Overdriving Cassette Recorders

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Gilgamesh

Active member
Joined
Jul 20, 2011
Messages
27
Keith Richards allegedly used a cheap Philips mono cassette recorder (which was most likely an EL3300 from what I’ve read) to get some of the guitar sounds on Street Fighting Man, Jumping Jack Flash and Gimme Shelter among others. The first two involved an acoustic being overdriven by the recorder’s preamp. Obviously there would be many other elements of the recording chain (including Keith Richards!) that would be crucial to those sounds but I’m interested because I want a low fi dirty overdrive and I particularly like the sound of an overdriven acoustic guitar and would be keen to experiment.

Keith says that what was crucial to getting the sound was that the early cassette recorders didn’t have built in limiters and therefore could be pushed to overdrive.

I can try and buy a vintage Philips tape recorder on ebay but because they are just about the first commercially produced cassette recorders they are a bit of a collectors item and are probably therefore way too expensive for the sum of their parts. The other point is that I can’t track down any information on when limiters were introduced so might not get what I’m after anyway unless I ensure I get the EL3300 which is very scarce.

Does anyone know when the limiters were introduced? Can the EL3301 and EL3302 be pushed into overdrive in the same way? What about the 2202 units from the 70s?

Alternatively, how difficult would it be to remove or bypass the limiter section of any cheap cassette recorder to try and attempt a similar effect?

I think I would try using just the preamp overdriven as well as recording to cassette and then reamping through a speaker as keith did.

I should note I’m pretty much a noob. Have built an 1176 rev A, a G pultec and a U47 clone so have some experiencing in tinkering with circuits and can read a schematic to a basic level but not too good on HOW the circuits work.
 
I am pretty sure the EL3302 can I had one and I also bought one for my Dad and they had a tiny edgewise VU meter on the front. It even came with a circuit diagram and I am pretty sure I would have recognises a limiter circuit if I had seen one even back then.

Since this is a DIY group why not try to get the schematic and build the electronics yourself?

Here's the schematic:

http://www.petervis.com/Tape%20Recorders/Philips%20Compact%20Cassette%20Recorder%20EL-3302/Philips%20Compact%20Cassette%20Recorder%20EL-3302%20Schematic.html

Cheers

Ian
 
Thanks Ian. Yep I think I will do as you say and try and DIY the circuit. I obtained a copy of the EL3300 service information as I figured I may as well start with the simpler circuit. I think I'll buy a 3302 if it comes up relatively cheap on ebay if only for comparison purposes and work on a 3300 preamp clone in the meantime. I have no idea how to do that but seems as good a time as any to learn. Cheers!
 
I think the the tape and head will also contribute to the sound esp. when overdriven.
So you might want to get the 3302 and modify the circuit
 

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