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Maintenance and Troubleshooting, Chapter 18
18-6 ALESIS M20 REFERENCE MANUAL 1.06
18.1A HEAD CLEANING CASSETTES (OPTIONAL)
For preventative maintenance, you may use a DRY VHS head cleaning cassette if you
wish, but Alesis does not see these as a substitute for thorough manual cleaning. Dry
cleaning tapes are simply VHS video tapes purposely made with a slightly coarse
surface. We recommend:
Sony Video Cleaning tape (model V-25CL)
TDK Video Head Cleaner (dry type only)
3M VHSHC Black Watch Head Cleaner Video Cassette
3M ASD HC Digital Audio Head Cleaning Cassette
Insert the tape into the M20 every 10-20 drum hours, play the tape through once,
(normally 2-3 minutes) rewind it, then eject it. Most of these tapes are encoded with a
video signal; you may erase that by formatting the cleaning tape. If you play the tape
without formatting it, it will still do the job, but various error messages may appear
during the process.
Dry head cleaning tapes become less effective each time they are used; many brands
recommend a new tape after 20 passes through the machine. While they are mildly
abrasive, they do not wear the heads significantly when used properly.
On the down side, head cleaning cassettes are seldom effective on a head that is already
dirty enough to cause significant errors. In an emergency, you may use a cleaning tape
several times in a row to get the heads clean enough to get through a session, but a
complete cleaning by a qualified service technician will still be needed.
• Do NOT use any other type of head cleaning cassette. They are abrasive and will
damage or wear out your heads.
• Do NOT use head cleaning cassettes that require any kind of liquid.
• Do NOT attempt to clean the heads yourself unless you are a skilled technician
experienced in the maintenance of video cassette recorders. Information for such
technicians is available below and from Alesis Product Support. ADAT head
cleaning requires different materials and procedures from analog head cleaning,
similar to VCR maintenance. Cleaning the heads with a cotton swab, or rubbing
in the wrong direction, will destroy them. Opening the case of your ADAT will
void the warranty.
18.1B MANUAL HEAD AND TAPE PATH CLEANING
If the error count is high, or more than 250 “drum on” hours have elapsed since the last
complete cleaning, a manual cleaning of the head drum and tape path is recommended.
If you are experienced in VCR maintenance, you may clean the heads of the M20
yourself. Otherwise, this service may be performed by an Alesis service center for a
nominal charge.
Eject the tape, turn the POWER switch off, and unplug the M20 from
AC power before opening the unit!