You haven't listened to Bob Dylan until you have heard him on the original 8-track. And you haven't heard that unless it was through a failed Learjet product with dodgy belts.
When re-gluing a plastic post as you have done here, a zip tie around it is handy to clamp it, and may be trimmed and left on unless it interferes with some other protrusion.
I use a copper tube of a right size. Maybe it's a bit too much but it's a definitive repair. If the screw is loose (thread ripped), just stick a wooden toothpick before screwing it back!
I have had good luck with using fiberglass mesh drywall tape that i had lying around as reinforcement on plastic things i thought would never hold up for gluing and it has worked surpricingly well, i usually use it with cyanoacrylate glue, i would totally glue that around that post. I just put the tape on and cover it with glue. Im a pro in electronic repairs but i came up with this method on my own by chance, its just something i have used for my own things at least so far and it would be more of a last resort solution in a pro scenario. Using zip tie may certainly be a good option as well in this case, the fiberglass mesh is great in that it can be adapted to reinforce many different shapes of objects as well, you can take off single strands etc.
an alternative to zip ties i use is heatshrink tubing! once you first glue the broken post together, you wet its surface by cyanoacrylate and quickly slide the heatshrink on it and heat it up. The combination of tightly shrunken tubing and superglue makes it nice and sturdy! if there's enough room surrounding the post you can do it twice to make it even more solid
I'm going to go against the grain, but I believe the Lear Jet Stereo 8 is the real "diamond in the rough" device here. I'm sure it would require quite the restoring to get it back to it's intended condition, but comparatively speaking, I'm way more impressed with the engineering of the Lear Jet. Full disclosure, I knew Bill Lear, I was his attorney's son, and I had a friend who had this same machine. The intended design of the machine was to leave it in a semi-permanent location, like a dorm-room. Then, you detached the one speaker and took the player as a single-speaker player. There's missing hardware that would secure the two sides together and would separate by pressing that button on the side. I believe this unit was originally sold as early as the late 60s, which makes it considerably older than the GE, which appears to me to be a Sanyo OEM, and probably has a lot of the electronics shared with a cassette version. Don't get me wrong, if I wanted an 8-track 'boombox' to listen to, I would go with the GE. I just appreciate the engineering that went into the Lear Jet. Great video!
When the light went on, I was like _"Wait, it's working now for some reason? Will he notice?"_ and so he did. It's a happy if inexplicable occasion when things you thought were broken just start working again for no good reason.
I'm a big fan of your videos. May I make a suggestion about measuring belt diameter? Fold the old belt so that it's flat on the table and straight, and measure the inside length in that position. Divide that reading by 1.57 and you have the actual diameter of the old belt. Then order one a tad smaller and you're good to go. This from an audio repair tech who's been fixing stereos since 1977.
@@Smileyrat The circumference of a circle divided by π equals the diameter. Since we measure half the circumference (belt is folded), then we need to use half the π too (~3.14 / 2 = 1.57).
I got the Panasonic stereo "Swiss cheese " player and the GE mono version of this one shown in the video. The mono sounds the best because it has a slightly bigger speaker. There is another version called the "loud mouth" like this.
I occasionally tinker with electronics myself and this video gave me that warm feeling again, from when you've really not done anything specific to the light, but it just decides to start working again. Love it!
@@Techmoansince it looks like neon bulbs, my bet is the one contact that’s activated on DC was too dirty but the other contact (only on AC do both activate) was fine. Since neons need a higher strike voltage than operating voltage, the higher resistance probably impeded that initial strike on DC. Hopefully once it ran a while on AC it got through any oxidation and will work on DC!
@@kaitlyn__L Not much chance they are neons. Incandescent bulbs with orange filters. This thing operates on 12V, neon lamps need 60-80V to strike. It was just a bad contact, it is common enough with low voltage stuff that a very faint layer of oxide/dirt will prevent any current flow, but if it's a wiping contact, some usage might just clean that unwanted layer off.
@@mrnmrn1 unless there’s proof of no capacitor boost circuit the battery native output voltage doesn’t mean much, neons were the most common indicator lamps and there’s the characteristic slight flicker when it’s powered from AC on the Jackery.
@@kaitlyn__L That would have been quite a Rube Goldberg approach to make a voltage booster just for the track display... I can't notice any flicker, only during track skip, and that is due to the contacts. BTW incandescent lamps do flicker slightly on AC, Mat probably used his camera in 50Hz mode, so any slight 60Hz flicker should be visible - I can't see any. The track display runs on DC most probably. The only benefit of neon lamps in this application would be their longer lifespan, but if the goal is an orange glow like this, an underheated incandescent bulb works just fine, and has a lifetime that exceeds the lifetime of the tape transport.
You can always give ancient plastic parts like this one a soak with glycerin first and a silicone oil rubdown second. This works well against the plastic drying up and becoming brittle with fine cracks eventually.
Thanks for commenting re hydrating & protecting older plastics. Do you prefer a specific brand of glycerin and/or silicon oil? Is there any product that you’d avoid using? Thanks again!
@@HeyMJ. Not really, I just got the pure glycerin from the pharmacy, they'll fill little bottles for you. And silicone oil is available as a lubricant, should also be pure, at most with an evaporating solvent for use in a spray can.
Is this a treatment that can be applied to belts in plastic bags to prolong their life if they are i.e. likely they will be untouched for a long time before use?
It always reminds me of Mark and Lard from Radio 1 back when it was actually worth listening to. Lard's Classic cuts. "Is that record hard to find?" "In that condition, yes"
Who knew that the 8-track 'program select' button would serve as a 'copyright strike avoidance' button decades later? Also, I love the blue anodized panel on the Learjet unit, that colour really 'pops'.
The reason the tape came out of the cart is that you were playing it upside down. This wasn't a problem with very early made carts because it had a mechanism inside that kept the tape spooled on the reel. Modern carts just mostly re-spool using a guide in the plastic of the tape housing and gravity to spool. If a tape is played upside down, it will unevenly spool and may even jam once it reaches the middle, causing a stuck tape.
Don't store your tapes upside-down if you are in a vehicle moving with vibrations, which also causes the tape to unspool. They can be left like this, maybe only for a very short while.
At 21:05 you can see that there is also a black screw that attaches the black plastic you tried to remove to the front. The knob seems to go to the cog visible in the yellow-ish metal below that black plastic, it may not hinder you removing the black plastic once you loosened all three screws. Edit: Well, as the light is magically working now, there is ofc no need to remove it anymore.
I love that metallic blue color around the knobs on that first device. Gorgeous color blue, would look awesome on the right type of vintage sports car.
That Lear-Jet model reminds me of my younger years at the beach as my neighbor had one. It spent many nights outside but each years it was there to entertain us. The simple 8-track mechanism was not affected by the sand they way cassette system were. Thanks!
A fiberglass pen cleans up battery contacts well, also, winding string around the back of a knob will lift it off without damaging the plastic surface.
That light coming on on the #1 channel in the end means that it's happy that you restored it and that you're a #1. P.S. what a great looking boombox that is.
It's always amazing to see how much more pleasing mechanical electrical devices were, compared to todays devices. Guess I'm getting old and nostalgic.. :)
When I saw the 1st program light coming up I really felt that it was a way of the device to say Thank You for bringing me back to life and for your kind words! Great video as always mate keep up, cheers from Greece
General Electric radios from this era had some of the best AM tuners to be found in portables. The track 1 indicator light was likely out due to oxidation of the mechanical track position switch linked to the tape head positioning mechanism. Operating it a few times scratched through the oxidation.
Yes, that olive drab, military hardware look was very popular in the late 70s. Every piece of portable audio equipment had that styling. I remember it well. Oddly, it's hard to come by now. I've looked for it in the usual places like ebay but I rarely see examples of it
Random sentimental thought, but when I heard "The Times They Are a-Changin'", I thought about my friend Brian. He unfortunately passed away of a fentanyl overdose 4 years ago and they played that as everyone walked up to his casket at the funeral. Thank you so much for the countless hours of entertainment!
It was very common for 8-tracks to sound like that even when there was nothing wrong with them but we used to do is wedge a matchbook with the 8-track cartridge until it sounded correct usually done the trick
@@Dave01Rhodes I think he's referring to the pressure pad. They were a piece of foam or felt that's job was making sure the tape properly contacts the playback head. If the foam denigrates with age (And they often do) it can cause crosstalk (multiple tracks playing at once) or loss of audio quality. Has nothing to to do with speed issues thought, If you're having those, it's caused by the player.
My face lit up when the GE roared to life at 20:07 and sounded so loud and clear! I gasped out loud when I saw the light for Channel 1 flicker on for a split second at 23:54, did it start working again?! Brilliant! Thanks for the great video, it's so nice to see these machines getting restored and coming back to life!
Competent yet down to earth as always, Mat. Very enjoyable. Loved the cynical pop at the 'ooh, you can't mix batteries' brigade! Extra points for the epoxy; I'm so tired of youtubers trying to repair structural elements with CA glue.
Tip about the knob that wouldn’t come off…sometimes there’s a setscrew in it in the end of the raised section, usually opposite the side with the indicator arrow.
When looking through electronics sections of catalogs from stores like Radio Shack, Penneys, Sears, Wards and countless others (Im sure the UK had their equivalents) Im amazed at the variety of models!!! Always wondered where these designs came from as they varied from store to store. There were name brands like Sony, GE, RCA, etc, store brands, and then just generic names.
When this stuff was being made it all came from factories in Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore or Hong Kong. The 8-track mechanism came from just a few factories, the electronics were very similar, but the thing that set them apart was the exterior design. Plastic production had replaced most wood or metal and thus, even before computer modeling, it was quite easy to customize the audio devices. There was a never ending array of faceplates, knobs, buttons, switches, etc, all in lovely chromed plastic. Many models changed exterior appearance every year, but the stuff inside was mostly the same. All Radio Shack (Realistic) audio stuff can be found with other brand names, but often with very different cosmetics.
Thanks to people like you we can still collectively actively remember these devices and continue to have them in our discourse, re-learning them and re-considering their values. This witness/memory duty is a really important part of our existence, I would dare think.
Hail from Chicago. I've had the honor of repairing an early Lear Jet automobile 8 track player. Lear himself invented the eight track player. On an early model, It did not have a belt. The flywheel was mounted directly to the capstan that drove the tape and it was also the armature of the motor,it was direct drive.. It was a wonderful piece of engineering. Very heavy and industrial looking. I don't believe the unit was repairable, but to see it in use was a marvel in itself.made in the U.S.A.
GE carried quality electronic products in those days. I found a GE 1985 19" TV at a antique store that I just plugged in and worked with just a few adjustments to the pots inside to bring back the picture brightness. Was made in Indiana but was close to the last few TV models made in the US. I have not found any GE products from the 80's with leaking caps yet, knock on wood.
As an old school B-Boy, I would have happily carried that RCA 3-5531A Boombox, as me and my crew carried our rolled up canvas/cardboard, down to the shopping centre, to bust some moves. 😃 Love a Saturday morning with a cuppa and A Techmoan video upload, so relaxing. B-Boys will always be boys!! Respect, peace and love!
Another brilliant video, Mat. Makes me wish my parents hadn’t thrown out the eight tracks and the player they had in the late 70s, early 80s. I was too young to object even if I had seen them being chucked, though. I was far more upset to discover that my football cards had been deemed surplus to requirements.
Those GE boomboxes really were the last great 8 track players in my opinion. They were built like absolute tanks and you still see a ton on eBay from what I remember.
That is similar to how my Dad's reel to reel tape recorder from the 60s had speakers attached. They did latch on better, buy you had to hide the wires inside every time you put it back together. It did sound pretty good though.
Bob Dylan too ... My parents had that same album on 8 Track! These old devices you demo are just plain awesome. And the fact you get most of them back up and running is even more awesome!
A boombox with an 8 track player that's so frigging cool. Your channel has reignited my passion for "old school" audio equipment (particularly boomboxes). Have so many fond memories of using them
We used to make a concoction of cleaning agent for plastics when we had a computer shop back then. It's just a combination of Wipe Out and Denatured Alcohol. It cleans the discoloration of plastics like that. We use it on CRT monitors. My older brother taught me about that because thats what they use in the company where he works. They service big companies (they are one of the official service center of IBM) that uses POS, computers, typewriters etc. that has plastic housing on the machines
The Learjet reminded me that there were a few pesonal stereos ("walkmen") that would come with a pair of speakers to use it as either a mini stereo set, or would attach to the tape player to become a mini boombox. I wonder if you ever stumbled upon those.
My parents had a dual cassette boom box and one of the tape players was removable to use as a personal portable. I discovered I could plug something else into the input and use it as an amp. I also had a set of boom box speakers that held a radio you could remove.
When these portable 8-Track players were new they were noted as battery-eaters because of the excess friction of tape feeding from the center. That also made tape breakage more likely. When cassettes came along everyone was more than happy to abandon the 8-Track, and portable players would play 3- 4 times the music off the same set of batteries.
We had one that speakers that snap together like the one you have but smaller with six inch speakers which sounded quite good because they were insulated well and you could set them 8 feet apart This one had a feature I've never seen anywhere else, it was able to record on to 8 track tapes. We were able to get a blank 8 track tape from Radio Shack, and that was also the brand name that was on the 8-track player. Radio Shack was the go to store for electronics in the 70s and 80s. Great Video.
Brilliant video as usual, I never got into 8 track (although we had a stereo at home with a player/recorder) and I think one of the cars we had did have a player in the early seventies but not as standard. Considering 8 track was designed to go into Leer Jets originally, its amazing how popular they became. I might have to look at getting either a car one or finding a recorder to add to the home system I have just to be completist... That will please the wife no end.....
Jewellerybybarrie---I have a add-onto your home stereo system Panasonic 8 track player for sale. Comes with 30 or so country music 8 track cartridges STILL NEW in the wrapper.
Ooh, got a Varta battery in there. Best get that sorted! These repair videos are always great, I always really appreciate how you keep things in chronological order rather than just saying it needs a new belt, here’s one I ordered earlier. Regardless of if the thing under repair works at the end it’s a joy to see inside these machines with you!
A much more successful "two speaker detachable" 8-track portable stereo design is one I used to have back in the day - the Channel Master 6201. On this one, the speakers had a metal hinge, could detach from each other, and, for carrying, folded up into a kind of little suitcase. GE made a very similar model - the M8614A
The "Lear Jet" design/concept reminds me of the Hitachi TRQ 233s portable cassette player I had as a teenager in the late 1970s. It was from the early 1970s and had detachable flip out speaker "doors". That really looked like a "proto boombox"!
The Learjet unit reminds me of one I used in grade school as a child. And I suspect that’s the most common market where a teacher would set it up for the classroom and not move it much throughout the day/week/semester depending on the class. It wasn’t really portable as much as presentational. I could see that similar to a slide presentation stereo.
Hi. In America, we had one just like that Branded for a chain over hear. Western Auto. 8D cells. Thank you. Was about 72. My mom's. She died in 75. Didn't get to use it long. Thank you for the memory. 8 tracks. Cool sir😁😜♥️
Ah, Western Auto, they were like a miniature Sears. Very popular and successful in small towns that were not large enough to support a Sears store. FIrestone also had similar stores. The Firestone name was on all kinds of stuff not related to tires. I have two Firestone radios, one with a Voice 0f Music record changer.
Brings back memories. As a kid I used to look at the Allied Radio and Lafayette Radio catalogs and dream about getting a 8-track portable. My dad vetoed it and since he held the pursestrings I never got one. Good things come to those who wait as several years later I had a component stereo system and my folks got me a Wollensak 8-track recorder for Christmas. I think I was about 13 or 14. My first car at sixteen was the perfect opportunity to experience my own tapes on the go. The thing that bugged me most was the track change which would either require expert planning in my recordings or, as I came to prefer due to ease, just let it segue right into the next track with that little glitch in continuous sound. By the time I graduated high school I had to have a cassette though and I got a Pioneer Supertuner one which was pretty good. I actually still love cassettes for probably nostalgic reasons and the fact they were mini reel-to-reels which before all the portable stuff I had a Wollensak 4-track 1/4" recording deck in my component system. There's just something about making your own tapes. Anyone in the US remember Burstein & Applebee Electronic Company? They specialized in parts and close-outs so I got that reel to reel when I was about 12 from them. Those electronic catalogs were my personal Sear's Wish Books! I definitely enjoyed this trip down 8-track memory lane.
When you’re sure that a knob has to be removed and your fingernails or screwdriver aren’t up to it, try a pulling on the loose ends of a shoelace fully wrapped around the shaft. The pulling force mostly acts in the direction of OFF. A flat sports lace for very difficult removals has worked for me (thanks to the tape-heads forum who helped me when the big flat knobs on my Revox reel2reel tape recorder wouldn’t budge. Thanks Matt!
Hello Mat. Thanks, as always, for a very entertaining video. Must say I'm glad to see you looking so well - you're obviously looking after yourself properly...which I'm happy about. We, your audience, value your work hugely and would like to see many many more interesting videos in the future! Take care.
Continuing to love your videos !! When I was in America,back in 1980, I remember seeing that model 8 Track/radio you featured in this video ,there was also a boombox with a Cassette recorder,as well as 8 track on sale at Montgomery Ward !!
Your videos have the best outro soundtrack on UA-cam and with that Six Million Dollar Man computing sound at the end, it’s just brilliant. Never change it.
@techmoan Hey Mat! I find it funny you give the twits any time by bringing up the fact that you put the right speaker on the left side accidentally. You should just let them stew in their own juices. Those of us like me thoroughly enjoy your videos BECAUSE of who you are! Please keep them coming! This takes me back to when I’d ride around with my dad in those old trucks he used to drive, delivering paint and whatnot. Please take care and have a great rest of your weekend!
The portable tape player technology definitely improved very quickly between the early and mid 70’s. I don’t think that market was taken seriously at first, but once the tech improved they really caught on and manufacturers couldn’t wait to outdo each other and make better players.
For removing the black plastic behind the lights there was another black screw in the middle of the plastic bracket, maybe that needed to go and not the input knob
@Techmoan In case it breaks again you might have missed a screw on the lamp cover. Looks like there's a horizontal one on the piece of plastic covering the bulbs: it's visible at 21:08.
Good stuff here. I have an 8-track player/recorder in my living room (Realistic) that works great. Wonderful memories - which is why I keep it running. Thanks for a great video on the repair. Always fun to watch you 'dig in' to fixing these things..
General Electric made (or had made) a lot of cool portable audio players in the seventies and eighties. 99% plastic. I had several GE cassette AM-FM portable units but now I gotta try to find an 8-track stereo by GE. If they are in good condition they are no longer cheap. Thanks for showing this model. The other two pale in comparison.
I only have my GE portable 8-track player that I got off a eBay about three weeks ago and I did a video of the machine. It still works, but when I first tested it, it doesn’t play, and the head on the channel changer was slow when it switched back from 4 through 1, and I did fixed it and I replaced it with a new belt and it plays perfectly. It’s not that hard, but an easy fix.
Matt, one thing I'd really suggest for prying is picking up some of those plastic pry tools. There are ones made from glass fiber reinforced nylon, and they work great for popping things apart without marring plastic! I want to say Menda made the ones I have, but there are others. Also, for some reason the design of that General Electric model seems very familiar to me. I know they did some other ones in similar designs, but I can't for the life of me remember where I saw them.
My uncle who’s probably closer to your age has a 8 track player with a ton of tapes as well, he also had a portable one he used to bring on camping trips, got into Boz Scaggs from this trip back in ‘81 when he was 21. His was silver and chrome, not sure what brand though. Mind you still consider him young for he’s 14 years older than me, mom’s youngest brother, her being the oldest. Love your channel I’m reminiscing now. ❤
You haven't listened to Bob Dylan until you have heard him on the original 8-track. And you haven't heard that unless it was through a failed Learjet product with dodgy belts.
It sounded like a parody of a drunk wedding singer.
When re-gluing a plastic post as you have done here, a zip tie around it is handy to clamp it, and may be trimmed and left on unless it interferes with some other protrusion.
I use a copper tube of a right size. Maybe it's a bit too much but it's a definitive repair.
If the screw is loose (thread ripped), just stick a wooden toothpick before screwing it back!
I have had good luck with using fiberglass mesh drywall tape that i had lying around as reinforcement on plastic things i thought would never hold up for gluing and it has worked surpricingly well, i usually use it with cyanoacrylate glue, i would totally glue that around that post. I just put the tape on and cover it with glue. Im a pro in electronic repairs but i came up with this method on my own by chance, its just something i have used for my own things at least so far and it would be more of a last resort solution in a pro scenario. Using zip tie may certainly be a good option as well in this case, the fiberglass mesh is great in that it can be adapted to reinforce many different shapes of objects as well, you can take off single strands etc.
an alternative to zip ties i use is heatshrink tubing! once you first glue the broken post together, you wet its surface by cyanoacrylate and quickly slide the heatshrink on it and heat it up. The combination of tightly shrunken tubing and superglue makes it nice and sturdy! if there's enough room surrounding the post you can do it twice to make it even more solid
@@andrealotito4412 That's a really good idea! I'm gonna have to remember that!
@@xaenonI thought exactly the same thing!
I'm going to go against the grain, but I believe the Lear Jet Stereo 8 is the real "diamond in the rough" device here. I'm sure it would require quite the restoring to get it back to it's intended condition, but comparatively speaking, I'm way more impressed with the engineering of the Lear Jet. Full disclosure, I knew Bill Lear, I was his attorney's son, and I had a friend who had this same machine. The intended design of the machine was to leave it in a semi-permanent location, like a dorm-room. Then, you detached the one speaker and took the player as a single-speaker player. There's missing hardware that would secure the two sides together and would separate by pressing that button on the side. I believe this unit was originally sold as early as the late 60s, which makes it considerably older than the GE, which appears to me to be a Sanyo OEM, and probably has a lot of the electronics shared with a cassette version. Don't get me wrong, if I wanted an 8-track 'boombox' to listen to, I would go with the GE. I just appreciate the engineering that went into the Lear Jet. Great video!
Just read his profile...interesting man with an unbelievable story.
My condolences, although he's been gone a long time.
It isn't officially Saturday morning until I've watched the latest Techmoan video.
Saturday night for those of us in Australia, but yeah. It's part of my Saturday evening ritual 😊
I was about to say ‘is it Saturday already?!’ (Evening here in japan…)
Agreed.
An early morning cheers, indeed. ☕
Waking and baking with Mat here in the Hoosier state!
When the light went on, I was like _"Wait, it's working now for some reason? Will he notice?"_ and so he did. It's a happy if inexplicable occasion when things you thought were broken just start working again for no good reason.
I'm a big fan of your videos. May I make a suggestion about measuring belt diameter? Fold the old belt so that it's flat on the table and straight, and measure the inside length in that position. Divide that reading by 1.57 and you have the actual diameter of the old belt. Then order one a tad smaller and you're good to go. This from an audio repair tech who's been fixing stereos since 1977.
thanks for the tip.
@@Techmoan You're welcome. Keep up the great content. I never miss your videos.
easy as Pi
I am curious where those numbers come from. Why 1.57 and the inside of the ring?
@@Smileyrat The circumference of a circle divided by π equals the diameter. Since we measure half the circumference (belt is folded), then we need to use half the π too (~3.14 / 2 = 1.57).
New Techmoan videos hit like 80's Saturday morning cartoons for us western folk.
Or, for some of us, ‘60s Saturday morning cartoons. 🤓
I love the style of this "boombox", nobody would expect an 8-track player in it.
I got the Panasonic stereo "Swiss cheese " player and the GE mono version of this one shown in the video. The mono sounds the best because it has a slightly bigger speaker. There is another version called the "loud mouth" like this.
Nobody expects the-
@@CantankerousDave Dead parrot, comfy chair, nigh nigh!. I don't know what?
@@CantankerousDave
- “Spanish Inquisition”!
@@stvlu733 I have one of those too! The GE Loudmouth and Blaster sound great as well.
It's almost like the GE machine actually WANTED to work normal again. The one part you can't get to decides to fix itself. Very nice!
I occasionally tinker with electronics myself and this video gave me that warm feeling again, from when you've really not done anything specific to the light, but it just decides to start working again. Love it!
Yes I think it was just oxidisation on a contact, so it cleaned off with a bit of use - always good when something like that happens.
@@Techmoansince it looks like neon bulbs, my bet is the one contact that’s activated on DC was too dirty but the other contact (only on AC do both activate) was fine. Since neons need a higher strike voltage than operating voltage, the higher resistance probably impeded that initial strike on DC. Hopefully once it ran a while on AC it got through any oxidation and will work on DC!
@@kaitlyn__L Not much chance they are neons. Incandescent bulbs with orange filters. This thing operates on 12V, neon lamps need 60-80V to strike. It was just a bad contact, it is common enough with low voltage stuff that a very faint layer of oxide/dirt will prevent any current flow, but if it's a wiping contact, some usage might just clean that unwanted layer off.
@@mrnmrn1 unless there’s proof of no capacitor boost circuit the battery native output voltage doesn’t mean much, neons were the most common indicator lamps and there’s the characteristic slight flicker when it’s powered from AC on the Jackery.
@@kaitlyn__L That would have been quite a Rube Goldberg approach to make a voltage booster just for the track display... I can't notice any flicker, only during track skip, and that is due to the contacts. BTW incandescent lamps do flicker slightly on AC, Mat probably used his camera in 50Hz mode, so any slight 60Hz flicker should be visible - I can't see any. The track display runs on DC most probably. The only benefit of neon lamps in this application would be their longer lifespan, but if the goal is an orange glow like this, an underheated incandescent bulb works just fine, and has a lifetime that exceeds the lifetime of the tape transport.
One of the few good things about waking up at 4AM US time, is finding a fresh Techmoan video to make insomnia worth it!
On with the watching! 🤩
6pm out here in Asia already.
Let's watch the video at 7pm Korean time
Really like the look of the GE boombox, nice industrial design aesthetic.
Agreed. The orange accents really pop. Very appealing design.
You can always give ancient plastic parts like this one a soak with glycerin first and a silicone oil rubdown second. This works well against the plastic drying up and becoming brittle with fine cracks eventually.
Thanks for commenting re hydrating & protecting older plastics. Do you prefer a specific brand of glycerin and/or silicon oil? Is there any product that you’d avoid using? Thanks again!
@@HeyMJ. Not really, I just got the pure glycerin from the pharmacy, they'll fill little bottles for you. And silicone oil is available as a lubricant, should also be pure, at most with an evaporating solvent for use in a spray can.
Never heard of this technique before
@@SonicBoone56 Plastics tend to become brittle by losing evaporating additives, it's worst with flame retardant and soft parts.
Is this a treatment that can be applied to belts in plastic bags to prolong their life if they are i.e. likely they will be untouched for a long time before use?
Love the rare and obscure equipment demonstrated here, it's always an entertaining education watching this channel
Love the rare and obscure equipment demonstrated here, it's always an entertaining education watching this channel
6:08 you just switch the radio on and it's playing "Gimme Shelter". I love it
I think I realised my favourite musical genre is any music played at the wrong speed... it is glorious
I got right to about @11:28, and instantly agree. 🤣
😆
It always reminds me of Mark and Lard from Radio 1 back when it was actually worth listening to. Lard's Classic cuts.
"Is that record hard to find?" "In that condition, yes"
I started imagining Johnny Cash doing Bob Dylan Covers at one point!😁
Who knew that the 8-track 'program select' button would serve as a 'copyright strike avoidance' button decades later? Also, I love the blue anodized panel on the Learjet unit, that colour really 'pops'.
In another time, Techmoan would have been the perfect presenter on Tomorrow's World, or The Open University!!
I know, right? Techmoan definitely does have the Tomorrow's World or Open University type of presentation that I just love!
The reason the tape came out of the cart is that you were playing it upside down. This wasn't a problem with very early made carts because it had a mechanism inside that kept the tape spooled on the reel. Modern carts just mostly re-spool using a guide in the plastic of the tape housing and gravity to spool. If a tape is played upside down, it will unevenly spool and may even jam once it reaches the middle, causing a stuck tape.
Don't store your tapes upside-down if you are in a vehicle moving with vibrations, which also causes the tape to unspool. They can be left like this, maybe only for a very short while.
At 21:05 you can see that there is also a black screw that attaches the black plastic you tried to remove to the front. The knob seems to go to the cog visible in the yellow-ish metal below that black plastic, it may not hinder you removing the black plastic once you loosened all three screws.
Edit: Well, as the light is magically working now, there is ofc no need to remove it anymore.
I love that metallic blue color around the knobs on that first device. Gorgeous color blue, would look awesome on the right type of vintage sports car.
Another outstanding show. Thank you. Not sure how you can tell if something's not playing right by using Bob Dylan though! Poor Bob 😂
Bob has built in wow and flutter:)
Bob Dylan's the perfect test for 8-tracks. If the singing is in tune, with a consistent tempo; then you know something's wrong with the player.
@@gwishart 🤣 brilliant!
@@peterlarkin762 🤣 True! And he's not done bad for himself 😃
@@peterlarkin762 😮 It's Gonna Be A SAD💔 Day when Bob D.😇 Passes Away😔🥇💤🌟🙏🌀
That Lear-Jet model reminds me of my younger years at the beach as my neighbor had one. It spent many nights outside but each years it was there to entertain us. The simple 8-track mechanism was not affected by the sand they way cassette system were. Thanks!
A fiberglass pen cleans up battery contacts well, also, winding string around the back of a knob will lift it off without damaging the plastic surface.
Techmoan’s reputation is so great that No. 1 light bulb knew it was going to work one way or another, so it just fixed itself.
That light coming on on the #1 channel in the end means that it's happy that you restored it and that you're a #1.
P.S. what a great looking boombox that is.
It's always amazing to see how much more pleasing mechanical electrical devices were, compared to todays devices. Guess I'm getting old and nostalgic.. :)
When I saw the 1st program light coming up I really felt that it was a way of the device to say Thank You for bringing me back to life and for your kind words!
Great video as always mate keep up, cheers from Greece
General Electric radios from this era had some of the best AM tuners to be found in portables.
The track 1 indicator light was likely out due to oxidation of the mechanical track position switch linked to the tape head positioning mechanism. Operating it a few times scratched through the oxidation.
Yes, that olive drab, military hardware look was very popular in the late 70s. Every piece of portable audio equipment had that styling. I remember it well. Oddly, it's hard to come by now. I've looked for it in the usual places like ebay but I rarely see examples of it
Random sentimental thought, but when I heard "The Times They Are a-Changin'", I thought about my friend Brian.
He unfortunately passed away of a fentanyl overdose 4 years ago and they played that as everyone walked up to his casket at the funeral.
Thank you so much for the countless hours of entertainment!
It was very common for 8-tracks to sound like that even when there was nothing wrong with them but we used to do is wedge a matchbook with the 8-track cartridge until it sounded correct usually done the trick
I’ve heard of that trick to fix misaligned tapes and stop bleed-in from the other programs. Does it work for speed issues too?
Yes I added my message before I realized there was an elastic rubber band for a belt
I guess not really for speed? You know what I cannot really remember to be honest. It was a long time ago
@@Dave01Rhodes I think he's referring to the pressure pad. They were a piece of foam or felt that's job was making sure the tape properly contacts the playback head. If the foam denigrates with age (And they often do) it can cause crosstalk (multiple tracks playing at once) or loss of audio quality. Has nothing to to do with speed issues thought, If you're having those, it's caused by the player.
My face lit up when the GE roared to life at 20:07 and sounded so loud and clear! I gasped out loud when I saw the light for Channel 1 flicker on for a split second at 23:54, did it start working again?! Brilliant! Thanks for the great video, it's so nice to see these machines getting restored and coming back to life!
Competent yet down to earth as always, Mat. Very enjoyable. Loved the cynical pop at the 'ooh, you can't mix batteries' brigade! Extra points for the epoxy; I'm so tired of youtubers trying to repair structural elements with CA glue.
Tip about the knob that wouldn’t come off…sometimes there’s a setscrew in it in the end of the raised section, usually opposite the side with the indicator arrow.
When looking through electronics sections of catalogs from stores like Radio Shack, Penneys, Sears, Wards and countless others (Im sure the UK had their equivalents) Im amazed at the variety of models!!! Always wondered where these designs came from as they varied from store to store. There were name brands like Sony, GE, RCA, etc, store brands, and then just generic names.
When this stuff was being made it all came from factories in Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore or Hong Kong. The 8-track mechanism came from just a few factories, the electronics were very similar, but the thing that set them apart was the exterior design. Plastic production had replaced most wood or metal and thus, even before computer modeling, it was quite easy to customize the audio devices. There was a never ending array of faceplates, knobs, buttons, switches, etc, all in lovely chromed plastic. Many models changed exterior appearance every year, but the stuff inside was mostly the same. All Radio Shack (Realistic) audio stuff can be found with other brand names, but often with very different cosmetics.
Thanks to people like you we can still collectively actively remember these devices and continue to have them in our discourse, re-learning them and re-considering their values. This witness/memory duty is a really important part of our existence, I would dare think.
Hail from Chicago.
I've had the honor of repairing an early Lear Jet automobile 8 track player.
Lear himself invented the eight track player. On an early model, It did not have a belt. The flywheel was mounted directly to the capstan that drove the tape and it was also the armature of the motor,it was direct drive.. It was a wonderful piece of engineering. Very heavy and industrial looking. I don't believe the unit was repairable, but to see it in use was a marvel in itself.made in the U.S.A.
Love the light coming back on for no particular reason, always nice for the gremlins to throw you a bone!
I imagine the internal switch contacts were a little corroded and a few cycles through the track steps rubbed them clean just enough to work again.
GE carried quality electronic products in those days. I found a GE 1985 19" TV at a antique store that I just plugged in and worked with just a few adjustments to the pots inside to bring back the picture brightness. Was made in Indiana but was close to the last few TV models made in the US. I have not found any GE products from the 80's with leaking caps yet, knock on wood.
As an old school B-Boy, I would have happily carried that RCA 3-5531A Boombox, as me and my crew carried our rolled up canvas/cardboard, down to the shopping centre, to bust some moves. 😃
Love a Saturday morning with a cuppa and A Techmoan video upload, so relaxing.
B-Boys will always be boys!! Respect, peace and love!
Not RCA, But General Electric
Another brilliant video, Mat. Makes me wish my parents hadn’t thrown out the eight tracks and the player they had in the late 70s, early 80s. I was too young to object even if I had seen them being chucked, though. I was far more upset to discover that my football cards had been deemed surplus to requirements.
😮🗿Did You Remember to
Thank Yer Parents?¿?¿😵‼️💔😠☠️
Sounds like my stepfather. He hated anything that wasn't his. Can't tell of the things he that he thought was trash, If it wasn't his that is.
Those GE boomboxes really were the last great 8 track players in my opinion. They were built like absolute tanks and you still see a ton on eBay from what I remember.
That is similar to how my Dad's reel to reel tape recorder from the 60s had speakers attached. They did latch on better, buy you had to hide the wires inside every time you put it back together. It did sound pretty good though.
Bob Dylan too ... My parents had that same album on 8 Track!
These old devices you demo are just plain awesome. And the fact you get most of them back up and running is even more awesome!
Best I've ever heard Bob Dylan! Great stuff takes you right back
I was so happy when bulb 1 started working just because you talked about it and wiggled the bit near it.
A boombox with an 8 track player that's so frigging cool. Your channel has reignited my passion for "old school" audio equipment (particularly boomboxes). Have so many fond memories of using them
We used to make a concoction of cleaning agent for plastics when we had a computer shop back then. It's just a combination of Wipe Out and Denatured Alcohol. It cleans the discoloration of plastics like that. We use it on CRT monitors. My older brother taught me about that because thats what they use in the company where he works. They service big companies (they are one of the official service center of IBM) that uses POS, computers, typewriters etc. that has plastic housing on the machines
The Learjet reminded me that there were a few pesonal stereos ("walkmen") that would come with a pair of speakers to use it as either a mini stereo set, or would attach to the tape player to become a mini boombox. I wonder if you ever stumbled upon those.
My parents had a dual cassette boom box and one of the tape players was removable to use as a personal portable. I discovered I could plug something else into the input and use it as an amp. I also had a set of boom box speakers that held a radio you could remove.
When these portable 8-Track players were new they were noted as battery-eaters because of the excess friction of tape feeding from the center. That also made tape breakage more likely. When cassettes came along everyone was more than happy to abandon the 8-Track, and portable players would play 3- 4 times the music off the same set of batteries.
We had one that speakers that snap together like the one you have but smaller with six inch speakers which sounded quite good because they were insulated well and you could set them 8 feet apart This one had a feature I've never seen anywhere else, it was able to record on to 8 track tapes. We were able to get a blank 8 track tape from Radio Shack, and that was also the brand name that was on the 8-track player. Radio Shack was the go to store for electronics in the 70s and 80s. Great Video.
I love the look of that Lear Jet 8-track.
Brilliant video as usual, I never got into 8 track (although we had a stereo at home with a player/recorder) and I think one of the cars we had did have a player in the early seventies but not as standard. Considering 8 track was designed to go into Leer Jets originally, its amazing how popular they became. I might have to look at getting either a car one or finding a recorder to add to the home system I have just to be completist... That will please the wife no end.....
Jewellerybybarrie---I have a add-onto your home stereo system Panasonic 8 track player for sale. Comes with 30 or so country music 8 track cartridges STILL NEW in the wrapper.
Ooh, got a Varta battery in there. Best get that sorted!
These repair videos are always great, I always really appreciate how you keep things in chronological order rather than just saying it needs a new belt, here’s one I ordered earlier. Regardless of if the thing under repair works at the end it’s a joy to see inside these machines with you!
Well, that's my Saturday night sorted 😁 A new Techmoan video is one of the highlights of the weekend these days.
what a delightful video, so happy that old belt worked and that light turned on! pure joy
The loose belt on the LearJet 8-track transforms Bob Dylan into Kris Kristofferson!
A much more successful "two speaker detachable" 8-track portable stereo design is one I used to have back in the day - the Channel Master 6201. On this one, the speakers had a metal hinge, could detach from each other, and, for carrying, folded up into a kind of little suitcase. GE made a very similar model - the M8614A
The "Lear Jet" design/concept reminds me of the Hitachi TRQ 233s portable cassette player I had as a teenager in the late 1970s. It was from the early 1970s and had detachable flip out speaker "doors". That really looked like a "proto boombox"!
I wasn’t aware 8 track was a thing in a compact boombox design especially so late in the 70’s.Thanks for the video.👍
The Learjet unit reminds me of one I used in grade school as a child. And I suspect that’s the most common market where a teacher would set it up for the classroom and not move it much throughout the day/week/semester depending on the class. It wasn’t really portable as much as presentational. I could see that similar to a slide presentation stereo.
Hi. In America, we had one just like that Branded for a chain over hear. Western Auto. 8D cells. Thank you. Was about 72. My mom's. She died in 75. Didn't get to use it long. Thank you for the memory. 8 tracks. Cool sir😁😜♥️
Ah, Western Auto, they were like a miniature Sears. Very popular and successful in small towns that were not large enough to support a Sears store. FIrestone also had similar stores. The Firestone name was on all kinds of stuff not related to tires. I have two Firestone radios, one with a Voice 0f Music record changer.
I like to think Mat goes to lots of local dance battles and that’s why he is always after the next best boombox!
Also explains that vinyl boombox lol
I actually got hyped when that #1 light went up! Wow, my Saturday is on fire 😂
Brings back memories. As a kid I used to look at the Allied Radio and Lafayette Radio catalogs and dream about getting a 8-track portable. My dad vetoed it and since he held the pursestrings I never got one. Good things come to those who wait as several years later I had a component stereo system and my folks got me a Wollensak 8-track recorder for Christmas. I think I was about 13 or 14. My first car at sixteen was the perfect opportunity to experience my own tapes on the go. The thing that bugged me most was the track change which would either require expert planning in my recordings or, as I came to prefer due to ease, just let it segue right into the next track with that little glitch in continuous sound. By the time I graduated high school I had to have a cassette though and I got a Pioneer Supertuner one which was pretty good. I actually still love cassettes for probably nostalgic reasons and the fact they were mini reel-to-reels which before all the portable stuff I had a Wollensak 4-track 1/4" recording deck in my component system. There's just something about making your own tapes. Anyone in the US remember Burstein & Applebee Electronic Company? They specialized in parts and close-outs so I got that reel to reel when I was about 12 from them. Those electronic catalogs were my personal Sear's Wish Books! I definitely enjoyed this trip down 8-track memory lane.
I LOVE the the blue color of the knob panel.
When you’re sure that a knob has to be removed and your fingernails or screwdriver aren’t up to it, try a pulling on the loose ends of a shoelace fully wrapped around the shaft. The pulling force mostly acts in the direction of OFF. A flat sports lace for very difficult removals has worked for me (thanks to the tape-heads forum who helped me when the big flat knobs on my Revox reel2reel tape recorder wouldn’t budge. Thanks Matt!
That RCA player sounds quite nice, and actually seems a pretty nice device if you still have a use for an 8-track player.
Hello Mat. Thanks, as always, for a very entertaining video. Must say I'm glad to see you looking so well - you're obviously looking after yourself properly...which I'm happy about. We, your audience, value your work hugely and would like to see many many more interesting videos in the future! Take care.
I'd say the track 1 lamp not working initially is down to a dirty switch contact on the selector cam.
The Lear Jet logo is soooo cool. That player is wonderful.
Continuing to love your videos !!
When I was in America,back in 1980, I remember seeing that model 8 Track/radio you featured in this video ,there was also a boombox with a Cassette recorder,as well as 8 track on sale at Montgomery Ward !!
The Yorx K6061?
Montgomery Ward model GEN3995 has both cassette and 8 track, built like a tank. I think GE was the manufacturer.
Your videos have the best outro soundtrack on UA-cam and with that Six Million Dollar Man computing sound at the end, it’s just brilliant. Never change it.
@techmoan Hey Mat! I find it funny you give the twits any time by bringing up the fact that you put the right speaker on the left side accidentally. You should just let them stew in their own juices. Those of us like me thoroughly enjoy your videos BECAUSE of who you are!
Please keep them coming! This takes me back to when I’d ride around with my dad in those old trucks he used to drive, delivering paint and whatnot. Please take care and have a great rest of your weekend!
the condition of the plastics or that all these buttons and lights still work astonish me!
The portable tape player technology definitely improved very quickly between the early and mid 70’s. I don’t think that market was taken seriously at first, but once the tech improved they really caught on and manufacturers couldn’t wait to outdo each other and make better players.
I love how You tune in to the radio broadcasting "gimme shelter", suits in perfectly
I normally like my videos around 10-15 minutes long, but with your videos, I really like them around 30 minutes.
Its all about that track 1 selection light.❤🎉
For removing the black plastic behind the lights there was another black screw in the middle of the plastic bracket, maybe that needed to go and not the input knob
Another wonderful episode. Very appreciated on a lazy Saturday morning. Thank you, Mat!
@Techmoan In case it breaks again you might have missed a screw on the lamp cover. Looks like there's a horizontal one on the piece of plastic covering the bulbs: it's visible at 21:08.
The advantage of wobbly audio is that it will defeat UA-cam Content ID.
Good stuff here. I have an 8-track player/recorder in my living room (Realistic) that works great. Wonderful memories - which is why I keep it running. Thanks for a great video on the repair. Always fun to watch you 'dig in' to fixing these things..
I love your repair videos Matt, very entertaining
It was a lot of fun to watch ya fix those old buggers! I liked the tape you were playing! I like Bob Dylan!
General Electric made (or had made) a lot of cool portable audio players in the seventies and eighties. 99% plastic. I had several GE cassette AM-FM portable units but now I gotta try to find an 8-track stereo by GE. If they are in good condition they are no longer cheap. Thanks for showing this model. The other two pale in comparison.
Maybe not as convenient but I loved the separating speaker concept!
When the first light started working , I was more excited than anyone should have gotten. lol
I only have my GE portable 8-track player that I got off a eBay about three weeks ago and I did a video of the machine. It still works, but when I first tested it, it doesn’t play, and the head on the channel changer was slow when it switched back from 4 through 1, and I did fixed it and I replaced it with a new belt and it plays perfectly. It’s not that hard, but an easy fix.
this is great. it's good to see you back to exploring old audio/video devices. it's really my favorite kind of video you do!
Matt, one thing I'd really suggest for prying is picking up some of those plastic pry tools. There are ones made from glass fiber reinforced nylon, and they work great for popping things apart without marring plastic! I want to say Menda made the ones I have, but there are others.
Also, for some reason the design of that General Electric model seems very familiar to me. I know they did some other ones in similar designs, but I can't for the life of me remember where I saw them.
A guitar pick works as well or an old credit card
@@BLUE_OCTOBER-TRIX indeed they do, especially the fake cards they used to mail out
Considering Bill Lear (yeah, that Lear) was a developer of the 8-track (Richard Kraus invented), that early box is very cool.
That's pretty cool! Assumed it was just a licensed name they slapped on.
@@peterlarkin762 - Bill needed light and compact entertainment for his spiffy new business jet.
It’s funny how the songs playing on the various radio stations were time appropriate.
Love that GE! Both units could probably use a drop of light oil on the motor bearings.
My late aunt had that Lear Jet 8-Track player in her kitchen. I haven’t thought about it for years!
My uncle who’s probably closer to your age has a 8 track player with a ton of tapes as well, he also had a portable one he used to bring on camping trips, got into Boz Scaggs from this trip back in ‘81 when he was 21. His was silver and chrome, not sure what brand though. Mind you still consider him young for he’s 14 years older than me, mom’s youngest brother, her being the oldest. Love your channel I’m reminiscing now. ❤
Your restraint was rewarded on your "1" light. I think that was my favourite thing in the whole video, tbh.
I love the bit at 8:21 about matching batteries... 😂