Zonal 675 tape

[crackle]

Hi
Please could you comment on the suitability of “standard play Zonal 675 tape” for use on an Akai 4000D tape machine.
Thanks
Mike

[brenellic2000]

Zonal 675 is (in theory) the equivalent of Ampex 478, Scotch 807/808, Agfa PER 468 - ie. pretty standard 'Standard Play' tape, albeit older stock. Zonal produced to BBC specifications for most of their tapes and were generally very highly regarded.

With something like the Akai 4000 I doubt you would need any tweaking, though I am sure purists would disagree!

Barry

[paulsherwin]

It's relatively low bias tape so the HF may roll off a bit on a stock 4000D - this is true of most tapes of the same era. I don't know of any stability problems with it.

[TIMTAPE]

A standard play tape may not be ideal for such a domestic machine. A long play may be better in terms of better head contact especially if the Akai's head is a bit worn.

[crackle]

Thanks for your replies, there is a fair bit of wear on the heads, would it help if I attempted to polish this out.
Mike

[TIMTAPE]

It would probably help but only if you do it well.

Good clear photo of the head face. Seems like you've mastered macro on your camera. Many dont!

You'll notice that on this model and other models of that era, Akai cut or attempted to cut "relief slots" on either side of each pole piece, a total of 4 altogether. This does compensate for a certain amount for head wear by helping the pole piece to remain "proud" relative to the immediately adjacent metal.

But you'll also notice a normal 1/4" wide wear groove, most obvious in your photo at the bottom. This tends to attract dirt and muck in the crevice which can be hard to remove and is especially a problem with tape contact on the top track (left channel).
Relapping the head to eliminate this groove would remove this dirt crevice. It also means that when you reinstall the head, there will be no "tram track" that the tape will be forced to run in, which is a real problem if the azimuth angle on reinstallation is not exactly the same as before.
In a way, once the head is removed, you have to relap that groove out. Either that or leave it be.

If you do attempt to relap, go for just lapping out the tape width groove and no more. Also, try not to reduce the "radius" on the head any more than it has already been flattened. A true relap restores the original factory radius but is obviously very tricky to without the proper machinery.

Be warned, those Akai heads arent always the easiest to remove and reinstall.
They can have fiddly little hard wired shielded cables which go to the rotary track change switch and then they are mounted on the side by a two screw bracket, meaning it can be difficult reinstalling and adjusting for perpendicularity.

You would have to relap the head with the head leads attached too which can run the risk of damaging them on these models.

At least you can probably remove the entire head block mech from the machine which makes it easier to work on.

But unless you're skilled at fine work such as this I'd say leave things as they are. I've seen a lot worse headwear!

[theoldtrout]

Someone on this forum recommended Terry at Summertone, he did a fantastic job on a Studer C37 for me, quick turnaround too. www.summertone.com

[crackle]

My son is not so interested in experimenting with analogue recordings as I thought, so I think I have decided to leave it alone for now, dont want to make things worse.
Thanks for the advice everyone.
Mike