k brown
Well-known member
My Ampex F-44 produces a loud, random, snapping/crackling static (NOT tape hiss) only when playing BASF SM468 tape, which sadly is the best sounding tape I've ever used on this machine. The noise sounds just like static electricity.
I degaussed the tape path and heads and it went down slightly in volume. I re-racked the tape and that made no difference. I have several reels and they all do it; as I said, no other tape does this on this machine.
Even stranger, as the tape is playing, the noise gets higher in freq (snapping gets more rapid) and much louder If I place my finger on the spinning capstan (which is also suggestive of static electricity) - a second degauss of the capstan made no difference.
The other thing that suggests static electricity is that the Ampex 900/1200/F-44 macines have a felt (I assume wool) back-tension disc in front of the tape heads. Slipping a piece of paper between the disc and the tape reduces the noise by a couple of dB.
The BASF tapes play perfectly on my Akai GS-4000D.
Did BASF use some sort of unusual polymer in the tape base that make it susceptable to static build up (it's said to be polyester)?
The only thing I can think of to try is grounding the chassis to AC ground (it has an ungrounded power plug); any risk in doing so? Suggested place on the chassis to do this?
If that does nothing, the only other thing I can think of is to replace the felt disc with something like a rolled-up strip of 100% cotton fabric.
I degaussed the tape path and heads and it went down slightly in volume. I re-racked the tape and that made no difference. I have several reels and they all do it; as I said, no other tape does this on this machine.
Even stranger, as the tape is playing, the noise gets higher in freq (snapping gets more rapid) and much louder If I place my finger on the spinning capstan (which is also suggestive of static electricity) - a second degauss of the capstan made no difference.
The other thing that suggests static electricity is that the Ampex 900/1200/F-44 macines have a felt (I assume wool) back-tension disc in front of the tape heads. Slipping a piece of paper between the disc and the tape reduces the noise by a couple of dB.
The BASF tapes play perfectly on my Akai GS-4000D.
Did BASF use some sort of unusual polymer in the tape base that make it susceptable to static build up (it's said to be polyester)?
The only thing I can think of to try is grounding the chassis to AC ground (it has an ungrounded power plug); any risk in doing so? Suggested place on the chassis to do this?
If that does nothing, the only other thing I can think of is to replace the felt disc with something like a rolled-up strip of 100% cotton fabric.
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