properly serviced Royal De Luxe should be able to push the tape hard enough to get some nice tape compression going. This is not a generic problem with these machines, right, that the internal electronics clip before the tape saturates?

[TIMTAPE]

What sort of tape are you using? With certain later high energy tapes the record amp will clip before the tape saturates.

[äggmedskägg]

That was some unused Quantegy 456 I had lying around.

[Kentode]

If playback level is low, there is probably an impedance mismatch. You need to compare the output specifications of your original tape machine and the new one.

[DMcMahon]

If you are feeding in a line level signal into the 10000 then it will clip/overload quite easily due to the DIN input being very sensitive, I normally use a 470kOhm (on both channels) attenuated Phono to DIN cable. Although this would not also explain the low playback signal.

Ensure the heads are really clean

David

[äggmedskägg]

Thanks! I will check all these things out.

I was using a Quantegy 456 tape I had lying around. Any recommendations for tape to use with this machine is welcome.

I don't think I'm overloading the input per se, as lowering the PEGEL 2 input will remove the clipping, so the clipping is in the recording circuit somewhere.

I'll check with the impedance mismatch, I'm not sure I connected things the same way with the prerecorded tape I tested the machine with before that didn't seem to have any level issues.

[TIMTAPE]

Originally Posted by äggmedskägg

...I was using a Quantegy 456 tape I had lying around. Any recommendations for tape to use with this machine is welcome.
.

The 456 is a classic "sticky shed syndrome " (SSS) tape. Using it could explain both problems.

1. It requires probably higher record bias and more powerful record amp drive than your Uher is capable of, leading to distortion.

2. Being SSS means it can easily shed tape muck onto the tape head, making for weak, muffled recordings and playback. You might be surprised at how very quickly the heads become caked with muck from tapes like this, and how difficult it can sometimes be to clean off the muck. In bad cases the tape wind will stick to the next wind and the oxide ripped off as the tape revolves.

3. Its black back coating has higher friction than un backcoated tapes and is not well suited for tape machines using felt pressure pads. It was designed for machines which use reel or capstan back tension alone for positive tape to head contact.

Best to avoid tape with the rough, black outside facing coating. Older pre 1970 tapes or those with which look brownish on both sides are probably best. But the SSS problem can also affect tapes without the black back coating.