My first piece of tube gear! Akai M 7 Reel To Reel

[ngcsstodd]

I picked this yesterday and i'm excited to hear how it sounds! Then man i bought if from said he played tapes on it just a few years ago. I have not plugged it in yet. I think it would be wise to bring it up slow on a veriac one channel at a time. Other then cleaning and lube what else should i be looking before i fire it up?

thanks for you help!

 

[primosounds]

I picked this yesterday and i'm excited to hear how it sounds! Then man i bought if from said he played tapes on it just a few years ago. I have not plugged it in yet. I think it would be wise to bring it up slow on a veriac one channel at a time. Other then cleaning and lube what else should i be looking before i fire it up?

thanks for you help!

Well, if you intend to play tapes you need to be very careful about the condition of the tape heads. They can get rusty and ruin your tapes. But if you are going to just use the amps then all those procedures for starting up a vintage tube amp applies. I don't know if the amp in that has a tube rectifier or is SSR. if tube rectified then no DCV will be available until the tube rectifier starts conducting which is at around 40vac. good luck

 

[tom3]

Nice looking recorder. Those tend to get banged around some. Often see the rubber pinch roller hard and cracked. Not sure but I think those are four speed decks, change the capstan sleeve for speeds.

 

[r_brumett61]

Great decks. I had 4 of them now only 2. 1 on the left and 1 on the right of a Pioneer RT1020L. Try to find aluminum reels for them and they will look even better. Clean heads,idler wheel and the tape path. You may have to go inside and clean up hard dried up grease. Have a great time.

 

[dowto1000]

Nice find. Each amp is all tube, a 6X4 rectifier tube, a 6BQ5 Finals tube, single ended, and a 12AX7 driving the 6BQ5, and a sometimes used EF 86 before the 12AX7.

Yes, varaic it up would be good advice.

There is lots available on-line information, including a free Service Manual for you to download.

https://elektrotanya.com/akai_m7_sm.pdf/download.html

Have fun, cool piece.

Dowto1000