Technics 615 tape deck advice

[spm]

I wondered if anyone has any experience of this deck and could help. I'm supposed to be getting rid of stuff but picked this Technics 615 up yesterday with some stuff that came with an amplifier I wanted. I'm quite taken with it and surprised by the sound which is much better than I remember tapes to be, probably because I never had a proper deck. I also like the the fact that the tape sits at an angle and is illuminated - simple things for simple minds I guess. The only issue that I've found so far is the meters don't illuminate. Hoping a couple of small bulbs would need changing I opened it up. There is a red wire adrift that had parcel tape on - the tape didn't look very old. I took the tape off and held it to the place it clearly should go and the left meter light illuminated but not the right meter.

My first thoughts are that it was likely done as it wasn't a simple case of changing a bulb to repair the right light and no lights are better than one, is this a reasonable assumption? I'm not really interested in stripping things down to get small things going as I will more likely damage something else or lose something. It would be nice to have all the lights working but I probably won't use it a lot as I don't have too many tapes and even less likely to be listening in the dark but if it is likely a very simple fix I might be tempted to give it a go. Any guidance greatly appreciated.

I've added a couple of pictures, the first couple show the rogue wire.

thanks

Sean

[The Barbarian]

Good tape decks those Techy of that period i just did not like the plastic backs.... Is that Red wire the same as the one already soldered to the Right VU?

PM me your mail address i send you service data

[spm]

yes the red wire is also connected to the right meter. Thanks for the offer of the service data, I'll pm you my address, whether I'll understand it is another matter but I'll give it a go.

[The Barbarian]

Look at the Schematic i sent you'll see a meter lamps section to the right of where the power supply is.. Ive seen this before where people don't have a soldering iron, they try holding the wire on with tape.

:lol:

[spm]

I think I'm going to leave the tape deck as is. I've tried to follow the schematics but there seem to be too many wires in the player. I've attached a photo of the wiring. If I connect the red wire from the right meter (left in the photo) to the left meter (right on photo and furthest left terminal) the left meter lights up but not the other. The red wire seems to complete the circuit for the left meter lamp and I assume that as there is no other connection to the red wire at the right meter current must be getting to it through the lamp or a bypass to the bulb if it is blown which I am assuming it must be. I took the front panel off but the only way to the bulbs seems to need the meters to be taken apart somehow which wasn't obvious and I don't fancy risking damage to the meters.

I'll just enjoy it as it is but thanks anyway for the schematics.

[The Barbarian]

You'll not blow the VU's the bulbs are seperate.. You just need some new Festoon bulbs for the VU's.. but i understand you a bit iffy about taking things to bits..

[spm]

how do you get to the bulbs, does the meter simply pull apart and click back together? I gave a gentle pull but there didn't seem to be any obvious movement to suggest it would pull apart.

regards
Sean

[The Barbarian]

Im sorry to say you have to carefully pop the VU case open. If you are unsure leave it get someone else to do the job, you can blame them then :D

If you get them done replace all the bulbs to ensure equal brightness & also less chance of the other failing..

[spm]

I'll see how brave I feel at the weekend, the bulbs look like fuses which simply pop in it's just opening the meters that looks difficult. It was only cheap and I wouldn't be so precious if it was a bit tatty but seems a shame to mess up something 40 years old that's in really nice nick, at least cosmetically.

[struth]

Pretty old thing that. worth getting the VU's fixed as it makes a huge difference to it's looks

[spm]

well I don't want to be branded and cashiered out of the forums so I'd better give it a proper go! :)

[spm]

well getting the bulbs out was surprisingly easy (after I took the sellotape off which I missed yesterday), I swapped them round which conformed one bulb is blown. They are 6.3v fuse lamps, are these easy to get hold of? I see some on ebay but if I could pick some up from a motor accessories shop/Maplin it would be more convenient. Can't see any on the Maplin website.

[spm]

thought I would give an update on how I am getting on, or rather not getting on. I ordered some 6.3v 250mA fuse lamps from Germany as I could buy 10 for the price of buying 2 in the uk. They finally came yesterday but don't work, they are too big (see photo), the clips just want to fire the lamps across the room despite gentle reshaping but also won't glow if held in place - there is the faintest hint of the wire lighting up. I found an old thread on another website where someone suggested trying these fuselamps but there was no report on success but I decided to give them a go because I couldn't find anything better - the festoon simply says 6.3v.

I've now ordered these and if they work am intending to solder them to the festoon clips - please shout if this is a daft thing to do.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/120812283272?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

Sean

[spm]

lights on vu meters now fixed, the little bulbs soldered to the clips seem to be just the job although only time will tell if they are going to last. Thanks for the help Andre.

Sean

[The Barbarian]

Ah great looks good sean..

[Firebottle]

Sean, to extend the life of your bulbs solder in a small 22 ohm resistor in one of the leads. It won't affect the light output much but will extend the life considerably.

It reduces the inrush current when the bulbs are cold.

:) Alan

[spm]

Alan

thanks for the advice, a bit lazy but I will probably wait until a bulb goes again. I bought 5 bulbs so have some spares. I'll try and pick up some resistors so I have some ready, do I need 1 for each bulb? Where would be the best place to pick them up?

Sean

[Firebottle]

I've a couple of ex equipment 47 ohms, so fit one per bulb. PM your address and I'll put them in the post :)

[spm]

Alan
that is very kind, thank you, I'll send a pm.
Sean

[337alant]

lights on vu meters now fixed, the little bulbs soldered to the clips seem to be just the job although only time will tell if they are going to last. Thanks for the help Andre.

Sean

Sean that looks a lovely machine how does it sound

Alan

[spm]

it sounds very good to me but I don't have a lot to compare it with. My experience of listening to tapes was on cheap all in one systems or car tape players and this sounds a world apart from how I remember those - my recollection was that tapes sounded dull. Against this background I was surprised by the sound quality from this deck, but I've never had a proper deck to say whether this is relatively good or not.

[The Barbarian]

Cassettes don't sound dull. people that had crap machines only claimed this..Same with records. Crap deck crap sound..

[spm]

that's what I was trying to say, I grew up with crap tape players so thought tapes were dull sounding and listening to them on this was a revelation but I have no other experience of proper tape decks to say whether this is good or not other than it sounds very good to me.

[spm]

Alan

thank you very much for the resistors, they turned up today.

regards
Sean