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Author Topic:  ADAT Repair?
Stu Schulman


From:
Ulster Park New Yawk (deceased)
Post  Posted 17 Sep 2007 6:58 pm    
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Does anyone know of a place that repairs ADATs?Seattle is the closest to me,Thanks,Stu
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John Macy

 

From:
Rockport TX/Denver CO
Post  Posted 19 Sep 2007 10:20 pm    
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Hey Stu--

Best way to repair an ADAT is to put it on a open tailgate of a pickup truck, and then take a fast ride on a curvey road...Smile

Working with Adele this week--you are talked about often...Smile
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Rockport, TX
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Stu Schulman


From:
Ulster Park New Yawk (deceased)
Post  Posted 20 Sep 2007 1:48 pm    
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John,Yer killin' me!I found a place in Hollyweird there leavin' on a jet plane ..tomorrow then I finish my project,Then I make lap steels out them.Adele is the coolest,You guys will make a great recording,Stu
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Stu Schulman


From:
Ulster Park New Yawk (deceased)
Post  Posted 20 Sep 2007 1:49 pm    
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John,Yer killin' me!I found a place in Hollyweird there leavin' on a jet plane ..tomorrow then I finish my project,Then I make lap steels out them.Adele is the coolest,You guys will make a great recording,Stu
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Steeltronics Z-pickup,Desert Rose S-10 4+5,Desert Rose Keyless S-10 3+5... Mullen G2 S-10 3+5,Telonics 206 pickups,Telonics volume pedal.,Blanton SD -10,Emmons GS_10...Zirctone bar,Bill Groner Bar...any amp that isn't broken.Steel Seat.Com seats...Licking paint chips off of Chinese Toys since 1952.
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Stu Schulman


From:
Ulster Park New Yawk (deceased)
Post  Posted 20 Sep 2007 2:59 pm    
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Hey look,I got echo!
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John Macy

 

From:
Rockport TX/Denver CO
Post  Posted 3 Oct 2007 6:36 am    
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I have a cactus garden in a blackface ADAT--maybe the best use I have ever found for it--I'll post a pic soon...Smile
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Stu Schulman


From:
Ulster Park New Yawk (deceased)
Post  Posted 3 Oct 2007 11:41 am    
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John,I was in a computer store and they had an aquarium in an old Macintosh.
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Bill Hatcher

 

From:
Atlanta Ga. USA
Post  Posted 7 Oct 2007 3:46 pm    
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I still use my ADATs and still make money with them. What kind of problem are you having with it.
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Stu Schulman


From:
Ulster Park New Yawk (deceased)
Post  Posted 7 Oct 2007 3:53 pm    
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Bill,I was getting that wonderful error 7 thing,I sent them out to a place in L.A. about a week and a half ago,I haven't had then serviced in a long time,My fault,Stu
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Bill Hatcher

 

From:
Atlanta Ga. USA
Post  Posted 7 Oct 2007 5:12 pm    
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Get the ADAT VHS tape that shows how to clean the heads. Change out the idler pulley about every 600 hours or so. Anyone can do those things and usually that will clear up the problems. Beyond that, a tech will have to look at it.

There are some problems with blackface units that appear over time, mainly in the power supply. Replace all the electrolytics on the PS board and that should get you going. I love my old ADATs.

If you have a bunch of ADAT tapes, you might be better off just going to EBAY and buying a used machine. I got one there for $60 that works great. All I had to do was to reinitialize it and it reset the machine back to factory specs.
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Stu Schulman


From:
Ulster Park New Yawk (deceased)
Post  Posted 8 Oct 2007 10:35 am    
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Bill,The repair place just called...one of my machines needed new head-stacks? the other just needed cleaning and the little wheels,The one that needed heads was one that I got in a pawn shop for $60.00 it played back fine,just wouldn't record right.I know how to clean the heads,I should order some idler wheels,I appreciate your help,A friend of mine just gave me a box of about 30 brand new pre-formatted tapes so I should be good for a while,It's hard to get things fixed up here,Take Care,Stu
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Steeltronics Z-pickup,Desert Rose S-10 4+5,Desert Rose Keyless S-10 3+5... Mullen G2 S-10 3+5,Telonics 206 pickups,Telonics volume pedal.,Blanton SD -10,Emmons GS_10...Zirctone bar,Bill Groner Bar...any amp that isn't broken.Steel Seat.Com seats...Licking paint chips off of Chinese Toys since 1952.
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Bill Hatcher

 

From:
Atlanta Ga. USA
Post  Posted 8 Oct 2007 7:00 pm    
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Stu. The head stack (head) for the ADAT can last upwards of 5000 hours. The head must have been damaged by improper use/cleaning.

Your $60 machine that will play back fine...I would get it back and use it for mixing. You don't need to record when mixing so the machine would be fine for that. Take some of the wear and tear off another.

If you find a cheap supply of idler wheels, let me know.
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Stu Schulman


From:
Ulster Park New Yawk (deceased)
Post  Posted 8 Oct 2007 8:39 pm    
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Bill,One of my good friends used to be vice president of Alesis I'll ask him and then let you know.
Stu
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Bob Martin


From:
Madison Tn
Post  Posted 9 Oct 2007 6:47 am    
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You would be surprised how many of those ADAT tapes are still around. Many folks have all of their projects on ADATS and want to remix so any pro studio should have a way to bring the old adat tapes into their DAW's.

I would love to have one that is capable of playing back only so I could remix old projects. I have several ADAT light pipe interfaces so I could pop the tape in and transfer all the tracks into my DAW thru lightpipe.

I might even put a post in the WTB section for one that plays only.

Bob
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Stu Schulman


From:
Ulster Park New Yawk (deceased)
Post  Posted 9 Oct 2007 8:47 am    
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Bob,Thanks that makes me feel a little better.I had a guy from up here I would hate to call him an engineer,lets call him a studio owner tell me that I need to have Pro-Tools to which I replied "Why Don't You Buy It for me?"Out of my price range right now.
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Bob Martin


From:
Madison Tn
Post  Posted 10 Oct 2007 3:47 pm    
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Well Stu, there's no reason to be ashamed of owning ADATS. When they first came out everyone couldn't get their hands on them quick enough.

There were plenty of masters that were done on the ADATS. What everyone complains about them now are the DAC's in the original black face machines. Some folks seem to think they sound bad or brittle but I've still heard a lot of good projects that were done on them. Some folks just have a bad case of what I call snobitis Smile So don't worry I'll bet your recordings sound great.

By the way tell your pal that is pushing pro tools needs to know that it is not the only viable system on the market. In fact it is the last system a lot of folks would change to these days. There are so many alternitives today that are sooooo much cheaper and have better midi tools as well as cheaper interfaces, but in the end you recordings are only as good as your weakest link in your system such as Mic pre's and DAC's and mixers and lastly and mostly our ears. Without good ears we have nothing LOL!

Bob
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Stu Schulman


From:
Ulster Park New Yawk (deceased)
Post  Posted 10 Oct 2007 5:52 pm    
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Bob,Thanks a lot.The guy who was pulling rank on me really doesnt have a clue on how to make a record.I've been lucky to have worked with some of the greatest engineers in business and have picked up enough knowledge to make a pretty descent recording .I got to spend a few months recording day,and night with Al Schmitt when I was twenty two and never stopped asking questions I'm fifty five now,I also worked for Delaney Bramlett for five years and picked up a few tricks along the way.I try not to let the pro-tools remarks bug me.It all depends on who's hands the tools are in.Stu
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John Macy

 

From:
Rockport TX/Denver CO
Post  Posted 11 Oct 2007 6:49 am    
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I do keep a XT20 for transfers, and a blackface for the converters in case anyone wants that vintage adat sound (can you spell Alanis Morrisette?)...Smile

I am sure a percentage of the grey hair on my head came from adats when they became a sort of standard in the '90s. We had a dozen or more at my studios to keep 6-8 running on a daily basis. I think for lighter home use they may run ok, but whipping them daily calls for large bottles of antacid. I can still hear the sound of an adat tape being eaten vividly in my mind. And trust me, we maintained them daily--boxes of idler wheels etc...

Like I said, I have a cactus garden in one BF ADAT...

One of my favorite stories came from Wynn Davis, who owns major studio in Redondo Beach. He was headed to a session at Paramount in LA and was coming in the back way. As he approached, someone came out the back door of the studio onto the loading dock and threw 3 adat machines out onto the concrete. Seeing Wynn, he wiped his hands and said "well, that should solve that...". Talk about being in the right place at the right time...

We always said at our studios that if God had not intended for us to curse, he would never have allowed adats to be made...Smile

As for ProTools, unless you need to be moving projects around through pro studios, there are plenty of good alternatives. I use a system called PARIS for most of my work (along with Tommy Detamore and Bill Terry, and formerly Mike Smith). But my clients like to work with me and will use whatever I prefer. That being said, I am currently taking back my old commercial studios, and the only way for me to be competitive in the marketplace with independent engineers is to have Protools, so I am adding a HD3 rig to the main room, along with 2 hot-rodded LE systems in the smaller control rooms (in addition to 2 PARIS rigs)... Don't ask how much--it's painful Sad

(check out my tip in the electronics section for more of my love of ADATS...Smile)
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John Macy
Rockport, TX
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Stu Schulman


From:
Ulster Park New Yawk (deceased)
Post  Posted 11 Oct 2007 8:51 am    
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John..Wynn Davis,I've got a good story about Wynn,Can't tell .it here.I rented a room at a wonderful house in Hermosa beach after Wynn's Ex wife"Debby" moved out.In Fact Wynn's old board from Redondo Pacific is up here at Surreal Studios,He's a funny guy
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Bob Martin


From:
Madison Tn
Post  Posted 11 Oct 2007 3:48 pm    
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Well Stu, as it seems my face is red! You already knew everything I told ya Smile Also to John man you hit the nail on the head when you talked about their reliability in a professional studio that worked the peewadding out of them Smile

Fortunately or unfortunately which ever way you want to look at it I never dealt with ADAT's in a pro setting where they were worked very hard. But I'll say this you are not the first one to ever mention their reliabilty when worked 12 to 16 hours a day 5 to 7 days a week.

So I should have prefaced that my dealings with them were in a couple of project studios where they preformed flawlessly for 3 or 4 hours a day 1 to 3 times a week. I did notice the brittle converters immediately but we were so happy to have no to low noise floors as well as the ability to do crazy edits with the remote that we lived with them and also learned very quickly not to record to hot Smile

We also never worked them hard enough to have any break downs or eaten tape episodes. Although I did have a very expensive Tascam Dat machine that ate 2 tapes in a row that were very important archival tapes. I sent the machine back and the next one did the same thing so the 3rd one came with an addendum to the manual as an insert "Never use any DAT tapes longer than 60 minutes" I had been using the 90 minute tapes and they always worked fine on my much cheaper techniques DAT recorder. So I wanted to send it back and get my money back but Tascam offered to send me 4 cases of the best quality 60 min. Dat tapes they could produce and I went for it. At that time good quality Dat tapes were going for 5 to 7 bucks each I was using Ampeg which was considered very good.

Anyway Stu have fun with your ADATS!!!

Bob
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Stu Schulman


From:
Ulster Park New Yawk (deceased)
Post  Posted 11 Oct 2007 4:49 pm    
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Bob,No need for the red face,I know just enough to be dangerous ..but not everything.I've got horror stories about my ADATs,tapes breaking etc.I'm in the process of learning Sonar but I have some ADAT stuff to finish,I know that I can transfer but there are only so many hours in the day,My main problem with this knucklehead up here is that he has minimal studio experience,and has not a clue about tracking,and making a decent recording,but insists on mouthing off to my friends,These days I'm a nice guy so all I say is consider the source.Anyway Bob thanks for all of your help,Stu
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Steeltronics Z-pickup,Desert Rose S-10 4+5,Desert Rose Keyless S-10 3+5... Mullen G2 S-10 3+5,Telonics 206 pickups,Telonics volume pedal.,Blanton SD -10,Emmons GS_10...Zirctone bar,Bill Groner Bar...any amp that isn't broken.Steel Seat.Com seats...Licking paint chips off of Chinese Toys since 1952.
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John Macy

 

From:
Rockport TX/Denver CO
Post  Posted 11 Oct 2007 8:17 pm    
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Hey Stu--PM your number to me so I can hear some Wynn dirt...Smile

I guess I really can't complain too badly, we made some good income off the adats--really hated watching the Studers sit idle so people could save money on tape, though...Sad I do have some pictures somewhere of a session with 15 adat machines in the room trying to keep 4 running consistently...

I still own an Otari 2" 24 and an Ampex 2" 16, though they seldom feel voltage surging through them...
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John Macy
Rockport, TX
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