DIYbanter - View Single Post

amdx[_2_]

On 5/29/2013 3:03 AM, wrote:
"Natural sounding analog recordings are
why I still use an old S-VHS Zenith HiFi vcr with defeatable level control
and individual left/right gain controls to make great sounding recordings of
local bands"

No you don't, it is a JVC. The later ones made by Goldstar had no such option. I suggest holding on to that this and maybe checking it for capacitor crap from time to time.

I used to make live recordings of a band on a Beta HIFI. Get this, I used a pair of headphones as microphones with a Shure mic preamp. Sony MDR-CD5. Just hung them up on the wall.

Later when dubbing to cassette I used the pre outs of a Marantz reciever
with the quadradial control to expand the stereo image, and it worked of
course. I has to re-equalize a bit,

but so what. It really didn't sound that bad. It sounded better than
some King Biscuit Flower Hour. i also had to run it through Dolby B
encode twice just to get it to fit in the

dynamic range of a cassette tape, even with HX.

Those are clunky ass old slow running machines those Zeniths, but you know what ? They do the job and are reliable. I used to work on VCRs for a living and you know what ?

The ones I have the most experience on are the junkiest. I cannot think
of any common problems on those right now. I also do not remember the
equivalent JVC model nummber,

but the FCC ID should not start with AK8. It maybe is AJU or maybe B
something, I am not sure anymore. When I was doing VCRs I got so much
into the FCC ID I asked for it one

the phone before even going, or it coming in. Damn I used to know them
by heart. Panasonics, Hitachis, whatever. I would know if I had the
parts in stock. Well at least belts and idlers.

I did not **** around in business.

I did VCR repair from 1980 to 1990, worked in a great shop with
warranty service for every brand the owner could get. This usually
included service manuals for all those brands. I was in Michigan at
the time and the big box retailers were growing on VCR sales.
ABC Appliance, Fretter's and Highland appliance were stores that sent
us customers and we did their store sold service contracts. In the early
years the manufacturers paid good rates, loved Fisher, $70.00
(early 80's) no matter what you did. Then as years passed and VCR prices
dropped, so did there repair rates.
I started early in the boom and got out when VCR's could be found
at around $200. I have records for over 11,000 repairs. Lots of common
problems made it easy to read the complaint and now what the repair was.
I worked on a commission basis, and could set my own hours, but had
all my equipment at his shop in my own room.
I enjoyed going to Manufacturer's service classes, always left
with a feeling that, these things are amazing!
When I came to realize the VCR gravy train was coming to an end,
DVD's were just coming becoming popular and were still expensive, I
thought about learning about repairing them or move to Florida.
I moved to Florida and glad I didn't start DVD repair, the prices
dropped fast on them.
The good old days! Just tried to call the old TV tech, he was a big
Red Wings Fan, I wanted to console him on the Red Wings loss. Phone
message says they are closed for a week, what's that about?
Mikek