Tape Eating Monteverdi Combo is alive.

[Larry N]

The Monteverdi Tuner/Amp with 8 track player has been resurrected. This is the one that had the tape hanging out of it. I tore it apart and removed what had to be a complete tape wrapped around the circuit boards and the tuner strings. Glad I just didn't pull it out by brute strength. The guy I got all the players from said the AM didn't work on this one. Its amasing what a squirt of tuner cleaner will do to the controls. A couple shots of cleaner lube in the function switch and the Am started working. Crap shot but I won. Hit all other controls at the same time. Cleaned and demagnetised the head of 8 track and reconditioneded the capstan. checked head for horizonal adjustment and fired it up. Wow it worked and didn't eat the tape. I must say this is a great sounding unit. Threw a test recording tape in to see if it would record. All VU meters worked and machine recorded fantastic. I think I may hook my free cycle Pioneer turntable to this one to record some of my records to 8 track. Vinyl to 8 Track, talk about going backwards. Yes! Well a good nights work now its *beer* time.

Larry N

[Scorpion8]

Pics, pics, pics .....


http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p141/Scorpion008/pointlesswithoutpics.jpg

[Larry N]

This is a picture of it regurgitating a tape. Hopefully it doesn't do it anymore.

[retrokeeper]

Hey Larry!! Sounds like you had a nice project there reviving the Monte!! I too have been in a "breath-life-back-into" mood myself with 8-tracks,got my Pioneer,Akai,& Roberts 8-track recording decks up and running just recently.All needed new belts,a good and rigorous cleaning,and a squirt of deoxit here and there,and they now play/record quite well.These decks are built like TANKS,and are heavyweights also!!They sure sound great with tapes that are re-padded and fixed up to play without problems.I still have quite a few decks to clean and re-belt,including my 4-channel Akai,a bunch of portables,a couple of auto decks,and two monstrousities made by J.C. Penney and Soundesign that are those big'o all in one sound systems...you know those "silver towers of sound" cabinets types!?! Can't wait to dive into those babies.*eyepop* Rob

[Larry N]

Retrokeeper

This is one of the players I picked up on Craigs list, so far I have great luck in fixing most of the bells and whistles on them. It is amazing how some tuner cleaner / lube will bring new life into an old player. It does make you feel good to save one from the landfill. Didn't even need a belt on this one, most of the others were a pile of black tar. I get belts from a place in Indiana called www.studiosoundselectronics.com 12 assorted belts in a package. Lot cheaper that way. Should you or anyone need a 8 track belt, check with me and I might have the size you need as there are some of the sizes I have never needed at this time.
One day maybe I will get a real 8 track recorder like the pros have, until then I'll save the combos and console models I pick up and my friends buy at yard sales for me. I have some of the players in my albums, quite a few more to put in. I need to learn how to take better pictures.

Long Live The 8 Track

Larry N.

[retrokeeper]

Hey Larry!! Yep...have ordered belts from Studio Sound before,great people to do business with,also buy belts from MCM Electronics when they have them in stock.Do you re-pad and re-splice your tapes?I've found some adhesive-backed cell foam at a local hardware store that nearly duplicates the right depth and composition of the original pad that nowadays crumbles to powder or is a sticky goo mess.You don't want to cram just anything in the cartridge slot,no need to wear away that precious lubricated backing on the tape.And sooner than later that track change splice gives up and you need to re-splice that,so after all this,your tapes should sound pretty good in your newly cleaned and ready to go 8-track deck!!I too have some all-in-one systems,I'm partial to the am-fm stereo 8-track types,have a few by Panasonic,Sound Design,and a few other companies. Rob

[Larry N]

Sure do, I almost always replace the older pressure pads with home made ones. I bought some one time and said to myself, SELF you can do that. I usually use foam weatherstripping from the local hardware store. I make them a number of different ways and they all seem to work OK. For the spring pads I use felt furniture bumpers, I also have used the material like you would put under laminate flooring for sound deadener. I almost always stop the tape as the track changes to check the sensing foil, if possible I pull it out and change if needed right then. If its an easy cart to open I pop it open to do it, that way you can clean and check for reversed tape. When I first became re-interested in 8 tracks ( Probably 9 years ago, I traded a guy in Wisconsin a belly skid pan for a VW bus for a Old Muntz to put in Olde Leroy my 79 air cooled bus ) Been hooked ever since. Expanding to the turntables now as the combo units usually has one. Enjoy going into a flea, thrift store, pawn shop or a yard sale and seeing what I can find, cheap is good FREE is better.

Larry N.

[stuwee]

Pics, pics, pics .....


http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p141/Scorpion008/pointlesswithoutpics.jpg

Jim, that's F'n funny! *devil* Larry, the tape munchin' pic is a keeper for the wall behind it, good work! I knew you could do it *Hi5* . Good for shocking folks when they ask "does that thing work"?