DIY tape delay/echo from a fleamarket cassette deck

DIY STUFF
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I love tape echoes, but they’re getting really expensive.

Here’s how to build one that actually sounds comparable to a Roland RE201 (if you start with a good tape deck and put some time in aligning the heads well). An added bonus is that you get Dolby and can insert any number of pedals in the feedback loop (e.g. a limiting pedal gives you infinite feedback without infinite overdrive distortion… )

tape-delay-info
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Quite a straightforward build:

  1. Two mono heads mounted side by side replace the old stereo head. The left head records (soldered to “Left”), right heads plays back (soldered to “Right”)
  2. The Cassette tape is modified to accomodate two heads, add some foam to ensure that the tape stays close to the heads.
  3. Speed: The capstan motor speed control is moved to a potentiometer on the front.
  4. You have to use an old deck with Left/Right separate REC/PLAY switches (usually the long ones on the main board). Here only the Left goes to Record when pressing record (the Right stays in playback).
  5. Feedback control: I added a small audio transformer in the feedback loop to eliminate hum and galvanic direct feedback (you ONLY want the tape feedback).

Link to YouTube demonstration

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:wink:

(ps : to add a vid here, copy just the link and put it on one line in your post )

btw Very nice work !!!

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I’ve been wanting to do this for so long, but I think Hainbach (and maybe Sam!) have fucked up the market for old audio gear! I’ve had an eye out for so long, but can never find any cassette gear at a reasonable price! The only thing I’ve found are the big reel-to-reel machines, but I don’t think I’d ever be able to find any new tape for them.

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I bought some reel-to-reel tape from Thomann, to splice a loop ordinary tape worked fine (of course, proper splicing tape would be better, but costs like a 2nd hand reel to reel ;)).

I found some reel-to-reels on fleamarkets/Ebay/2:nd hand record stores:
capacitors needed changing…

capacitors
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… especially on the cheap ones, but then they normally worked OK. Other notes so far:

• The earliest cheap ones didn’t use a capstan+pressure roller, they just press a spinning motor to a large rubber wheel under the reel.

capstan
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Reel-to-reels without a capstan-pressure-roller are impossible to use for loops, even if they’re charming. You can almost see the little axis pressing to the take-up reel between the reels.

• The slightly more advanced portable ones use a capstan and pressure roller, these can be used for loops.

Portable reel-to-reels could be modified to include a crude speed control (just regulating the voltage/power to the motor). I haven’t tried this yet.

• The stationary ones often worked with mains powered AC-motor and are trickier to change speed on, they roll very stable, but changing the speed gradually is trickier.
Some stationary ones (e.g. REVOX A77) can be fitted with a varispeed.

But, simpler and cheaper; you can change the distance to the recording head:
Here I put a loop on the mechanically-broken-beyond-repair AKAI I got cheap and mounted this extra head-in-can (from a junked cassette player). Works OK for long delays. One of the first things I built.

Here’s a video demo.

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:wink:

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