A Reel Person
It's Too Funky in Here!!!
I calibrated my 238 yesterday, presale. It generally turned out well. I spent pretty much all day on it, mostly because I'm a perfectionist & if something isn't spot-on I'll retrace my steps several times from the beginning until it's right.
A couple things stand out to me:...
The peak-holding LED meters are great & everything, but you don't get that fine analog movement you get with needle style VU meters. Not as much of a nit when recording regular music, but definitely one when calibrating. It's kind of "turn it til it lights, then turn it some more til the next one lights, then back it off a bit. That's not "true" precision, but is as good as it gets.
I had no problem with most of it, except Bias Set. Mind you, the manual is not verbose in this section and leaves much to be desired. What it says, basically, is "set up with Rec/Pause & DBX On, with a -30dB input signal (-20dB below nominal level; 0Vu), and adjust R62 for 'same level on 1kHz and 10kHz' on each channel.
My concerns are these:
Does it imply to record 1kHz and 10kHz to tape and try to get them to read the same level on Rec/Play for each frequency, independenly? Or, to get 1K & 10K reading the same with respect to each other? Then, -20dbVU is just the single bottom-most LED on the bar. How do you get precision there? Either it lights or it doesn't. Lastly, having tried it in respect to getting 1kHz & 10kHz independently reading the same levels on Rec/PB, I found that turning the trimmer R62 seemed to have no effect. Either the range is very small and subtle, or I'm missing the point completely. I'm not sure which. Beyond that, I had some trouble with some DBX REC LEVEL pots on some channels not seeming to adjust at all. I attributed that to possible dead trim pots due to age and corrosion. However, this phantom menace seemed to move thru a few channels, first 5, then 6, then 8,... then seemed to go away after much back tracking and re-doing over the hours. I also reseated the suspected cards, a 5 minute detour for each card, as they didn't seem to act up all at once. I'm wondering if anyone has any insight to these nits? (Thanks!)
However, with that being said,... I think it turned out well and is in tip-top presale condition, not to mention much better than when I got it. Before starting it had about a 2-3dB rolloff between Rec and PB.
(Now if only the buyer would show up, another issue entirely!)
When all is said and done, the proof is in the pudding!
[See: Off-tape response]...
A couple things stand out to me:...
The peak-holding LED meters are great & everything, but you don't get that fine analog movement you get with needle style VU meters. Not as much of a nit when recording regular music, but definitely one when calibrating. It's kind of "turn it til it lights, then turn it some more til the next one lights, then back it off a bit. That's not "true" precision, but is as good as it gets.
I had no problem with most of it, except Bias Set. Mind you, the manual is not verbose in this section and leaves much to be desired. What it says, basically, is "set up with Rec/Pause & DBX On, with a -30dB input signal (-20dB below nominal level; 0Vu), and adjust R62 for 'same level on 1kHz and 10kHz' on each channel.
My concerns are these:
Does it imply to record 1kHz and 10kHz to tape and try to get them to read the same level on Rec/Play for each frequency, independenly? Or, to get 1K & 10K reading the same with respect to each other? Then, -20dbVU is just the single bottom-most LED on the bar. How do you get precision there? Either it lights or it doesn't. Lastly, having tried it in respect to getting 1kHz & 10kHz independently reading the same levels on Rec/PB, I found that turning the trimmer R62 seemed to have no effect. Either the range is very small and subtle, or I'm missing the point completely. I'm not sure which. Beyond that, I had some trouble with some DBX REC LEVEL pots on some channels not seeming to adjust at all. I attributed that to possible dead trim pots due to age and corrosion. However, this phantom menace seemed to move thru a few channels, first 5, then 6, then 8,... then seemed to go away after much back tracking and re-doing over the hours. I also reseated the suspected cards, a 5 minute detour for each card, as they didn't seem to act up all at once. I'm wondering if anyone has any insight to these nits? (Thanks!)
However, with that being said,... I think it turned out well and is in tip-top presale condition, not to mention much better than when I got it. Before starting it had about a 2-3dB rolloff between Rec and PB.
(Now if only the buyer would show up, another issue entirely!)
When all is said and done, the proof is in the pudding!
[See: Off-tape response]...
