New Tascam 34b Distorting on Low End

[konabuzz]

Well......not new new, of course, but new to me, certainly.

Picked up a 34b 4 track open reel on Ebay and just got it back from the shop after having the pinch roller replaced, heads demagged, etc. etc. The tech said he doesn't see many decks in this condition, and he meant it positively. He did some test recording/playback on all 4 channels, using line level outs from a stereo receiver -- fair enough. It was relatively clean sounding, and the bass was punchy and tight, with little or no distortion. He did not bury the needles, opting for the 0db average peak. I wasn't totally blown away, but thought....heh heh...wait 'till I get home and feed it a signal through my RNP.

Hmmm......I set up with my acoustic guit through an ADK tube mic and into the RNP w/RNC on Supernice mode -- a standard setup that works a treat into my Layla 24 when recording to my DAW.

So......why, oh why am I getting so much distortion on the low end? It's not there through the headphone outs.....it's hitting the tape that way. My bass strings just kill it -- they become all fuzzed out/boomy, etc. My vocal seems to be ok. I'm not burying the needles, either. If I back off on the Tascam input gain, hiss is a problem. Gotta have hot levels, but damn......the distortion is a real buzzkill. By the way, I'm using some old tape, Ampex 641, but its never been used. Could it be how the Tascam is calibrated? I'd hate to drag it back to the shop again -- is there anything I can do?

Obviously I'm a newb when it comes to being a genuine tapeop.

[Family Hoof]

It was calibrated for the 641? I don't know much about that tape type, but if it were a modern high output type like 456 or something I'd say that you're more likely to distort the input electronics than the tape and THAT is a nasty sound. While there is probably an LF adjustment for calibrating, it shouldn't necessarily sound bad if set improperly. I dunno.

[Zeppelin4Life]

Try some Quantegy 456 tape...