Hey,
I got my "new" Tascam 22-2 today and it's in excellent condition! I got it from an original owner who only put 50 hrs on the heads! This thing sounds great and he got it to me in excellent condition (double boxed). I just mixed down a song and I'm really impressed by the quality of this machine, plus I love the simplicity, no pitch knobs to bump or useless things to fiddle with! I'm gonna try it with my DBX 150 tomorrow, any suggestions for setting the trim level on the 150? What do people mean by calibrating the DBX? Woo Hoo, I love analog machines!
Taperocket,
Congatulations on your 22-2 ! I have a model 32 which I use with a dbx-150 unit so possibly I can offer some suggestions on calibration. My dbx-150 has an x after the model number (not sure if there's different versions out there). Assuming your using some kind of mixer in your setup start off by sending a test tone through your mixer and adjust it's output so you see zero reading on it's output meters. Both of the little buttons on the dbx unit should be out(not engaged) at this point. Put your 22-2 in record ready and adjust the 22-2's input controls for a zero on it's meters. Record a minute or so of the tone. Rewind the 22-2 and playback the tone setting the 22-2's output controls for a zero on it's meters. Now your 22-2 is calibrated to your mixer. Again put the 22-2 in record ready with the test tone coming in from your mixer. Now press in the little button on the dbx-150 (record one) and observe the meter reading on your 22-2. Adjust the little trim pot on the 150 (record one) so that your 22-2's meters still read zero. Do this for both left and right channels. Do not change the setting of your 22-2's input control. Now record a minute or so of test tone, rewind and playback the tone. Press the little buttons on the dbx (playback ones) and observe the meter reading on your mixer. At this point your mixer needs to be monitoring the 22-2 playback. Adjust the little trim pots on the dbx (playback ones) so that your mixers meters read zero. Adjust each channel. Now the dbx should be calibrated. You'll notice the meters on your 22-2 will move a little less when your playing back dbx encoded material (because they are showing you the level of the encoded signal). On playback the signal is decoded as it goes through the dbx unit back to your mixer and at this point your mixer meters will be moving normally. Once you are calibrated like this you can use your setup with or without dbx by simply engaging or dis-engaging the little buttons on the dbx unit. If you playback a song that was dbx encoded and you have the buttons dis-engaged you'll definitely hear something is wrong Hope this helps Regards, Dave
Hope this helps