Tape Player Distortion

[12milluz]

I've heard a little bit about this...can anyone help me with the specifics of how exactly to do it?

[Rodgre]

Brad Laner of the band Medicine used this as his main distortion (he used a 4-track, if I recall) and I once saw a band in NYC where the bass player used a cassette deck for his fuzz. Pretty neat. I've done it a few times with tape decks and other devices with preamping capabilities for interesting extreme fuzz.

Basically, you get a standalone cassette recorder, plug your instrument into it. Put it in record-ready mode and crank the record level. Plug it into a volume pedal or something that will at least give you the ability to turn down the master level. There ya go.

Roger

[12milluz]

Thanks! Now I've also heard of doing it with a portable cassette deck. Anyone know the specifics of this?

[ambulancevoice]

yeah, all you do is remove the tape head and wire a input jack in place of it, and use the headphone jack as an output, or wire your own jack
i attempted this but it didnt work and i gotta do it again
but one tip, the older the tape deck, or walkman, the better
try and avoid a smd ones, and get one that uses traditional components

here is a tutorial on making one
and yeah

http://brokenpants.com/?page_id=211
and some notes and mods
http://necrosensual.com/bent/walkmandistortion.txt

[12milluz]

Hey, Thanks a lot!