CPC 464 Tape Deck clicking/popping on playback

[jm100]

Hi all,

Long time reader, first time poster!

Looking for some validation/advice on a noise that my 464's tape deck has been making - sort of a clicking or a popping. Seems to happen on playback and on FF and is coming through the speaker, as if I turn the volume off I can no longer hear it. Also seems to happen even with no tape in the drive, so doesn't appear to be tape related.

I've serviced the following parts of the deck recently:

• New belts
• New idler tyre
• All new Rubycon capacitors on the tape PCB (apart from the non-polarised one as I didn't have any in stock)
• Cleaned pinch roller and tape heads with IPA 99

Also seems to be a bit of wobble in the tape signal but not sure why.

Concerned if the popping is happening over the tape signal it could be leading to unnecessary read errors?

I have a Mabuchi motor in stock and some replacement tape heads so could try changing those, although it's a lot of work to do for potentially no gain, and the tape head currently looks fine.

Audio recording of the sound taken whilst playing a blank tape: https://vocaroo.com/1bDQRYY2ugVy

Is this normal or something I should take action on?

Cheers
jm