Price: $9.95.
Company Address: P.O. Box Bellingham, Wash. 98227.
Most cassette deck users are well aware of the need for regular Cleaning along the tape path to maintain the recorder's best performance. I suspect that many are as reluctant as I am to do the job regularly. The Allsop 3 cassette deck cleaner, contained within a cassette shell made for drop-in-and play cleaning, should appeal to them.
Each of the Allsop's hubs has an external gear which mates with a second gear which, in turn, drives a cam to which is attached a springy arm with a felt pad at its end. When either hub is driven, in either direction of play, the pad is driven back and forth across the head(s) in the cassette shell's center opening.
The Allsop 3 shell also holds two snap-in cartridges, each with two felt pads which are positioned to clean the capstans and associated pinch rollers The arrangement can be matched to single-capstan decks (by snapping in only one cartridge) and dual-capstan decks with auto reverse. But for some single-direction, dual-capstan decks, the left pinch-roller felt is in the wrong position. On such decks, a tape guide would .prevent the felt from cleaning the second pinch roller (though it would still clean the second capstan). A bottle of cleaning solution is also included, and just one or two drops are applied to each felt, as needed, for cleaning. Thus, in play mode, the head structure is wiped by the oscillating felt at the same time that the two felts in the cartridge are bearing against the rotating capstan and roller. The felt against the roller is also on a springy arm, ensuring contact with any size roller.
With most decks tried, the Allsop 3 worked very well in removing even small deposits. I liked the felt-pad approach for capstan-an-roller cleaning, as cotton swabs can have fibers pulled off, particularly in play. With one very dirty head, two little ridges were deposited at the end of pad travel, an undesirable result. My conclusion is that the Allsop 3 is certainly best used regularly to forestall such a result-and to maintain good performance in any event. The Allsop 3 was especially attractive as the means to clean car units which give substantially no access to the tape head.
The brief instructions tell what to do, including the replacement of center felts and cartridges, and being able to do that is a definite plus for the device.
Instructions on cleaning the felts would be a welcome addition. Other tape head cleaners can be used on the felts, but only a couple of drops are in order, whatever choice is made. The Allsop 3 I evaluated came in a blister pack, but there is another model, at higher cost, which includes a handy carrying case.
-Howard A. Roberson
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(Adapted from Audio magazine, May 1984)
Also see:
Discwasher D'MAG Cassette Deck Demagnetizer (May 1984)
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