got a Wollensak 8075 on ebay = Advice?

Hello, first time poster. I collect music, and after exhausting all of the
under 5 dollar cassette box sets I could find on eBay, I've turned my
attention to 8 tracks. My Masterwork all-in-one player ain't gonna cut it
So after some research I found a Wollensak 8075 on eBay and bought it "buy
it now" for a decent price.

I want the best quality sound as I can get (why I was looking for a
Wollensak anyway). After reading around on the groups about this machine,
I'd like anybody to give some advice about cleaning it up, oiling the
motors, or whatever maintenance I might want to check out before jamming one
of my precious Music Of Old Hawaii tapes in it. = not tongue-in-cheek, it's
a really good cart.


Seems to be some really knowledgeable people in here about this machine.
Thanks, and I appreciate any responses.

well, a few things first...

you could have gotten a better player than that- although the Wolly has
lots of features, it has a smallish DC motor and wow/flutter is usually
a problem- the only Wolly with an AC motor was the 8050 model- and that
was inferior in sound quality to the Akai, Telex, Pioneer, JVC, Marantz
decks.

My advice to you is, if you really want the best 8-track sound, get an
Akai 80 or 81, or Telex Viking, or Pioneer HR-99 or HR-100, any JVC, or
Marantz TD-820 or TD-830

if you are dead set on the Wolly, any deck needs a few basics-

1. capstan resurface- absolute must
2.clean tape head and channel switch with alcohol
3. adjust playback head for minimal crosstalk
4. put in a new belt
5. on some decks with adjustable speed control, set the tape speed
(Wollys and Pioneers have this feature)

hope that helps

On Tue, 21 Mar 2006 17:10:07 -0500, "darnoc"
wrote:

Seems to be some really knowledgeable people in here about this machine.
Thanks, and I appreciate any responses. snip

Firstly, ignore anything coming from a resident asshat named Charlie
Nudo, who now shows up with stupid names like "duty-honor-country" as
well as CAINE, and a bunch of other crap.

Secondly, the Wollensak 8075 was their top of the line stereo
recorder, and capable of very good performance. However, it, along
with any machine this age, has issues. First, the DC "can" motor will
probably need partial disassembly and bearing lubrication. This is
not a complex job, if you're technically able and inclined. Remove
the motor from its rubber shock mounts, remove the drive sheave, and
remove the set screw in the side of the can. The top (shaft end) can
cover rotates slightly to be released and the whole motor assembly
slides out. All it takes, really, is a couple of small drops of very
light machine oil on the bronze bearings to effect a good lubrication
on these. Be VERY careful of the brush leaves on these; distort them,
and you've lunched the motor. Ignore ANY attempts by Charlie Nudo,
aka 66fourdoor on eBay, to sell you a "replacement" motor. They do
not work in this application, although he falsely advertises that they
do.

New drive and counter belts are mandatory, and are readily available.
Two more design weaknesses are the little rubber "finger" that
prevents the cartridge body from being flung into space. It's usually
always gone. One of my machines had a good one, and I made a copy out
of black rubber that works very well. Another mess is the tape
counter drive pinion, a plastic sleeve gear that shrinks with age and
is almost always either split or missing completely. I used AC to
glue mine back together, and then over bored the ID of the gear very
slightly to get a good friction fit on the shaft. Since then, he
counter's perfectly accurate, and is nicely calibrated in minutes.

The head on this model is of a permalloy that doesn't require routine
demagnetizing. Cleaning and lubricating the ratcheting mechanism is
pretty self-explanatory, but a good alignment tape, of course, is
necessary to bring the head gaps into proper alignment. AVOID the
fake alignment tapes sold by 66fourdoor. I got snookered by this
asshole's frauds and they WILL misalign your head. Hold out for a
good alignment tape from Nortronics or Marantz. The "real" Audiotex
tapes weren't that good to start with. Another one to avoid: the
Aspen Test Tape.

Another area of weakness that's more common to any consumer
electronics made in Japan in this age...cracked wave soldering on PC
boards. My 8075 had a lot of it, causing microphonics in the Dolby
processor board, as well as on the R/P board. Running a 25 watt iron
along all the solder traces fixed that permanently, and they've been
trouble-free. The slider pots for external record level tend to also
get noisy, too. Some control cleaner and a little silicone grease
fixes them, as well, and over the counter replacements are easily had.
Another design flaw (to me, anyway) but one purposely designed in is
the non-adjustable bias oscillator. It's designed to give good
current for Scotch Dynarange, and will work equally well on Memorex
(one of the best of the "standard" brand cartridge tapes around), but
needs help with Ampex 20/20+ and Grand Master, as well as Scotch
"Master."

All in all, one of the better machines, and one with considerably more
bottom end response than the overhyped Akais. Expect your top end -3
dB point to be around 12 KHz on most common tapes, 15 KHz on only the
best stuff. There's a "normal/special" equalization switch on the
front panel, which has nothing to do with bias current. What it does
is "fudge" the record equalization curve to accommodate Scotch
"Classic" cartridge tapes, so they don't sound too shrill on playback.
The switch has nothing to do with playback equalization at all. It
also has a provision for Dolby FM, which is about as useful as a
screen door on a submarine these days. Shame, since that system did
work pretty well, but was only noticeable on classical music stations.

HTH

dB

On 21 Mar 2006 15:01:01 -0800, "duty-honor-country"
wrote:

well, a few things first...

you could have gotten a better player than that- although the Wolly has
lots of features, it has a smallish DC motor and wow/flutter is usually
a problem- snip

....only if you're a ham fisted moron like Charlie Nudo, who this is.

Dump this moron in your kill filer by kill filing anything coming from
epix.net. He won't be around much...eBay's watching him VERY closely.

ps- Darnoc- keep in mind that DeserTBob just bought an Akai 82D he's
not telling you about- so how good can the Wolly be ?

he tried a Wolly first, then read my deck recommendations, and bought a
Marantz, and now an Akai.

you make the call !

On 21 Mar 2006 16:59:39 -0800, "duty-honor-country"
wrote:

ps- Darnoc- keep in mind that DeserTBob just bought an Akai 82D he's
not telling you about- so how good can the Wolly be ?

he tried a Wolly first, then read my deck recommendations, and bought a
Marantz, and now an Akai.

you make the call ! snip

Hey, dickwad...did you see what I PAID for that Akai 82? HAHAHAHA!
The joke's on you...as usual. Why's the 8075 my first-line 8 track
recorder? Because I've put the most work into it, including several
modifications, and it's the best overall.

BTW...be prepared for another account suspension. Just creating
another hotmail account isn't enough to save you from me and a bunch
of other people who want you GONE.

you bought it overseas and got killed on shipping

you also bought the Marantz way before that- and were complaining
profusely here, about wow and flutter problems on the Wolly

we all got quite a chuckle out of that...

anyway, you conveniently didn't tell "darnoc" that you use other decks,
instead of the Wolly

i.e.- your not being honest

i.e. you're delusional

as usual

DeserTBoB wrote:
BTW...be prepared for another account suspension. Just creating
another hotmail account isn't enough to save you from me and a bunch
of other people who want you GONE.


for what ? answering a post ?

good luck with that

On 21 Mar 2006 18:12:13 -0800, "duty-honor-country"
wrote:

you bought it overseas and got killed on shipping snip

Wrong again, asshat.

you also bought the Marantz way before that- and were complaining
profusely here, about wow and flutter problems on the Wolly snip

I'm a technician. I found the source of trouble. Looking at the
archives, you couldn't...because you're an asshat.

we all got quite a chuckle out of that... snip

Who, you and your fingers fiddling with your nuts in your pocket? You
HAVE no friends, no allies.

anyway, you conveniently didn't tell "darnoc" that you use other decks,
instead of the Wolly snip

I generally don't. I liked the Marantz 830, but the 8075 had a better
top end...slightly.

i.e.- your not being honest snip

I am. You never are.

i.e. you're delusional snip

More projection from a mentally ill ****tard.

as usual snip

As usual, more spam complaints were sent in on your new hotmail
account today. Have fun...asshat. Oh, by the way...you can't cry to
eBay about how voxpopper's beating up on you anymore. You shot
yourself in the foot there, but it was fun watching you think you were
acomplishing anything.

On 21 Mar 2006 18:16:43 -0800, "duty-honor-country"
wrote:


DeserTBoB wrote:
BTW...be prepared for another account suspension. Just creating
another hotmail account isn't enough to save you from me and a bunch
of other people who want you GONE.


for what ? answering a post ?

good luck with that snip

We see everything you post, and people in various NGs have had enough
"NudoSpam." What WILL you do to eat once your eBay accounts are
terminated, Noodles? Back to rag picking or coal mining? Maybe
sweep the shop floor at King Fifth Wheel?