You MUST have either a Professional Test Tape for alignment
or (second best) a studio-made set-up tape made by a very qualified tech who has
a 'real' professional alignment tape of his or her own and has set-up
your machine correctly, then made a set of 'House Tones' on a tape for you to use...
| the only folks still making Professional Studio Test Tone Tapes ! Email us if you need a Test Tape - they're expensive but worth it, you can't align your machine without one !! |
You MUST have a Head Demagnetization unit - the ONLY one to buy - and the ONLY one that really works - is the one shown below.... this is the one I use.
| cost is $ 69.00 plus shipping and Sales Tax if you're in California We also stock 220 AC versions - cost on those is $ 75.00 |
I'm going to do a video soon about how to de-mag heads... come back in a few days...
You MUST have Head Cleaner and Q-tips.
You're lucky on this one, since the normal Head Cleaner is nothing more than "Isopropyl Alcohol" which will cost you all of one dollar at your grocery store! Buy the stuff that's 90 - 99% alcohol. Also make sure to buy Q-tips that are either the wood stick or the paper stick - do NOT buy the plastic stick ones!!!
You MUST have a good Magnifying Glass, and a small flashlight
- the only way to really clean your heads is to look through a magfying glass at the heads and guides, especially after playing any 'bad' tape!! You may think you've cleaned the heads, but 'tape gunk' really sticks to the heads and guides and tape-lifters like glue (which it is!).
That's it.... just 4 things you MUST have....
of course there are other things you SHOULD have...
a Splicing block - I have three 2 inch splicing blocks for sale
- splicing tape, leader tape, spare reels...
a small bottle of high-quality 'bearing oil' to lubricate
various things that turn... guides, tape-scrape filters and so on...
a can of "LPS-1 greaseless lubricant" to use as a spray cleaner
