Is it important to use a Head Demagnitizer for my MKII 414?

[frank_1]

Is it important to use a Head Demagnitizer for my MKII 414?

It's like $60, does it really work. Do I need it? I've used the 414 about 25 times.

 

[lazyboy]

yeah.

Unfortunately it is really important. You should do it to all of your tape heads for that matter. And clean the capstans and pinch rollers. These are the absolute most important things you can do to preserve the quality of your equipment, just ask my poor old 424. The first thing you'll notice going is the high frequencies, and with tape you need to do everything you can to preserve them.

By the way, $60 is about $30 too much for a degaussing wand. Shop around.

 

[hixmix]

In the analogue tape recorder world, degaussing is absolutely necessary.

 

[Darkhorse]

Yeah - Idon't know if this has happened to anyone else before, but I used to have a Tascam 464 - after a year or two of not demagnaitzing it, it started to pick up radio stations, you would hear a radio being played very faintly on every track-you would especialy hear it at the end of a recoding after it out faded out or stopped or whatever - (music)La la la la- "...and today will be bright and sunny with a high of 87 degrees...".

And if I remember right, the demagnatizing cut down on it considerably - unless it was some other reason - but that was so long ago.