Beocord 1500 De Luxe user manual request / recording question

[CharlieWednesday]

On impulse (again!) I bought  Beocord 1500 De Luxe on eBay.  It’s in great cosmetic condition, and it came with an old tape which plays fine, so I know playback works, but I can’t get it to record.

There is a manual here on the Beoworld product page but that’s for Beocord 1500 (not De Luxe) and there are some small differences.  Also, the manual is not exactly the best when it comes to describing how to actually use the thing.

I’ve tried to record by holding down one or both of the record buttons, then pushing the lever into the play position.  The tape turns, but the level meters do nothing.  I rewind and play, and the previous recording is still on the tape – nothing has recorded; it hasn’t even blanked the tape.

There’s an extra button on the De Luxe too which isn’t mentioned in the manual – just above the tape head cover there is a button that indicates ‘2’ of left out, ‘4’ if pushed in.  The only thing I’ve found is that playback sound is muted if I push it in.

Does anyone happen to have the correct manual fior this model, or have any idea how to make it actually record!

Location: Liverpool

My B&O Icons:

[lausvi]

I bought one of these decks around 2006. I sent email to B&O support and they actually posted me a paper-photocopy with a hand-signed cover sheet, good times (I wonder if they would even bother to reply about something this vintage any more!).

Here are some pics of the manual. I guess I should scan it, but I can’t do it until I return to work in couple of weeks. Note that the numbering of items refers to two set of pictures and it is somewhat cryptic at times.

What you described sounds correct about the recording. I think the rec L and R buttons should lock down and the two red recoding lamps below the meters should light up when in record mode. The 2/4 is for selecting playback/recording of 2-track or playback-only 4-track. The heads in these are unfortunately known to go open-circuit and I believe my deck had that too, not sure if it was 2/4-track playback head so not completely unusable but limiting.

Location: Helsinki - Finland

My B&O Icons:

[CharlieWednesday]

Thank you – that’s really useful.  I am following the correct procedure to make a recording, but it’s not working.  The previous recording that’s already on the tape remains, so I’m guessing there’s something wrong with the recording heads.

Probably not worth the cost of getting it repaired, but I’ll look into it, thanks.

Location: Liverpool

My B&O Icons:

[lausvi]

I scanned and uploaded the user manual to archive.org: https://archive.org/details/beocord-1500dl-operating-instructions

Location: Helsinki - Finland

My B&O Icons:

[CharlieWednesday]

Very helpful – thank you.

Location: Liverpool

My B&O Icons:

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