Beocord 1200 – Problems with playing newly recorded tapes

[van Jensen]

Hi all,

I have been able to acquire a beautiful Beocord 1200 (Series 7). After a mechanical check, I replaced all the belts and made the switch from 9.5 to 19 functional again. The device is now in really nice condition, both visually and mechanically.

When I play tapes that have already been recorded (recorded on another device or on the device when it was still working properly), both VU meters work during playback and both channels play correctly.

Now I have recorded a tape with music from a device at the AUX input. To do this, I selected the speed, selected AUX, pressed buttons 1-4 and 3-2 simultaneously and pressed the L and R buttons. When recording, I use the sliders and both VU meters are triggered correctly (see picture 1).

However, when I play back the recording, only the left VU meter is triggered and when I press the L and R buttons I only hear something on the left channel. If I don’t press these two buttons (L and R), something comes out of both channels via the speakers – but I don’t know if this is stereo.

And here are my two questions:
1) Did I press the correct buttons for a recording? Is it correct the way I did it?
2) If so, what could be the reason for the right channel not playing properly? And what can I do about it?

I am not a professional electrician and am not yet familiar with this kind of tape recorders, but I would like to use this one again as it is a wonderful device. If I understand correctly, does the machine have two sound heads? Which one has which function? Can they be tested? Or can I clean them?

Many thanks in advance for your help!

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[YannChris]

Hi,

If it can help you, the user guide of Beocord 2000 is attached hereunder. It’s a different model but you could find useful informations.

Also an audio file for channel identification for further testing.

My guess is the the recorder processes the signal correctly on the electronic side (that’s why VU-meters move while recording).

So the problem is (IMHO) sits in the magnetic heads, which are old and could have failed with time.

You may carefully clean them (use Q-tips and isopropyl alcohol).

I hope this will solve your problem.

 

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[van Jensen]

Hi YannChris,

and thank you very much for your immediate reply and your very helpful attachments.
I’ll have a look at the manual and I’ll try to get your WAV file somehow on tape to check the channels.

Concerning the heads: I have Isopropyl alcohol 70% – will this do the job?
Which one of the heads is the one for playing – I assume the right silver one (pls see picture)?
Did I understand right – apart from contamination the heads can also break mechanically/electronically?

Again – thanks for your help!!

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[YannChris]

Hi,

Your alcohol should make the job.

On your picture, the left head is the erasing one. The right one is the play/record one.

Clean both with cotton swabs lightly soaked in alcohol

These heads, manufactured by Bogen are known to be fragile and prone to failure.

I had the same problem with a Beocord 2000 and unfortunately couldn’t solve the fault.

Yann.

 

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[van Jensen]

Thanks Yann, I’ll try tomorrow and let you know.

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[van Jensen]

Hi Yann,

I cleaned the head with the alcohol and it came of some dirt (see picture). Unfortunately the procedure didn´t help in terms of my issue with recording and playing the right channel properly. It still sounds dull.

I am not an expert with reel machines. Why do I have to press the R and L button? I can hear the music on both channels even if  I do not push the two buttons. But may be no Stereo? Do you know?

Best
Jens

• This reply was modified 3 days, 21 hours ago by van Jensen.
• This reply was modified 3 days, 20 hours ago by van Jensen.

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[YannChris]

Good evening Jens,

My technical knowledge stops here and I can’t help you more on this aspect of the problem.

On the theoretical side:

• Reel tapes have 4 tracks. A set of 2 tracks is used to record/playback stereo signals.
• When the end of the tape is reached, you swap the reels and the other set of tracks is used.
• If you push one button only, the signal of the selected track is sent to the 2 outputs. It is double-mono, not stereo.

Page 5 of the user guide supplied previous explains the role of each combination of the buttons.

Yann.

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[van Jensen]

Good morning Yann,
Thank you very much for your patience and answer. That sheds light on what I know. I checked it with my head phones and it is as you said. If I just press the L button, it’s double mono. If I just press R I have the muffled signal on both channels.

So it seems that the sound head is not working correctly and I have to find a way how to solve it …

Thanks again for your support – really appreciate it!

Best wishes to France

Jens

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[matador]

Hi alls,

That thread made me dust out my BC1200. A pleasure, thank you.

I’ve got the same problem: one track is softer than the other –  visible from the VU-meters – and of course a loud background noise.

Wherever this thread goes, I’m interested!

Location: Paris France

[van Jensen]

Hi Yann, hi all,

I couldn’t get over the fact that the right channel sounded very muffled during playback. So I unscrewed the black cover of the mixer and cleaned the sound heads again with a little more pressure, patience and alcohol than before. It is definitely easier to get to the heads without the cover.

I also cleaned the “silver guides” on the left and right and the rotating pin to the right of the sound head properly. In daylight I could see that a lot of dirt (abrasion?) had settled there.

Then the test aaaand – it helped. Now I have a clear sound on both the left and right channel and a decent stereo sound when I press both buttons (L+R). Alcohol is not the solution but sometimes it helps 😉

Motivated by this, I cleaned the wood of the machine and treated it with linseed oil varnish. Now the last part of my 70s ensemble, which I have collected, repaired and put together over the last three/four  years, is complete. Okay – almost complete – I am still looking for the U70 headphones … If someone knows someone, pls let me know.

As the icing on the cake, the previous owner sent me a short instruction manual for the instrument that he had found. In the attachment you can see the pictures of the individual devices and the instructions.

Best greetings to France from a very happy
Jens

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[YannChris]

Happy for you 🙂

Yann.

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