My Space Echo has stopped running!

[apprenticemart2]

Plug and unplug a mono jack into all the sockets about 20 times, see if that clears up the contacts in the sockets. Don't know what else you can do about the motor,it's supposed to be running all the time regardless as to what settings you are using?. Any unusual noise or bad smells?

[thenapking]

I've been trying that, but to no avail. I was wondering whether to open it up and see if there's anything obvious blown inside.

Edit: I've opened it up and replaced a blown 1.6A fuse. Now the motor is working and pinch wheel engaging. However it doesn't seem to be erasing or recording to the tape now. It's just playing some distorted echoes over and over, even if I switch it from 'Echo' to 'Normal' mode.

[apprenticemart2]

I wouldn't expect a fuse to blow unless there was a problem somewhere else, so something must have popped when you switched it off after the last time you used it. You'll have to look around , or gently sniff around the circuit board if you can't see anything visual, and check for strong burning or cat urine type smells, eaugh!

A fault op amp could be the distortion? Same problem when there's no spring reverb being used?

[thenapking]

Yeah, I agree there's likely to be a fault somewhere which caused the fuse to go. I've checked the board, and there are no smells or bulging looking capacitors. There is what looks like some brown glue on both boards, but it doesn't look anything like the leaking I've seen from capacitors before and none of them are bulging or distorted in shape.
The spring works fine, w no distortion etc. It's something to do with the tape circuit. I've now tried it with a new tape loop, and it's definitely not recording correctly or erasing at all. So it's possible the tape heads aren't getting the right voitage?

[apprenticemart2]

Do any wires dangle loose in and around the spring reverb chamber? The things wiggle around a lot and can pinch wires against the casing etc if your tape echo gets knocked or falls over.

Your going to look at the schematcs and work your way back from the tape heads until you find something worth looking at.

The first thing I suppose is to check that all the voltages are correct/within tolerances. Like you said, if the voltage is wrong then there probably isn't enough power to bash the sounds into the tape or get rid of them afterwards.

[thenapking]

No can't see anything obvious that's dangling or causing problems. I'm not so hot on schematics unfort so I wouldn't know exactly what voltage to expect to read from the board. I think this may necessitate a call to someone more knowledgeable or taking it to get fixed :(

[apprenticemart2]

As a last resort you could have a look around the soldering for the jacks. They could have cracks in them as that tends to happen after 30 years of things being inserted.

You might need a magnifying glass to see properly. I'm not sure how this would blow a fuse though, but it's worth a look I suppose. It could explain dodgy audio maybe.

Unless you have a little bit of experience then it is best to pay up and have it looked at properly. If you have done a bit, then if you take your time you might get it fixed yourself. The schematics should list test point for were to look for the correct voltages.

[thenapking]

Well, I think the jacks are OK. It passes sound in and out fine when bypassed and the reverb sounds as it always does. Still it's worth checking those jacks out - and possibly any solder joints from the cables to the boards. I have fixed plenty of things like this before, and my soldering's ok, but my electronics theory is somewhat, shall we say, minimal.
I think this one's going to involve another long phone call to my brother who genuinely understands these sorts of things.

[pascalray]

It might be a meacbnical issue cheack the electromagnet there are 2 screw for correction of the weight that this the pinch roller act to the motor schaft if its to much it will not properelly work in not enougt eighter;( but i your case it could be a motor issue.Make sure you have cheacked the PSU caps and tenssion in it that could be the first point to look after hope it helps