December 25, 2017
The only downside to picking up the Otari MTR-10 ¼” analog reel-to-reel tape machine was that the VU meter lights had blown. This is pretty common for a machine that is nearly 40 years old. It’s not too difficult to fix the lights, but it’s time consuming to get to the meter and you need some soldering experience and patience.
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- The first step is to take off all the knobs with an allen wrench. Then take off the front panel of the VU meter bridge using another allen wrench.
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- Then, desolder the dead bulbs with a wick or solder suck.
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- Solder in the new bulbs one at a time. Then, bend them up slowly and deliberately.
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- Four glowing bulbs! Heaven!
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- Replace the meter bridge front panel.
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- Put the knobs back on and tighten all allen wrench screws back. Voila!
It’s also very important to unplug the tape machine and make sure not to touch any capacitors as they can hold charges even after the unit has been unplugged. You can be electrocuted and do damage to yourself if you are not careful.
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