On a whim, I bid on a Tandberg 3000x at the last second on E-bay and won it. Any thoughts on this model? I haven't figured out what to do with the Sony yet. I may just toss it.

On a whim, I bid on a Tandberg 3000x at the last second on E-bay and won it. Any thoughts on this model? I haven't figured out what to do with the Sony yet. I may just toss it.

Tandbergs sound wonderful, even the really old ones. I have repaired either this model or one very similar to it. You thought the Sony was complicated inside? wait till you take a gander at this one. certain parts of the mechanism are pretty straight forward, other parts look like a Rube Goldberg nightmare. Don't know who Rube Goldberg was? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rube_Goldberg
Parts for Tandberg are absolutely non - available. However, if you should need stuff like transistors and belts, generic substitutes are available. If the pinchroller turns out to be bad (on inspection it should be dull black, not shiny, and resilient, but not hard or sticky) Terry Witt rebuilds them for $40 including shipping.
All that said, this model is very reliable, and most times just needs a belt. The belt is a round rubber belt, and you can get them at www.beltsforanything.com
If you do replace the belt, and it isn't broken, make a drawing of how it is connected, before you remove it. Trust me, you'll save yourself a lot of head scratching. If it works when you get it, open the top panel and take a picture. You'll thank me later.

Tandbergs sound wonderful, even the really old ones. I have repaired either this model or one very similar to it. You thought the Sony was complicated inside? wait till you take a gander at this one. certain parts of the mechanism are pretty straight forward, other parts look like a Rube Goldberg nightmare. Don't know who Rube Goldberg was? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rube_Goldberg
Parts for Tandberg are absolutely non - available. However, if you should need stuff like transistors and belts, generic substitutes are available. If the pinchroller turns out to be bad (on inspection it should be dull black, not shiny, and resilient, but not hard or sticky) Terry Witt rebuilds them for $40 including shipping.
All that said, this model is very reliable, and most times just needs a belt. The belt is a round rubber belt, and you can get them at www.beltsforanything.com
If you do replace the belt, and it isn't broken, make a drawing of how it is connected, before you remove it. Trust me, you'll save yourself a lot of head scratching. If it works when you get it, open the top panel and take a picture. You'll thank me later.

Much appreciated. I am looking forward to getting it.

On the Sony, someone has definately been under the hood of that thing and messed it up. After playing around with it and trying to figure it out, I realized that the metal piece under the fast forward button was put back upside down by whoever was last inside. After reversing it, it is no longer stuck in fast forward, but will play at normal speed for a bit and then stop. More importantly, there are a few other things under there that just don't look right if you know what I mean. I suspect there are a few parts missing, I don't have a service manual for it and after learning more about this model in here I don't think I really want to invest in one. I will either sell it for parts or toss it.

On Rube Goldberg, did you ever see the Mythbusters episode with their Rube Goldberg machine?

On Rube Goldberg, did you ever see the Mythbusters episode with their Rube Goldberg machine?

Oh, I've got to see that one! Thanks for the tip!