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thebonk - 2013-09-04 12:11

Hello all,

My first post. I've just bought a GF 555. It's in pretty decent condition. 2 of the aluminium? plates are missing. One from tape 1 and the thin one from the light display above the bass, treble etc. All seems to work fine except from tape 2 I'm getting a clicking/knocking sound, and the thin silver rod, bottom right is continually spinning.

Apologies for the bad description and lack of part names. Any idea what could be the cause and how I can fix it?

Thanks.

soundboy - 2013-09-04 13:04

I m not able to help yet would enjoy some pic's

thebonk - 2013-09-04 13:19

FILE - IMG_5775.MOV

northerner - 2013-09-04 23:40

These GF's almost always need a little rubber tyre replacing on the little metal spindle you mention...needs the decks removing to do it. Perished belts can also make a deck not shut off I believe. So I'd rebelt it, do the rubber tyre that melts and clean all the switches with servisol whilst I was in there. These are are all easy to do if you've done this sort of thing before but scary if you haven't! Sharps are great to work on IMO, easier than any others I've done, done loads of Sharps including my 525 which is basically the same beast as the 555. There are several threads about doing the melted tyre on here.

What experience do you have of opening these things up?

northerner - 2013-09-04 23:40

Oh and forgot to say...welcome to the forum!!

thebonk - 2013-09-04 23:59

Thanks. Sounds like that could be the cause. I've no experience at all. I'll search how to replace the belt, but I don't think I'd trust myself to be honest.
Are you a northerner in England?
Is the 555 worth doing? Seem to get some pretty bad press on here. Mine wasn't expensive and the sound quality doesn't seem too bad. Plus the bonus is I can play music through it with my phone.
Cheers.

northerner - 2013-09-05 00:21

Yep I live up norf in North Yorkshire.

It's worth doing definitely. You get massive differences in opinion on any box, even some ultra desirable ones get slated by others. I like my 525, good sound but less bass than others I have. Real quality construction and a proper line in! Are you UK?

thebonk - 2013-09-05 00:29

Yep, Sheffield. Not a million miles away. I'll have a look into getting it sorted then. I was actually after a 777 but this turned up at flea market in France last weekend and I couldn't resist. Still got my eyes peeled for it's younger brother but the prices are bananas.

northerner - 2013-09-05 00:39

Nice place Sheffield. I have a service manual for the 555, if you pm your email address I'll send it you. It'll make dismantling loads easier. And if you're struggling to find the right threads on here let us know and we'll point you in the right direction. You really don't have to be a techie to repair this box.

777's ain't cheap generally but I've got loads of really nice boxes and didn't pay much for any of them other than one...so it can be done.

thebonk - 2013-09-05 04:47

Nice one. PM'd.

metad - 2013-09-05 05:38

Originally Posted by Thebonk:

I'm getting a clicking/knocking sound, and the thin silver rod, bottom right is continually spinning.

Any idea what could be the cause and how I can fix it?

Hi Thebonk,

that silver rod is called - capstan, and if it spins all the time, it means DC motor is always in working mode. Perhaps it caused by one of the broken leaf switches on the bottom of the deck, cause they are too fragile.

The clicking noise, most likely produced by solenoid in the APLD circuit.

Sorry to say, but it not caused by capstan tyre.

In this case difficult to make correct diagnosis via internet, but we can say for sure, the problem lies in the motor power circuit andor APLD circuit.

There is a service manual for this model in the tech section of this forum.

Good luck.

thebonk - 2013-09-05 06:03

Right. Is that an easy fix or not? I'm happy to take the back off and have a look, but I'm not really sure what to look for.

northerner - 2013-09-05 07:16

The way I deal with a repair is check off the easy things that I know will need doing ie capstan tyre, belts, switch cleaner...and then see if an issue still persists. As metad says its hard to diagnose a problem without seeing the box as an issue can be caused by many different things.

To check the micro switches you'd still need to get to the decks anyway so they can be checked whilst you're doing the other fixes...post a pic of what they look like and someone will tell you whether they look faulty or not