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BE Phase-Trak recorder cart machine and other questions...

S

SFM-Ptgal

My station has one of those on the shelve. It's from 90 and was used until 97. Stored since then.
A Q. to those who worked with it: does it worth to make an offer presuming that it's in operational shape? Is it a temperamental machine (loads of tec. gadgets prone to failures)? Go for it or forget it?
My biggest fear is the pinch-roller... After so many years stopped it might melt like it happend on my 5300 triple decker while playing a cart :(

A question about motors... On cart machines, wich were better: DC or AC powered? Later models used DC ones. Some manufacturers claimed that AC was better because they trusted on the mains frequency to give speed acc. Others criticised for the opposite reason (mains freq. flutter)...

To finish:
A heaven to the enthusiasts like me: http://www.oldradio.com/archives/hardware/carts.htm
My contribution: http://www.oldradio.com/archives/hardware/Carts/Harris Criterion 90-3.jpg

Regards
Pedro
 
Last first - the DC servo motors lock to a crystal oscillator instead of the line frequency. In modern times, with the availability of electricity not always meeting demand, the two ways utilities cover peaks are to lower voltage and reduce frequency slightly. Thus, the DC stuff is more accurate.
Pinch rollers depend on what they're made of, and what they have been exposed to over the years. Some have incredible durometer like the Pacific Tomcat ones, while others (the RCA stuff JetTronics made back in The Day come to mind) degenerate into squirrel snot fairly rapidly. Some have been 'cleaned' with turpentine and other solvents not appropriate for that use, which hastens their demise.
Never played with a BE Phase Trak, so I dunno how they stayed iin phase. Maybe one of the gurus here does. The PR&E machine simply ran in matrix mode, and traded a bit of seperation for loss of highs die to misphased tracks. The ITC 99 series trimmed the heads with a tone during 'cart prep' so that they were aligned to the individualcart guides. Ramko Research showed a slightly different method, I don't know if they sold any of them or not.
 
I believe the phasetrak used a tone and built-in eraser like the ITC machines, but I might be mistaken.
 
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