Wondering if this would be a good project. I have a Bell and Howell cassette recorder. The record function isn't working. All the bands were worn, tried replacing them but it's still not recording. However, it does have plug or battery power, four 1/4 headphone puts, six in, mic in, remote and 4ohm speaker put jack as well as onboard speaker in a nice size package with handle. If anyone can take a look at any pics or give advice/thoughts/instructions on using this as an amp people object please get in touch :-)
You need to be a member of Cigar Box Nation to add comments!
First, you can use the "aux in" jack as your guitar input. But you will need to get a 1/4" female to 1/8" male jack adapter.
Or...
You can covert the tape player to an amplifier by using the magnetic head (the part that "reads" the cassette tape) as your signal source. You need to open the unit and locate the magnetic head and locate the circuit board. You also need a multi-tester with a "continuity" test setting so you can trace the wires from the mag head to the circuit board.
With the tester, verify where each mag head wire connects to the circuit board. Then test to see which of those wires is "ground" and which is your + positive lead. Be sure to take a photo or draw a simple diagram indicating which is which.
Then cut the wires from the mag head. Those wires will need to be attached to a new 1/4" input jack that will need to be installed somewhere on the tape player body.
To activate the amp, press the "play" button of the tape player. To turn off, press the "stop" button.
Thanks to All! I could give umonof the 4 headphone its to get my 1/4 inch in without drilling a new hole as well. Looks like some wire and solder are in order and would be n business. I don't expect it to sound great but then I Cajun it to outboard can for different sound as well. I did see a video f a little Charlie Brown radio which sounded very nice.
Here are some pics. It has 4 headphone out jacks which turn off the internal speaker. It has 4ohm speaker put which also turns off internal speaker. I could use the cassett area to store a capo and pics. Has AC and battery option. I think the main thing is getting an adapter for the 1/8 inch input to be 1/4 for guitar and for the sound to go through speaker or external speaker without having to have the tape play back the sound but have inputs go live straight to speaker not just to record to tape.... Probably the output from tape to speaker needed to be rerouted to input jacks somehow and tape unit just taken out all together...? Can give additional pics, model info etc.. Have original manual too
Replies
There are two options that I can see.
First, you can use the "aux in" jack as your guitar input. But you will need to get a 1/4" female to 1/8" male jack adapter.
Or...
You can covert the tape player to an amplifier by using the magnetic head (the part that "reads" the cassette tape) as your signal source. You need to open the unit and locate the magnetic head and locate the circuit board. You also need a multi-tester with a "continuity" test setting so you can trace the wires from the mag head to the circuit board.
With the tester, verify where each mag head wire connects to the circuit board. Then test to see which of those wires is "ground" and which is your + positive lead. Be sure to take a photo or draw a simple diagram indicating which is which.
Then cut the wires from the mag head. Those wires will need to be attached to a new 1/4" input jack that will need to be installed somewhere on the tape player body.
To activate the amp, press the "play" button of the tape player. To turn off, press the "stop" button.
image.jpeg