tascam 414mk2 portastudio, is it supposed to be this noisy?

[jeffer]

hi i recently got a used portastudio 414mk2 which was in pretty good condition.

just plugged in my synth and turned up the master fader and heard some very high levels of hiss, like tuning in to FM radio stations.

anyone with one of these same tape mixers know if this is supposed to be so?

how does anyone record with one of these units with such high levels of hiss?

thanks for any input/experiences

 

[travelin travis]

some tape hiss should be there but not what you describe.