Very Detailed DAT transport cleaning procedure

If you own and use DAT recorders you need to do this, frequently.

[@ryansnyder6954]

Good afternoon, Sir, I have been watching you for years. I love your videos. I recently acquired a DAT recorder that I have been wanting for many years. The alignment seems to be off. I was able to follow your advice and turn the guides and get it to where it sounds incredibly good. But noticed that the right guide (the take up guide) does not tighten or stay in position. Whenever you eject the tape or forward or reverse the tape, the right guide always turns. What has happened to this guide to make it not stay in position? Is there a simple fix to hold it in place? Thank you so much for any information and your time. P.S. I would love to send the unit to you and have you bring it up to new condition, but I just don’t think I could afford it. Also I worry about shipping the unit. The wood side panels got damaged when the seller shipped it to me. Ryan

[@SergZak2023]

Thanks, Dave! 👍

[@Lasse-mq4kb]

hi @12voltvids. I'm about to clean a Sony PCM-R500. I've read online that you should clean the heads as well, but you say that I should avoid them? I get that you're cleaning the transport to remove friction, but wouldn't gunk in the heads affect the sound also? I'm totally new to DAT machines but this video has been very enlightening. Thanks!

[@12voltvids]

Cleaning tape does a good job on heads. Since the tape is metal, alcohol won't dissolve the contamination. It needs to be rubbed off by the slightly abrasive cleaning tape.

[@hansu-nihon]

Very useful for my DAT Sony 55ES, rewind is really sluggish with long hour tapes and even gives an error at the end of rewind because there is not enough traction (friction), after switch off/on it works again. Going to clean my DAT now too.

[@tjingboem5447]

same story here: same machine, sluggish winding. Never cleaned it except the head drum, that i clean like it were a VHS.

[@nazar5489]

Hello, i have a Sony DTC55ES DAT deck. This deck works great except for 1 issue. When i put the deck in fast reverse and after a few seconds i press the stop button the deck will brick and the tape guiders retract. I need to press the open/close button 2 times or turn the unit off and on again. After that it will work flawlessly again untill i put it in fast reverse and press stop. Deck will brick and refuse to play and the tape guiders retract. Do u have any idea where to look for the problem? Thank you very much.

[@marceldaalen6604]

Probably same problem as mine DTC-55ES. Post my solution here on May 6th '24.

[@jimbergen5232]

I don't mean to sound naive, but is cleaning the head the same as a VCR head?

[@12voltvids]

Similar yes.

[@svenschwingel8632]

Dave, what's your take on DAT/DDS cleaning tapes? There are still sealed new ones available for a few bucks a piece. Sony states to run a cleaning tape every 10 hours of operation for 10 seconds but I am kind of reluctant to do that because these cleaners are abrasive.

[@12voltvids]

I use them when necessary and they are really the only way to clean the head properly. If a head clogs no amount of IPA will clean it. You literally have to file it off with a cleaning tape.

[@svenschwingel8632]

@@12voltvids what do you think about rewinding and re-using them as Sony states in their manuals? I usually don't rewind them and throw them away after one run (which is about 30-50 cleanings, depending on the length). My train of thought is that I don't want the deck to drag the cleaning tape which collected all that tape residue back through the mechanism.

[@JonGrimson]

Will DDS cleaning tapes work in an audio DAT machine? I'm having a hard time finding an audio DAT cleaning tape. Thank you!

[@svenschwingel8632]

@@JonGrimson yes, they will. They're the same tapes.

[@peterjohnpj2778]

just a question how do you see us in the distant future playing back physical media of all types. do you see us using a different technology to streaming cheers just your thoughts

[@12voltvids]

I see physical media being around for a long time but it won't be magnetic media. It will be SD cards and usb media. Most likely USB-C based thumb drives for everything.

[@m80116]

Precious resource for those having DATs. I'd like having possession of a DAT machine, but my problem is that I'd rather prefer MD over DAT, the former I sold over 20 years ago! MD has the random access speed of CD and yet there's a decent amount of players in the catalogue that you can pick from and carry around for your own pleasure.

[@12voltvids]

MD can never compare to DAT sound quality wise. Why? For the same reason DCC couldn't. Compression. DAT is uncompressed like a CD.

[@m80116]

@@12voltvids some say vinyl sounds better than CDs, and DAT probably does that too. But unfortunately none of those formats is very portable.

[@12voltvids]

@@m80116 Vinyl does not sound better. Not even close. Those that think it does need their hearing checked. I won't even start to explain why it can't sound as good. Vinyl is so limited in terms of frequency response, and dynamic range. Why do you think it requires RIAA equalization? To make the sound passable for a recording. You can't have stereo bass, and you have to de-sss the S sound or there is nasty distortions. The current millenials that have bought into vintl sounds better have all been brainwashed. Sorry, but I kicked vinyl to the curb back in the 80's and there is no going back. The record companies love it thought because there are so many suckers, my son included that are paying upwards of 150.00 for a Frisbee basically. I used to do that with some of my vinyls, use them as a Frisbee

[@svenschwingel8632]

@@12voltvids actually, the frequency response of a proper cartridge can go way beyond 30 kHz. And not having stereo bass isn't an argument when sounds below 200 Hz can't be located anyway (which is why subwoofers work). The RIAA EQ curve was introduced to limit the amplitude of the groove on the record. And overly present sibilants are indeed problematic with certain stylus types (especially elliptical) and cartridge misalignments. That being said, Vinyl is less dynamic (its achievable SNR is a joke compared to digital systems), it requires LOTS of care (regular cleaning of records and stylii is a must, also a proper setup) and a really decent-sounding system will cost you a fair amount of money - a decent line-contact stylus that gets rid of innergroove distortions (another problem with most setups that don't track linearily) alone will set you back 300 bucks easily. And then there's the turntable, the preamp, the records themselves (modern pressings are nowhere near the quality they used to have back in the 80s). So yes, Vinyl is inferior from a technical point of view. It's also not convenient to handle. Still, there's something different about using it as a music format. Nothing can make me relax and disconnect from these fast-paced times better than playing a vinyl record. And my system is good enough so lack of sound quality isn't an issue.

[@12voltvids]

@@svenschwingel8632 I have a good system and I can hear the quality difference. Stereo bass certainly can be perceived and appreciated. If course if you are listening on vinyl or a CD that was originally mixed for vinyl then you won't hear it. I gave plenty of full digital CDs that have plenty if stereo bass and they sound incredible. 2 kick drums, stereo pickup on the bass guitar. Early surround systems used a single sub, modern systems use 2. In a home theater with noise it us a little more difficult to pick out location if liw frequencies because mostly sound effects but in good music performance we had say two bass players one playing an electric Bass stage right in an acoustic base stage left and you were watching this performance live your ears can certainly pick out where the sound is coming from from the two different bass players. On a vinyl recording both of them would be center panned. If you haven't experienced stereo base because you're listening to vinyl you won't know what I'm talking about. I do have a pretty good vinyl setup myself I have a thorns and a Technics as well as a few others. I have a few high-end cartridges vintage cartridges, a grado, empire, and Stanton. They cost several hundred back in the 70s and 80s when they were new. Working in a stereo shop I did have the for thought to buy a few spare styluses as well because I was able to buy them at cost. Believe me even back in the 80s there was a huge markup on things like cartridges and styluses. A cartridge that cost the dealer $150 sold for 500.00. sorry I can do without the rumble on the pops and the clicks and the scratches when the cat decides it's going to jump up on the turntable while it's playing. I can do it all that.

[@jedbarrett4658]

How do I tell if the heads are no good

[@svenschwingel8632]

Cleaning the lower drum, especially the ridge where the tape rides, is no fun on a 4-head machine. You need to be really careful with that 90⁰ angle of operation. This is best being done with the transport removed for best-possible visual control.

[@12voltvids]

Don't have any 4 head machines here. 4 head didn't do anything other than off tape pleyback during a record session so bad tapes could be identified while the recording was being performed.

[@svenschwingel8632]

@@12voltvids I love the 4-head design. My PCM-R700 even lets you display the slave head error rates in real-time during recording.

[@12voltvids]

@@svenschwingel8632 On the down side, every pass of the tape gets twice as much wear. The reason the fore head design was developed was for computer backup so that the tape could be checked for errors as it was being written. but because there are twice as many heads scanning the tape it also tends to wear the tape out much quicker so for audio use it's kind of disadvantage because you're going to wear your tapes down a lot quicker and errors on audio generally or not a problem due to the CRC coding that is built into the header for the packet just like on a CD. There's redundant data laid down so errors themselves unless they are very severe will not cause disruption in the playback. All tapes will have minor errors for computer data this is a little more important when you're writing a backup but for audio use it's Overkill.

[@aanandreassudiro8375]

Hello

[@hifirulezzz]

looks like this deck is missing cleaning sponge on the white lever near the head. Also, I have seen Japanese service video where tech is cleaning heads with piece of paper. Found it kzbin.info/www/bejne/m6DMiWuEm7yJjLM

[@12voltvids]

I've used paper and my fingernail to clean heads. The cleaning sponge gets removed as when it wears out it puts more crap on the heads than it cleans.

[@marceldaalen6604]

I remove the cleaning sponge due it is falling apart since its getting older. Before piece of that cleaning sponge arrive de audioheads i remove them. Can advice that to everybody who has that part in the DAT mechanism.

[@kristy-adriana9720]

I don't understand why the drive is not completely removed in order to clean it. The cotton swabs are actually suboptimal - there are better ways. Also the explanation about the DAT drive, where it was used or installed, was kind of lost in the blah blah blah. I would like to see it explained a little more clearly and in more detail. Not so larifari.

[@12voltvids]

Cotton swabs are actually perfect for this. Engineers use them in the recording and broadcast industry. Chamos or paper is used for the rotating head on oxide based tape drives but not metal tape based. No need to remove the drive. You can do it if you want but not necessary for this as all the rollers and stationary guides are easily accessible and I showed them all on the spare chassis. No point in removing the drive every time you unplug connectors to remove the chassis there is a risk of damage.

[@supunthalangama3426]

Dat machine make Me sad.these machine Turning top fast make more problems.not like others.sir put some normale cassete deck May Be Easy to handle it.

[@12voltvids]

No other consumer format could match the sound of DAT

[@12voltvids]

Designed for fast tape transport.