Tape Project Forum
General Category => Prerecorded Tapes => Topic started by: intell on September 18, 2007, 02:24:04 PM
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Hi all!
Anybody have Elton John - "don't shoot me..."(MCA 2100-C) album on R2R?
I have some questions.
My tape sounds like it was recorded via incorrect adjusted dolby noise reduction unit
(HF dynamics not natural, and sound of cymbals fade too fast).
Tape look's like it should be original (old tape, brown color).
I very like this album, should I take attempt to buy another exemplar, or are all have the same bad quality?
Thank you!
Anton. Russia.
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Was the tape produced in the US or France? I know some Stereotapes with printing in English were made in France. I don't have any, but I wonder if the eq is iec and not nab. If so, and you're using a deck with nab eq, it will cause serious miss tracking of the Dolby decoding. If you check ebay, there are 2 "don't shoot me..." there now. The label won't say which eq was used but it will say where it was produced. I suspect that the above is the case.
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Hi ironbut!
label on reel sayed: "recorded in france", but on box: "manufactured by MAGTEC"
here a reel that i have:
(http://photofile.ru/photo/intell/1369074/large/38466608.jpg).
and here that i found on ebay:
(http://i23.ebayimg.com/04/i/000/b6/ed/628a_1.JPG)
Boxes looks the same, labels on reels too, but reels are different.
I have one MAGTEC tape, and this tape have black plastic reel (like on second image).
Looks like in France use the same labels and box as in USA, and different reel design (clear or yellow plastic).
This is non dolby tape, so misstracking can be occurence only on master reading/creation stage.
My machine has tube preamp of my own design, and switchable EQ (HF 35,50,70,90 LF 0,3180), and i'm allready play this tape with 70us (IEC) EQ.
Okay, i'm try to buy this album on black reel (suppose that black reel - US recorded tape), and check quality of recording.
Thank you.
UPDATE:
I found this reel on ebay:
(http://img.auctiva.com/imgdata/4/1/3/7/8/4/webimg/70968639_o.jpg)
On label clearly described that this tape - MAGTEC tape.
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I can say that my copy of Elton John's "Tumbleweed Connection" @ 3 3/4 ips. on UNi / Magtec is my "poster child" for bad quality prerecorded reels. The highs are boosted and slurred and "mushy" in much the same way as some old cassettes (or bad MP3s). In fact I would bet a newer prerecorded cassette of this album would sound better than my reel (bought new by me BTW, back in the day)