Back Components: 4-Track Reel to Reel Recorder

Video Transcript

For Expert Village, I'm Kurt at KGB Studio. We're continuing our sessions on 4-track tape recorders. In this session, we're going to be looking at the back of the reel to reel. So let's get right to it, right now. Now, the first thing we take a look at, of course, is the power cable. I want to make a comment on the power cable right here. The power cable, as you can see, is only a two prong. I'll put it over in the background here. It's only a two-prong connector. That's not a real good plan. That was one of the things that almost closed the deal when I bought this deck back in 1976, is that it only had two. Most reel to reel recorders have a three-prong connector. But, I did discover that this little section right here on the back, this guy right here, is a grounding pin. And you can ground the entire chassis on the deck with this grounding pin. So that's what I chose and that's another reason I chose the deck besides the cost on the unit, of course, which was very competitive at the time. Now, the next piece here is we have these five pins, what they call DIN, this is for the front four channels, two channels this is for the back two channels on this four. And two of the pins are for record and two of the pins are for playback as you might be able to see in the illustration. Alright, let's move over to the left. Up on the top here, we have Mr. Fuse, where you can twist and take the fuse out. I'll do that right here so you can see it. The fuse is one of these typical type fuses. You can check with an O meter to make sure it's working. Obviously, if the deck doesn't work right off the bat, that would be your first piece to troubleshoot to find out if it isn't working. And then, of course, down here, we have what they call unbalanced RCA-type of connectors for the output here on these four, front two, back two here. And then, over on here we have the input. This is where if you want to run from a mixer or from some other input source, like a guitar or synthesizer, you can go RCA out on that device, coming into the RCA in, in here for the front or for the rear. Interestingly, you can record one track at a time on a 4-track reel to reel, or you can record two, three or four tracks. These are, of course, unbalanced and I'll show you what the types of connectors I recommend using, which are brass types of RCA. Now, in the final piece here on the back, is this little guy here. This is actually, connects inside this slot right here. And this has the actual flywheel which we'll talk about when we do our series on actually restoring the deck. This is good for transportation. If you're moving or moving around, you can actually lock the flywheel in place which will keep things in alignment, which is an important piece. That covers all of the back for now. Join us in the next session where we go into and actually get started on some recording. Again, for Expert Village, Kurt from KGB Studios. See you soon.

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