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Head Demagnetising

It is good practice to demagnetise or degauss the heads and guides of any tape recorder regularly to reduce the possibility of permanently magnetised parts, which can cause hiss, crackles and loss of high frequencies.

Here's how to do it:

2/. Plug in the and switch on the demagnetiser, holding it well away from the tape machine.

3/. Bring the demagnetiser towards the machine and move it's probe slowly across the surfaces of all the heads and guides that the tape touches on the way through the machine. If your degausser has a metal tip, be careful not to scratch the delicate surfaces.

4/. You will feel a slight vibrating sensation, proving that a strong AC magnetic field is established.

5/. Very slowly, withdraw the demagnetiser away from the tape machine and unplug it when at least a metre away.

6/. You are aiming to gradually reduce the magnetic field from maximum to zero, thus removing any residual magnetism in the tape path.

7/. Don't forget to thoroughly clean the heads and guides, using a cotton bud moistened with isopropyl-alcohol or methylated spirit.

8/. Refit the head cover and power up the machine. It should now yield it's best performance once more.

If you need to buy a demagnetiser, we can supply one on our accessories page.