Please help. Thanks! I just recently purchased a Studer A80 which appeared mint and only 299 hours. I noticed that on rewind it is slow. When I turn one of the tape guide tensioners by hand,either left or right one, it goes very fast as it should. As I was doing this one of the 0.47 caps blew on the conductor board with smoke! I repaired. Now the counter just stays at zero and rewind is still slow and on occasion rewind turns in FF! bummer. Any ideas on tape tension issues/adjustments? If I push play with no tape loaded the a80 will spin. I don't think it is supposed to do this. If I turn the tape guide by hand a little it stops. Oh boy. Please help! Thanks!
studer a80 issues
- Thread starter studera80fan
- Start date
Make sure all your tape path is super clean...I think 96 alcohol will be fine. Because of the hours it shouldn't be the reel motor(s) but it sounds like that could be a issue. Do the motors feel rough at all when turned by hand. That cap blowing doesn't sound good either. The logic circuit can create problems too,atleast on my A820 it did and except for the tape path build up everything was good. Maybe Ki will chime in. Good luck.
P.S. when I had my A820 I emailed and phoned...Ki,Charlie Bolois and Fred Thal,they were all very helpful. Depending on your location I would find a Studer tech,you need to touch base with one close by you,just a good idea.
P.S. when I had my A820 I emailed and phoned...Ki,Charlie Bolois and Fred Thal,they were all very helpful. Depending on your location I would find a Studer tech,you need to touch base with one close by you,just a good idea.
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Thanks Roger. The reels feel great. The machine is ultra clean. the counter was working fine prior to the cap blowing. I am in Southern California. Does anyone know a Studer repair person in Los Angeles, Orange County, anywhere in CA? Maybe when the cap blew it effected something else? So troubling. If I could get the tape counter working it would be at least back to my original issue, the slow rewind.now I have slow rewind and the digital meter that stays at zero! Where are the email and phone for the people you had mentioned?
If you are located in a metro area I would find a Tech that can check it out.There is a Studer List in Yahoo groups that can supply good info.Gearslutz.com is a good site for locating Tech's.It does sound like a tension problem or a reel motor .
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/STUDER/message/2197
As you can see the List has all kinds of topics related to your issue.
Hope this helps.
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/STUDER/message/2197
As you can see the List has all kinds of topics related to your issue.
Hope this helps.
Im not a taperecorderexpert , but i tried pushing play without tape and my a 80 stops immediately.
I did pull the tensionlever on my A80 rc and my other studer to increase speeding occasionally without problem.
I suggest contacting a expert as mentioned , if you think / know if or which card may give a problem , then there are plenty of them on sale on the net
I did pull the tensionlever on my A80 rc and my other studer to increase speeding occasionally without problem.
I suggest contacting a expert as mentioned , if you think / know if or which card may give a problem , then there are plenty of them on sale on the net
Here's your go to guy.....
http://vertigorecordingservices7.blogspot.com/2011/01/charlie-bolois-vertigo-recording.html
http://vertigorecordingservices7.blogspot.com/2011/01/charlie-bolois-vertigo-recording.html
Thanks everyone. I will call Charlie and let everyone know how it goes. I am in San Diego so back in the truck it goes!
I am thinking it is just a tension adjustment? The other issue is trying ti figure out why the tape counter stays at zero. It was fine until the caps blew, which I did repair.
Hilarious!!! Thanks for the awesome vid.....is there any doubt why I sent my C37 to a master tech....Lol!
I especially liked the part at 4.12 in the vid 
studio timi http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ph43IPJeTe8
good luck with the repairs , and a full check up is a good idea anyway , the tech may find some more to improve as they are old machines
studio timi http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ph43IPJeTe8
good luck with the repairs , and a full check up is a good idea anyway , the tech may find some more to improve as they are old machines
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Charlie techs both of my Studer A820's.
Here's a link http://vertigorecordings.com/index.html
His new address: 210 W PALM AVE
BURBANK, CA 91502-1835
Charlie went through Dave Wilson's Studer UltraMaster before we did our recordings.
Hey Studer80fan,
Sorry to hear about the issues. I have never seen an A80 (is it an RC or VU?) even the ones that came from a reputable recording studio to be in good working order. It's the age of these machines that is the main challenge. There seems to be two problems with your A80. The Spooling Motor control board problem is very common and your other issue is with tape counter not working.
First of all, my day job had me running around all over... leaving me no time for tape fun...lately so I am slow to respond these days. The .47uF caps are tied to two matched power transistor for each of the spooling motors - Take-up and Supply. My guess is that one or both of the power transistors are blown as well for the .47uF cap to smoke. You can repair the sick board or buy a replacement Spooling Control Board but then you would have to calibrate the both supply and take up side. It's not impossible for one to do it but kind of confusing if you hadn't done it and don't understand the logic behind the procedure. But before you take care of the spooling tensions, you have to have proper capstan play tension first since they are all related. With all that said, I would suggest you follow other forum members' suggestion and get local professional help. You are lucky to be Southern CA. If Charlie, who is one of the best, is too busy, you can contact Ocean Way Studio in LA as well.
Secondly, the counter problem may be related to tape end sensor not working or you have moved the assembly while manually turning the supply tension rollers. You can block the sensor and see if it will count as you play the tape.
Lastly, but if you were to work on the machine, make sure to start by checking your main power supply and then the transport power supply regulator board.
For those who want to buy one of these A80 machines, to avoid the likely eBay buying risk, you should personally witness or have someone do the basic transport tests before pulling the trigger:
1) While tape is threaded, it will go FF, Stop, Play, Stop, Rew, Stop and have it play for a min or so and watch. Then push the Return to Zero on the counter module to make sure the transport goes to 0 count at most three tries. Ideally, next you want to record a known signal and have it play back accurately.
2) After FF, go directly into Play, watch the tape around the capstan to make certain there's no tape loop forming. If all the tension adjustments are correct, the pinch roller would make contact with the capstan and you shouldn't see any excess tape loop forming before or after the capstan.
3) Simplest way of testing tension adjustment is to pull the pinch roller away from the capstan while it is in play mode with tape loaded. Both supply and take-up motor should come to a stop. If the both tensions are not set properly, the tape would coast Forward or Rew direction.
Hope it helps.
Ki
I hope studera80fan doesn't mind me piggy backing on his thread. Could anyone recommend a highly rated Studer technician in the New England/New York area? I've sent John French an email, just waiting to hear back from him if he does full service on these machines (my interest is in A810).
You won't find any better....Dan is highly recommended.
http://www.technicalaudio.com/zeltecrnd/index.html
Although I do not know him, Dan Zellman frequently post is in the Studer list . He seems to be a very knowledge man on the Studers and he is very friendly, helping other people very often.
Dan is very nice and helpful as you say...he is doing my C37 restoration. Dan provides technical service for Sear Sound http://www.searsound.com/studio_a.html and others
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