Resurrecting my Akai MG1212

[Neal]

I've been out of the recording side of music for quite a while... family and kids will change your priorities that way.
I'm trying to get my old Akai MG1212 back up and running... it sat idle for so long the drive wheel glazed and cracked. I replaced it with an o-ring, and got the fast forward and rewind functions working.
Here's the problem... when I play a tape, the capstan roller feeds the tape past the heads faster than the takeup reel winds it up, so the tape ends up slowly unspooling into the deck and crinkling up.... shades of the old 8-track cartridge days!
Does anyone have any experience with these dinosaurs, or can you point me to a website I can check into?
Thanks!
Neal

[jrfrond]

Those old dogs had big problems even when they were new! I know, because we used to service them. You would be lucky to get tapes, let alone replacement parts nowadays. My guess is that you have old tapes that need to be transferred. If that is NOT the case, then save your money for a something like a Tascam 2488 or something like that. Seriously. Don't throw good money after bad.

[Neal]

Thanks for the reply, John. You're correct, I've got some archived stuff that I'd like to transfer, and I'd still like to use the thing for quick demo tapes if possible.
When I found out they were going to discontinue tapes, I bought what I could, so I've still got some blanks, believe it or not.
I'm stumped as to why the take-up reel isn't moving as fast as the captan... I know it's not slipping. There has to be some kind of adjustment built-in... as the takeup reel gets fuller, the diameter gets bigger, and vice-versa. I'm missing something simple here, I think.
I need to get into the digital age for multi-tracking, but I've got a lot of sentimental hours behind that big ol' deck.

[hootguy]

MG1212

Hi,
I don't know where you put the o-ring, but if it is somewhere in the tape path where it increased the diameter of a component that moves the tape, it's probably feeding tape out faster than the takeup reel will receive it.
Anyway, I just tried turning my old unit on today. There is no sound out of the headpone or master outputs. The bus outputs have output if I assign tracks to them. Any ideas where to look for the problem?

[jrfrond]

I really feel for you guys, because there aren't too many techs that will even WANT to touch one of these. The biggest issue with these is the odd 12tr/.5" format, otherwise, you could have the tapes transferred on another machine with the same format.

I found THIS on-line. Seriously, it's your best bet. As much as I make my living servicing even a lot of oddball and vintage gear (NOT the MG1212 however), I just hate to see anyone throw away their money. Have the tracks transferred to .WAV files, and then they can be imported into any digital workstation or multitrack digital recorder.

[Enzo]

I'm with John.


However...
Take the reels off. Put an empty reel on the take-up table. The take-up is the one not turning enough, right?

Hold up the tape sensor so the transport will actuate and press play. The pinch roller should come up to the capstan, and the take-up reel should start spinning. Does it spin up good? How easy is it to stall with a finger?

If I had to guess, I'd be thinking either we have slippage, or we have stiff lube sapping its strength.

Guys bring me old reel decks, and the lube is all hard so all the moving parts move like they are in cold molasses. I just hand them back to the owner with a sad smile. "Not here."

[Steve Conner]

Couldn't we rip the tape transport out, throw it in the nearest dumpster, and hook the wires up to a nice 12-channel Firewire card? :-)

[Enzo]

Sure, as long as that firewire card can play his archive of tapes.

[Neal]

Thanks for all the replies, guys.
Jrfrond, thanks for the link...that looks like a cool service. Unfortunately, I'd like to listen to these tapes to decide what I'd want to save for posterity and what should go in the dumpster.
Enzo, I'll check for slippage when I get home tonight.
Here's a stupid question.... what synchronizes the capstan with the take-up reel? As the take-up reel fills, the diameter will grow, and it'll pull in tape faster. What keeps the capstan and take-up reel working together for the whole length of the tape?

[zero cool]

However...
Take the reels off. Put an empty reel on the take-up table.

This may be a bit hard to do as this is an odd type of cassette transport. this used a odd version of a M1 tape. sort of like a small VHS tape, but a bit bigger then a Beta tape.


I threw a Akai MG1212 away not long ago.

[Enzo]

Aha! My ignorance. Sorry. I assumed a reel to reel deck. Never mind.

In any tape deck, there is no sync between capstan and take up reel. The take up reel has tension applied, so whatever tape comes from the capstan is pulled taut by that torque. if the take up torque or tension is too weak, then it can;t turn the take up reel fast enough to keep the post capstan tape tight. And then it spews around.

And the supply reel also had some drag on it to help keep the tape tight against the heads from behind. In big fancy reel decks ther may be a motor for each reel, and the current through each motor is controlled to provide proper torque on both take up and back tension. On other decks, you may find the supply reel drag is merely a felt washer under the reel table. The friction provides enough drag. And the take up reel, operates similarly. On most cassettes, VCrs and such, the take up reel table is turned by a belt, rubber wheel, gear, whatever, then the reel hub itself sits on a felt washer or other friction clutch to transmit that motion to the reel itself. If that friction surface stops frictioning, then like a slipping clutch in your car, it can;t drive the reel. or the friction clutch may be fine but the drive can't apply sufficient torque.

I am not familair with your deck obviously, but if it is like most VCR type transports, I'd expect and ideler wheel transferring the motor rotation to one of the reel tables. That idler may be losing its grip, your o-ring may not have much grip (wrong kind of rubber), or something simple like a stretched spring may not provide solid enough contact between shaft and idler.

Speaking generically of course.

[Neal]

Thanks for the info, Enzo. This will give me some ammo when I fire it up again tomorrow.
It's funny.... this thing is a boat anchor today, but I still remember when I bought it, and it was just about the coolest thing out there. I even saved the magazine that had a review of it, featuring Phil Collins.
I'm funny that way about old musical gear.
If I absolutely can't save the tape transport, I'll still use it as a mix board in the practice room.

[Enzo]

Whenever I have any tape transport problems, regardless of format, my first ten suspects are rubber.

[jrfrond]

Thanks for the info, Enzo. This will give me some ammo when I fire it up again tomorrow.
It's funny.... this thing is a boat anchor today, but I still remember when I bought it, and it was just about the coolest thing out there. I even saved the magazine that had a review of it, featuring Phil Collins.
I'm funny that way about old musical gear.
If I absolutely can't save the tape transport, I'll still use it as a mix board in the practice room.

Neal, don't feel too bad. Technology is aging more rapidly than ever! We have two legacy ProTools systems hanging around here on old Macs. They are not compatible with new hardware. Kind of useless unless we were to obtain all of the backwards-compatible hardware. NOT!!! You can go crazy keeping up with technology, and sometimes it's best to run it ALMOST into the ground, just long enough to transfer whatever information you have to your NEW technology, which will surely be antiquated quicker than you can pay the credit card bill. Cynical??? You bet!!! It's just the way it is, so it does breed cynicism.

You know, we won't touch the MG1212 or MG1214 anymore, mainly because Akai has changed hands about four times since they were produced, and parts are just ZILCH! However, a similar concept by Tascam, the 388 Studio, which was 8-track reel-to-reel buried in the same chassis as the (good) mixer, and heavy as hell, is STILL repairable, because Teac still stocks many of the parts, and it's really just a reel-to-reel deck, which we still do a lot of. So, unless you can repair your unit with "stone knives and bearskins" (a quote of Mr. Spock from Star Trek), you could be sh*t outta luck if you need a part. I have to tell you that, even if you DO seem to get it running, I wouldn't put any recorded tapes in there until you test it with a sacrificial blank or throwaway tape. It wouldn't be the first time a seemingly-working tape deck ate the tape!

[Enzo]

Amen to testing with a blank.


I have seen only one of those old 388 machines, I about fainted when I first saw it. I had no idea such a behemoth was even made. "Wow! Lookit this thing!"