Cheers for the replies guys! Right, I have cleaned the tip a little (I'm using acetone, but wasn't sure of the suitability re adhesives(?), so didn't get too carried away!) I found a little crappy microscope at home, and there seems to be a few deposits on the tip, especially on the trailing edge, as expected. Sound is not a lot different

yep, you're right, it's an 1800, edited now, cheers for pointing out my ineptitude!

Hi all, great forum! I recently purchased a Beogram 1800 (1980s version) for a meagre sum off eBay and have been trying to get it up and running. It came with a broken MMC4, so first of all I bought a used MMC5 which seems to be very lightly used (I have no microscope, but the tip looks pretty sharp under a magnifying glass...). The main problem at