I bought an Otari MX-5050BII-2 several years back hoping to use it, native, for Tape Project tapes. I had the deck refurbished at an Otari-authorized dealer and had the heads relapped and the other parts checked. Mechanically it seems to work fine, but it's very noisy through to the balanced inputs on my preamp.
Even though economic pressures have prevented me from subscribing as I had hoped, I've decided to keep the machine and tweak it, as inexpensively as possible, for the day when I can finally buy the Tape Project or other master tapes for it. There are other articles on this forum that point to bad links regarding preamp upgrades. Can anyone give me the straight poop on the best way to DIY the Otari electronics? Are there any specialists out there doing these mods for a reasonable (i.e., wife-friendly) sum. I'd also like to know more about the upcoming Bottlehead mod and what it does. I don't want to throw good money after bad, though. If it's not worth the expense, so be it.
Thanks in advance.
