The Marco-boy main system, as of August 2020

[User211]

I used mine mainly for recording John Peel.

I had to find what I had.

Here it is. It was a well made thing. It got nicked, unfortunately.

https://youtu.be/Hqwt6pkBCzQ

[Marco]

Sssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss.



I had a pretty decent Technics machine in the 70s. The only way I liked it was with Maxwell ferric oxide tapes and definitely no Dolby. Dolby was like listening through an ear muffler. Just plain sucked.

Sssssssssssssssssssssss. Ssss.

LOL.

No clicks and pops, though, which lets face it are even more annoying. TBH the ssssing never bothered me much as the music I listened to didn't have much in the way of quiet passages.

Enjoy Marco tis quite pretty.

Lolz - churz! Clicks and pops? Not on my vinyl watch, bro! Moi black frisbees iz squeaky cleanio, so niento poppity-clickety

Yeah, totally agree about zero Dolby - eva! In terms of audible hiss in between tracks, there isn't much at all (even through 95db Tannoys) with the sound up pretty loud and Dolby off, as this thing is so well 'sorted'.

I'm currently in the process of recording a CD to tape (Yello - Touch), using one of the NOS Maxells, so will report back on the results when finished. What a joy it is having cool VU meters to use for adjusting levels, along with some good slide controls for each channel - *so* much better than naff LEDs and a knob...

On playback of chrome tapes I'd made from my system years ago, I'm very pleased with the sound - really crisp, clear and punchy, with a lovely rich, tight and tuneful bass, SO analogue! Even without it having had a proper service so far, the Tandberg is right up there with the best decks I've heard, including top Sonys, Pioneers and Naks.

It has a very open sound and isn't rounded-off or muffled in the mids and top end like many of its ilk, and in that respect sounds more like good CD than tape, but with that addictively 'creamy' and organic sound you only get with analogue.

There's defo more to come though with a proper service. I examined the heads and pinch rollers earlier, and can see little signs of wear, but gave them both a good clean - not much dirt came off, which is testament to how well this deck's been looked after - and it is veritably immaculate. Like Martin says, 'showroom condition'!

I'm using the phono sockets just now as outputs to the preamp, but there's also an option of a 5-pin DIN socket (to phono), a la Quad and B&O, which the manual says is more sensitive than the phono sockets, so once a suitable cable arrives, I'll be trying that to see if there is any difference. It sounds great through the phonos, but I suspect there may be a gain in SQ using the DIN.

Anyway, I'm really enjoying it, so it's defo 250 notes well spent!

Marco.

[Marco]

I thought the number of 'Dolbys' a deck had was purely a status symbol. Did anyone ever use any of them when taping a mate's records? Except once to discover that on balance they'd rather have the hiss?

Yeah, defo... Although as I've just told Justers, there really isn't much hiss to speak of. A nice thing too is that when you're in record mode, a really cool big (vertical) red light illuminates, rather like the 'On Air' sign you once seen in radio stations, and along with the coloured VU meters, creates a nice glow in the dark!

Marco.

[Macca]

Find yourself a PXL-2000 and you can record video on your cassette tapes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PXL-2000

[User211]

Actually although analogue VU meters are pretty, the LEDs were a significant advance at the time. They were much quicker and hence more accurate at displaying peaks. And the ones on my Technics were lovely. Spent ages just staring at them.

I wouldn't mind that machine again. Three on eBay in Germany at the moment. £180. Not sure I want to bother with the servicing etc.

[Marco]

Find yourself a PXL-2000 and you can record video on your cassette tapes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PXL-2000

A cool thing... But not really something I'm into

Marco.

[Marco]

Actually although analogue VU meters are pretty, the LEDs were a significant advance at the time. They were much quicker and hence more accurate at displaying peaks. And the ones on my Technics were lovely. Spent ages just staring at them.

Yeah they looked good on the video, although I'd have to disagree about LEDs. I like to see tips of needles hitting the red zone on meters, not (what I consider) as indistinct, flickering bursts of light on the peaks. I guess it's a personal thing, but I can just read VU meters easier - and at the end of the day, something is only as accurate as you're successfully able to use it

I wouldn't mind that machine again. Three on eBay in Germany at the moment. £180. Not sure I want to bother with the servicing etc.

You should take the plunge, as it doesn't necessarily need to compete with your other sources, sonically, just provide a bit fun.The big bonus for me will be making up compilations of my 80s 12" singles (got around 1000 of them), and over Christmas enjoying them through the Celestions downstairs in the lounge.

Servicing isn't a massive issue, depending on how much the deck is used and how well it's looked after. Once I get the Tandberg done, I wouldn't envisage needing it serviced again in years.

Got a few NOS 100-minute blank tapes, so having nearly an hour's worth of uninterrupted choons from my yoof, per side, will be quite nice! My next toy though will be a Tascam CD-R machine, so I can start ripping vinyl again to CD, and do it to a very high standard

Marco.

[Barry]

I used to have a Sony cassette machine which I bought when I found it could make equally good recordings as my Series 6 Ferrograph reel-to-reel machine, but without the inconvenience of the latter.

It had fluorescent bar meters which I liked as it had the facility of leaving a short term record of the highest reading ( a bit like a maximum and minimum thermometer). The argument over whether needle meters or bar meters are better or not, is simply one of aesthetics. What is more important is the 'ballistics' - how quickly does the meter react, and how quickly does it fall back from a peak. In that respect PPM (peak programme meters) are much better than VU (volume unit) meters, and I have found that in general bar meters have similar ballistics to that of PPMs.

I quickly found out that the best tape to use was Sony's own, as the bias etc was obviously set up for it. It was poor with pre-recorded tapes (I later found out that only a few manufacturers adhered to the Philips Red-book specification).

Within a year or two I had replaced it with a Nakamichi B125E, and used it with 'bog standard' TDK D tape (but later had Bowers & Wilkins re-bias the machine so as to use TDK MA metal tape). Always used 90 minute tapes, so as to fit two LPs worth. Oh, and I also used Dolby 'B', as I could hear the difference with and without. The Nak also played back pre-recorded tapes properly, as it was one of the few machines to follow the Red Book; not that I had many pre-recorded tapes (about three, I think). Most of the tapes I made were for the car, but I did record some plays and many, many editions of 'Late Junction' on Radio 3, to hear 'new', contemporary Classical, Electronic and 'ethnic' music.

I also have a Nakamichi BX-2 machine - forerunner of the BX125. Both machines are capable of making good recordings. I once made a copy of a piano concerto using TDK metal tape in a metal-bodied cassette - the copy was indistinguishable from the CD. I wish I had bought a lot more of the metal-bodied cassettes; they are absurdly priced these days.



I do have a CD recorder, picked up for a song, but haven't tried out yet. Must do so, if only to record CDs for the car (I dislike the 'slot' entry players, fearing they might scratch the CDs, so will only play copies).

[Marco]

All interesting stuff, Barry.

I take your point about meters, but as I'm not really making 'serious' recordings, absolute accuracy isn't important. The VU meters on the Tandberg are very well engineered and seem to do their job well - certainly good enough for me, and they also look cool, which in my case is an important factor..

I always found metal tapes, except one that Sony [and TDK] did, with a solid-metal casing/bodyshell, which was silly expensive, and sounded superb, rather 'shiny' sounding and lacking in warmth, tonally. A bit like they were trying too hard to sound 'super-clear and clean' (like 'digital'), to my ears, at the expense of musicality.

It's probably largely a personal taste thing, but I also feel the same way with, for example, many modern MC cartridges, which for me are voiced in a similar way: hi-fi over music.

The Tandberg [do you like it, btw?] seems to really like NOS (I only ever buy the best NOS, unopened blank tapes, as anything remotely new is cack in comparison) Maxell XLII90s, as the recordings I'm getting with those, with Dolby off and EQ set for Chrome, are quite superb, and quite honestly deviate little from the source CD. Yes, THAT good!

There's obviously nothing wrong with the heads of this machine, which is something that was of slight concern, as with 45+ years of use, you just don't know what you'll be getting in that respect... It'll be interesting hearing what (if any) difference a good service makes, but I'll be doing it mainly for peace of mind and to know that everything is 'right'.

I'll be spending some time tomorrow making recordings from vinyl, so I'm looking forward to how that turns out

Marco.

[Barry]

I thought the same about Chrome tapes. But I guess it's a matter of taste.