Hi everyone

Recently I noticed an odd behaviour of my Revox A700.

When I go into rewind and back to stop, the tape looses tension and drops down from the tape guides.

I use bobbies as tape carrier and I had issues in the past where the tape would jump off when fast-forwarding or reversing, but recently I changed the tape type and it has not happened since.

Could the two issues be related?

I recalibrated the tape tension mechanisms, the brakes seem to work although I dont have a tension meter to check the force.

Any help/tips are highly appreciated.

Welcome to Gearslutz!

Sounds like brakes, you need to have the right tools and the manual to check.

Thank you all for your responses.

I probably have to get a tension meter then.
I will report back if it worked.

Any other ideas what could be a problem causing my issues?
When I take the machine apart I would like to check all possibilities.

If i remember correctly the brakes on that machine were made of felt glued to a thin band of metal and were notorious for coming "unglued". If the machine has not been maintained you might also just have worn out felt that needs replacing. We used to use felt from a fabric store and glue it on (after removing the old felt and cleaning the metal band) with Pliobond glue.

From the WWW: Pliobond® contact cement is ideally suited for bonding steel, wood, rubber, leather, canvas, aluminum, fiberglass and glass. This adhesive actually gets stronger as it ages and is highly resistant to vibration and expansion/contraction.

Word of caution use it in a well ventilated area as it smells terrible.