It's been a fun conversation for me. Other then boomboxes back in the 80's I've never had a real deck so this has been a lot of fun and a cool learning experience. I'm learning that I can't expect too much from this ancient deck. I can see by the use of my test cd that the bass response on this deck and tape starts to slowly drop at frequencies starting even around 100hz or so, by maybe a db and like 2-3 db at 50hz. Right around 30hz it really drops, 25 isn't audible and 20hz barely registers. No wonder I feel like using tone controls - but not so much on Larrys recordings!
I've been experimenting with going direct vs tape out on pre. I need to do more a/b but I'm starting to think the TDK isn't as good as the maxells or BASF's I've been trying, at least on this deck. Larry's yamaha must be alot more quiet since I notice a LOT more hiss on my recordings. It only seems to matter when I'm being dead critical. I would say that i defineatly get better quality without the dolby B though. I'm about out of time tonight, looking forward to trying new things. The 1020 kit should be in tomorrow-cant wait!