TP-027, Jerry Garcia / David Grisman wins a Writer's Choice Award from Myles Astor of Positive Feedback Online

Author Topic: My Tascam 42B is about ready to rock, But .........  (Read 4017 times)

Offline rbwtapeinterlink-Bob

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My Tascam 42B is about ready to rock, But .........
« on: May 15, 2013, 06:25:54 PM »
Hello all,
I am about ready to setup my Tascam, but, I am thinking about replacing the playback head. After speaking with Mr. John French, I found out that the original heads on my tape deck are very low output. I was not aware of that initially. The present heads are all TEAC's. What I am wondering is whether these are the same heads on the Tascam BR-20? If so, is anyone using their deck with an outboard pre amp, and if so, are you having any problems with low output, hiss or hum?

Mr. French suggest I check out the Nortronic 400mH heads. He notes there should be a significant increase in gain without and increase in hiss levels. The problem is whether my tech will be able to mount the Nortronic in the tape head shoe on my deck. Right now, my tech has to send the TEAC head off to Mr. French for matching. We will see what happens. Again, I am wondering if any other Tascam user have problems using an outboard pre amp and if so, what are the problems? I plan to post a photo once I am set up and ready to go. Thanks so much all.

bob w.
Bob W. (African American) VPI, Ref Standard Grado, Denon 103r, Threshold, DecWare tube pre and Classe pre amp, Jolida tube phono pre amp, (Peter Gunn) modified Magnapan 1.6, Tascam 32-2B & 42B tape decks, Parasound belt drive CD transport, Pacific Valve tube DAC, VPI  TT, various upscale cables.

Offline MylesAstor

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Re: My Tascam 42B is about ready to rock, But .........
« Reply #1 on: May 17, 2013, 05:11:08 PM »
Hello all,
I am about ready to setup my Tascam, but, I am thinking about replacing the playback head. After speaking with Mr. John French, I found out that the original heads on my tape deck are very low output. I was not aware of that initially. The present heads are all TEAC's. What I am wondering is whether these are the same heads on the Tascam BR-20? If so, is anyone using their deck with an outboard pre amp, and if so, are you having any problems with low output, hiss or hum?

Mr. French suggest I check out the Nortronic 400mH heads. He notes there should be a significant increase in gain without and increase in hiss levels. The problem is whether my tech will be able to mount the Nortronic in the tape head shoe on my deck. Right now, my tech has to send the TEAC head off to Mr. French for matching. We will see what happens. Again, I am wondering if any other Tascam user have problems using an outboard pre amp and if so, what are the problems? I plan to post a photo once I am set up and ready to go. Thanks so much all.

bob w.

Bob:

You should talk to Charlie King! He put Nortronics heads in my Technics deck and they are a huge step over the stock heads! Better extremes, transparency and resolution!!!
Myles B. Astor
Magico S5 Mk. 2/cj ART>cj GAT Series 2 preamp>Doshi 3.0 phono>VPI Vanquish/3D arm/Atlas SL/Ortofon A95 cartridges/SRA Ohio Class XL+2 base>Technics 1506/low ind. FM heads/balanced out/Doshi V3.0 tape stage>Kubala-Sosna Emotion/ Transparent Audio Gen. 5; Viero speaker cables

Offline rbwtapeinterlink-Bob

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Re: My Tascam 42B is about ready to rock, But .........
« Reply #2 on: May 18, 2013, 05:46:22 AM »
Good Saturday Morning Mr. Astor,

Thank you for this information. I think I might have found an answer to my problem. If that does not work, I will check in with Mr. StellaVox himself. Thanks again sir.

bob w.
Bob W. (African American) VPI, Ref Standard Grado, Denon 103r, Threshold, DecWare tube pre and Classe pre amp, Jolida tube phono pre amp, (Peter Gunn) modified Magnapan 1.6, Tascam 32-2B & 42B tape decks, Parasound belt drive CD transport, Pacific Valve tube DAC, VPI  TT, various upscale cables.