Excessive Tape Hiss??

[jiggz]

Hi
I have just recently become a proud owner of a Teac A3440 4 track and i must say that i am quite concerned about the amount of tape hiss/noise coming from the unit.
I have thoruoghly cleaned the unit in all the appropriate places and i am using a fairly new good quality roll of Quantegy 456, but i just cannot believe the amount of hiss coming off the unit, it is totally unusable!

I have just compared it to my 2track Revox A77 using the same roll of tape and the difference is uncanny!!
The Revox only runs at 7.7ips max, yet it is completely silent compared to the Teac @15ips.

If anyone can offer any advise it would be greatly appreciated!!?

I must say that i have had the Revox serviced and calibrated for use with Quantegy tape so i presume this would make a difference, but being very new to this whole game i do not know what that actualy means technically speaking, so i have come to you guys and this great forum for some help if anyone can help??

Jiggz

[MadAudio]

More than likely your machine needs to be aligned for the tape you want to use. It is very important to do this!

BTW is it new or used, because usually a new one is already set up for a certain tape type.

[jiggz]

Thanks for the response!

It is a used unit.
I kinda figured it was probably a tape thing, i even noticed that it wouldn't completely erase what was on there previously, you could hear the old recording very easily underneath while the new recording was playing!

Bye the way, how do you go about aligning the machine for certain tape, is this a pro task for a technician or can it be done at home?

Thanks
Jiggz

[MadAudio]

It's a pro task. It can be done at home, but you'd need some expensive stuff to do it. Alignment tape alone can run $150.

If the erase head is not completely clearing the tape, then you may possibly have other issues. This might change once the machine is set up for your tape type. I would have the technician look at the heads as well.

[jiggz]

Thanks a lot!
I feared the worst, i hoped i would get lucky and buy a machine that would not require servicing, oh well it will strengthen our relationship at least!!

Thanks a lot for your time Mad'
Jiggz

[Avalonpb]

Did the machine come with the RX-9 DBX? The A3440 is really noisy without the factory DBX.

[MCI2424]

Originally Posted by jiggz

Hi
I have just recently become a proud owner of a Teac A3440 4 track and i must say that i am quite concerned about the amount of tape hiss/noise coming from the unit.
I have thoruoghly cleaned the unit in all the appropriate places and i am using a fairly new good quality roll of Quantegy 456, but i just cannot believe the amount of hiss coming off the unit, it is totally unusable!

I have just compared it to my 2track Revox A77 using the same roll of tape and the difference is uncanny!!
The Revox only runs at 7.7ips max, yet it is completely silent compared to the Teac @15ips.

If anyone can offer any advise it would be greatly appreciated!!?

I must say that i have had the Revox serviced and calibrated for use with Quantegy tape so i presume this would make a difference, but being very new to this whole game i do not know what that actualy means technically speaking, so i have come to you guys and this great forum for some help if anyone can help??

Jiggz

Get it aligned and check that the heads are not worn out. They were a bit hissy, but not that bad.

[Herm]

Originally Posted by Avalonpb

Did the machine come with the RX-9 DBX? The A3440 is really noisy without the factory DBX.

This statement is incorrect. The A 3440 is a old machine and could have bad heads or out of spec. But a good one is not Noisy.

[MadAudio]

This thread is 4 years old......

[Herm]

Shit now I feel like a nucklehead

[MadAudio]

Originally Posted by Herm

Shit now I feel like a nucklehead

It could be worse. I looked at my initial responses and now see I could have added more. Hindsight is 20/20 and all that....

[superspit]

excessive tape...er...thread age?