Tape Project Forum
Tape Machines => Reel to Reel Tape Machines => Topic started by: mossfred on November 02, 2010, 10:07:52 AM
-
Just playing with my newly acquired MX5050B11 2, but i am having difficulty understanding how it works.
My first attempts at recording after setting bias and level sounded ok but rather hissy on low flux position. Changing to high seems to do more than adjust the level shown on the meters improving the hiss level substantially even though i am keeping the recorded level the same ie on the tape.
My understanding of the instruction manual was that as i switch higher the actual level put on the tape would be higher for a reference level of 0db on the meters,and that was the only effect, is this correct?
I must be missing something.
Difficult to explain!
Fred
-
Fred,
What type tape are you using? With today's type tape you should use the middle setting.
Jay
-
The level switch on the back of the Otari is very misleading. While one would think that it would allow the user to adjust the bias for different kinds of tape, in fact all it does is to change the playback levels to compensate for the amount of headroom which various types of tapes have. I believe the positions are for Ampex Operating Level (low), 250 nw/meter (comparable to Ampex/Quantegy 456 tape) (medium) and (320 nw/meter) (high). The recording bias on the Otari needs to be adjusted manually.
-
I have tried several tapes, Basf, Maxell XL1 and TDK GX but whichever i use it seems the noise floor decreases with the higher settings, which would make sense except that i am equalizing the recording levels!
Fred
-
The level switch on the back of the Otari is very misleading. While one would think that it would allow the user to adjust the bias for different kinds of tape, in fact all it does is to change the playback levels to compensate for the amount of headroom which various types of tapes have. I believe the positions are for Ampex Operating Level (low), 250 nw/meter (comparable to Ampex/Quantegy 456 tape) (medium) and (320 nw/meter) (high). The recording bias on the Otari needs to be adjusted manually.
There is a switch on the front for recording.
Jay