Third time is a charm - Akai GX-280D, intact and sounding good!

[jbeckva]

Whew. Finally got one in that is halfway ok with no major issues. This one I got off a guy in MD for around 80 with shipping. It had a bad playback amp I replaced from "akai experiment #2" (another GX-280D). The other issue reported was that recording sounded like it needed some sort of alignment. Yep, that was correct - the actual mounting bracket where the record head was mounted was actually bent. Straightened it all out, tweaked it up, and got it up and running. It needs a more throrough aligment, but I'll save that for this weekend when I have time.

With the dbx in front of it.. holy moly man! Now who's got some old 7 inch reels ?? (goes trolling in ebay... *reelspin**reelspin*)

Check it out... looks nice ... VU meters a peakin' and all that! *Hi5* But yeah.. as I've said before... these Akais I have played with DO have some serious output (owch!). I don't like it how the VU's follow the actual playback output level (i.e. turn the volume all the way down to a decent level, and the VU's go down with it). That aint right, is it? Is that normal with other decks? Anyway.. just an annoyance to me. Aint complainin'

http://www.compautomation.com/images/artr2.jpg

[Des-Lab]

That's a sweet looking relic there bro! Very nice. I can't help you with any 7" reels as I don't have any besides one or two cheapy Quantegy plastic ones. I went straight to 10", which should be your next goal. Once you get there, you will be truly top of the TapeHeads class.

Yikes. *Hi5*

[Acoustic]

Good lookin' deck dude! They are a lot of fun!

My Teac A3300SR VU meters do the same as your Akai when you vary the output volume the VU meters will change with your setting . But on my Pioneer 1020L when you vary the output level the VU meters don't change.

[Scorpion8]

I don't like it how the VU's follow the actual playback output level (i.e. turn the volume all the way down to a decent level, and the VU's go down with it). That aint right, is it? Is that normal with other decks? Anyway.. just an annoyance to me. Aint complainin'...

My Teac A3300SR VU meters do the same as your Akai when you vary the output volume the VU meters will change with your setting . But on my Pioneer 1020L when you vary the output level the VU meters don't change.

My Akai GX-267D doesn't do that. The meters read tape level regardless of what the LINE OUT is set to.

[tbilliedubs]

I just happened upon my Dad's old Akai gx 280d today. I've got power, and VU meter lights, but not much else. Any tips on getting the old girl up and running? I'm dying to listen to the Sabbath tapes that are with this thing!

[Scorpion8]

Start with the easy stuff like checking fuses and cleaning all the variable controls and switches. Then hook up an input source, flip the decks monitor switch to "source" and see if any signal is getting thru. Then we proceed from there.

[no1maestro]

I have the four channel version that is close to yours. Model 1730D-SS. The meters follow the output level. I think that each model varies depending on it's particular electronics.

I also have hundreds of r2r tapes I need to move. IM if you want some idea of what is availiable.

The only problem with my quad deck is that there is a bit of "running noise" which I seem to remember as usual with these decks.....of course I could be wrong!