Mara Machines MCI JH24 1" Eight-Track

This is the famed JH24 2” chassis offered as a 1” 8 track. This is the machine that made MCI famous. You HAVE heard this machine before - it was the workhorse machine for studios all over the United States for all of the 1980s. These machines record at both 15 & 30 IPS , and have separate controls for both speeds, so you can toggle between speeds at the flip of a switch. Comes with auto locator & remote.

Features:

• Totally restored
• Relapped Heads with head report
• Custom Wooden Drawers Available
• Comes aligned for ATR Tape at 15 & 30 IPS
• Wide-track format
• Support for first-time tape machine owners
• Six-month parts warranty - 90 day labor
• Tuechel I/O

The Restoration Process

"We achieve the same level of restoration for each machine by tearing the machines completely down to the frame, and re-assemble as each Molex connectors and other stress points are resoldered. This takes place in the power supply, transport and audio boards. Roughly 500 solder points and 80 IC chips are reworked, re-soldered or cleaned... and that’s on the two track machines. The total number of solder points and connectors multiplies quickly as tracks are added.

All of this happens before the machine is even turned on. Everything is resoldered to help insure that future problems are headed off at the pass.

After that, every transport adjustment is made - lifters, brakes, tensions, etc., then on to the audio. All audio channels are aligned at all speeds. Certain capacitors get replaced, like the capacitor that controls the accuracy of the counter. We recap certain capacitors on the audio cards We strive to have a complete restoration, yet meet an affordable price point.

After all of that we burn them in and stress test each machine by running through multiple alignments so no other issues pop up before they go out the door. If there should be an issue, every machine comes with a sixmonth warranty and our techs can help via Skype.

The beauty about the MCI decks is that they are very, very modular. Each channel is broken up into separate cards to handle the different tasks of the channel. If a problem is to occur, we can diagnose it together by swapping cards and the problematic card can be shipped to me for repair or replacement. The same goes for the transport and power supply. Many parts are compatible between the JH110 and JH24 series making learning and maintaining these machines very easy and user friendly, even for people new to tape machines!"

-Chris Mara | Mara Machines

Please note: These are authentic vintage tape machines which are tediously restored on a 'per order' basis. Raw machines may not always be available for restoration, so please contact us today for availability and lead time.